Snoopy

Everyone's favorite cartoon dog Snoopy!  Easy to make...great for beginners (kid-friendly)....just follow these step-by-step photos (from an Asian website).  If you

Beginner Doll Tutorial, Part 5 of 5

Beginner Doll Tutorial, Part 4 of 5

Beginner Doll Tutorial, Part 3 of 5

Beginner Doll Tutorial, Part 2 of 5

Beginner Doll Tutorial, Part 1 of 5

Floral Week: Daylily Tutorial

Floral Week: Tulip Tutorial

Floral Week: Wild Rose Tutorial

Easter Bunny Tutorial

Step by step photo demo to make this Balancing Bunny cake topper from Rouvelee's Creations. Uses Styrofoam balls for body armature and Styrofoam eggs covered in clay.  Fondant was used here but cold porcelain or any of the softer types of air dry clay would be suitable.

How to Model the Head of a Doll or Figure

Today we have another demonstration in a series of instructional videos from Marisol Romero about cold porcelain. Marisol Romero is a cold porcelain artist from Argentina, where this medium is very popular.

Many air-dry clay projects call for Styrofoam shapes as armatures for figure modeling  In the following video, while at a craft show, Marisol shows us how to wrap a foam ball and model the head of a doll or figure.  She also demonstrates her method for creating eyes, which are normally painted on.

Make a Ballerina Doll

Clay used in this tutorial is a soft air-dry clay such as Makin's Clay, Deco Clay or Cold Porcelain.  Some white, a small amount that's been tinted pink, and a larger quantity tinted flesh.

1. Cut a strip of pink clay for bodice.  Tool shown is a fondant cutting and embossing tool with changeable blades for creating different textures.  It's inexpensive and works well with the soft clay.
2. Use circle cutter to cut white circle.  This will be undergarment.
3. For head, wrap a foam ball with flesh clay, starting with a ball of clay about same size as foam ball. 
4. For torso, wrap a foam ball with flesh clay, starting with a ball of clay about twice the size as foam ball and shaping clay into a teardrop shape.
5. Roll 2 flesh colored logs for legs.  Set aside to dry until needed.
6. Wrap white circle cut in step 2 around bottom of torso and add texture.
7. Roll 2 more flesh colored logs for arms.  Flatten ends for hand and use scissors to cut a notch that will create thumb.  Set aside to dry until needed.
8. Attach legs to body in sitting position.  Use white glue if needed to hold in place.  
9. Wrap pink bodice made in step 1 around top of torso.
10. Make shoes from pink and white as shown in photo and attach to leg.  Strengthen joint with piece of toothpick and a little glue.
11. Make a tutu from pink fabric and wrap around torso.  Stitch to hold secure.
12. Attach head.   Strengthen joint with piece of toothpick and a little glue.
13. Attach arms.  
14. Let doll dry and cure until OK to handle without damage.
15. Glue yarn or string onto head.   Trim for cute hairdo.
16. Make a bow from clay and glue to top of head.
17. Use acrylics to paint eyes, lashes and mouth.   Use powder to blush the cheeks.
18. Use a dot tool and white acrylic paint to place dots in eyes, on cheeks and all over bow and bodice and you're done!

Modeling a Doll with Paperclay, Part 4 of 4. Dressing & Posing

The final part of this step-by-step tutorial from Russian artist Dyachenko Oksana creates the clothing, shoes and props for posing the doll created in Parts 1-3. Lots of photos show how she applies fabric to the doll body, cuts to fit, and sews concealed seams directly on the doll.

Hope you've enjoyed this 4 part tutorial and the techniques presented to create this cute doll made of Creative Paperclay.   Cold porcelain and many other air-dry clay brands could be used in the same manner.

This series of tutorials is presented in Russian, please use Google Translate (or your own favorite tool) to convert to your language.

Jorge Rubicce Basic Doll Head Demo

Cold Porcelain figure by Jorge Rubicce

In the following video, master craftsman Jorge Rubicce, shows us his method for modeling the head of his cute cold porcelain figures.   He starts with a Styrofoam ball (for armature) and an equal size ball of cold porcelain to create an egg shaped head.   Notice that he uses his palms to form the cold porcelain and always works toward center.  He also applies hand cream to his hands while smoothing out surface of cold porcelain.

Lalaloopsy tutorial

Lalaloopsy by Starry Delight, step by step photos to create clay figure shown above.  Click on 1st photo (or click 'open photo viewer') to go thru the slideshow for added instruction.  She uses cookie cutters for cutting some of the shapes, barbeque sticks for the legs, and a flower cup to create a perfectly round head.   Optionally, with air dry clay, you could use a Styrofoam ball and cover it with clay for Lalaloopsy's perfectly round head (do not use foam with clay that gets baked).

This would be a suitable project for cold porcelain, Creative Paperclay or any one of the soft clays.

Cold Porcelain Tips from Marisol

Marisol Romero

What is Cold Porcelain?  Cold Porcelain (CP) is a modeling compound that is composed of white glue and cornstarch.  The recipe for cold porcelain is quite simple and it can be made or home or purchased commercially.   CP is a material that can be modeled in small volumes and large. Its characteristics are softness, whiteness and elasticity. CP is known throughout the world, in every region or country, by many different names.  Besides Cold Porcelain, it is known as Porcelana Fria, Masa Flexible, Biscuit, and Pasta di Mais among others.

See this page for recipes and how to make Cold Porcelain video. If you make your own dough, keep in mind that, to be of good quality, the ingredients you use should also be good quality.

Marisol Romero is a cold porcelain artist from Argentina, where this medium is very popular. On her website she shares some of her cold porcelain tips.  Below are some of her tips translated to English as best as we can!

Make This Cute Bee in a Clay Pot

Eliana Braga has created a step by step photo tutorial showing you how to create this cute bee sitting in a clay pot with a few easy-to-make flowers. This was created with cold porcelain but almost any air-dry clay would be suitable. The softer brands of air-dry clay may be the best for this. Eliana also shows detail steps for painting the eyes and creating the sweet facial expression. 

Materials needed are cold porcelain or other air-dry clay in flesh, yellow, white, green and black; a styrofoam ball for head armature; a small clay pot; some black wire; basic modeling tools; white glue; a heart shaped cookie cutter and a fine point black marker.

Variegated Rose Technique by Rubicce

In the following video, the well-known cold porcelain artist from Argentina, Jorge Rubicce, shows us a very new technique for creating realistic roses using pre-tinted cold porcelain. We've previously featured a few of Jorge's videos where he shows us how to make cold porcelain flowers, but, this time, he shows us how to create petals with gently variegated colors.

Create a Leprechaun or Elf

This is a step-by-step tutorial to create an elf (or Leprechaun) using cold porcelain.  (He bears a strong resemblance to our mascot gnome...maybe they're cousins!  LOL)   Instructions are in Spanish but there's many photos showing each step.    Google can translate the page for you or you can just follow the photo examples.

Materials needed are:

• Cold porcelain (CP) paste (or other air-dry clay)
• White tempura is used to tint white CP, acrylics may be used
• Oil paints are also used to pre-tint the CP, acrylics may be used instead, if desired.  You can also choose to paint the figure after curing, but pre-tinting usually works best.   Suggested colors are brown (umber), green (leggings), blue (vest), a skintone, and fuscia for shirt.  Of course, if you're making a Leprechaun, you might want to use some other colors.
• 2 Styrofoam spheres (#4) for head and body
• White glue
• paint brushes and clay modeling tools
• a wood base
• hand wipes to keep hands clean

Create the Texture of Wool in CP

Jorge Rubicce imitates wool texture in this cold porcelain video demonstration. He also shows how to create the effect of hair peeking out from under the wool cap. Notice that the head he is working with is fully cured and he uses white glue to attach the additional cold porcelain for the cap.