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This is the point when you make the base. A base is the thing that
lets your sculpture stand up, and forms the ground. You can make anything
from a simple flat disk to a complicated jumble of rocks, plants etc. that
is a piece of art in itself.
Tear off about 2 feet of tinfoil and crumple it into a disk about as long as your critter. The foil MUST be crumpled, not folded, or it won't have enough structural integrity to support your critter. Pack it hard, but not so hard that the wire protruding from your critter's feet can't go through it. |
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My base is going to have a couple termite mounds on it for my anteater to investigate. I built one of them into the foil this way. Remember, if you want to have multiple objects on a base, you must work in odd numbers--1, 3, 5, etc. I'll have one anteater and two termite mounds, so my composition will be pleasing. |
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Cover the base in clay. This stage will take a while, depending on the size of your base. Make sure that the edges are covered on the bottom, but do not cover the entire bottom side in clay. 1) it's a waste of clay and 2) a solid clay base might crack during baking. |
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Smooth the clay with your spoon/sculptor's thumb. I dug up some pictures of termite mounds and did some shaping on it. I also added more foil to make it taller than my anteater. |
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To texture your base, make a ball of foil ... |
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... and press it into the clay over and over. You'll get a nice "stony" texture that you can make into dirt, grass, etc. when you paint it. I also used the same texture on my termite mound. |
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Start putting the fur on your critter. You do this by scratching the
surface of the clay with a sharp tool. Don't line up all the hairs side
by side like a picket fence--break them up a little and make them random.
Put very fine lines on the face, and put bold deep ones where the fur is
the longest, like on the sides. Putting on the fur is relaxing and kind
of hypnotic, and takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours.
Some animals have wrinkles instead of fur. Check your reference. Wrinkles are just like fur, except longer, and only in certain places, like around the joints. |
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Put fur/wrinkles on your entire animal. Make sure you check your reference pictures to see in what direction the fur grows. |
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Make sure you also put fur on the belly and the inside of the legs.
It's easier to put it on first, because you tend to rub out the fur on
the rest of the body if you don't.
Sometimes as you put on fur, you tend to make little "fuzzy" bits of clay that build up on the tool. Pat these down and avoid making them if you can. They really mess up the look when you paint it. |
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Tail time! Look at your reference pictures and see what kind of tail your critter has. A dog or a cat will have a simple skinny tail. An anteater's tail is very bushy, like a fox's. Make it seperately. Attach it to the base of the critter's spine, and not coming out of its butt. It's amazing how many people don't realize that "tailbone" refers to "the place where a tail attaches". |
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Now put your animal on its base and pose it! You attach it by sticking the wire from its feet down into the base. If your base is thin, you will need to trim the wires until it fits. |
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I wanted my anteater investigating the termite mound as a lunch source, so I put one of his paws up on it and bent his head around. (Notice that about this point you will start addressing your sculpture as if it can hear you.) |
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Now it's time to put on the feet. You usually put the feet on last
because they get squashed easily otherwise. Sometimes you can actually
bake the sculpture, then put the feet on over the hardened clay, and bake
it again. That works for very large sculptures.
Anyway, put a glob of clay on the end of the leg in the general shape of a foot. |
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Take your sharp tool and etch three or four "toe" lines on the glob. Animals have five toes, usually--four pointing forward, and a dewclaw, or "thumb". This varies from critter to critter, so make sure to look it up. |
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Each "toe" will have square edges. Round them off to make them look like toes. You'll probably have to use tools for this, unless you have very small fingers. |
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Last of all, add tiny pieces of clay for the claws. This detail pays off later, when you paint the sculpture. |
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Put on the finishing touches--rocks and grass on the base, an extra
termite mound, whatever you can think of. Also go over your critter and
re-add any texture that might have been rubbed out. I tend to get fingernail-nicks
in mine, so I have to rub those out.
Also to remember to engrave your name and the date somewhere on the base. And now you're ready to bake it! Super Sculpey can be baked in a conventional oven at 275 F, or 135 C. A sculpture this size (about 8" x 5" x 8") should be baked about 30 minutes. Smaller ones can be baked for 15, and larger ones should go 45-60 minutes. |