A closer look....I love his eyes.
Okay, back to claying. I finished backing the bird with clay. I used Pearl Kato tinted light blue and lightly marbled it with alcohol inks.
First I pushed the wire bird into the sheet of clay and cut it out with an Exacto knife. When I am working with small amounts of liquid clay I use the lid from a medicine bottle.... not the child proof kind, the easy to remove kind.... like these. The caps are shallow and handy for seed beads and other small beads too.
So "My Favorite Tools for Day 3" is medicine bottle lids, smaller water bottle lids and drinking straws.
Next I remove the wire and using a paint brush I "paint" the liquid clay along the edges and under the woven wire areas.
here is how it looks before I replace the wire.
Next I cut off a 1 1/2" piece of the straw, I cut the straw in half lengthwise and then cut each half lengthwise into two narrow pieces. These little pieces are handy to use as scoops. I use one of the straw scoops to add a small amount of liquid clay to the bottle cap.
Then I use a straw scoop to add a small amount of bronze PearlEx to the liquid clay.
I also use the scoop to mix the PearlEx into the liquid clay.
If you are wondering what the heck I am doing all this mixing .... I'm going to use the bronze liquid clay to paint the beak on my bird. I made his eye with a small ball of clay that I indented with a stylus, I secured it to the eye area on the wire with a small dollop of liquid clay I then added liquid clay and a tiny black glass micro ball to complete the eye.
and now he is ready for the oven. Once he comes out of the oven I will use my heat gun to shine his beak and his eye.
Done for now. See you tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by.
He's fab :)
ReplyDeleteBJ, he's adorable but I like the cats better. LOL
ReplyDeleteLove your tips today. I never get bottles that don't have child proof caps. Do you only use Kato clay?
Thanks Bonnie... yip, cats are my favorite too.
DeleteI had to ask the pharmacy to not use child proof lids... of course if you have small children around you want the safety caps.
No I use Premo, Kato, sometimes Femo and sometimes Pardo Professional Art Clay. Depends on what I am using it for. I sometimes combine two or more brands to get the right consistence and colors. I would use Pardo more often if it was less expensive and available more places.
What a fun garden art and thoughtful gift. It's great that you can see him from you studio. Reminds me of a platypus. Love the backing for your gorgeous wire bird. Super idea of using the cut straw as a scoop and the caps of bottles for TLS. Your creativity shows in all sorts of ways!
ReplyDeleteThank you Anita, you are very kind. My kids think I am nuts cause I save everything to "use with polymer clay" I'm pretty sure they think I'm becoming a hoarder.
DeleteYeah I love that yard art critter, he just bobs around all day, he seems to be having a good time and I have fun watching him.
Where do you get these medicine bottle lids?
ReplyDeleteLol, my husband is old and takes lots of medicine.... the lids are from his medicine bottles. They are the non-kid safely ones. I save everything. Medicine bottles are handy for mailing canes too.... I wrap them in plastic wrap first and then put them in the bottles.
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