Creative Paperclay: Making Animals (part 2 of 2)

If you missed the first part of this article, you can find it here.

Once our first layer of clay is dry, we can add a second layer to put in the details and textures.  A paper craft armature is an easy way to see where to put details.


For this next part, we want to fill in the face, build up muscles, add fur (or scales, depending on the beast  you're making).


With a clear position of the location of eyes, ears, nose and mouth, I often start adding the details to the head.


At this stage, the eyes look like they are bulging, the ears and nose too big, but keep in mind that we will be adding more dimension to the cheeks and neck and a whole layer of fur to the body.


It may take a little practice to determine how much clay to add and where to add it.  This may be a good time to look at some reference photos.



Your paper armature shows you where everything goes.  A few reference photos can help you see how everything fits together.



Try to find photos that show your animal from a variety of angles.  The more realistic you want to make it, the more you will need reference photos.



The best advice I can give at this point is to add clay a little bit at a time.  Work on one part of your animal, then another so that you are building it up proportionately.  This will help you decide which areas need more work.


If you're not sure about an area, then let it dry and work on other areas.  You can come back it to it the next day after it dries and look at it with fresh eyes to determine if it needs more building up or smoothing down.



Creative Paperclay sands and carves easily if you need to remove some bits or carve in some texture.  After working on my bunny and having the first layer dry, I decided to change the position of the head, so I just cut it off with a craft knife.  I then used a little wet clay to reattach it and hide the cut.

A note about making textures

I am always on the lookout for items I can use to texture my sculptures.  For the bunny's tail and chest hair, I used the head from an old action figure.  He had a full head of curly hair which worked well just by pressing and turning it in the wet clay.


Don't be afraid to use unusual items for textures.  Plastic, glass, metal and non-porous materials work well because the clay doesn't stick to them or if it does, you can easily wash it off with water.

A note about scale

When making paper craft armatures, remember you are not limited in scale.  The larger bunny was made using the same paper craft armature printed at a larger scale. 




The little guy turned out looking like he had some attitude,







so I call this piece, "Biggie and Lil' Attitude".

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Tori's Tip - Embellish with Delight™

3" x 3" package tag - layered paper, rubber stamps, Delight™ cut outs, watercolor

My tip for this month is to keep some rolled out, dry sheets of Delight™ Air Dry Modeling Compound on hand for when you need to embellish a card, art project, package, etc.  The dry clay cuts easily with scissors.  Punches can also be used to shape the clay.  Color to you heart's desire with markers, paints, or whatever you have on hand.   The clay can also be cut and put under sayings to lift them from the page and add dimension.  Shapes can be cut and punched and hung from ribbon, layered over one another, used to make a frame around a photo....the possibilities are unlimited.

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

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I've made 2 more accessories to complete my costume. I used the lighter "Delight" clay. It was very easy to work with and dried in a fraction of the time. The basic instructions for creating the shells is the same as the belt I created on my October 10th post.   These instructions are also posted below. My apologies for the shadow, I couldn't get a true color shot without one.
*SEE the entire costume at the end of this post.
 

SUPPLIES:
"Delight" Modeling Clay by PaperClay
Mold N Pour, Color Mist: Stream - Ranger Ink
Glimmer Mist: Suede - Tattered Angels
Colorful Glossy Cardstock: Deep Sea - Murdock Country Creations
Blue Metallic braided thread-Kreinik
Other: Velcro, Clear Acrylic Spray Sealant, faux pearl beads, sea shells, beading wire, plastic tiara, mini brads or eyelets, needle.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Create various molds of real shells with Mold N Pour.
2. Cast multiple "Delight" molds of each shape, 2 starfish are needed, one for the head piece and one for the necklace. You will need 4 clam shells and 2 other shells.  Let air dry completely.















3. Using a wet brush and a bit of water, brush the shells with Stream Color Mist then spritz with Glimmer Mist.

 

 4. The starfish was colored by first spraying with the Glimmer Mist, then brushing Stream Color mist on the peaks only. Let dry or use a heating tool.

5.  Glue a starfish to the center of the tiara and flank with 2 clam shells.
6.  Glue a few plastic pearl beads in the empty spaces.
7. Use a needle and beading wire to string the remaining shells and starfish. Place 3 or more beads between each piece.
8. Poke the needle through the clay shells, add one bead and exit front to back.  You can add jewelry closures or just tie off the beading thread.

The finished costume!  A paper doll mermaid :o)

Happy Monday!
Make art every day :o)
Becky

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

Sometimes we change our mind. Maybe it is the concept behind the piece of art, we couldn't execute the vision we saw in our mind or ???? With Creative Paperclay®, it is easy to remove the clay if our project doesn't work out. In this case, I had added a fennec (Saharan) fox on my art piece but changed my concept for the piece. I needed to remove it so I could continue on with my painting.

SUPPLIES

Dried Creative Paperclay®
Water
Paper Towels
Metal Palette Knife/Scraper

I covered the clay with very wet paper towels and leave on until the clay softened.

Then I scrapped it off. If some of the clay is still hard just reapply the wet paper towels again.

When all the clay is removed, I can continue to work on the piece. The playing never stops.

Dream in Color.

Darlene Olivia McElroy

Making Animals with Creative Paperclay (part 1 of 2)

If you are new to sculpting or just starting out with paper clay, one of the biggest challenges to creating something lifelike is getting the proportions right.  When I was starting out, I constantly struggled with symmetry, proportion and where to place details like eyes and ears. 


Of course, if you are making abstract sculptures, you're already good to go!


Because Creative Paperclay (CP) bonds so well with paper and fabric, and because we need some kind of armature to build on with our clay, a whole world of possibilities is open to us.  I'm talking about paper craft.  There are literally thousands of free paper craft models available to download, print, cut out and glue together. 


While I personally like making animals, you can use any kind of paper craft as the armature for your sculptures, from vehicles to houses to almost any object you can think of, but you don't have to stop there, you can also combine multiple paper craft into something wholly unique, like a beast that is half animal and half machine.


Two of the best websites I have found for downloading free paper craft are:

Papermau

and

Canon Creative Park

Parts of paper craft models I used

Paper crafters are a devoted group.  Paper models can range from something simple, made from a single sheet of paper (these are usually not very detailed) to extremely complex pieces that can use hundreds of pieces cut from dozens of sheets of paper.  After choosing a model or two, be sure to print them on card stock which will make for a firmer model.



I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to assembling paper models, so I look for ones that use as few pieces as possible, but still show lots of detail.  Also, you usually don't have to use all of the pieces of a model.  We really just want to establish the proper shape and proportion for an armature with guides to show us where to add the details. 



I am even impatient enough that I don't like to glue all of the pieces, so I often just piece them together with little bits of masking tape.  The model ends up looking horrid at this point, but it doesn't matter, because we are going to cover it with paper clay.

Head and body assembled

For this tutorial, I chose two of the rabbit models from the Canon site.  I liked the body of one and the head and ears of a different one.  If you decide to combine two or more models, you will probably find that the parts don't match up.  That's okay.  I use a piece or two of masking tape to fill in any voids.



Another great part of using paper models for your armature is that once you have assembled the body, head and any other interesting parts, you can then decide where to position them in whatever pose you want to make.  In other words, you are not tied to just mimicking the original paper craft.



This is a useful method for trying out different sculpture ideas without investing a lot of time or money.

Armature shows where to place details

Once you have your paper armature put together and in a pose that you like, coat the entire surface (inside and out, if possible) with Paverpol, wood glue, or PVA (white, craft) glue and let it dry.  This will firm up the card stock so you can use a little pressure when you are adding on the paper clay.



The next step is to add a thin layer of paper clay to your armature.  One of the problems with paper craft models is that in cutting and folding flat pieces of paper, you end up with angles and pointy bits where they don't belong.  When adding this first layer of paper clay, you can smooth out those angles.

Use CP to cover armature and smooth out curves

For detailed areas, like around the eyes, I either leave the paper clay layer so thin that I can still see where to place the eyes when I add the top layer, or if it is a larger sculpture, I go ahead and place the eyes in position, but make them thicker than the rest of the layer so they stand out. 



Even though I might make some details stick out from the first layer of CP, when I add the final layer, I can adjust the proportions.  The goal at this point is to keep clear the position where everything belongs.




We will be adding a second layer to put in the details and textures in the second part of this tutorial.

Keep position of details clear for next layer

You can find part two here.

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Tori's Tip - DIY Glow-in the-Dark Clay

We've mentioned several times here on the Design Team that paint can be added to either Delight™ air dry modeling compound or Creative Paperclay® modeling material, but when considering your options don't forget about specialty paints.

You can make your own light weight, glow-in-the-dark clay just by putting some paint with Delight™ air dry modeling compound.  I mix mine by putting the clay in a baggie and squirting some of the paint in, then squishing it around until it's all mixed in.  Kids would love doing this in the semi-dark to watch how the paint mixes with clay and makes it all glow.

Roll out and cut letters, shape into ghosts, etc.

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

Shari's October tip of the month- Filling the Gaps

Hi!

My tip of the month is short, sweet, and saved the day. I happened across it when I was creating a project last weekend.

Late Friday night I was just about done with a mixed media piece. I have been struggling on this piece and so I was down to the wire.

The last piece, a dowel rod, need to have the dowel cap on it. No problem! I had the dowel cap.... or did I? The cap I had purchased was too large for the dowel. The project was due in the morning before any of the craft stores opened.  Panic!

I started looking around my studio and when I opened my paperclay drawer an idea popped into my head. I took a small piece of  Delight® (white) air dry modeling compound and kneaded in a small amount of Tacky glue. I filled the cap with the compound, inserted the dowel,(the compound will ooze out over the edges),and wiped away the excess.

When dry, paint the compound the color of your cap.

 Voila! A perfect fit.   

Happy creating!
Shari