A place to encourage the creativity of artistic minds of all ages. Offering Ideas, Inspiration and Instruction and sharing the work of others who inspire me!
Showing posts with label polymer clay idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polymer clay idea. Show all posts
Yes, I recently posted a compilation of the clay figurines I have created for gifts over the past couple of years. Strange thing is I thought I had videos of the beginning to end process on YouTube, but nope. So off to work I went and voila, here is a video intended to teach, encourage and inspire others to get out the polymer clay, tools, armature, powders, tape, tin foil and baking supplies and get sculpting your own personalized gift. My two male figures are about 8 inches tall. I don't have the patience for miniature scale.
Watch Tutorial Video Below.
Thanks for stopping by. Here is the last article with links that go to each video with the article links. Come and join my HeArtfully Creating group on Facebook. As well as our fan page here. Here is where you can leave your original artwork,questions and thoughts here. There is a guideline page. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Enjoy creating. HeArtfully Creating. Anita
Hi guys! I just wanted to share A pair of faux knitted square stud earrings that I recently made for fun. After watching some photo knitting Techniques and polymer clay, I tried and tried and couldn't seem to get it to look like knitting.
After some more learning, I figured out what I was doing wrong.
So please learn from my mistake, I'm going to post a couple of video Tutorials So you can learn how to create the faux knitting look in clay.
My mistake? Make sure you twist the two strands of clay in one direction, twisting away from you and then the second set of strands, twist towards you, laying them down side by side, in alternating directions.
That way when you lay them side-by-side they will look like the knitted look you're going for. For the longest time I was stumped and didn't get it, I'm a slow learner. The key is to not give up. Once you get that part, it is a very Simple technique that looks real. We all know that knitted items are soft and squishy. So when you touch these, Of course they are not.
To Make The Pink Square Studs that I Did You Need...
💗 A set of earring studs with backs that have a flat disc to attach clay to
💗 2 complimentary colours of Polymer Clay of your own choosing
💗 Krazy Glue or a strong bonding glue OR, you can push the post base into the clay in it's unbaked state and bake it on
💗 Mica Powder for Sparkle
💗 Straight blade cutter
💗 Needle tool
What Next?
💗 Watch the video tutorials below to learn how to "knit" with clay. The smaller you roll out the strips of clay, the smaller your "knitting" stitches will be. In the videos below, are a few various sizes. MoClay's brooch stitches are about the closest to my stud square size.
Once you create a small sheet of "stitches," cut out matching squares. Mine are about 1cm x 1cm or 10mm x 10mm. I did not use a cookie cutter but if you have one, you can.
Then I laid each square onto a contrasting colour that I rolled out to the same thickness almost. Taking a straight blade, slice along all 4 side of your knitted square. Smooth it all out on the edges with your fingers.
💗Texturing: I took a needle tool and poked a texture into the back and sides of the coloured back.
💗Highlighting: Then I took a a hint of mica powder from the lid of my powder and highlighted wherever I thought best.
💗Bake face up, flat, on a piece of cardstock or paper on a ceramc tile, at the manufacturer's temperature for one hour. Yes, it says a shorter time on the package, but I have learned from other artists the clay is stronger when baked at least one hour even if it is thin. Or you can bake them on a crumpled up tissue if you want.
💗Once Cooled. I just squirted a bit of Krazy Glue on the center back and placedd the posts on. Let sit for a while.
Voila, all done!
FAUX KNITTING TUTORIAL VIDEOS
Be inspired and comment below letting me know if you have try this technique. I would love to know how it went for you.
Even though Anita doesn't like sharing her work before it is all done, she wants to encourage all of you artists of all ages, by showing the "ugly" stages we creations go through in order to turn into something pretty darn handsome (well, in my case that is :o) Yes, we turned out pretty cute, so come along and see part one of our long road to becoming us!
Copyright 2017 -All Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Now on with the show, This is it....
To begin a three dimensional figurine or sculpture, it always helps to do some research, depending on what you want to create. In this instance I wanted to make something special for our most favourite of letter carriers. Even though we see him every day we don't always remember the details of uniform. So I researched or Googled" Canada Post uniforms" and from that had a better idea of what I needed to do.
To be honest (not that I'm usually lying, But you know what I mean.), I am terrible at doing preliminary sketches and drawings because, usually I have an image in my head and work from that.
Step number one: what you see here is the very Basic beginning I my style of an Armature. Using toothpicks or skewers and wire, tinfoil, and masking tape or even scotch tape, I begin to lay out basically a skeleton of my figure.
Step Number two: Sorry I kind of jumped ahead too quickly. I love the art making process so much that I get caught up and forget to take pictures of important steps. So I hope you get the just from the photos that I do have.
As you can see, once the Armature or skeleton is made, I add scraps of polymer clay to cover up the foundational part. The part that has the little green blob of clay and toothpick, is just a temporary support to hold JJ up while I bake him at 275°F for about 30 minutes. Yes, the package directions do give a different time, but I like to follow the polymer clay tutor, as well as others. The longer you make the clay the better or the stronger I guess. If the oven temperature is correct, you can NOT burn the clay. Because this is the first bake of many, I won't be keeping it in for one hour, which would be my usual time regardless of how thick the clay is.
Step Number Three: because unbaked polymer clay doesn't seem to stick well to baked clay, I use Sculpey's bake and bond or liquid clay. So voilà, here are the beginning of JJ's facial features. Remember, it is just the beginning.
You have no idea how difficult it is to share incomplete artwork with others. As you can imagine, it is because it won't actually look like it does now once all is said and done. But it is important to me to share this with anyone who might be encouraged or inspired to make art. I am forever telling my husband, "it isn't finished yet!" Plus this also helps me to document my work in progress therefore giving me a record to referred to in the future.
Step Number Four:Hee hee, if only I could do this to my husband, Ha ha! Create some warm hair covering for his bare head!
Since I can with polymer clay sculptures, here is how I added hair to JJ's head. You can do it however you like. I have seen some clay artists add a foundation of clay and then roll up strands of hair using polymer clay, placing them where ever they want. In this case I add a bit of the bake and bond or liquid polymer clay and then lay on my Clay pieces. Using whatever tool I prefer, a then shape or cut the sculptures hair accordingly.
Really and truly there are no rules when it comes to sculpting or making art. For me personally, I watch other people to create online I'm Using channels like YouTube, and books and articles and blogs and then apply all that wonderful wisdom add hope I too can create something wonderful. The choice is up to you!
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Part Number Five:
Okay so I skipped a few more photos. So he went from having a cold, Bald head to having some hair and a whole bearded face!
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Part Number Six: Even though JJ's hair was going to be covered with a couple of hats, (as you will see in part two or three) I still gave him a full head of hair first and then started to add on the first hat. Yes I could have left the hat areas bald, but I find it helps to treat my human like sculptures as if they are just that, human. It helps to play a more realistic foundation. That is just my opinion. Of course if you want to leave out anything the choice is totally up to you! By the way, "two hats?" you ask. Well, we live where it is actually winter, where there is Snow and these days rain, Hail, freezing rain, and therefore some very cold days, so our letter carriers often wear more than one hat, not to mention sweaters long johns and whatever it takes to keep them warm and dry. Quite the challenge! Just ask my dear husband, he was a letter carrier for almost 2 decades up here in Canada. He knows what it's like and fully understands why one would choose to wear two hats. He wants me to let you know that he would wear an all in one hat covering his beard and his Head. That is actually called a bellaclava sp? And on top of that his second hat of choice was a big, furry and warm. :o)
Important Tip:
Because you do not want to damage the work already done, I bake as I go.
Yes, you can work on your figure without baking at all until the end. But based on experience, as well as all that internets wisdom I have learned, I highly suggest that you bake at key stages. Turns out it is very tricky to add details like the perfect nose or ears, and then still work on clothing, shoes, all that fun stuff - without damaging other areas of your sculpture. So trust me, bake as you go! Or learn like me, and find out the hard way.
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
Step number Seven is really another Tip:
Avoiding damage to your great creation, can be a challenge. Sometimes if there our air bubbles in any of your layers of clay or trapped in the Armature when you bake your clay, things can crack as you can see in JJ's elbow here.
Just do your best to make sure that you squeeze out or poke a teeny needle hole wherever you suspect or see an air pocket. Trust me it will save you a lot of additional work. Actually this is nothing, Come back for to see what I mean!
Copyright 2017 - Images and art work by Anita Berglund
This is just the beginning.
Thanks for stopping by! Will be back soon with part two. You won't want to miss it !
Thanks to my recent computer crashes, I am unable to post anything consistently. Even right now I type this praying my computer won't croak before I am done :o) Forgive me if it is too short on details. I don't want to take to long, just incase. Meet ARTEE The Sea Turtle!
Artee took about three weeks to make. He was adopted by our dear young friend. We wanted to give him a special gift. Here is in his full fashion grade eight graduation ensemble.
