anna kalisiak gallery

inspiration

Working with new medium – Pal Tiya Premium

I have recently discovered a new medium Pal Tiya PREMIUM and whould like to shere my thoughts with you. It sits somewhere between clay, paper clay and concrete, but behaves like a sculpting clay while you work with it.
It is a dry powder containing Portland cement and special additives. You mix it with water and it becomes a smooth, clay-like, fibre-reinforced material. Unlike ordinary clay, it does not need a kiln. It cures into a very hard, weather-resistant stone-like material.
That makes it particularly interesting if you want to make permanent sculptures for outdoors.
How you work with it
1. Make an armature
For a figure, you can make the basic body from crushed aluminium foil, wire, chicken wire or other suitable non-absorbent materials. The foil is particularly useful because it is light and easy to shape.
For example:
wire → aluminium foil → Pal Tiya
You don’t need to make the whole sculpture from the material. The armature provides the volume and Pal Tiya becomes the hard sculptural skin.
2. Mix it
The manufacturer’s basic ratio is approximately:
Add the water gradually. You want something resembling firm cookie dough or clay, not wet cement. Too much water makes the finished material weaker.
Because it contains cement, use gloves and a dust mask, particularly when handling the dry powder.
3. Sculpt
This is the part I think you may particularly like.
You can press it, model it, smooth it, cut into it and create textures much like working with clay. The manufacturer recommends simple tools such as a fork, trowel, spoon and small metal/dental tools.
Immediately after mixing, you have roughly 15 minutes when it is very soft and plastic. It then gradually becomes firmer, giving you another period for modelling finer details and textures.
You can lightly mist it with water if necessary, but you don’t want to make it wet.
A very useful feature for your sculptures: You don’t have to finish the sculpture in one session.
If you know you will continue another day, make a scratch coat: while the Pal Tiya is still soft, make grooves across the surface with a fork.
Later, you lightly dampen the surface and press fresh Pal Tiya into those grooves. This allows you to continue building the sculpture days, weeks or even months later.
You do not simply leave it exposed to the air.
After sculpting, wrap the work tightly in plastic so moisture remains inside. On the following day, the manufacturer’s process involves adding damp towels/cloths and covering it again with plastic. Proper moisture curing continues for several days; longer curing can give maximum strength.
Interestingly, its character changes as it cures:
And after curing?
It becomes a light stone-grey surface that you can leave natural or paint. The manufacturer lists exterior acrylics, concrete stains, oxides, India ink and spray paint among the possibilities.
Compared with the air-dry clay/paper clay, Pal Tiya has one major advantage: you are making a sculpture that ultimately becomes a permanent, weather-resistant object rather than a fragile air-dried piece.
It also gives you more freedom than conventional concrete because you can directly sculpt it by hand, rather than making a mould or casting. And importantly, no kiln and no firing.
Sculpting a  woman figure — step by step
I would suggest starting with a 30–40 cm seated or standing woman, rather than a large figure. It will let you learn how the material behaves without wasting much product.
1. Decide the pose first
If you just start working with Pal Tiya I would choose something like:
Woman standing, body relaxed, head slightly lifted, shoulders soft, arms close to the body and a long flowing dress.
Don’t try to make a detailed human body at this stage.
Think of it as:
gesture → proportion → volume → surface → expression
The most important thing is the silhouette.
⸻
2. Build the skeleton
Use:
Make a very simple wire skeleton:
head → spine → shoulders → arms → pelvis → legs
The wire doesn’t need to look like a finished person. For a standing woman, make sure the legs and feet give you a stable centre of gravity. If the final sculpture is intended to stand independently outdoors, the armature and base need to be designed for that purpose.
⸻
3. Build the body with aluminium foil
This is where Pal Tiya becomes quite different from ordinary sculpting materials.
Take pieces of heavy aluminium foil and crumple them fairly densely, but don’t turn everything into a completely solid lump.
Build:
Use hot glue to join the foil pieces.The manufacturer’s technique specifically recommends compressed/crushed foil because it gives Pal Tiya something to grip onto.
Important:
Don’t try to make the face from Pal Tiya yet.
Make the basic head shape in foil.
At this stage, stand back and look at the sculpture from:
If the figure doesn’t look beautiful in foil, adding Pal Tiya won’t fix the proportions.
⸻
4. Create the dress
For your style, I wouldn’t make the dress as a separate object.
Build the basic dress volume with foil.
For example, you could make the torso relatively narrow and let the foil gradually expand toward the bottom.
This gives you a beautiful flowing silhouette without needing a huge amount of Pal Tiya.
You can then create the actual folds later.
⸻
5. Mix your first Pal Tiya
This is important. Wear gloves and a dust mask when handling/mixing the dry material because Pal Tiya contains Portland cement.
For a first small batch, the manufacturer’s example is:
100 g Pal Tiya + approximately 20 g water
The general ratio is about 5 parts powder to 1 part water by weight.
Add the water gradually.
You are looking for:  soft cookie dough —not plaster, not wet cement and not mud.If it becomes shiny and wet, you’ve added too much water. The manufacturer specifically warns that an overly wet mixture can cure weak.
⸻
6. Start with the body
Take a small amount and press it firmly onto the foil. Don’t simply lay it on the surface. Press it into the texture of the crushed foil.
Start with a relatively thin layer and work systematically around the figure.
I would do:
torso → pelvis → thighs → arms → neck → head → dress
Don’t try to finish the entire sculpture with one batch. You have approximately 15 minutes of optimal plastic working time, after which the material gradually stiffens; you then have considerably more time for detailing.
⸻
7. Don’t sculpt details yet
This is one of the biggest things I would recommend for you. First make the figure look like a beautiful simplified human form.
Don’t immediately sculpt:
Instead concentrate on:
shoulder → neck → breast → waist → hip
Those transitions are what will make your female figure convincing.
⸻
8. Create the face
Once the basic head is covered, use your fingers first. You don’t need a realistic face. I would make the face very subtle.
Create only:
If the head is looking upward, establish that angle before adding facial details. You can use a small dental tool for refinement. Pal Tiya’s recommended tools include a fork, trowel, dental tool, brush and spray bottle.
⸻
9. Sculpt the dress
This is where I think you could get something particularly interesting. Don’t make perfectly regular fabric folds.
Instead, use your fingers and a tool to create long, organic movements in the material.
For example:
shoulder ↓
waist ↓
hip →
dress ↓↓↓
Allow some areas to remain relatively smooth and let other areas become deeply textured. That contrast can make the sculpture much more contemporary.
⸻
10. Add your characteristic surface
You don’t have to make Pal Tiya look like conventional concrete.
You can deliberately leave:
This could become part of your own visual language.  You can also press materials into the surface to create impressions and textures while the Pal Tiya is still workable.
⸻
11. If you need another day — don’t worry
This is another major advantage. If you’ve finished the first layer but want to continue later, make deep grooves/scratches into the surface while it is still soft. When you return, lightly dampen the surface and press fresh Pal Tiya into those grooves.
The manufacturer’s system specifically allows subsequent layers to be added days, weeks or even months later when the surface has been properly prepared.
So you can actually treat the sculpture almost like a slow painting process:
first session — form
second session — anatomy
third session — face
fourth session — texture
⸻
12. “Stitch” every new section
This is particularly important. If you add an arm, breast, nose, fold of clothing or other projection, don’t simply stick a new lump onto the existing surface. Blend the fibres of the new material into the old material with a tool. Pal Tiya calls this “stitching” and says the fibres need to cross the join so that the new section is properly integrated.
Think:
add → press → pull fibres across → blend
rather than:
add → stick on → smooth
⸻
13. Leave the sculpture alone
Once you’re happy with the form, the curing stage is crucial. For the first day, the manufacturer recommends wrapping the sculpture tightly in plastic so the moisture doesn’t escape. On day 2, wrap it with wet towels and plastic, and continue keeping it moist through approximately days 3–5. Don’t simply leave it sitting uncovered like air-dry clay.
⸻
14. Then decide what the surface should become
Once cured, you have several artistic possibilities.
Option A — natural
Leave the Pal Tiya surface in its natural stone-like colour. This would work beautifully for a minimalist female figure.
Option B — subtle colour
Use diluted acrylic or other compatible surface treatments to give the sculpture a restrained patina.
Option C — strong contemporary colour
Paint the entire figure and allow some of the sculptural texture to remain visible.
Option D — mixed surface
This is the one I really like doing: natural Pal Tiya + selected painted areas so the material itself becomes part of the artwork.
⸻
Good luck and have fun.