Thank you! I found all kinds of useful stuff at puppetry sites...

I just got Katherine Dewey's animal book and figure book - wow. They're not just polymer clay books - they're sculpting classes. It is so rare to find someone who not only has a gift for an art form but the gift of teaching effectively, too. The pictures are incredibly helpful and so clear.

Ann Marie

Katherine Dewey also has a sculptor's forum on her website at

http://www.elvenwork.com/

and she recommends what I found to be an awesome scupting tutorial by "Smellybugs," a professional sculptor who makes alien figures. He uses Sculpey with various armatures to build a two or three foot long alien animal in this long tutorial full of pictures.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=18287&page=1&pp=60

I went back and re-read some of the Katherine Dewey Figures book, and found a place where she suggested using epoxy putty for an extra-strong core for legs. I have some Magic Sculp and this will probably be what I try first - and after reading that tutorial, I want calipers. What an excellent idea.

Thank you again!

Ann Marie