My Clay Critters!

So, I promised you that, if I was able to get some clay critters done, I'd post them.

Ta da!

And here he is from the side. I used
wire for his antennae, and I used a flat
clay tool tip to flatten the black spots to
his "elytra". You can't see too much of
the detail here... it's just a cute shot.

I started off with a nice, simple ladybug. I used a little bit too dark a red for his wings, but I know better now. Next time, I'll lighten it up a bit.

Here is my little lady bug fella
from the front. Isn't he cute?

And this is him from the top! Those
are wee gears that are decorating
his little back. I wish I'd made his wings
a little lighter! Oh well. First time. :)

 Aside from that minor flaw, he looks pretty darn cute. I used black clay to create his body. I formed it into a little pinto bean shape, then I took a little dab more of black clay, rolled it into a ball and then flattened it just a little, and pressed it to the front of his body shape. That created his protonus, the shield-shaped frontal piece that looks like two white eyes with black pupils. For his face, I took the merest dab of black clay, rolled it into a ball, and pinned it (literally) through his protonus and abdomen. For his underwings, I used some ecru clay, rolled it into an oval and flattened it flatter than flat, then cut it in half and carefully lined his back with it. After that I made a coin-shaped red circle, pressed it until it was about two nickels thick, and with my flat clay tool pressed some little black balls onto the clay to create his seven-spotted "shell" or "elytra". Then I split the red elytra, pressed it to his back, stuck the gears down his back, shoved the twirled antennae in, and baked him at 275 degrees for 45 minutes. Ta da! Ladybug!

Here's my second critter.

My clay critter from the side. Don't
you love all the gears and nails in his
body? It adds a nice touch, I think.

 He's my dragon critter. I love how happy he turned out! He seems to be grinning quite cheerily at me. I love that.

This is him from the back. From this
side you get a good view of the nail
in his leg, and the armoured look of his
tail. Isn't that COOL? :-)

This little fellow I made out of silver and orange clay mixed together. It created a really lovely browny colour.
I rolled out a ball about the size of a largish marble, then rolled it so that the middle was thicker, the top tapered to a thick point, and the tail stretched out into a long, thin point. I used a pointed clay tool to crease his neck and create the bend in his body for his head. Then I just worked the clay with my fingers until I got a nice liquid-lizard shape to his body, with a rather nice curl to his tail. I used a thin bit of silver, flattened a bit, and

See all his lovely gears! He's just now
clambering up onto a cork. :-)

Hopefully, you can
see the detail on his
armoured tail. Love it!

wrapped it around the end of his tail. That created the almost armoured look I was aiming for. I had to use my pointed clay tool to push up the clay so that it had that overlapping look to it.
For his spines I took little tiny balls of silver clay and shaped them into pyramids. Carefully I pressed them onto his back, and with my ever-favourite pointed clay tool I gently blended the clay together so that the brown and silver clays joined up. For his legs, I just took little snake bits off the silver-orange mixture, flattened one end for his paw, and then attached the other end to his body and smoothed and blended leg and body together with a combination of pointed clay tool and flat clay tool. I cut little finger-like mandibles into his paw with a razor clay tool, and made his eyes out of flattened pink clay with a spot of black clay atop the pink, and used thinly rolled strips of orange-silver clay to make his eyelids.
I used the point of my pointed clay tool to add a little detail into the clay. (See the tail for insight into the detail. Doesn't it look as though that's plated steel?) After I completed blending, detailing, and adding gadgets (I LOVE the key that's poking out of his side!) I affixed him with a pin to his cork, disguised the pinhole with blended clay, and baked him at 275 degrees for 45 minutes. Voila! The cork didn't even burn! How's that for cool? After he was done, I pinned four little brown-coloured beads to the bottom of the cork, so that it would stand on its own. Finished.

Isn't that such fun? I just LOVE clay. It's one of the most soothing things in the world to work with.

If you want to see what I'm talking about when I say "pointed clay tool", "flat clay tool", and "razor clay tool", (all of which are my own very inventive names for these things) go to this link here: http://www.multifilla.com/images/Product_highlights/11piece_clay_tools.gif
The razor clay tool is the top part of the second tool from the left. The pointed clay tool is the top part of the fifth tool from the left, and the flat clay tool is actually the bottom part of the fifth tool from the left.

I hope you had fun looking! See you around later.