塑

Bottom earth radical - three strokes for a mound on the ground line. Clay is the raw material of every sculptor and potter, so 土 anchors the meaning precisely: 塑 is to shape soft earth into form. The radical sits beneath the phonetic the way clay sits on a wheel before the sculptor's hands.

Top 朔 supplies the sound: shuò drifting to sù. 朔 itself is 屰 (an inverted person) plus 月 moon, naming the moment the moon resets to its first sliver - a beginning. Faint semantic flavor reinforces 塑 too: to mold clay is to start something fresh from nothing, just as the lunar cycle restarts at 朔.