Smoosh on blob of putty, aiming to have it a little thicker than you think you need; don\'t worry about the edges yet, you\'ll trim to size later.
Get a round-ended tool (more than one size if you have them) and randomly pockmark the surface. Roughly cut back the edges with a blunt knife or sharp-edged sculpting tool.
Then with your favourite sharp sculpting tool begin to elaborate on the depressions - each one will become the seed for a curl; I used to do this with a sharpened cocktail stick and now use one of my steel wax carvers for this kind of work. You have to keep in your mind\'s eye what curly hair looks like but I\'ve found that the tool & putty really almost do the work for you. As you go you want to form small sharps here and there, where a curl ends.
Sculpt fairly quickly at this stage, working over the whole surface uniformly. Roughly cut back the edges if you like at this stage.
As the texture develops you\'ll get believable curls in some places, not-so-good ones in others; if the texture looks like it\'s unsalvageable anywhere don\'t be afraid to smoosh out the putty and start the process again (if necessary add on a small blob of extra putty).
Once the overall texture is established you can begin to do refinements. In strategic places you\'ll lift curl ends away from the surface to make the texture more fully three-dimensional and using a sharp tool or a needle cut in deeper here and there. It\'s at this stage you should cut back the edges to their final shape; have some curls tight to the surface, undercut other spots so they have a definite edge.
I think you should aim to have the texture look more sharply defined at the putty stage than you think is needed, not less, but it depends a bit on your painting style - if you naturally paint with a lot of contrast you won\'t have much trouble with the texture looking too subtle at the end of the day.
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Also, IMO it\'s a mistake to begin to try to do refined details too early in the process as you tend to spend too much time in one area while the putty is curing continuously and the overall texture suffers if you don\'t do the same kinds of shaping at roughly the same softness. Also, sharper details are better done on putty that has cured more - even right near the end when the putty is almost not taking marks any more - try to do them too early and they almost inevitably end up softer than you really want.
Einion
P.S. Oh and of course: practice, practice, practice.
