Using the unexpected for a drying holder - Tip #6 by LeeAnn Kress

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for stopping by the Creative Paperclay® Blogsite.  My tip today comes from an artist and dear friend of mine, Carly Smith of Boggy Bottom Bayou.  We were talking about drying our sculpted Creative Paperclay® heads in a low temperature oven and how we have to prop them up in various ways.  Carly shared the below pictures with me and I thought that I would pass this tip on to you.

It is such an unexpected holder ... a cardboard drink tray from a fast food restaurant.  Who would have thought that such a simple thing could work perfectly to hold your sculpted heads in?

Here you can see how Carly used this tray.  She is sculpting her sweet bat heads for Halloween and using the tray to hold the heads in place for drying.

Now, I would not suggest putting anything paper in your oven unless you are going to keep a good eye on it.  This oven was set at 150 degrees ( a very low temp as to not burn up the holder).  These heads were baked for 1 hour to dry.

If you don't want to bake your paper clay heads, you can still get one of these handy drink holders to hold your heads while the clay dries naturally.  It is really a perfect tool to prevent any smashing of facial features.  

In the above picture (the two heads in the back) - the facial features are already dry, so Carly turned them face down to dry the backs of the heads.  The head that is face up had some cracks repaired to the facial features, so it is turned up. 

Off in the oven they go at the low temp of 150 degrees.

 

Here is Carly's finished bat head.  To see more of Carly's work go to www.boggybottombayou.blogspot.com   Thanks for letting me share your tip, Carly!  

Just goes to show that you can find tools to add to your Creative Paperclay® toolbox just about anywhere!  Keep your eyes open for them.

To find out more about me and my Charmed Confections made from Creative Paperclay®, please visit me at www.charmedconfections.com

See you soon with a new tutorial!  LeeAnn

Gloriann Irizarry's Drying Your Clay Tips for Creative Paperclay®

Many Drying tips and techniques for different armatures and cores.

Drying times can be affected by altitude, weather,  humidity and armature type used.

Have in mind the best way for your clay sculpture to be strong is by having the clay dry evenly.

This will reduced the amount of cracking on your piece.

If you use Styrofoam you should never place it in the oven to dry your sculpt.

Styrofoam when it melts it will produced toxic gases. This is not safe to be exposed to.

Also if you try to rush the drying process with ovens or heaters the clay will not dry evenly. Drying the clay with heaters or ovens will produce more cracks and opening that will need to be repair and cover up . 

But Styrofoam ball are great to use. I like them because they reduce the amount of clay consumption.

 It will allow you to sculpt more with the less clay. I like to used them on my Ball Joint Dolls heads. Is very nice because it will give you a great base to work and you can easily cut it in half to add the other details to the piece. I allow the piece to dry normally.

If you want to lower the drying time with out hurting your pieces. Specially on those high humidity places. I can recommend a homemade  Creative Paperclay® drying booth method I use. 

Is very easy to make and it will help your pieces to dry properly. 

Materials:

Book shelf unit.You can use a old bookshelf unit. 

A portable or small dehumidifier unit. 

 I can be a use one, garage bought or check your thrift store. All you need it to make sure it works safely. The one on the photo is from Target  Eva-Dry Electric Petite Dehumidifier (EDV-1100) 



Painter's plastic sheets

DuckTape

Instructions:

Seal the painters sheet to the book shelf using the duck tape.

Make sure you place the dehumidifier next to the book shelf and cover it with the painters plastic sheets.

Create a door opening for you to load your sculpt and pieces to dry.

See the drawing for build reference.

More armatures and safe drying techniques I like to use is the wires, foil and masking tape. 

I favor this method for non moving parts Art Dolls Sculptures.

If your sculpting big pieces I strongly recommend it to be sculpt in layers and make sure the are fully dry before a new one layer is added. Doing this not only will ensure the project is properly dry but it will also be a lot stronger sculpt.

Built your armature with wires. Cover with aluminum foil and secure it with masking tape.

Start Layers one and wait to be completely dry.

Layer  two and wait to completely dry.

Layer three and keep doing this until your satisfy.

Between each step I place the sculpt in the homemade drying unit to get all the humidity out of the piece.

It works great, you will love how much even and faster your projects will dry. 

I hope you like these quick drying tips. More to come shortly so please stay tune . 

Any questions feel free to email me at 

Gloriann@byglori.com

http://byglori.com/sample-page/m

www.byglori.com

Sincerely, 

Gloriann Irizarry

January Tip from Rachel Whetzel

Last month, my tip didn't publish like it should have, so I'm sharing my tip THIS month! In November, I said sandpaper is your friend. Along those same lines, LAYERING is a great tool for getting the shapes you want in a piece. Instead of trying to create a detailed sculpt all at once, work in layers, allowing each layer of clay to dry before adding onto it.

Sculpting the brim of a hat, for example, isn't an easy task. The smaller the scale you are working in, the harder sculpting details like that are to do. However, by starting small, and allowing your clay to dry between your added layers, (and of course with the help of sand paper at the end) you can get really great results! Sometimes, it's important to remember that taking your time can be key in creating something you love.

Edie's November Tip

Hey Everybody, It's Edie :) I just wanted to share this helpful quick tip for using Creative Paperclay® in your projects. Creative Paperclay® can be painted while it is still wet or after it is dry. However, if the clay is still wet, keep in mind that paint may make it TOO wet and you could end up accidentally messing up all of your hard work. If you want to paint a piece as soon as possible, stick it in the oven on 225* for 5 - 10 minutes. That will allow the outer layer of clay to harden enough to paint without becoming too wet. See you in two weeks with my project for the month!

Edie's September Quick Tip

Hey Everyone,
It's Edie and I am here with a couple of quick tips for working with Creative Paperclay.
Since Creative Paperclay is air dry, you don't have to worry about baking or firing it. However, to speed up drying time, you can put it in the oven on 220* for about 15 minutes. Be sure not to leave it in too long or it will crack.
When allowing clay to air dry, flip it over after about 12 hours. This allows air to get to the 'bottom side' of your project and aids in drying.
You can also sit your projects outside in the sun to rapidly increase drying time.
You can always find more Creative Paperclay tips and projects on my blog.

Edie's June Tip

Here is quick tip to keep in mind when working with Creative Paperclay® air dry modeling material... Creative Paperclay® and Delite® are both air dry clay and will generally dry with in 24 hours, depending on thickness. If you need to speed up the drying time for either, you can put them in an oven on 250 degrees. I lay mine on wax paper to keep it from getting any groves from the racks. Something to keep in mind - Delight® will PUFF UP like a marshmallow when placed in the oven, but Creative Paperclay will not puff. I made this mushroom by rolling out Delight® clay then stamping the mushroom image into it then cut around the image with an Xacto. I placed it in the oven and let the clay puff up, dry completely, then painted it with acrylic paints.