“I’d like to go ahead and make a dried leaf that we will drape over the edge of the pond. So to do that, I’m just going to mix up some random colors. I’ve got a crew here. This is sort of a gray scrap looks like it’s got some purple in it. We’ll use a little bit of the cianna. And how about maybe a little bit of orange, basically. It’s not going to be a real, pretty color and that’s okay. I just want it to have that kind of doll, you know, after a leaf has sat on the ground for awhile, it sort gray, grayish brown. So we’ll see what this comes out to be.”
“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.”
“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.”
“When you’re doing bird. So I have used a lot of color on my birds. It’s a partly artistic license, partly because most birds, I mean, if you get the light hitting on them, just right. All the colors that show up in that bird are amazing. So here I’m putting on this color. And you can see why I tell you not to use your best brushes for doing this. Well, this does look a lot more jade when you put it on.”
“I’m going to start showing you some texture. I haven’t put his wings on him yet, but this part of the texture, I want to make sure I do before I get the wings on. Cause I want to make sure there’s plenty of texture underneath his wings, and I’m going to do this text. You’re very much like the idea on the thigh feathers, when I showed you how to do those. And so I, again, I’m using my wipe out tool. I’m using the pointy end and anytime I’m working on the top, I’m holding up the bottom. So I went my tool and I’m digging in deep because I want this texture to really show up.”
“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.
“So we’re working on these feathers to make them so that you can, when I’m in the back end of your bird, or I, you know, sometimes I’ll make little buns for the hair. You can put photos wherever you want to that’s this is your choice, but this is how you do it. All right. So I sprayed this. Remember I’m putting my wire down. I want the wire delay as flatly as possible and laying that down. And then I’m taking my snake and I am laying it on top here. I want this up a little higher because I’m going to pull this down and I could use the extra link up on top to make sure that that wire gets covered.”
Learn more about the course here: https://www.curiousmondo.com/sculpting-fiber-clay-course
“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.
“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.”
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.
You don’t have to worry about air bubbles. You don’t have to worry about slipping score. All those things that you will know about. And another thing is we can fix anything. And so that’s one thing I really want to impress on you. And I’ll be talking about it throughout the class, because if you don’t like something, we can fix it. If something cracks, we can fix it. It’s not like regular clay when you’re scoping. And if it dries out, you’re done, you can’t eat. You don’t, you can’t use it anymore with regular clay. When you’re sculpting, after you get your piece done yet the hollow it all out and make sure that there’s air holes for the air to escape in your fire. Right? Because we’re not firing. We don’t have to worry about that. Plus even if you were firing it. So it’s nylon fibers are burning out, it’s leaving air holes for the air to escape in the piece and you don’t have to worry about hollowing it out or air air holes or whatever. It just fires up just fine. So, those are some of the things I love about this play, and we’ll talk about it more as I go on, because there’s so much more, that I can tell you.
A glance on neck detailing of a polymer clay witch with Karen Baker. This video shows how fun it is to do a turkey neck and you’ll see how it gives more character to the little witch.
