⭐Cosclayer Spotlight: Kurumi Kodama⭐
Keri Parker and Mikayla Beavan are best known as Kurumi Kodama on Instagram. They are a mother and daughter sculpting team, creating a whimsical world in polymer clay!
What got you interested in sculpting?
Keri: Years ago I stumbled across one of a kind, fantasy art dolls on ebay when it was a popular site for buying and selling art. I was shocked that such detail and realism could be achieved with polymer clay, so I really started researching it, discovering new artists, and seeing the vast number of ways people were using it. And because it was so easy to use and required no special or expensive equipment, I really wanted to try it out! Since I was terrible at sculpting the human form, I started making sculptures of pigs to sell on ebay and because I really wanted to be able to post them in the "fantasy" category where I thought my listings would get more traffic, I added wings and horns and called them fairy pigs!
Mikayla: Growing up I was always surrounded by my mom's artwork, seeing her bounce from project to project and medium to medium. It always fascinated me how she could start from a blank canvas or a lump of clay and create these wonderful art pieces. I would think to myself, I wish I was an artist, but I never tried to pursue art. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I finally picked up watercoloring. Anime, specifically Studio Ghibli, inspired me to start painting. The beautiful, fantastical landscapes were breathtaking. Around the time I picked up painting is when mom started creating her walnut faced creatures. They were so full of life and had their own little personalities. I loved to see what she would create next. One day mom really pushed me to use one of her cracked glass bottles that she wouldn't be able to sell, to use as a base for my own sculpted potion bottle. So I sat at the table with her, asking questions on how to do this and that. Finally my piece was done! It was a very plain little pumpkin bottle with a silly face, but I was so happy with what I had created! After that I started making mushrooms, cottages, and whatever else came to mind. My love for clay only grew from there!
How long have you been sculpting your whimsical creations for?
Keri: I started sculpting the fairy pigs about 12 years ago and did that for a couple of years. Then I started creating cowgirl dolls for the model horse hobby and gave up sculpting with polymer clay altogether until 2019. My inspiration to start sculpting again came when I found some walnut shells on the ground back in our woods and thought they looked like little disembodied faces. I knew somehow I needed to give them bodies. Polymer clay seemed like the obvious way to do this and thus my first tree spirit was born! Then, after about a year of sculpting my little tree spirits, sometime in 2020, Mikayla gave sculpting a try and took to it immediately, like she had been sculpting for years! Since then we have been sculpting as a team and it's been wonderful!
What inspires you?
Keri: Nature is hugely inspirational to me. I love being outdoors, exploring, hiking, wildcrafting; dreaming of hidden little worlds that only exist in the woods. I'm also a big anime fan and love Japanese art and culture. Plus the koroks from the Legend of Zelda were a major inspiration for my tree spirits!
Mikayla: So many things inspire me! I love looking at other people artwork. I love to see how they view the world through their eyes. It makes me stop to think how I can portray what I see into my sculptures. Anime is another huge inspiration. The creativity and originality of the stories and art blows me away; how they can take a simple life task and make it seem like it’s a grand adventure. Or how they can come up with beautiful, crazy landscapes and fantastical creatures and make you want to be a part of that world for awhile. Fall is also inspiring to me. The smell of the air, the sound of leaves rustling in the wind, the taste of tea early in the morning when it’s still foggy out. Something about fall always stirs up the need to create in me. Last but definitely not least: my mom! She is my number one fan. She is always encouraging and pushing me to go outside my comfort zone. Watching her style evolve into what it is today has been one of the most inspiring things to see. She inspires me everyday to keep going and to keep growing!
What are some of your most important tools for creating your sculptures? Is there something you can't live without in your studio?
Keri: I have one sculpting tool that I got in a box lot at an estate sale years ago and I use it for nearly every step of the construction of my sculpts and every texture that I create on them. It is a metal clay tool that is pointed on one end and a rounded spoon-like shape on the other. If I lost it I'd be devastated! Mikayla's favorite tool is very similar in shape, but hers is part of a wax sculpting kit. We both also use a pasta roller for nearly all of our sculptures. It's especially handy in helping us not to use more clay than necessary by attempting to press it flat by hand. And we both use aluminum foil for our armatures, so it is very much a necessity.
Which Line (Doll, Sculpt, Deco) and colors of Cosclay are you using and why?
We love Beaut Brown in the Doll line for our lighter colored sculptures and Black in the Deco line for our darker ones. We start with those colors as a base and build up the rest of the highlights and colors from there using acrylic paints applied with a dry brush technique.
How has the inclusion of Cosclay into your artistic tool belt aided your creative process?
Keri: When I first heard about Cosclay I wanted to try it for the flexibility, mostly because it would make shipping my sculptures safer. Then when I opened my first package of Cosclay, pulled off a chunk and kneaded it in my hands, I immediately fell in love with the feel of it! It was the perfect consistency for my type of sculpting; not too hard and not too soft. I could cure it in multiple stages and each new addition blended seamlessly with the part that was already cured. And it also takes paint wonderfully! The flexibility is another aspect of Cosclay that I couldn't live without; being able to create flowing cloth and hair and not worry about it breaking is awesome. It really sets an artist free to express themselves in ways that other clays just don't allow. We don't use anything else!
Where can I see more of your work? (social medias or website)
Right now we only post our work on Instagram and usually once a week we add a few pieces of art to our shop. There is a link to our shop's website in our Instagram bio.
You can visit us on Instagram here:
https://www.instagram.com/kurumi_kodama/
All images provided by and used with permission of the artists ©2021
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