Using WireForm® as Armature for your Creative Paperclay® Sculptures - Tip #5 by LeeAnn Kress

Hi Everyone!

It's LeeAnn and I am back to give you a little more information on how to use wire contour mesh as a possible armature option in addition to aluminum foil when building your armatures.

Earlier this month, I posted a tutorial on how to sculpt a jointed bunny.  I showed you two different ways to create the bunny's ears.  One using aluminum foil and one using wire mesh called WireForm® (See the picture above.)  Today, I am going to give you a little bit more information on using the wire mesh.

WireForm® comes in a roll shown in the picture above.  I usually buy mine at www.dickblick.com  - this is a wonderful art supply company and has a multitude of items perfect for incorporating with Creative Paperclay®.

The wire mesh I use is very pliable, however it comes in several sizes and gauges depending on what you are going to use it for.  The roll above is 10 ft long - 20 inches wide.  It is the 1/16" pattern.

When incorporating wire mesh with your paperclay, the wire mesh (since it has holes in it) acts like re-barb would to cement.  Creative Paperclay® sticks nicely to it and fills in all those tiny holes for a super strong armature.  Because the wire mesh is pliable, you can bend it and form it any way you want. The sky is the limit to the possibilities of posing your sculpture.

Here are the suggested uses -- WireForm® is an excellent sculpting medium for light armatures and crafts, gently sculpt, pull, stretch, gather and twist the WireForm® into a shape or lift impression by pressing and stretching the mesh over an object.  Seam edges or join pieces by folding, crimping or hot gluing.

I love the fact that you can use scissors with this.  It is not hard to cut a piece off, in fact you can even tear off a piece.  I would suggest wearing some kind of protective gloves when you are scrunching it for a inner armature body shape.  The edges do get a little sharp.

I realize that there are a lot of us that use aluminum foil for inner armatures ... I do too.  But now that I have had some time to play with WireForm®, I have learned that I can also incorporate this with foil.  For example, maybe the body is made out of foil, but I want some really cool wings or a tall collar coming off my sculpture, with this wire mesh, it makes it so easy to do.  Personally, I think the mesh has more flexibility to bend and conform in the intricate shapes I want better than foil.

My suggestion is to use your foil for more bulkier parts of your armature and use wire mesh for your thinner more delicate parts like bunny ears, wings, long tails, horns, collars, etc.

WireForm® contour mesh is just another great option out there to put into your Creative Paperclay® toolbox.  That is why I love Creative Paperclay® so much -- it works with practically everything!!  I hope you give it a try someday!

Thanks for stopping by the Creative Paperclay® blogsite and if you have a little more time to spare, stop by my site at www.charmedconfections.com

Until next time!  LeeAnn

Make a Blissful Bunny with Me (Part 1) by LeeAnn Kress of Charmed Confections

Hi Everyone!

It's LeeAnn and I am back with a sweet tutorial for you on how to make a blissful, sleeping bunny for Easter.

Since this process takes a little bit of time, I have broken this tutorial into two parts.  In Part 1, you will begin to make the below bunny, his body, arms and legs.  In Part 2, we will sculpt the head, sand, paint and assemble.  Part 2 of this tutorial will be posted on Sunday, March 9th.

I hope you will give this a try.  I will post lots of pictures for you to follow the process.  Please feel free to post a comment with any questions and I will get back to you as soon as possible. All my instructions will be below the pictures.

Materials Needed for Part 1

Creative Paperclay®

Small bowl of water

2 1/2" to 3" Styrofoam Egg -- (my package says 2 5/16 x 3 1/16 inch)

Paper towels

Ice pick or something that can be used to poke a hole with.

Toothbrush - preferably one you are not using on your teeth. :)

First off, set up your work space.  I have a silicone mat I sculpt on, but you can just put down some paper towels or paper.  Just as long as your work space pretty clean.  We will be covering the Styrofoam egg first.

Take some Creative Paperclay® and make a pancake out of it and smooth over the entire egg.  You want to get a good layer over the egg, just so that the Styrofoam does not show or poke through your clay. Paperclay is an air dry clay and will get a little dry in between working with it.  Use a little water on your fingertips to help you keep the consistency of dough.  Remember, not too much water - too much water can make your clay sticky.  If this happens, set your piece aside for a few minutes and let it dry out a tad before smoothing it out again.

Once your egg is covered, I took a little more paperclay and made an oval shape (about 1 1/2" tall by 1" wide) - make another pancake.  This is going to be the bunny's tummy.  Wet the back of the clay and adhere it to the side of the egg.  Make sure you pick where your front is going to be first.

Once you stick your tummy clay to the egg, take a paint brush, wet it a little, and go around the outside of the oval and smooth it to the egg.  We do not want any harsh lines and we want the tummy clay to stick seamlessly to the egg with no gaps.

Next, I took my husband's toothbrush (just kidding) and pounced in some texture on the egg.  I did not texture the tummy clay.  I left that smooth.  If you create holes in your clay, just push the clay to fill back in.  No worries!

Now it is time to make a cottontail.  Roll out a little ball of clay (the size you would like for your tail) and pounce it again with the tooth brush.  Wet the clay where you are going to adhere the tail and push lightly to the egg.  Just give it a few twists while adhering it to the desired spot - it helps the clay bind together.

Look!  Our sweet little tail is looking good.  Take your damp paint brush now and go around where the tail connects to the egg.  Smooth it out just a little.

This bunny needs some arms, so roll out some clay into a long snake (about 1/2" thick).  You might need to refer to the below picture when doing these arms.  My arms are approximately 2 1/2" long.  Cut your rolled out clay to that length.  Now, take your two pieces and make somewhat of a banana shape - see picture below.  Make your arms thinner at both ends.  You might have to hold your arms up to the body to get a feel for how the arms will fit with the body.

When you are happy with the fit and shape.  Use your ice pick to draw in the indentation of the paws.  Remember to bring those finger lines all the way around to the inside of the paw.

Here is how my arms fit to the bunny body.

Next, take your tooth brush again and pounce some texture into the arms.  Remember to do the backside too!  Lastly, poke a hole into the top of both your bunny arms.  Set aside and let dry completely.

Here is a picture of my arms all finished and drying.

Now, let's make some bunny legs!  Basically, it is the same process as the arms.  Roll out your clay to about 1/2" thick.  My bunny legs are about 3 1/2" long - depending how they look next to the body, you might have to trim them down a little.  For now, cut your rolled out clay to 3 1/2"  - making two!

You can see in the above picture how I flatten the top of the snake, bent it at the knee a little and then again at the ankle.  I used my ice pick to cut in some bunny toes and then put in a couple of wrinkle lines at the ankle.  Don't be afraid to play with your clay until you get the look you want.  If you mess up, cut another 3 1/2" rope and try again.  The more you experiment with your clay, the better you are at sculpting with it!

Here is the backside of my bunny leg.  You can see a different angel from this perspective.

Here are my two bunny legs.  I have pounced them with my toothbrush and poked holes in the top.  Remember, they do not have to be identical.  Just have fun and get both legs to compliment each other.  No two legs are alike!

Now, if you want to take it a step further, add little clay balls to the bottom of the feet for the bunny's pads.  Make three tiny balls and put one on the underside of each toe.  Use water to adhere them.  Next, make two larger balls and adhere one to the middle of each foot.  This step is optional.

 To get a good fit to the body, hold your legs up to the body.  You can see how the white arrows point out where the clay is thinner and shaped to fit the egg.  You can get this by pushing the tops of your bunny thighs to the egg.  Now, we do not want the clay to stick to the egg, so push gently and do not add any water.  We want to be able to take it safely apart without any damage to the body.  However, you can always fix it if this happens.  That is the beauty of this clay!  Getting the curve of the egg on the inside of your bunny's upper thighs is important.  This will make his legs fit nicely to the body after the pieces are all dry.

When you are happy with the fit, let all your pieces dry completely.

This is the end of  Part 1.  I hope you have enjoyed it so far.  Part 2 will be posted, tomorrow, Sunday, March 9th.  We will sculpt the head, paint, stain, seal, and assemble.  Again, if you have any questions, just leave a comment and I will get back to you.

To see more of my Creative Paperclay® creations, visit my site at www.charmedconfections.com

See you tomorrow!
LeeAnn

Let's Experiment! Tip #4 by LeeAnn Kress

Hi Everyone!

Welcome to the the Creative Paperclay® Blogsite!  Happy Monday!

Most of us are lucky enough to have today off ... me too!  So, since I am relaxing around the house, I decided to experiment with some paperclay.  This experiment is kinda off the cuff for me ... and I figured that I would share whether this experiment went good or bad.

I wanted to see if Creative Paperclay® could be made into something with the texture of frosting.  I have a wonderful faux frosting recipe that I came up with years ago, but I am always looking for new ways to incorporate the confections style/look in my art.  Why not with clay?

(All my comments will be below the picture I am referring to.)

So, I took some clay and put it in a plastic zip lock bag.

Next, I added a little water ... a little at a time.  I am looking for the consistency of frosting.  Seal your bag and squish it up really well.  Next time, I think I might try using my blender that is specifically for clay.  That would be better ... and faster too!  Try and get it really smooth, creamy, but not runny.

Here I am using a frosting tip and a cake decorator bag.  I tried using a tip at the bottom of a zip lock bag, but when I put pressure on the bag the tip kept ripping the zip lock and then the tip would fall out.  LOL!  That was a failure!  A frosting decorator bag was the answer as it is thicker and sturdy.  The tip stayed secure.  Yay!

I placed down a sheet of wax paper and started to squeeze out the clay through the tip.  Now, I am not a professional cake decorator ... far from it.  But, I am brave enough to try it out.

Here is my practice sheet of wax paper.  I am pretty happy with my first attempt.  I will definitely need more practice.  However, I can see those cute flowers painted up as they might make really cute embellishments.

The great thing about this, is if you don't like any of it, scoop it up and put it back in to the frosting bag and try again.  If you have left over clay, put the remainder in a container and make slip with it.  Slip fills in any cracks you might have with a project you are working on.  It is essential to have on standby.  A couple of our artists here on the Design Team have mentioned how to make slip on this blogsite.  If you have left over clay, slip is a good thing to make and easy too.  No clay goes to waste.

So, my tip for you this month is EXPERIMENT!!!    

If you have tried a new technique with Creative Paperclay®  (good or bad) leave a post here and tell us about it.  We would love to hear the good, and maybe the Design Team can help with any bad experiments.  We would love to help your experiments grow!

I hope you enjoyed my post.  If you have time stop by my blog at www.charmedconfections.com and say hello.  There you will find all my other creations in clay.

Until next time!  LeeAnn