Holiday Angels - OOAK Artist Emporium

Holiday
Angel s
An Introduction to Polymer Clay Sculpting
with Deb Wood
Session 1—31 Pages
*Please read through the entire session before you begin.
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© Deb Wood /Enchanted Hearts 2013. All Rights Reserved
Copyright Notice and Disclaimer: The instructions herein are copyright protected and any copying, forwarding, reposting or reprinting of any kind is strictly forbidden. This includes but is not limited to
electronic duplication. Any copyright infringement is punishable by law. The information within this document is provided only to those who have been granted permission by the site owner. This class is
brought to you in good faith and in no way does the author accept any responsibility for error, accident or injury to participants due to the instructions presented in this document.
Welcome!
Welcome to this online class, “Angels are Coming for Christmas”
an introduction to sculpting with polymer clay. Our subject for this class is a sweet
little angel, and I have chosen her because I can use the steps in creating this figure to
explain the features and functions of polymer clay. We will be sculpting her face,
using simple steps, then her body– also simplified, next you will learn to sculpt hands.
She is dressed in a simple manner too, by using soft fabrics and draping and fitting
them to her. Only some hand stitching is needed.
We’ll also cover wigging, in a modified
perience that. Wings and headpiece will
and the steps to make and decorate a
ing to get a little exposure to a lot of
learning more about polymer clay!
version of my technique, so you will get to exalso be discussed and demonstrated for you–
cloud base will also be included. So you’re godifferent techniques in this class, all the while
Thank you for being here with
me. I hope you enjoy this
class!
Hugs,
Deb
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Supplies
Clay:
Polymer clay of your choice, about 6 oz. Suggested brands would be Fimo Puppen in
Rose color, Fimo Classic #43 Flesh color, Living Doll in Light beige or Regular Beige
color, Prosculpt in Regular or Baby color. The same clay will be used for the armature
as well as the body. The angel in this class session was made from Living Doll/ Regular
Beige.
If you want to make prebaked eyeballs, you will need white clay, like Fimo Classic
White #0, and some Effects Translucent Fimo #014.
If you wish to purchase premade eyes, 6mm would be the right size for this angel.
For the cloud base: I used Sculpey Ultra Light oven bake clay, but you may want to use
Fimo Classic White #0, it will take about 6 oz., either clay or any white clay will work
fine.
Wire for the armature: 36” of 18 ga wire will be plenty. You can find this in most hardware stores. You can also use aluminum armature wire, it is usually 14 ga, but I found
it is not quite rigid enough for the legs. It works great for the arms, though, because
they are poseable.
Square rod and tube, for attaching the angel to the base. You will be cutting this, so a
Dremel rotary tool with a cut off blade works great, or a small tooth hack saw will work
also.
The size for the rod and tube is 3/32” tube and 1/16” rod. It is sold in 12” lengths. You
will need about 2” of the tube and about 3” of the rod but they are sold in 12” lengths
so you will buy one set.
Wings:
Angelina film. I used “Mother of Pearl” for this angel; other colors that would be acceptable are “Aurora Borealis” or “Opal Sparkle”. You will need about 24” of one color.
Craft Wire, I used silver, but you can use a color also. Size 22 ga, and you will need
about 6-7 feet. You will be using a scrap of the 18 ga (or 14 ga) armature wire also.
White hackle features, also marabou feathers are nice to have on the wings. You can
find sources on eBay or you can also find them at the craft stores. Marabou feathers
are also available at those same sources.
Headpieces: Small artificial greens, like cedar or pine. Tiny glittered berries or sprays as
shown below. Micro beads in silver or other colors. 28-30 ga wire, about 12” for the
pine headpiece.
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Supplies Continued:
For the beaded headpiece, gather a selection of silver, clear and iridescent beads in assorted sizes. 28-30 ga
wire; about 36”. A scrap of 22 ga wire from the wings will serve as the base frame wire.
Star Ornament: A small brass or other type of ornament for her to hold. Rhinestones to decorate it if desired.
Wigging: Tibetan Lamb wool is a good scale fiber for this angel. Here is a link to a source.
Heavy carpet or other kind of thread in a color close the wool color you have chosen. Hand sewing needle for
the heavy thread.
Fabrics for costuming: Sheer or semi sheer fabric in white or off white. This can be synthetic or natural fibers,
the synthetic fabrics will have more body. I used two different fabrics for her costuming; one for her dress and
one for her under skirting. A tiny bit of white knit for her panties. Small strip of quilt batting to pad her upper
arms.
Needle and thread in white for hand sewing the angel garment. 1 yard of 1/8” narrow white ribbon. I used silk
ribbon, but satin ribbon is fine too. Small scale lace; 4” of Venetian style lace works well.
Miscellaneous Supplies:
Glues: Gem Tac by Beacon, Ultimate Glue by Crafter’s Pick. Fabri Tac Glue. Super glue; I prefer Loc Tite Gel type
super glue. A satin or gloss glaze, like Ceramcoat brand. Glitter in clear iridescent for the base.
Stiffy brand fabric stiffener or other similar product. If you don’t have that, you can use Ultimate white glue diluted with water. White paint for her feet/shoes.
If you choose to paint her eyes, you will need an eye color, plus black and white. I use metallic paints for the eye
colors. Gloss glaze for the eyes. Mohair eyelash strips in 4-5mm size.
Plastic wrap, scotch tape. Iron, parchment paper or printer paper. Tweezers. Candle and matches. Alcohol
swabs, available with the diabetic supplies in the pharmacy.
Genesis paints (optional) for painting details on the face and eyebrows. Chalk pastels or powder blush for cheek
color.
Tools: Wire cutters, needle nose pliers, pliers, hammer, and scissors. Ruler, paint brushes for applying glazes
and Stiffy. Tiny paint brushes for eye painting. Dremel tool and cut off blade or small hack saw.
Sculpting tools:
Knife, scalpel, knitting needles in assorted sizes, small scissors, dental tools, paint brushes for smoothing clay,
Filbert style work really nicely, sizes 2,4 and 6. Tweezers, forceps. Mop style paint brushes for applying blush.
Below are my most commonly used tools.
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General Information
INTRODUCTION: Polymer clay has been around for a very long time, but gained great popularity about 30-40 years ago. It
has been available since the early century when it was introduced in Germany to a doll artist there as a possible medium
for her doll production. That was the early introduction of FIMO, the first polymer clay that eventually became very popular as a medium for making the miniature foods and accessories for doll house collectors. Fimo was manufactured in Germany by Eberhardt Faber. During the 60’s it was used almost exclusively for that miniature work, the true strength of the
product hadn’t been tested. Eventually it was discovered that larger pieces could also be made from polymer, especially
with an inner structure, armature or some other internal frame. That’s when things really got interesting!
Chemical Compound: Polymer clay is a poly vinyl chloride product, a close relative to the PVC pipes that we all have in our
homes. It really isn’t a clay at all, it is a molding compound without any natural mineral components, but because it hardens, it became known as a “clay”.
Conditioning: Polymer clay has a viscosity that is supported by the plasticizers in the clay. That viscosity remains fluid until
the clay is exposed to heat. When you get a package of clay, those plasticizers are at rest. They need to be awakened so
you can use the clay. This process is called conditioning. There are several ways to condition clay, and I cover this at length
on my website, click on the Tutorials link and look at “Conditioning for Puppen Polymer Clay” and also “Clay Strength Bake
Tests” for extensive information about this.
But for small amounts of clay, the easiest is to just cut off a chunk of the clay and slice it up and then roll the pieces together. Twist, roll and twist until the clay becomes warm and pliable. This is the process of conditioning. You are ’waking
up’ the plasticizers. The good news is, once you do this, the clay will stay ’conditioned’ for a long time. I have had clay sitting in my storage cabinet for more than a few years before I get back to using it again, and it’s fine. All I have to do is slice
off a piece, warm it in my hands and start using it.
Storing Clay: A few words about storage of polymers. The clay will react badly with certain plastics and Styrofoam, so do
not store it in plastic wrap, or in contact with any Styrofoam, or plastic containers like Tupperware. The plasticizers will eat
right into the plastic or foam. Saran Wrap gets sticky when it comes in contact with polymer. Fold top sandwich bags, like
Glad brand are fine. That’s what I use, I condition clay and then place it into a sandwich bag, then store it in a dark, cool
cabinet in my studio. Lights adversely affect the clay, so keep it out of florescent lighting and also sunlight, of course would
be drying and harmful to the clay. Dark and cool is best. Heat is what processes the clay so you don’t want to expose it to
any heat until you are ready to cure it properly.
Curing Clay: Heat is the cure, so we want to keep the clay cool before the cure– that includes shipping. A car can reach 150
+ degrees in the summer, even hotter, so that would partially cure, and render useless, a bar of clay so don’t keep the clay
in the car, or your mailbox for any longer than absolutely necessary in the hot summer months.
Correct Temperatures: Clay cures at a very specific temperature, and those temperatures are different depending on the
brand. Some need 265 degrees, some need 275, some need 300. This is the target temperature at which the viscosity of
the plasticizers in the clay switch from liquid to solid. This is a scientific process, not a guessing game, so please invest in
oven thermometers to make sure your oven is accurate. 20 degrees too hot and you will have disaster on your hands. 10
degrees too cool and your clay will not cure properly and your sculpt will be fragile and will eventually crumble. You can
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not second guess the baking process so don’t do it, in spite of what you may have been told.
Naturally, you don’t want to go to all kinds of work creating a masterpiece, then sacrifice it to improper clay baking. I say two thermometers because they may not be completely accurate either but between the two of them,
resting on your baking sheet on either side of your work, you will have a fairly good idea of the temp in your
oven.
Baking: Do NOT start in a cool oven. I know there have been some who recommend this, but think about it.
Some ovens use both the top and bottom elements to PRE-heat to reach the target temp, often surpassing the
temp by 50 degrees before it settles down to the correct bake temp. Trust me when I say, you DO NOT want the
top element heating up with a sculpt in the oven. That will lead to browning/scorching of the sculpture. So preheat your oven to the exact temperature that is recommended on the package, then place your sculpt in the
oven for the recommended time. Set a timer, don’t bake for LESS than that recommended time. The packages
have instructions for a reason.
Armatures: Something that I do in my work is to have an internal armature. There are several reasons I do this,
but not the least important is that this assures my work will be baked all the way through, since I am prebaking
the armature, then sculpting the figure over that armature. So the clay added is only a few millimeters thick and I
can be confident that the next layers of clay will also be thoroughly cured.
Clay Mixing: Some people like to mix brands of clay to come up with what they feel is the prefect combination
for their tastes and ability. I don’t have a problem with that as long as the clays are made by the same company
and have the same baking requirements. You cannot bake Fimo clay at 300 degrees, it will burn. You can’t bake
Prosculpt at 265, like Fimo, because if you do it won’t be fully cured, so don’t mix brands! How will you be able to
figure out what temp you need, and for how long? Remember I said this is science, it’s chemistry, it is not a
guessing game, if you do, you will lose because the result will not be strong. It’s just better to stick to a certain
brand, don’t blend them. I blend Fimo and Puppen, because both products are Eberhardt Faber products. Check
the labels and be safe about it.
Safety: In 2009 the EPA cracked down on polyvinyl chlorides to avoid any environmental issues, and as a result of
that the EF company lowered the temps on packages of FIMO to 230 degrees. This is the absolute minimum temperature they could determine would still yield a cured clay. It is however, not a strong clay– as is shown in the
test results on my website. I checked with the company (who I used to work for doing free lance work and product testing and R/D) and they assured me I could still be comfortable baking FIMO clays at 265. I am not in favor
of the lower temp. They did this because some customers were not careful with their ovens and were overcuring the clay, leading to harmful emissions. Yes, burned clay is harmful to breathe so don’t risk doing that;
again, buy some oven thermometers and use them.
Finally, proper baking and handling of the clay. Be smart, be safe. Wash your hands while and after handling the
clay. Do not eat while handling clay. Don’t rub your eyes. Clean your tools and work surface often. If you bake in
your home oven, clean it with a self clean cycle often, or buy a counter top oven or a turkey roaster oven works
well too and dedicate that for your clay baking. You don’t want to ingest the plasticizers. You wouldn’t put your
oil painting brushes in your mouth while painting, so give this product the same respect. Keep the tools and supplies for clay use exclusively for clay use. And if you do happen to accidentally burn clay, turn the oven off, leave
it closed, set up a fan and open the windows. Let the area (and the smell) clear before occupying the area again.
Then clean your oven. And finally, have fun. I know I have told you some of the warnings, but this is a safe and
fun medium when used properly, and I want you to enjoy it, like I have for more than 25 years now! I will con6
tinue to add information throughout this class. Now, lets get this party started!
First Things First!
Our first steps in this class will be to make our armature, pose her and get that baked. We’ll also be making her
face in this class so that will come next. I tend to work in stages like this, I suggest you follow along this time, and
then once you become familiar with the steps, you can adjust and alter the process to suit your own style!
So gather your armature supplies and we’ll get her body built.
As I said earlier, I build the body armature, pose her and bake that, that gives me a solid core on which to build
the rest of the sculpture. And, this is my armature design that has served me well for many years! I use some
modifications of this for my more complex sculptures, but for our purpose in this class, this will work well. I will
also teach you how to attach this armature to the base for a secure setting.
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Armature
Square brass tubing
attached to the leg.
Shape wires into a figure similar to this diagram. You may choose to enlarge
or reduce this page as you wish. Follow instructions on the following pages to
shape the armature.
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Making an Armature
Stretch a piece of wire out as you see above. For my example I am using soft aluminum 14 ga wire so it bends
easily. This wire is about 20 inches long, we will trim the length later. Fold the wire in half, then twist down to the
shoulder split. Use your pliers to make the bends in the wire, shape like the diagram, then twist again for the
‘small of her back’. Then spread the wires out again for the hips. We’ll add her arm wires in the next step.
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Here is the armature laying next to the
ruler so you can see the size.
Below, I am showing how I cut the brass
square tubing. I have a well used piece
of wood, it’s a chunk of a 2x4; and I cut
on that to save the blade. You can also
use a fine blade hack saw.
Hold the tubing with a pliers when you’re cutting it, and also
wear safety glasses because these chunks can go flying!
After cutting the tubing, use the blade to sand the cut
edges. Or you can sand it with an emery board.
Here you see the tube cut and fit onto the leg.
Refer to the diagram for placement. You are going
to be cutting off the leg wire that goes inside the
tube, otherwise the rod wouldn’t fit up in there!
So leave about 1/2” (12.70 mm) of wire inside the
tube, cut the rest off.
Here you see I am using a small wire cutters and I am
crimping the tubing down onto the wire. Depending on
the size of wire you used, you will either have to really
squeeze, or not too much! ;) Your goal here is to crimp
the tubing onto the wire so there is no wiggling.
No Wiggling Allowed. You want a tight fit here.
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Now we will add the arm wire to the armature. Here I have used about a foot of wire, and as you can see, I
wound it around the shoulder wires of the armature. Center the wire, so you have an equal amount extending
out each side. Refer to the armature diagram again, and bend the ends of the arm wires up back onto themselves. This gives you doubled wire in the arms, and since her arms are poseable, this makes them stronger.
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Once again, twist the wires together, working back up toward the shoulder. Wrap the end in, and trim off the excess. Repeat for
the other arm. Then, again, referring to the diagram, bend the elbow on the black dot. For her neck, to get the proper neck posture, bend the neck forward, then fold it up again. See that below? This places the neck on the chest where it belongs, not straight
up out of the shoulders. Then shape her backbone into a nice curve. She isn’t a stick man so we want to give her some shape.
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Cloud Base
We’ll stop there for a bit and have some fun making a cloud for her
to stand on!
Now I have used Sculpey Ultra Light clay– that I just LOVE for certain
things. It is a mysterious clay, it feels almost chalky, and you would
think it would air dry, but it doesn’t. It too must be baked to be properly
cured.
So take about 1/4 of the package, (or you can use any white clay) and
condition it for a minute or two. Then roll out a chunk and cut some sections. Roll each one into a ball. Take a larger piece and form a disk like
you see here to the left. This is about 2”x3” (50.80 mm x 76.20 mm)
Press the balls down onto the base. For the smaller balls, cut one or two
in half and add those to the base. Arrange as you wish, press them down.
Bake this according to the package directions.
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To finish the base, I will apply a layer of glitter. This
photo show s the rod already inserted, more about
that in a moment. I was making two bases at once
here so I was working back and forth between them….
First I brush on a coating of Ceramcoat matte varnish–
and while that is wet, I apply a layer of glitter. Let that
dry.
TIP: Glitter and clay do NOT mix. When you
need to glitter something, work in another
area. When you see the cloud background, I am in my
kitchen, far away from my sculpting area.
Then to insert the rod, decide where the angel will stand by
holding the armature up on the base, mark where the tube is on
her leg, and then drill down into the base, drill down about 1/2”.
(12.70 mm)
Apply some super glue to the end of the rod and gently tap it
down into the clay.
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The first coating of glitter is very fine, ultra fine glamour
dust glitter. You may choose to use a larger scale glitter
too, it adds a lot of sparkle! To do that, once the first
coat is dry, go ahead and brush on some more varnish
and sprinkle on another layer.
In these photos I am adding that second layer of glitter, you can see it is quite large scale. I like the look though!
And you can also see the armature fitted to the base. Finally, in the photo directly above, I am applying a coating of clear
varnish all over the whole base, this seals the glitter down so you aren’t spreading glitter all over your work surface.
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Now to apply clay to the armature… I used Puppen
Natural for this, it is a very
strong clay and can take a lot
of bending. First, roll out a
coil, and taper the end down
to a point. Cut the length for
her leg, then repeat for the
other leg.
Slice through the coils,
not cutting all the way
through though, just
slice part way through
like a hot dog bun.
Open the coil up and
place it around the leg
wires, as you see here.
Fit the clay around the
wire and the tubing,
and seal up the seams.
Shape an egg ball and
cut that open in the
same manner.
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Open up that egg and place the wire armature inside. Bring the back around and sandwich the wires between
the two halves of the clay. She doesn’t have much shape yet, but we’ll work on that in a bit.
Next, roll or blend the seams closed, and also blend the leg clay up and attach it to the body clay.
TIP:
A knitting needle has become one of my most used and favorite sculpting
tools. And talk about easy, and accessible! You can buy sets at craft stores in sizes
from 8 or larger, all the way down to sets that include 000. Those are sock knitting
kits. Buy them in different colors so you will become accustomed to certain colors
being certain sizes. It will become second nature, grabbing the color you need.
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Ahhh…. There is the knitting needle again!
*I will refer to them as
“KN” in this class.
Use the KN to roll the
seams closed, and to
start to shape her little
body. Remember, we’re
keeping this class more
simplistic, so all I am
doing is narrowing her
waist and giving her a
little round bottom.
The shoulder width is
right at the edges of the
wire, no wider at this
point. You don’t want
her to get too broad
shouldered.
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All smooth! Now, before I bake her, I will insert wires into her back. This is a trick I have to assure that the wings will
fit exactly. The wire I use to insert in her back is the same wire I use when I make her wings. So for this purpose, cut
2 pieces of armature wire, about a 1.5” long, (38.10 mm). This is either the 18 ga or the 14 ga. Press these wires
down into her back, at an angle as you see here. They can go almost all the way through to her tummy. You will 19
now bake this armature according to the label directions. For my purpose, I bake at 265 degrees for 30 minutes.
Notes
To bake the armature, lay her on a bed of fiberfill, covered with a Kleenex tissue. I don’t know what it
is about Kleenex, but for some reason, that tissue doesn’t stick to clay like Puffs do, or other brands do.
And some paper towels stick too, so I use Kleenex. One of those weird things you discover while working on things like this!
Keep your surface and your tools clean. A glass cleaner that contains alcohol is very helpful in keeping
things clean because the alcohol cuts the plasticizers in the clay. It breaks them down so you can properly clean the clay off. Paper towels are great, but a soft cloth that is lint free, like a dish towel is also
good for cleaning things up. Wash your hands often– this helps keep the clay clean too, because the
texture of your skin holds tiny particles of dust. These will transfer to the clay, that’s frustrating, so do
wipe your hands off on paper toweling.
Wear light colored clothing while you’re working. No dark colors and no fuzzy fabrics or you will drive
yourself crazy trying to carve lint out of your clay. Blue jeans have a lot of lint in them too– so be
aware of that– you may not realize how much you touch your legs or lay a work towel on your lap!
Scraping your arms on your desk puts out lots of lint too– so again, wearing white helps with this. I
mention this now because we’re going to start sculpting the face— it doesn’t matter with the armature
because that gets covered up. But we do want to try to keep things as clean as possible, but we do
want to keep the flesh clay clean.
The less you handle the clay, the better. That’s why I will have you working on a stick, or in my case, a
wooden knitting needle, (available in yarn shops) that helps keep my hands off the clay as much as possible. Because people have a tendency to grip the clay, they squish hard work they have spent hours
fine tuning. So beware of what I call the Death Grip. Hold the stick, and learn to support your work on
the back side with your finger. This way you avoid what almost all newcomers do, and that is to hold
the sculpt on either side of the face. You won’t realize you’re doing it, but you are squeezing it, and
before long your face will be distorted. So, remember, less is more. And as you become more skilled,
less is all you will need. :) Over kill is just that.
Practice Really Does Make Perfect. Or close to it. Heck, even veterans are still learning. It is actually
the most exciting part of this journey for me, and that is of the new discovery. They still happen! And it
has kept me enthralled with this medium for a quarter century now! I have never had as much fun or
learned as much, traveled to far corners of my country, or met as many very nice, cool, interesting people as I have on this track in my life. Who knew? Polymer clay allowed me to be creative enough to
have my work reproduced and sold in high end gift stores for several years. How cool is THAT? It
wouldn’t have been possible without polymer clay.
So give yourself a chance.
And most important of all, be patient with yourself.
And have fun. It’s All Good.
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Sculpting a Simple Head
What you see to the far left is what I
call a Head Pop. This is a piece of clay
that is baked right on the KN, then
while you’re sculpting the needle won’t
poke through the top of the head.
Ok! Here we go. First, roll a ball of clay a little larger than in inch in diameter. Cut the ball in half. Coat the Head Pop with some liquid clay, then sandwich the Head Pop in between the two halves. Smooth out the edges.
In this portion of the class, I will be showing you
a lot of photos in a step—by—step sequence. I
hope this process is self- explanatory but I will
include instructions for you as well.
Remember, this is a simplified process, and Less
is More. So try not to overwork the clay. For
children, their features are smooth and uncomplicated. We’ll try to duplicate that here.
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Roll a coil of clay and insert a KN up through the coil to make an opening for the KN that is attached to the
Head Pop. Slip the coil up onto the KN, and use another KN to roll the edges up onto the head ball. This
forms a simple neck. In the last photo you can see I have shaped the back of the head and flattened the
front where the face will be formed.
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Next, using a needle tool, I mark the face into
quadrants. Then indent for the eye sockets. For a
child, this would be just under the half way mark
on the face. A child’s features are all in the lower
half of their face. That’s why they look like they
have large foreheads– they actually DO. As they
grow, their features stretch out and they grow
into their face. Think about how large the permanent teeth sometimes are on a child. They can be
huge! And CUTE. But eventually they grow and
those teeth fit them properly. But because teeth
don’t grow with the child, this is necessary.
For an adult, the eye socket is right on the halfway
mark.
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Facial Features
To the left, these are the pieces of clay I will be adding to her face. So roll out a coil of
clay, about 5mm in diameter, and cut two sections for the cheeks, one for the chin
and a tiny one for the nose. Shape them as you see here.
First, I want to build up her chin– so I add that chin ball to her face and roll the edges in. Next, I add her nose, and
once again, smooth those edges out onto her face. I wan the nose to be tiny– so I spread the clay out onto her
cheeks. In the lower section, using the scalpel, I cut in for the mouth, then using a dental tool, I open the mouth
up a little bit. Round that out with the KN.
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Next, I will add a tiny piece of clay for a bottom lip. This is just subtle, I don’t want a big lip. After the lip clay is on,
smooth it out with a brush or a KN. Cheeks are next. They look large, but we’ll smooth them in. Using the KN, I
am smoothing the inner curve of the cheek, against the nose. I want to keep that ‘smile line’, but not have it be
too sharp. In the lower photo, I am brushing her nose up a little, and shaping the tip of it.
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These photos show the steps to refining her cheeks, and also shaping the nostrils. Using KN and a paint brush, I
shape the tip of her nose. Below, I am rolling the forehead clay down to help form her brow. Notice her profile
from the side, and how her features are all in the lower half of her head. Also, in the last photo below, notice the
features are touching the line, with a little slope to her forehead. This is a feminine trait, the male brow is more
angular here.
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Eyes are next. For my angel, I am using prebaked eyeballs, as explained below. Cut the ball in half, giving you two
halves the same diameter. If you don’t get the cut exactly in half, you can try again and match two halves as
closely as you can. Place them on the face, check for alignment, then press them into the head. Notice the photo
from the side, they are placed so they break the plane of the face. Using a needle tool, make indents for the lids.
To Make Clay Eyeballs: Mix 7 parts Effects #014 with 1 part #0 White Fimo clay. Blend completely. Roll out a long
coil and cut several segments in different sizes.
Fold a piece of paper into a fan fold, place this on your baking sheet. Roll the clay segments into tiny balls, and as
you make them, drop them into the creases of the fan folded paper. This will keep them from rolling around on
the baking sheet and touching each other. Bake at 265 degrees for about 20 minutes.
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Ahh, now the pieces get really tiny! In the photo above, I have rolled out a coil of clay and cut some tiny eyelids.
Notice that the tips of the eyelids are pointed, this just makes it easier when I apply them to the face. The
pointed ends will go into the inner corner of her eyes, with the blunt ends toward the outer corners. After placing
the lids on her eyes, (I place the lower lid first, then the upper lid) just slightly smooth the edges of the eyelid
onto the face. Smooth out the area with a brush– then we’ll add a little more flesh to just under the eyebrow.
This gives your angel a sweet, feminine look. So, two small segments are rolled and then flattened, and applied to
just over her eye. Roll the edges off onto the face. Finally, before moving on, run a needle tool between the eyeball and the upper lid. This leaves room for the eyelash strip that will be added later.
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Now we’ll do a little tweaking on her lips. Using a brush, I lift gently on her upper lip, curling it up and out. I also
placed a small indentation in the lower lip, this gives her lower lip a nice plump look. Also, using a brush, I press
in on the corners of her mouth, in her cheeks, to give her a slightly dimpled effect in her cheeks. All of this is very
subtle, not a lot of movement and motion here. The more you add to a child’s face, the older they will look, so
once again, less is more.
Then finally, once I am happy with her features, I give her a good rub down with an alcohol swab. This removes a
lot of the dirt and dust particles that invariably get into the clay. She is now ready for cute little ears!
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Now, don’t panic, these ears are a simplified version also. Just some basic steps to giver her the appearance of
having ears.
With that coil again, cut two sections. Flatten them into a disk. Apply to the side of her head, we’ll work on one at
a time. Using the KN, smooth in the front edge, then form the letter C in the ear. In this case, the C is backwards.
For the other ear, it won’t be! ;) After the outer, larger C is shaped into the ear, make another small c in the ear
for the ear canal. Lift that out a little bit, them smooth the top C down into the lower c a little bit.
The ear is placed on the head in the
middle of the head, and the top of the
ear is attached at the point where a
straight line would go back from the
corner of the eye.
Think about where the bow of a pair of
glasses go, this is the alignment for the
ear.
So the ear is attached to the head, the
top of the ear is above that line. I hope
that makes sense. The bow of the
glasses are tucked between the ear
and the scalp, and rest on where the
ear is attached to the head.
I think that is clear.
As mud. :) Nah, you get it. :D
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Next Week
Ok, enough for this week! You did well, sticking
with me for this much!
Next week we will sculpt the body and attach her head to her torso. Her legs are simplified,
with little ‘shoe shaped feet’, which will allow us to make cute slippers for her. That’s something that is fun to learn and can be used for other projects too!
Finally we’ll sculpt her hands– making them cute and chubby– and have her ready for costuming. Thanks for being here with me! See you right back here, next week!
Hugs, Deb
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© Deb Wood /Enchanted Hearts 2013. All Rights Reserved
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