I’m trying some new things this year. I decided to try making armatures out of compacted newspaper wrapped with aluminum foil. I could have used all foil but I wanted to recycle. So far, it’s worked pretty well. Nothing I’ve covered and baked has cracked and it all seems pretty solid. I’m not sure how I am going to hang these ornaments when they’re done. I’ll figure that out later.
Three birdies dancing. These are the armatures covered with scrap clay, painted and baked. I am going to add some more clay features and bake again. The crooked beaks are intentional. I want the birds to have personality.
One Birdy Baking
I added a drop of the ink to about two tablespoons of liquid clay to paint the bird.. You don’t need much ink; a little goes a long way
I like the translucent look of the tinted liquid clay. Since my scrap clay was mud colored, I painted the bird with white acrylic clay before I baked him the first time to get the full effect of the translucent clay. He gets a second baking for the blue layer.
One sea turtle swimming. This guy has the same newspaper and foil core. I painted the fins with liquid clay tinted green to test the effect. He still needs a lot of details added and a proper shell.
This ornament will be a pussy cat. It’s baseball sized and built around a newspaper and foil core,
It’s starting to take shape. I haven’t decided whether to give him crazy feet or put feathers in his mouth.
I’ll ask the model what he thinks.
