Super Sculpey Buddha in a Shadow Box
Oh hello.
This is a craft I did a few years back that I was able to find some pictures of. In this instructable, I'll show you how easy it is to make a decent looking sculpture and put a nice finishing touch on it. In this instructable, I'll go through some small sculpture basics and how to showcase it nicely in a shadow box.
What you'll need:
LASTLY...
If you want to get to know me more, follow my personal account on Instagram, I'd love the attention! Just click the link or look me up, mattw13. Thanks!
This is a craft I did a few years back that I was able to find some pictures of. In this instructable, I'll show you how easy it is to make a decent looking sculpture and put a nice finishing touch on it. In this instructable, I'll go through some small sculpture basics and how to showcase it nicely in a shadow box.
What you'll need:
- Super Sculpey
- Sculpture utensils
- Access to an oven
- Tin Foil
- Paint (I used bronze sculpture paint)
- Card stock (If you do make something like mine)
- Laser Printer
- Shadow Box
- Velcro tape (If your shadow box has a fabric background
- A sweet idea
LASTLY...
If you want to get to know me more, follow my personal account on Instagram, I'd love the attention! Just click the link or look me up, mattw13. Thanks!
Also, as I'm ramping up, I speak my mind on Twitter too, so feel free to follow me on there too!
Sculpting
All right.
Get all your sculpting stuff ready, as well as your subject or idea. I wanted to do a Buddha, so I went online and found a decent photo.
The only tools I used for this was the small tools in the picture and the tinfoil. Don't worry about the other stuff.
To save time and money, ball up and mold your tinfoil into the general shape of your statue or object. Tin foil is A LOT cheaper than clay so take advantage of it to use as your base.
If your sculpture has limbs or pieces that are thin and require stability, pick up some armature wire (it's to the right in my supply shot). You can use this wire like a skeleton of your sculpture, in this sculpture, I didn't need to use it.
Okay, you've got your foil base, now you can layer your clay over top. This is my second sculpture ever, so forgive me if there are better techniques, but it just shows you how easy it can be!
I've included several pictures of the base without detail to show you that it may not look right at first, but the awesome part about Super Sculpey, is that it doesn't set until you bake it so you can continue working with it until you got it just right. Continue working away, forming the shape that you want and add more clay where required.
Once your happy with the base, you can begin to add detail. To do this, you can simply add layers of clay where detail is required or use your details to define the detail. That parts up to you.
With a basic sculpture tool set, it includes various tools that give you different edges to work with. Be creative with your tools and you can smooth out areas, engrave in detail etc.
Robe and general detail
With a pen-like tool, you can draw in your detail and then flatten it with a tool with a flatter smoother surface. I did just that for the robe detail.
Eyebrows
With clay, you can spread the clay out where you don't want it, and push it into the desired shape. I used this technique on the eyebrows. I gave Buddha a uni-brow and smoothed out the middle and softened the individuals eyebrows.
Hair
I balled up enough clay to cover the hair area and use the pick-like tool to poke in hair detail. When that was complete, I gently softened the look with a flat tool.
Once your happy with your sculpture, you're ready to bake!
Follow the instructions on the box for baking:
Bake on oven-proof glass or metal surface at 130 degrees C (275 degrees F for US) for 15 minutes per 6 mm (1/4") of thickness. DO NOT microwave. Do not overbake. (That's from the box).
Get all your sculpting stuff ready, as well as your subject or idea. I wanted to do a Buddha, so I went online and found a decent photo.
The only tools I used for this was the small tools in the picture and the tinfoil. Don't worry about the other stuff.
To save time and money, ball up and mold your tinfoil into the general shape of your statue or object. Tin foil is A LOT cheaper than clay so take advantage of it to use as your base.
If your sculpture has limbs or pieces that are thin and require stability, pick up some armature wire (it's to the right in my supply shot). You can use this wire like a skeleton of your sculpture, in this sculpture, I didn't need to use it.
Okay, you've got your foil base, now you can layer your clay over top. This is my second sculpture ever, so forgive me if there are better techniques, but it just shows you how easy it can be!
I've included several pictures of the base without detail to show you that it may not look right at first, but the awesome part about Super Sculpey, is that it doesn't set until you bake it so you can continue working with it until you got it just right. Continue working away, forming the shape that you want and add more clay where required.
Once your happy with the base, you can begin to add detail. To do this, you can simply add layers of clay where detail is required or use your details to define the detail. That parts up to you.
With a basic sculpture tool set, it includes various tools that give you different edges to work with. Be creative with your tools and you can smooth out areas, engrave in detail etc.
Robe and general detail
With a pen-like tool, you can draw in your detail and then flatten it with a tool with a flatter smoother surface. I did just that for the robe detail.
Eyebrows
With clay, you can spread the clay out where you don't want it, and push it into the desired shape. I used this technique on the eyebrows. I gave Buddha a uni-brow and smoothed out the middle and softened the individuals eyebrows.
Hair
I balled up enough clay to cover the hair area and use the pick-like tool to poke in hair detail. When that was complete, I gently softened the look with a flat tool.
Once your happy with your sculpture, you're ready to bake!
Follow the instructions on the box for baking:
Bake on oven-proof glass or metal surface at 130 degrees C (275 degrees F for US) for 15 minutes per 6 mm (1/4") of thickness. DO NOT microwave. Do not overbake. (That's from the box).
Painting and Finishing Up
Okay, granted the baking went well you're ready to finish this up. If you used one colour like I did, this part is real quick. If you're painting a lot of detail, you've got a lot of work to do still, at least it's fun right?
Get your hardened sculpture back to your work area. If any parts fell off, you can use super glue to fix that up. My sculpture was pretty stable to good there.
Feel free to line up your sculpture in your shadow box and see how it looks (If you went this route obviously), if not, get your paints ready and stop wasting time!
Now your ready to paint. If you've got fine detail, take your time. If you used a single colour like me, blast through it...Like me. :)
Once you've finished painting, and you're adding a scroll to yours, find something inspirational and get type it out nice and large on a word processor or what-have-you. Load your card stock in your printer and print it off.
I used an aged looking card stock from the office supply store, printed it off and rolled the edges.
Once your sculpture is completely dry, you can apply Velcro to the edges of your scroll and securely on the back of your statue (If you are doing this, make sure your statue has a lot of flat surface area on the back). I didn't need to use the soft side of the Velcro because the background of the shadow box worked well, but if you do this and your shadow box does not have this, you can glue it or stick the other side of the Velcro on the background.
That's really it for this one, hope yours looks awesome!
Get your hardened sculpture back to your work area. If any parts fell off, you can use super glue to fix that up. My sculpture was pretty stable to good there.
Feel free to line up your sculpture in your shadow box and see how it looks (If you went this route obviously), if not, get your paints ready and stop wasting time!
Now your ready to paint. If you've got fine detail, take your time. If you used a single colour like me, blast through it...Like me. :)
Once you've finished painting, and you're adding a scroll to yours, find something inspirational and get type it out nice and large on a word processor or what-have-you. Load your card stock in your printer and print it off.
I used an aged looking card stock from the office supply store, printed it off and rolled the edges.
Once your sculpture is completely dry, you can apply Velcro to the edges of your scroll and securely on the back of your statue (If you are doing this, make sure your statue has a lot of flat surface area on the back). I didn't need to use the soft side of the Velcro because the background of the shadow box worked well, but if you do this and your shadow box does not have this, you can glue it or stick the other side of the Velcro on the background.
That's really it for this one, hope yours looks awesome!