Creating the Body for Animal Pendants in Polymer Clay with Melissa Terlizzi

“So for the texture on the body, I’m going to use this because I think this just, hasn’t neat, spotted kind of stripey look to it and you can use either side. One, one is more subtle. One is, a little bit more defined and I’m going to use the defined side. Remember this is the shelf lining that you buy at the supermarket. Or you can buy it at your curious Mondo. So I’m just going to roll over that and then you can see it leaves a nice pattern and then decide how you want to cut this out.”

Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/animal-pendants-polymer-course

Applying the Hair for a Baby Angel Fairy with Apryl Jensen

So then how I did these little ponytails is I actually found, I look through my strands of hair really carefully, and I pick out specifically the ones I want to use. So remember, that’s something you can do when you’re, you’re choosing your hair, be specific about the parts that you use. There’s plenty of hair to choose from. Might as well. Just use the pieces that just look great. If it’s got a special curl or whatever, but on these, I just bent it like this. So that’s the little ponytail that she’s got there.

Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Sculpting the Feet for a Baby Angel Fairy with Apryl Jensen

“What I’m going to do is kind of cut in or the toes will be kind of just like that. Then I’m kind of pushing in on this side a little bit more so we can kind of give it its endemic shape there and then move it towards the heel. Have to pick it up. I just kind of bring that all back to the heel there. See, from the side, that’s looking pretty cute. A little bit on the tiny side now. So I’ll just push that up a little bit more. I kind of stretch it out a little bit again, too.”

Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Animal Pendants in Polymer Clay with Melissa Terlizzi

Learn how to make 3 different polymer clay pendants: a big-eyed chameleon on a leaf, a tropical tree frog, and an exotic goldfish. You will learn how to blend the clay and shape each animal, how to add texture and attach all the features. Great tips provided on ways to help strengthen the pendants, and ensure they hang properly. Join us for this fun and educational Animal Pendants in Polymer Clay online course.

Visit this link to learn more about the course:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/animal-pendants-polymer-course

Sculpting Clouds for a Dragonfly Notebook Cover with Andrea Corpodean

“It’s thicker so I can, make volumes on it and then one more. Okay, let me move them. I’m gonna use my tool and then, two bolt tools and all the start with the bigger one. I don’t know why, just because I feel like I’m going to throw it to adjust the shape. Nope. See, let me try this, these tool. So now we know clouds, they have whatever shapes they want. So you can’t go wrong with the cloud. I think, I hope. And after I did this, I’m going to take the poll tool and just, you know, press a bit. So to give it like, you know, this, the weird texture here, so did you won’t be smooth. Okay. It doesn’t matter how you make it.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/dragonfly-notebook-cover-course

Sculpting on Baby Fat for a Baby Angel Fairy Sculpture with Apryl Jensen

“Okay. So now we’re going to give her a little bit of a fat rolls. Let’s see. I want to use Johnston three and one. It’s a good one to do. And what I like to do to just kind of score them in. So you’re not really cutting. You’re just like, kind of pressing it at an angle a bit. And then usually you do a couple of them as they go. Let’s see, I’m going to do some rights. I just want to push on that a little bit to make that look a little bit more elbowy and then up here, and then I like to do it right here, too, right on the elbow.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Painting the Body of a Polymer Clay Frog in a Pond with Melissa Terlizzi

“So I have a really dark, dark chocolate brown, and I’m going to start painting that and I painted over everything, except the eyes. I try to avoid the eyes and I’ll start with just one side of the frog too. I’m I’ve the, paint’s not going
to dry, but I don’t want to get my hands in it. I’m trying to avoid is his belly.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/polymer-clay-frog-pond-course

Adding Texture to a Dragonfly Notebook Cover with Andrea Corpodean

“With weight before I placed this, I want to do something else. I want to add some texture to this area. So I will use the tip of, for mechanical pencil to do that. Okay. You see, it makes those tiny circles. Now we won’t see much of them, but especially on the top area, we won’t see them at all. So it’s done and now I’m really going to take my noodle back and I will place it. It’s deep. We’ll go here and it will go like something like this.”

Learn more about the courses here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/dragonfly-notebook-cover-course

Color Detail for a Polymer Clay Frog in a Pond with Melissa Terlizzi

“I think the eyes are always going to be the most important of any little animal that you make. But all these extra little details and ridges, and that’s what really makes them special. So just doing as many spots as I can. And then when you get, you run out of clay or you get sick of doing this, you can stop and put them on and see how they look. So I think I’ll do that. We’ll stop right here and just carefully remove your plastic wrap. Some of the spots will, will come out on the foil. So you should just generally start with those. So now I keep saying foil it’s plastic wrap. So let me move those aside for a second. Okay. We’re running out of room here. Saw me, I’m doing here. Okay. So just take your spots and start putting them on to the frog’s back. And I generally start with the larger ones and don’t pay any attention to the colors. I just randomly put them on.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/polymer-clay-frog-pond-course

Applying the Cheeks for a Baby Angel Fairy Sculpture with April Jensen

“So now I’m going to go ahead and add in those cheeks because that’s going to help me see the rest of the shapes much better. So I’m just going to make some little balls of clay and I’m going to keep them about the same size. So I’m adding the same amount to either side, or if you notice that one size side is off, like maybe you made it too big or one side is too flat or something.

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Sculpting Feet for a Polymer Clay Frog in a Pond with Melissa Terlizzi

“So, what I do is I just roll up that foot piece or the hand, I guess I should be calling it and I’m going to flatten it out and I make sort of like a paddle shape, kind of like that. And then I’m going to do the same for the other side. I always lay my hands and feet out. Side-by-side because so many times I’ve done hands where I’ve done two left hands and it’s Oh, it makes me so mad. Cause I’ll, I’ll come up with one and I’ll think it actually looks pretty good.”

Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/polymer-clay-frog-pond-course

Placing a Stone on a Dragonfly Notebook Cover with Andrea Corpodean

“And now I will, you know, I told you we were going to use a stone here, so I’m already going to see how it looks there. And this is a bead, so it has a hole in it, which is why I’m going to have to, hide that. Cool. So, I’m going to actually, carve some of the clearly, because I don’t, if I just push the stone into this area here, it’ll just expand on the sides and I don’t want that. So I’m just going to get, take out the tiny piece of this and, make it slightly larger using the bowl.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/dragonfly-notebook-cover-course

Creating the Body of a Polymer Clay Frog in a Pond with Melissa Terlizzi

“So first step is just going to be to wrap the clay around your foil core and how you do that is really up to you. It’s not, you want to trim off the excess, you don’t, we don’t need all that thickness. If your clay is too thick, it’s going to, it could, it could, crack on you. If you have areas that are much thicker than others. So I try to trim off what I don’t need. So let’s just move this aside for a second. I’m actually gonna get rid of this tile for a minute. I will put it on this because then it’ll be easier to move the tile than it will be to lift the frog once it has its legs on.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/polymer-clay-frog-pond-course

Working on the Eyes for a Baby Angel Fairy Sculpture with Apryl Jensen

“I bet that’s quite a common problem to have, right. That is the tricky part with the inset eyes. Like the, the hand-painted ones are tricky to paint, but they’re super easy to sculpt in and draw. So the sculpting process with it is really easy that way. but the inset eyes are super easy cause you don’t have to paint them. So you don’t have to deal with any of like the tiny little pupil. But they can be trickier to get looking in the same direction or to not be like walleyed or, so those kinds of the each had their own challenges. So you kind of just have to play around with both of them and get used to how they are.

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Sculpting Eyes for a Polymer Clay Frog in a Pond with Melissa Terlizzi

Ever wondered how polymer artist Melissa Terlizzi sculpts her whimsical frogs and toads? Here is your opportunity to find out, as she shares with Mondo Makers all the techniques and tricks to making a big green bullfrog! In this 3 Day sculpting course, Melissa will not only demonstrate how to make the frog, but will also create a raised pond for it to sit in, elevating a simple “sculpt” into a story-telling piece of art. With swamp-tastic bonus classes also planned, this course is a must for anyone who loves creating animals out of polymer clay, and enjoys getting carried away with color and detail. Great course on polymer clay!

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/polymer-clay-frog-pond-course

Applying Clay to the Armature of a Baby Angel Fairy Sculpture with Apryl Jensen

“I think first we’re going to put some of the clay on, on this armature, cause I’m just itching to get this clay on there. So what we’re going to do is that
just to kind of take these pieces that I’ve needed and conditioned, and I
make them into little pancake shapes, and these are probably about
a quarter of an inch thick and I’m just going to wrap it on, I’ll wrap it around. And when you put this on, you just want to make sure that you’re
pressing the clay up snug against the armature. So you’re not leaving air
pockets and speaking of air pocket, that was great timing.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Making Clay Leaves for a Dragonfly Notebook Cover with Andrea Corpodean

“What we’re going to do is take one of the leaves and just place it on the clay. Actually, you know what, I’m going to place all of them right now.
And I’m going to apply some pressure to the paper. No idea why, but lately my lifts have become kind of crunchy. I’m afraid that when I tried to take them off the clay, they might break now. I really hope it will happen.
But, I know it might, so I’m going to apply, some pressure on the entire leaf and then I will just take them off the clay.”

Learn more about the course here:
https://www.curiousmondo.com/dragonfly-notebook-cover-course

Starting the Armature for a Baby Angel Fairy Sculpture with Apryl Jensen

Anytime you put into your armature, it’s always going to pay you back in dividends by just making it so much easier. Taking the test scope. I know when I first started, sometimes it was recommended to just use skinny little wire with no padding or anything underneath it. And I think a lot of people had trouble with that method because the clay needs to have something to press against. Otherwise, if you’re just pushing into it, there’s nothing to stop that pushing. And it’s just going to keep going. So if it has something underneath it to press against, then it’s much easier to get the shapes that you want without having to push so hard in. And it just makes the doll a lot more customizable. So it’s not because it’s a small that it shouldn’t have an armature because it has a, another purpose. It does exactly control more.

Learn more about this course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-baby-fairy-course

Trimming Clay for a Dragonfly Notebook Cover with Andrea Corpodean

One thing you should keep in mind when cutting your clay is that, your polymer clay cover should be just a little bit smaller than the actual, notebook. And that is for multiple reasons. The most important is that, on this side, on the left side of, to the spine, the notebook needs to stay uncovered so it can open properly, which is why I suggested to, spend some quality time with your notebook, play with it and, see how it works. See how it looks when it’s open and determine how much space it needs, next to the spine in order to be able to open properly. So you can actually write this side of it because I get as a point of a notebook to actually have something. I mean, to be able to, write or drawing side of it, preferably without damaging the cover. Right? Other than that, I’m also going to need some extra space on all the sides of the notebook. And that is because I like to add the upgraded a border. So basically my notebook, we have two border. One that will be placed inside of this polymer clay background that we are cutting right now and the other one will be placed outside of it. So this is why I need, enough space on all sides. Moreover, because we need to leave that, uncovered space, on the left side of the notebook, I guess it’s more aesthetically pleasing to have the same amount of free space on all sides. Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/dragonfly-notebook-cover-course