Princess of the Horse Clan
By Mike Wohl
The Princess of the Horse Clan is meant to be a fictional Eastern European,
in the general vicinity of Hungary. Hungary had a lot of open plains during the time period I had in mind, making it perfect horse-riding country. That’s why she’s holding a horse whip.
The idea for the Princess’ cape was based on the jackets that the Hussars wore. Their jackets were made of wolf skins that came from that part of the world.
To make the cape, I used a combination of tools to form the depressions, as well as blending layered strips of clay. As I was sculpting the skin over the shoulder, I thought of it in terms of a diagonal shape. The swirling hair idea flowed from that.
I didn’t use a traditional armature for the lower half of her body. Her dress is solid clay, instead of having legs covered by a sheet of clay. The groundwork and all of the rocks are Sculpey. The fern-like material is made from dried flowers from a craft store.
Photos by Jeff Junker