Anatomically Correct Heart - Clay

Hey all! I'm new to ceramics and this anatomically correct* heart that I made from clay was one of my first projects. It was a ton of fun to do, since I haven't done much art before, so I really enjoyed feeling the time fly by as I worked on it with a show or an audiobook in the background. It looked really intimidating when I first started, but I soon realized that it was just a bunch of small, simple elements that come together to form a complex and nuanced shape.

I worked with some medical diagrams as reference, but took some creative liberty as well, so it's not 100% anatomically correct - but I think that anyone who's not a doctor would look at it and go "Yeah, that's a heart," so it's good enough for me.

The great thing about ceramics is how few supplies you need. Here's what I used:

1. Bag of clay (I used Orion Stout, but it really doesn't matter)
2. Basic pottery tools. You can get a cheap set online or at most craft stores.
3. Plastic bags. These are used to keep things from drying out before you're done working.
4. Cup of water
5. Wooden dowel
6. Wooden board. Makes storage easy.
7. Reference diagrams.

Optional

1. Metal Fork - Makes scoring the clay easier
2. Padle

These supplies are super cheap and a single bag of clay can keep you busy for weeks, so pottery is a great hobby to pick up if you're looking for something new.

The only tricky bit is firing the project in a kiln after you're done with it - not many people have their own kilns. I'll be letting my university's ceramics studio deal with this part, since I'm pretty new to this. If you're looking get clay fired, check local ceramics studios - they'll likely do it for you for a small fee. A kiln isn't necessarily required, though. Some clays are air-dry, while others can be fired in a household oven. I'd check this before buying supplies.

This part's pretty easy - make a snake, which we in the biz call a "coil," and turn it into a circle. This isn't part of the heart, it's just a place to put it while we work on it.

Use a wire cutter to cut off chunks of clay from your bag.

Wedging clay is a technique used to remove air bubbles, creating a nice, smooth consistency. We want to avoid any pockets of air in our final product, since air expands as it heats, which could cause a crack or explosion in the kiln.

This method is easy, it's called Ram's Head Wedging, since it kinda looks like a ram's head (Huh, who'da thunk it). Take a lump of clay, put your palms on the left and right side, thumbs on top, and fingers in the back, and push. Just an inch or two, then pick the lump up and turn the top towards you about 15 degrees and repeat. It takes a bit to get used to, but it's not too bad.

You can check your work by cutting the whole thing in half with a wire. If you see air bubbles, try again. Any time you grab fresh clay from the bag, wedge it a bit to remove any bubbles.

Our goal here is to create a large, hollow egg shape. We don't want to use a solid lump of clay since it's too thick to dry properly.

Take a lump, shove your thumbs in, then scrape the center parts up to make a rough bowl. Don't worry if it's not perfect, we'll fix it later. Make two, one for each half. We're aiming for about an inch of thickness. Score the edges with a metal fork or a needle tool, rub some water around the rims, then smoosh 'em together. Scoring is important whenever you connect two things, since smooth surfaces don't stick together well. Scrape material across the seam and use a metal rib to smooth things out. You can also use a wooden paddle to smack things into shape. We're looking for an elongated egg shape.

Your results should look something like this.

Buckle up, because a lot of this project is gonna be "add a lump where it looks like there should be a lump."

You wanna make a hole in your egg when adding a lump, scoring and wetting the edges of both the egg and lump before smooshing and smoothing them together. This prevents things from getting too thick to dry and fire properly.

To make the big aortas at the top of the heart, use a chunky coil and stick a dowel through it. Smooth it out where you can, then attach it to the egg using the same techniques from before. Use your diagram as reference, but generally just try to put things where they need to go, one step at a time. Here you can see a single bent aorta coming out of the top of the heart, then a Y-shaped one slotted in underneath.

A good trick here is to align the coil on the egg where you want it, then cut the coil at a matching angle so that it doesn't come straight out of the side. Whenever you've got gaps, take a pinch of fresh clay or use a very thin coil and just smoosh some more in.

Don't be super stressed about doing things "right" or using the "right" tools to connect things or smooth them out. Experiment with what you've got, and see what works for you. Careful with a sponge though, as that can counterintuitively make things rougher instead of smoother by dragging clay particles around in a way that you probably don't want.

Add some more lumps while you're here.

To keep things from drying out too fast, wrap a strip of plastic bag over any parts that you're not actively working on - especially the thin parts, since those dry faster.

Whenever you want to take a break, wrap the whole thing in a plastic bag. Maybe even spritz the inside with a spray bottle to help retain moisture. This project was done in bursts over several weeks, spending non-working days wrapped safely in a bag.

Once it's dried out - that's it. If you don't like it, you gotta start over. Fresh clay won't stick properly to dry clay, so don't forget this step!

Next is this weird looking hole reminiscent of coral or some sort of ocean life. I'd make this by poking a hole through a golf-ball-sized lump of clay, then shaping out the flange.

A good trick here is to place it where you want it on the surface, then outline it with a needle tool to see where you need to score.

Stick it on like before, with score lines and water, then add more lumps.

Don't forget to wrap it up!

Now we're adding some more intricate details. I carved out this worm shape from a flat slab on the table, then stuck it on the egg, remembering of course to score and wet the surfaces. I named my worm Jerry, but you don't have to. You can call your worm whatever you like.

Take short coils and stick your needle tool through 'em, making some neat tubes. You can collect these in groups on top of small lumps, which can be connected to your larger egg.

Follow the diagram if you can, but don't worry about perfection.

Use long, thin coils to add veins. Since the bottom of the heart is likely pretty dry by this point, you'll want to make sure to score and wet surfaces thoroughly to make sure they don't fall apart. Don't be shy, too much is better than too little. Like the diagram, there's often one larger vein that branches off into smaller, shorter veins.

Muscle is carved in horizontally. Something you can do here is to use a needle tool to carve a thin line, then use the corner of a carving tool to use that line as a guide to create a deeper channel.

Like always, there's no need to be ultra-precise here.

And just like that - we're done!

This was a super fun project and I'm really glad I got into ceramics. A project like this, while a heavy time investment, was way more approachable than I thought it would be at first. I highly recommend you give something like this a go, as you just might find a passion for it.

Happy sculpting!