How to make a hollow Creative Paperclay ® art doll tip by Gloriann Irizarry #artbygloricom

How to create a hollow Creative Paperclay® art doll  

June 2017 Tip By Gloriann Irizarry

#artbygloricom

 

 

Wow,  it is almost summer!

  Weather is finally warming up, birds are chirping, and kids are playing outside. In this June tip I will include the way I make my art dolls hollow so that  they are lighter and can be attached to the painted canvas to be easier displayed. I love making these girls:  they are so much fun to make and they look great inside shadow boxes. Here is the process I came up with to make it a lot easier to remove all the inside armature without destroying the piece. It is easy to do so if you follow my instructions.

And if you DO like this post, feel free to share it with all your friends!

 

Materials

Creative Paperclay®

Heavy Duty Aluminum foil

Paper Scotch Tape

 

 

 

I like to use heavy duty aluminum foil because it is a lot stronger and thus easier to manipulate to create a strong armature for working on your art doll.

 

 

 

 

Find a shape that you want to use as the base for your figure and lightly shape and  recreate it by manipulating the aluminum foil.

You can use your hands, hammers or the tape to hold the shape in place.

 

 

 

Make sure to move the piece around and that it lays flat -  this will help you be able to create a even surface so you can later easier add your sculpture to the canvas.

 Turn the piece over and create a string with the scotch tape so you can later attach a  pen, pencil, or chopstick (something strong to assist you in pulling the final piece away from the armature).

 

 

Grab another sheet of aluminum foil.

Lay it flat over the already sculpted aluminum foil armature.

 

 

Press around the armature very lightly.

Work all the corners and edges so they are clean with the flat surface of the table.

  

 

Now you can roll a clay sheet to a 1/4 thickness and wrap it around the armature.

 

 

Make sure you press the clay all around the armature to make it lay flat, then set it aside to dry. I recommend you let it dry overnight  or set it in the oven at very low heat for an hour or two depending on the size and thickness your sculpt.

 

 

This is how the back of the piece will look once the clay is laid over your foil armature: 

Once the piece is dry, attach the pen or stick of your choice to help you remove the main armature core from your piece.

 

 

 

The image above shows how your figure will look like once the core is removed. Go ahead and carefully pull the aluminum foil away. Now it is normal that you may find a damp soft spot under this foil layer so be very careful when removing it.

 

 

This is how the final dry Creative Paperclay®  hollow piece should look.

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed this article. If you find it helpful, feel free to share it!

Sincerely

Gloriann Irizarry

Social media @artbygloricom #artbygloricom

www.byglori.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

Fall/Halloween Tree by Linda Hess

I have been teaching an after-school polymer clay group for years.  This year I have a group of middle school students (yippee), so we can work on some more involved projects.  Yesterday I showed them how to make an armature from foil and then wrap it with polymer clay.  HMMMM, wouldn't it be great to use my air dry Creative PaperClay® instead?!  I set right to work...

The materials are easy:  Creative PaperClay®. foil, a damp paper towel, and your hands (Optional: cutting tool)
1) Pull off a long piece of foil (mine is about 2ft long).  Crumple it together at the bottom only (keep the top loose).

 Be careful how tightly you scrunch it together...foil can always be made smaller as the design progresses, but it is very difficult to make it larger without ripping.
2) Flatten the bottom of the trunk by pressing against the work surface.  Do not worry about it standing at this point...adjustments can be made as the tree progresses and the branches help to balance it.
3) Now to work on the branches.  Beginning at one end of the foil (about 3"-4" from the end), carefully rip it down towards the trunk.

Do not rip it off as this will form a branch.  Scrunch the foil together (as shown),

folding onto itself to shorten the branch (if desired).  Continue to rip and scrunch branches until the top is completely done.  

As you can see from the photo, no 2 tree armatures ever turn out the same (OOAK creations).

4) Now it is time to apply the Creative PaperClay®.  Cut off a piece of clay from the block (NOTE: A tree of this size shouldn't take any more than 1/4 block of PaperClay).  Place it onto the damp paper towel.  Fold the towel over the clay to keep it moist as you work.
5) I like to work with small pieces and then smooth as I go.  Pull a blob of clay off the cut piece.   Flatten/thin the blob between your fingers

before applying to the tree armature.  Begin work at the bottom and work your way up to the branches.  

Since this is a tree, I don't want it to be super smooth...the seams are smoothed together, but texture is left behind.  If the clay doesn't want to go together at the seams, dip one finger into water and smooth over the clay.
Continue until the tree is completely covered.

6) Step back and take a look...do the branches look "full" or does it need a few touch ups?  My tree looked a bit bare, so I added small bits of clay onto the large branches by pressing small bits on and then smoothing along the seams.

Perfect.

7)  Final touch, fattening the bottom and adding roots.  Add blobs to the base of the trunk, smooth into place, and then pull out some of excess clay to form a triangle.

Twist the triangle gently to create roots.  

Once you are happy with the look, set the tree aside to dry.

Tomorrow: Finishing the tree and embellishing