This week I have been working with the paper clay mix to make the saddles for the animals. I like this clay mix because it is very soft and easy to shape. And provided that you can keep from sticking fingers in it once you have it like you want it, it will hold nicely in place even when the animal is standing upright.
To make this clay I used toilet tissue, water, and white multi-purpose glue. More information on proportions of the mix, scroll back to last week's blog post. If you are unable to scroll back, visit the blog at folkartbycaroljones.blogspot.com. Otherwise, you can just wing it easily enough. The main thing to remember is that you want the tissue damp, add some glue, and then add in more water until the mix is soft and easy to squish into a ball of clay. Keep working the clay until it is smooth.
After getting the clay shaped on the animal, I used first smooth the clay with a light touch of water to help get out any lines, fingerprints, or tool marks. Then I go over it a second time with a fifty-fifty mixture of water and white glue to finish smoothing and seal it with glue. To date, I have not had one of the accessories develop cracks as it dries. I have had this problem with some commercial air dry clays.
So far, I have completed three of the animals. I had to stop and give my hand a rest for a few days. Sculpting is becoming hard on my hands. If I overuse them, then I may have to ice and rest them for a couple of days to get the swelling to go down.
Of course, the animals and their accessories still need to be sanded. I am hoping that the heat wave will break soon. While I was sculpting these the temperature was in the upper 90s to 100+ degrees with heat indexes of higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not fun to be out sanding in the sun wearing a dust mask in those temperatures.
The goat and the rabbit (photo below) were covered with a cotton ball clay to give some texture to their hair. Before the clay was added, they were created using the strip paper method as in the horse above.
The rabbit is the last one I have completed. I still have one horse and the tiger to finish. I am saving the tiger for last. I really wanted to get as much experience with the clay as I could before starting to work on him.
Anyway, that is as far as I was able to get this week. By next blog post I should have the two other animals' saddles added.
Once the saddles are finished, I will be working on the bridles. I will be trying a different method to make the bridle parts. I will be blogging more on that in upcoming posts.
Check back next Monday or Tuesday for the next blog post.
