Final month I shared my preliminary impressions of air dry paperclay as a new-to-me medium for sculpting. Two of my first three items discovered houses instantly, which is a measure of success I can’t declare for my polymer clay sculpting. Total I discovered paperclay simple sufficient to work with that I’ve spent one other month creating with it. I can’t say I’ve totally put paperclay by its paces to get an intensive understanding of what it could actually do. However, I do have a barely higher grasp on what I can do with it, at the least when it comes to protecting glass containers.
Why have I targeted on protecting glass containers with paperclay as a substitute of constructing free-standing 3-D sculptures and even bas reduction sculptures on flat surfaces? Nicely, I’ve a small drawback concerning saving glass jars. Okay, it’s a giant drawback. I’m almost incapable of eliminating glass containers as soon as I’ve consumed their contents. And so, I’ve a not-small assortment of glass jars simply begging to be upcycled into artwork.
One of many items I created this month is a slight revision of a design from final month. The tree stump with blue oyster mushrooms was claimed by a pal (who continues to be patiently ready for me to take it to the Put up Workplace) after which another person requested about shopping for it. I don’t usually revisit a design, principally as a result of I’ve too many others I need to strive. However, I did want I had performed a number of issues in a different way with the primary jar, so I noticed this as an excuse for a do-over. The modifications aren’t large, and principally consist of some extra mushrooms, together with one within the hole. And I made the moss patches bigger this time.
The second piece I created this month was impressed by a quote about resilience. I don’t bear in mind the place or after I first learn it, however I saved it in my concepts ebook (which some folks name a sketch ebook, however I don’t sketch a lot as make notes about design concepts). I don’t know the origin or attribution of the quote. I requested Google and it led me down too many rabbit holes. So please forgive me for attributing it to “unknown” right here however Google is just not essentially the definitive supply for reality checking.
They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we had been seeds.
~Unknown
I didn’t use your entire quote in my upcycled jar undertaking, simply the final three phrases. I feel anybody acquainted with the quote, or with whom the quote resonates, will know the remaining. In my concepts ebook, I famous the phrases would have roots within the soil and wildflowers rising from the tops of the letters. There have been much more flowers, with much more practical element, in my concept than in my execution. I simplified the design by lowering the full variety of flowers to 1 or two per phrase as a substitute of 1 per letter. And the flowers are extra folk-art than practical.
To create the design in paperclay, I coated a gesso-coated glass jar with a sheet of clay after which used a ball-end instrument to impress the phrases and roots. I additionally evenly marked in the place the flower stems, blooms, and leaves would go. I turned the ellipsis within the partial quote into seeds with the beginnings of roots. If I had been to do that one over – and there’s an opportunity I’ll – I feel I’d add the beginnings of shoots breaking by the soil from their tops.
After the bottom layer was speed-dried within the oven, I added the flower blooms, stems, and leaves. I used cutters for a few of the flower blooms, as a result of I’ve an assortment of cutters in my polymer clay provides. Others had been reduce from clay with a craft knife after first tracing them from my sketch. The stems and leaves had been “free-hand” cuts from a skinny sheet of clay. After making use of the flower elements to the bottom layer, I used a ball-end instrument and a sculpting instrument that I don’t know what it’s known as (however you’ll be able to see it the picture above) so as to add dimension and texture particulars to the clay.
As soon as the flower layer was velocity dried, I primed the jar for portray with layers of gesso and gloss medium. After which I turned the entire thing black with a wash of black acrylic paint which I left to dry in a single day. The following morning, I eliminated many of the black wash utilizing isopropyl alcohol. This technique of making use of a wash to accent texture and particulars is from a ebook I purchased final month. It’s a bit extra tedious and time consuming than the brush-on and instantly wipe-off approach I often use with polymer clay. However it does appear to remain within the crevices higher and I like the general form of graphic impact I get from accenting the feel within the background in addition to the foreground particulars.
Portray the flowers and background was slightly difficult given my poor brush management. I painted the flowers first after which the background. I ended up getting a few of the blue sky background shade on the perimeters of the flowers and leaves. Once I tried to the touch up the flowers, I acquired flower-colored paint on the blue sky background. Lather, rinse, repeat. After in regards to the third spherical of that, utilizing more and more smaller brush suggestions, I surrendered to the inevitable.
I don’t have any insightful feedback or useful recommendations on working with paperclay after my second month experimenting. What I do have is a field of glass jars, a number of extra packages of paperclay, and pages of design concepts. So, watch this house. Additionally, I did handle to attain some recent polymer clay a pair weeks in the past. If I plan effectively, I can work polymer clay initiatives in whereas ready for layers of paperclay and acrylic paint to dry. And use the residual warmth within the oven from curing polymer clay to hurry dry paperclay.
Thanks a lot for stopping by my weblog. I hope these initiatives have brightened your day. Please go away a remark if the spirit strikes you. And if you wish to see extra photographs of my work – together with works in progress as they occur – and with fewer phrases connected, you’ll be able to comply with @PaisleyLizard on instagram.