Clay Art Challenge Day 24

For today's clay challenge I went with a conical shaped shell for my snail. This little guy is sculpted using three colored types of Super Sculpey.

Clay Art Challenge Day 22

Starting wire armature. Eyes added.

 Adding some Ave's clay to the armature.

 Sculpting in Super Sculpey Firm polymer clay.

 Test fitting the shell before baking.

 Beginning to paint the snail in acrylic paint.

The finished snail.

Clay Art Challenge Day 21

For today's snail creature I used colorized Super Sculpey. The only thing painted are its eyes.

Clay Art Challenge Day 19

 Starting off with my snail & tin foil shell armatures.

 Covering the armature with Super Sculpey firm.

 Detailing the shell.

 The snail and shell ready to be baked .

 Painting the snail with acrylics. 

The finished snail sprayed with clear matte finish.

Clay Art Challenge Day 17

When I got around to decorating today's snail creature I thought of the old ditty "  red touch yellow kill a fellow " in regards to the coloration of certain venomous snakes. Though I'm sure you'd have to severely provoke this wary looking snail to get him to bite.

Clay Art Challenge Day 14

Today's snail creature was bigger than my previous sculptures. Because of that I was booking to get it finished so no work in progress photos.

 I went with a three eye design for this snail.

 It was fun doing a toothy monster snail after the last couple of cutesy snails.

Clay Art Challenge Day 11

Day 11 and a new creepy crawler is underway. Foil, steel wire & Aves Apoxie Sculpt armature.

 Starting the shell.

 Teeth added and beginning to add green tinted Super Sculpey.

 Aves Apoxie clay forelegs added.

Test fitting the clay shell over the baked clay creatures body.

 Detailing the polymer clay shell.

 The finished mantis snail.

Clay Art Challenge Day 9 & 10

I've been busy the last several days creating some miniature tree set pieces for a stop motion animation project. Because of that I haven't been as diligent photographing the work in progress photos for my 30 Day Art Challenge as I would have liked.

Here is a link to my FB page where I updated Day 9 of the challenge Friday evening :

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.976926912356131.1073741852.126601960721968&type=3


I was able to get an early start this morning roughing out the armature of my new critter. Since this piece will be bigger I'm using self curing Aves Apoxie Sculpt avesstudio.com/apoxie/apoxie-sculpt . 

Adding the interior of the mouth using Super Sculpey.

 The fangs have been added and here I'm detailing the sides of the mouth.

 The aluminum foil armature that will be the basis for the shell.

 The creature and its Super Sculpey shell baked and ready to be glued on.

The worm-like snail creature painted and posed in front of one of the miniature trees.

Clay Art Challenge Day 8

Day 8 of creating a small sculpture each day for a month.

 Steel wire armature for the snail and foil ball for its shell.

Building up the clay on the shell.

 Putting the finishing touches on the eyes.

 The assembled snail after baking.

He looked like an ornery little cuss so I gave him red & yellow stripes like a Coral snake - Natures warning sign for " Look Out " for this guy!

Clay Art Challenge Day 4

Into the fourth day of creating 30 small sculptures in 30 days. As I'm going along I'm finding the pieces are coming together a little more quickly.

 This is the steel wire armature covered in foil and masking tape. Pre-baked eyes & teeth are already added.

                          Beginning adding blue tinted Super Sculpey.

    The armature is clamped in a vise while I detail the head & tail areas.

      After baking and painting I'm ready to add clear acrylic gloss to the eyes & mouth.

                            Now that is a face only a Momma snail could love!

Clay Art Challenge Day 3

I was up early today and got a good start on my latest snail critter. I got the wire armature started and added Apoxie Sculpt clay to the tops of the attenae then stuck the pre-baked polymer clay eyes on. I created a hollow for the mouth and set the armature aside to cure.

Later in the day I added some pink tinted Super Sculpey into the mouth and gave the snail some pre-baked teeth.

Wrapping green floral wire around the steel wire to help the clay to adhere better.

    The body bulked out in tin foil and covered in masking tape.

     To save on painting time I sculpted the snail in green tinted polymer clay.

 I was pushed for time today so I didn't get a chance to photograph my sculpting the snail's shell. I'm pleased how it turned out. But definitely not a creature I'd want to bump into pushing a lawnmower!