How to Make a Dr Plague Mask

Hello everyone, Cinnamon here and I am going to show you how I 

created this Dr Plague mask, obviously inspired by current events.

Materials: Creative Paperclay®, cling wrap, masking tape, Exacto

Knife, Sand paper, E600 Craft Glue, Acrylic paint, Sealer, Varnish

I made a mold of this doll's head a while back and created a series of 

ornaments with it. I sculpted on top of the ornament version of my 

doll in this case since the head is the same. As long as you cover 

your piece with cling wrap, you can sculpt a mask on top of whatever 

you would like to customize. I took the easy way out since I normally 

man handle my work.

Take your cling wrap and wrap it as tight as you can over the 

surface of your piece so that you can get a good fit for your mask. 

Tape it in place in the back so that it is nice and snug.

Add your first layer of clay on top of the cling wrap. At this stage, 

worry about the basic shape of the mask and not the details. 

If you plan to have the eyes out for your mask, press into where the eyes of 

your face is to expose them while the clay is still moist. It took me a few tries 

to find them, but keep pressing and shaping the clay around them in this stage.

After you are happy with the shape of the eye cutouts you can start to build

up the nose here. I wanted to build the nose of the mask gradually, so I started

it out pretty small with intentions of adding more after it dries. When the clay starts

to dry while you are still trying to work with it, just dab it with water as I did here.

If you plan to add string to the sides of the mask to tie it onto your piece,

add the holes to it while the clay is still moist. It is a lot harder to add 

them after it dries, you will risk breaking the mask in the process.

Sit the mask out to dry. The top of the mask will dry but the bottom 

layer that is sitting on top of the cling wrap will take longer to dry. 

When the mask is completely dry, try it on your piece to check the fit. 

If it is too big, you can add a little more on the inside of the mask and

sand it away as needed. In this case the mask shrunk a little while

drying, so I had to sand a bit of it off to get a good fit on the doll's face.

I went back to revisit the nose, it's much easier to work on top of

dry paperclay when you are adding to your work. Just add a few

drops of water to the dry clay to attach the new clay to it.

I added a little definition to the eye sockets on the mask using the

same method as I did for the nose. 

Set the mask aside and allow the new layer to dry. Once it dries

you can rework it as much as you like. At this stage I decided to

finish it off by sanding it smooth. I used a mix of rough sand paper

to sand down the rough parts and fine grit sand paper to get 

the piece nice and smooth. I left a little bit of grit on the piece so 

that it didn't look perfectly smooth. I wanted it to look a little worn.

Use your paint and varnish at this point and you're done. The fit for this

mask was snug enough for me to just snap it on to the doll, rare for me!

Thank you all once again for stopping by, and I hope that you 

enjoyed today's tutorial! You can find Creative Paperclay® at 

the following retailers Creative Paperclay® Online Store,

Michael's, Amazon, Joann's.

See more of my work at Melandolly.com and be

sure to catch updates on my Instagram page! 

 

Simplified Skull Model - Part Two

Once again, this post is going to have a lot of photos, with some words to guide you through the steps.  If you have been wondering since last time why I called it "simplified" it is because starting with a balloon gives the basic shape and it is then just a matter of adding clay or taking it away, sculpting one bit at a time.  There aren't a lot of details, it's up to you how much you want to put in - I've left the interior open entirely so I can put lights in the piece if I want to.  The balloon shape doesn't allow for an entirely accurate model (for example, the connection between the lower jaw and the skull is going to be a lot wider than on an actual skull) but it's close enough for a Halloween prop!   I hope you enjoy following along with the pics!

In addition to the materials listed in Part One, you will need:

sandpaper assortment
sanding block
measuring tape
lightweight cardboard (such as that used for cereal boxes)
white glue
medium-soft short bristled round paintbrush
acrylic paints
craft knife & files

If the skull model from part one is completely dry, pop the balloon & carefully remove it from the interior of the skull.

Hold it up to the light and check for crack or thin areas, repair as necessary by wetting the area and applying fresh clay.

Use a sanding block and coarse grit sandpaper to flatten the sides of the head behind the temples on each side.

sand the sides at the bottom also, to even them out.

Mark a line at the center on each side.  Carry the lines to the bottom of the skull and make sure they are evenly aligned.

Measure the distance between the center marks, making sure the measuring tape goes over the teeth.

Next measure the distance between the bottom of the nose opening and the bottom of the teeth.

Use those two measurements to cut a rectangle out of cardboard - place the rectangle under the teeth and, if necessary, trim so that it fits in place inside the skull and aligned with the top teeth.

Draw a line where the teeth end on the top, and extend the line about half the width of the cardboard strip.

Draw a line parallel to the center line you drew on the skull, making the second line fall just behind the eye socket/cheek area as shown.

extend those lines onto the cardboard strip as shown.

Remove the cardboard strip from under the skull, fold it in half, and cut out along the lines you just drew.  Draw a line from cut-out to cut out, and a second curved line as shown.  Fold the cardboard in half again, cut out along curve, and cut a small diamond shape from the center and into the sides of the cutouts to create what will be the lower teeth section.  When unfolded, the cardboard piece should look like this.

Cover this cardboard piece entirely with a thin white glue - both sides, and along edges.  Set aside to start drying while you roll out clay.

Roll out clay to 1/16" or less thickness.  Moisten cardboard piece and press into clay.  Roll gently over the clay and cardboard with the rolling pin.

Cut out around the piece.  Lift it out gently and flip over onto the clay and lightly press.  Cut around the piece again and gently life it out.  Press the edges together so that the cardboard is now completely sandwiched in between the clay. 

Set the covered piece back onto the clay, trace around the bottom and mark where the top line fall, as shown.

Extend the lines from the side up about 1 1/2 times as long as the bottom section of the jaw, then draw two curved shapes at the top of this piece as shown.  Cut out the section, flip over, and make another piece.  Repeat for the other side of the jaw. 

You should have four pieces, two for each side.  These will be longer that necessary, but will be adjusted during placement.

Transfer the piece to a work board and place the skull on it to see how it fits.

Roll out a piece of clay and taper the ends as shown.

Lift the skull back off the clay and set it aside.

Place the roll of clay behind the jaw piece as shown and smooth it onto the clay and slightly onto the work board to hold the jaw in place.

Place the skull top back on and, tearing bits off the bottom of the curved sections you made earlier, adjust to fit at the side as shown.  Wet both the jaw and the new section and smooth them together.  Take the second piece you made for that side and attach it along the outside, smoothing the tops together and pinching off the excess at the bottom.

Repeat for other side.

Take the top off again.

Add a second roll of clay on the outside and smooth it down to form the chin.

Check that the sides of the jaw are relatively even and adjust as necessary.

Add small rolls of clay to what will be the back teeth and smooth into place.

Put the top of the skull back into place and check alignment.  Sketch out and sculpt the bottom teeth.

Wet the sides of the skull and the back section of the jaw, put a small ball of fresh clay between the sections and press them together, joining the jaw to the skull.

 Form a "Y" shaped piece of clay as shown, with the base of the Y being thicker than the arms.


Use your brush to wet the area around the eye socket and cheek.  Curve the Y shape around the eye socket, blending the thick section at the cheek and the upper arm around the socket.

Flatten the lower end of the Y, twist once and attach only the end to the side of the skull at the half-way line you made earlier.

Smooth it out a bit, but make sure you don't get it too wet or the arch will break.

Repeat on other side.

Allow the piece to dry.

When the piece is dry enough to handle safely again, lift it carefully off the work board.  If necessary, add more clay between the jaw and skull to make sure the jaw is securely attached.  Allow to dry again if necessary.

Press out a thin piece of clay, wet the area inside the nasal opening, and attach the clay vertically to the center of the opening.  Pinch off the outer edge to set just behind the curve of the nasal opening.

Next form a thick, flattened round of clay large enough to cover an eysocket.

Press in the center of the clay, and continue pressing in the center and pinching the sides until you have a cupped cone shape as shown.


Wet the clay on the inside of the eye socket, wet the rim of the cup and spread it out a little bit.  Attach it to the inside of the socket, smoothing out the clay and pressing it firmly around the socket.  Repeat on other side.

Smooth the eye sockets from the outside with a wet paintbrush, pushing them in gently towards the center of the head.

Allow the piece to dry.

When dry, sand as needed, and make adjustments if needed as you see fit.  Decide if you want to make your skull look old and "grubby" or leave primarily white with a light wash to highlight the sculpting.  Finish with the techniques described in my tips on creating the look of teeth, etc.  I decided to make the nasal opening longer and narrower, and add a bit of clay to the top of the head.

Thanks for joining me here again!  As always, play, experiment, and have fun!

Tori

Find me on Facebook, or peruse & ponder pics with me on Pinterest

Simplified Skull Model - Part One

Last month I showed you how to get the look of bone & teeth with Creative Paperclay® modeling material, this month I'm going to show you how to make a skull model.  You can add as much or as little detail as you like - even if you don't do detailed sculpting, it will still make a fun Halloween decoration.  If you follow along with this post, you can create the top part of the skull this time, then have time for it to dry before making the lower portion of the skull and the jaw.

For this project you will need:

Creative Paperclay® modeling material
A small balloon
newsprint paper or similar
white glue
rolling pin
self adhesive plastic wrap such as Cling-Wrap
reference photos or drawings
masking tape

I'll be using lots of photos as opposed to descriptions, because I think for this project it is easier to following along with sculpting pictures -  scroll along and follow along :)

Sculpting pointers: work on both sides of the skull at once, check for symmetry by looking at the top and bottom of the piece, and looking at it in a mirror.  Step back from the work frequently to analyze what needs to be adjusted.

First make the form for the head  - start by blowing up the balloon and tying it off.  Tear off a strip of newsprint about an inch wide, then tear the strip into pieces an inch or two long.  Use a  mixture of white glue thinned with water to dip the strips in and apply them to the balloon.  Cover the entire balloon except the knot.  Allow the paper to dry, then add another layer and let that dry.

When the paper is dry, draw a curved line that would "finish" the rounded circle from the top of the balloon, then draw a line up the center of the balloon from knot to top, and a line dividing the circle in half horizontally, as shown.

Now start drawing dashes to extend the horizontal line to the sides, and extend the base of the circle.  Do a few dashes on each side of the balloon, then go back and forth while judging the distance from top and bottom of the balloon- this will give a more accurate line than trying to draw each line with a single stroke all the way around.

draw a vertical center line on the back of the balloon as well.

Wad up some newsprint to a bun shape and tape to the back of the skull as shown.

 Add some tape to the sides.

 Fill in the gaps with small wads of paper and tape to smooth.

This is what it should look like from the top of the balloon/head

sketch in the features - draw eye sockets slightly below the center of the circle, make an upside down heart shape for the nose at the bottom of the circle, then mark a line about half-way between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the balloon.  Extend the line horizontally until each edge is approximately in line with the center of the eye socket above it, then draw upwards to connect the edges to the circle, making the upper teeth area.

Cover the balloon with plastic wrap.

Roll paperclay out to a circle large enough to cover the back of the head and about 1/16" thick

place it on the back of the head, sculpt two folds on the bottom into bumps about marble size, remove some clay from between these lumps as shown.

Pinch off extra clay and smooth it down.

 Roll out another circle for the front, cut one edge in a straight line, the apply it to the head form, aligning it to the tooth line on the front.










remove a little bit of clay from each side until you reached the guidelines on the form.

remove a little bit of clay from where you think the nose is, remove little pieces at a time until you've uncovered the guidelines.

Continue removing clay in this manner until you've uncovered the guidelines drawn on the form.

Pinch off the excess clay and smooth onto the form onto the back section of clay.

Add a flattened rope of clay over the eye area and smooth down to create the brow line.

Make a thick, curved "C" shape for each side and apply to the sides of eye sockets.

Smooth them onto the skull and around outer edges to create the outer area of the eye sockets and part of the cheekbones, as shown.

(don't try to use this for the entire cheek bone - we will be adding more to the cheeks and sides of the skull in the next part of this tutorial)

Add a small roll of clay at the top of each eye socket and smooth towards the back of the head.

Make a thin triangle of clay as shown

Attach the top of the triangle to the section between the eye sockets, fold it down along the sides and attach over the nose area.

Looking at your reference material, trim the front of the nose along the sides as shown.  Don't worry about getting it perfectly sculpted at this point, since it may get pushed around a bit in the next sculpting stages.

The last step in this part is to create the dental arch and teeth.

Make another triangle shape - this one should be thick on the long edge and thin towards the sides and point of the triangle.

Gently loosen and lift the edge of clay at the teeth line.  Insert the triangle wedge up underneath the clay top point first.

 Push the clay down underneath the nose and pinch together at the center.  Add more clay under the arch as needed to support the clay, then smooth the clay as shown to create the top/front of the palate.

Press your fingers along the edge of the clay to thin it and start defining the bone ridges for the teeth.  Trim and smooth the sides of clay so the sides are in line with the centers of your eye sockets, as you drew out on the head form.

 When you are done with the general shaping of the dental arch, cut a strip of paper, align on side with the side of the arch, wrap it to the other side and fold the edge to mark it and create an accurate measurement of the arch.  Trim the strip of paper to this measurement.

Fold paper in half and draw out the teeth - from the fold back, one front incisor, one secondary incisor, "canine tooth", two pre-molars, and three molars.

Cut out the teeth pattern and tap it onto the clay lightly to hold it in place while you mark the edges with a sculpting tool (hint - a round toothpick works well for marking and sculpting!)

 Remove the pattern and begin sculpting the teeth.  Lightly scrape a layer of clay from the front to make sure the teeth will look like they are going into the bone.

sculpt the individual teeth by removing some of the clay between each one, then rounding and shaping the sides and top.  Sculpt the "gum line" by sculpting the individual teeth - look at the reference material and in the mirror to see how the gum line varies and isn't a straight line all the way across.

If you haven't already done so, decide what kind of character your skull is representative of - did this guy have a tough life?  maybe you want to make him have crooked teeth, "buck teeth", vampire teeth?  Sculpt accordingly.

When you've finished, smooth out the model, brush some water over the teeth section to smooth them (be careful not to get the clay too wet and lose some sculpting)

Ta-da!  You've finished this lesson!  Let the clay dry completely.

Thanks for joining me here again!  As always, play, experiment, and have fun!

Tori

Find me on Facebook, or peruse & ponder pics with me on Pinterest