SCULPTING ANIMAL FIGURES WITH GLASS, MODELING CLAY, AND ACRYLIC PAINT
newsl...@imaginationstreet.com
pictures of her cats please go to:
www.imaginationstreet.com/art/howto/felinefigurines.stm
SCULPTING ANIMAL FIGURES WITH GLASS, MODELING CLAY, AND ACRYLIC PAINT
BY MARTY STRUM
Fancy Felines were inspired by the love of cats but this project could
be done for dogs or other animals as well. Imagination can turn any
object into another object. Add ingenuity and patience and the object
can then turn into an art form.
The heads of these animals are clear glass Christmas balls. It is
important to choose clear balls rather than colored. When acrylic
paint or spray is applied over that previous coat, the previous coat
may buckle up and peel off.
Start by cleaning the ball well with a detergent so no oil is on it.
Paint a coat of the main color. If it's a white faced cat start with
white, etc. After this dries completely, recoat it. Let it dry again.
At this point, turn the ball upside down to fit the hanger down inside
the neck of the bottle to hide it. Sketch a face you like on the ball
with a pencil, not an ink pen. Ink can sometimes 'bleed' through.
Start painting the details. Outline the nose and eyes if an animated
look is desired.
when all details are completed, the ears can be added. Do not spray
with acrylic clear coat before adding the ears or the glue will not
adhere to the surface. The ears on the Fancy Felines were cut from a
soft craft foam sheet and glued on with superglue. The foam can be
purchased in many different colors but the foam can also be painted
with acrylic, insuring the color matches the paint already being used
for the rest of the project. Superglue is about the only glue that
will adhere to the glass ball and be durable.
After the head is completed it can be sprayed with acrylic clear coat
letting it dry completely between each coat. It is very important at
this stage to let it dry between coats. If not dried completely or if
too heavy of a coat is applied, the paint will start peeling off.
The paws and other details were formed using the FIMO or Sculpty clay
that is baked at about 200 in a kitchen oven. Once again it may be
purchased in many colors or baked, cooled and then painted.
The body form is a glass bottle. The ones here have no raised writing.
There are many, many possibilities in choosing the bottles. Some look
like a fat, rolly, polly creature, some look tailored. Choose the one
that expresses your character the best.
Two different methods were used to shape the clay features. Some were
shaped onto the bottle and then baked at a very low temp of about 100.
This will give a very nice fit but should not be trusted to stay on
all by themselves after they cool. To insure a reliable adhesion add
some superglue under the item later.
The second method is to shape the item and bake it. After cooling and
painting it, attach with superglue. The very last item to attach to
the bottle after painting it is the head because it is such fragile
glass it can be broken easily, obviously it should not be baked.
Other detail items such as silver tea sets, baskets of gardening
tools, etc. can be found in the dollhouse section of a craft store and
hats can be purched in the doll making area. Fabric can be stiffened
with Elmer's glue and then painted with acrylic. And last but not
least, libraries can provide details of clothing from pilots uniforms
to wedding dresses.
Let your imagination go...and then follow it! Have fun.
Jeanne Rhea
I have a couple of suggestions. Most polymer clays are not durable at all
unless cured to their suggested temperatures. That is usually between 215F-
270F (Cernit) and about 275F for the others. Sculpey is the most fragile of
the clays so that makes it even more important to cure at the higher
temperatures.
Also, one question---Did you know that when one goes to see this link, it is
impossible to get out of it without shutting down the computer? A window
came up and was way too large for my screen and I could not pull it up or
down to get a spot to click on to close the window. Had to shut down to get
rid of it. There may be a secret somewhere to close it, but I spent ten
minutes trying to figure it out. Most annoying. DH could not find a way to
close it either.
Nice project!
Jeanne
http://www.heartofclay.com
eBay auctions
http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/vintagenet2/
"ka...@imaginationstreet.com" <newsl...@imaginationstreet.com> wrote in
message news:c73c9ab5.03051...@posting.google.com...
Lori Wu
console link at the top of the screen. That's what closed it. otherwise i
would have ctrl-alt-del and killed IE.
Lori
--
--------------------------
Lori Wu
lw...@stanford.edu
LSW Polymer Clay Beads
Be sure to check out my auctions at Auctionbeads.com:
http://www.auctionbeads.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?action=aboutdisp&Lwu
81
"Jeanne Rhea" <jr...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:OZywa.32321$Lm2.2...@twister.southeast.rr.com...
Jeanne Rhea
mentioned to hit and hold ALT and F4 together. It works!
Jeanne
"Jeanne Rhea" <jr...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:OZywa.32321$Lm2.2...@twister.southeast.rr.com...
Jeanne Rhea
Thanks."Upeggedme" <pla...@clayful.com> wrote in message
news:7cm5cvod7qtb3tlli...@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 14 May 2003 21:58:06 GMT, "Jeanne Rhea" <jr...@nc.rr.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Also, one question---Did you know that when one goes to see this link, it
is
> >impossible to get out of it without shutting down the computer? A window
> >came up and was way too large for my screen and I could not pull it up or
> >down to get a spot to click on to close the window. Had to shut down to
get
> >rid of it. There may be a secret somewhere to close it, but I spent ten
> >minutes trying to figure it out. Most annoying. DH could not find a way
to
> >close it either.
>
>
> page you click--Please close our "Search The Web" Console. And it
> closes without booting.
>
>
> --
> Margie