Arts at the Center of the 21st Century Conference

3-D Sculpture
Barbara Finnell
California State University, Fullerton January 30, 2016
bfinnell@fullerton.edu barbcsuf.weebly.com and Pinterst

Mediums:
Oven Bake Polymer Clay: Sculpey (using today), Clay (Kiln fired), Papier Mache

Techniques:
Score- hash marks in opposite directions on each piece to encourage the clay to meld together
Pinch-hold the clay in one hand and pull out features of focus

Two friends of the Polymer artist:

1. hand sanitizer or baby wipes, when you change colors the color won’t follow
2. Cornstarch, in molds will release easier and on hands will smooth fingerprints

Sculpey III Light Bulb Portrait Bust, from Deep Space Sparkle
A Sculpey III Art and Biography Project, Grades 6 – 12

Goals:

 Study the anatomy and proportion of the human head.

 Learn to use an armature as the basis for sculpting.
 Create a 3-dimensional portrait bust of a famous person, family member or imaginary person.
 Complete a complex, multi-lesson project.
 Model the features of a head, with hair and clothing.
 Deep Space Sparkle: Animal Sculpture, from clay you fire or air dry, then paint. Could be used with
oven bake clay, out of different colors of clay
Clay (kiln fired)

Step One: Pinch Pot

Most every kids was able to successfully create a pinch pot. Make sure your clay is soft so their little hands
can manipulate the clay easily.
I tell the children to smooth out the bumps and wrinkles by pretending to pet the kitty (or bird or mouse).
This seemed to work and the children were becoming quite emotionally attached to their pets.

Step Two: Pulling Ears and Beaks

Pulling clay to form tiny ears and beaks proved to be the most difficult part of the building process. It might
be easier to actually scratch-attach the ears and beaks but breakage seemed likely. Most kids were able to
form ears but beaks were slightly harder.

Step Three: Adding Tails, Wings and Mice Ears

To add a tail to the cat, my first group used a coil method to create a snake. I’m not going to lie. Most kids
needed help gauging the size of the coil. We used the flat end of a wooden dowel to poke a hole in the
cat’s behind and we stuck the tail inside. Moistening it with some water helped keep the tail from slipping
out. Then the kids wrapped the tail around the cat’s body so it wouldn’t break off.

For the bird, the little wings were created by rolling out a small amount of clay, flattening it into a small
cookie (think Thin Mints) and cutting the flattened circle in half. By smoothing out the edges with a wet
finger, the children were all able to create wings. They attached the wings to the body using the scratch-
attach method.

 http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2014/04/09/pinch-pot-animals-for-kinder-and-first-grade/
Turtles
I’m always looking for simple ceramic lessons for my students. I vary the complexities of the lessons
according to grade levels. This cute little turtle has become a staple for in fourth grade. Sometimes I use a
template as a guide for the shell, other times I don’t. The most important factor with this project is attaching
the legs. You need to make sure they’re completely secure or else the turtles will be legless. Sad.
 This project uses clay to be fired. If you don’t have a kiln, use air-dry clay. The end results will be
different but you won’t be subjected to as many critical steps.
 1. Give each student a flat piece of clay. I have a multi-slab cutter that can slice twenty-four tiles at
once. I got it at Chinese Clay Art. Great deal if you cut a lot of tiles. Of course, the kids can roll out a
slab themsleves but this is time consuming. For $24 bucks, much time is saved. Worth considering.
 2. Etch a wide oval on the clay tile, using most of the space (this is where a template comes in handy).
Cut with a wooden dowel. Save the edge pieces for the legs and head.
 3. Set the clay oval in the palm of your hand. Shape to achieve a turtle shell. Using the left-over scraps
of clay, form legs, tail and a head. The students will probably need more clay so put a bunch in the
middle of their table to pull from.
 4. Now it’s time to attach all the pieces together. Using the “scratch-attach” method, score and wet both
side of the clay to be “fused”. Use a tool to smooth the crease.
 5. Once all the pieces are attached, etch designs into the turtle shells.
 6. Let dry for about 10 days. I put a wad of newspaper under teh shells to keep the shape. Fire
according to clay instructions.
 7. Paint with underglaze and apply glaze. I use Laguna underglaze. They have a great selection of
lead-free glazes, but recently I’ve purchased Amaco Underglaze from School Specialty (Saxs). Fired
nicely.
 8. As an alternate to using underglaze, paint turtle with acrylic paints. I don’t like the results as much,
but the students love them just the same!

 http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/2010/10/25/clay-turtle-project/
Papier Mache: a malleable mixture of paper and glue, or paper, flour, and water, that becomes
hard when dry. (Giraffes, in idea section are papier mache). You can also use Vano Starch, it’s blue
and found in the laundry section of stores.

If there were a prize for the best art genre for kids, I’m pretty sure Paper Mache would get the votes. It’s a
quintessential art project and most everybody remembers getting sticky with newspaper and paste at some
point in their elementary art career. There is a good reason why it’s been a popular medium for decades: it’s
cheap, teaches creative thinking and fosters imagination. But, there can be drawbacks…

Art Class: 2004

When I first began teaching, I couldn’t wait to start a paper mache project. I had seen an amazing lesson from
a school art site of paper mache dinosaurs that went way beyond my experience, which was limited to globes
and hot air balloons. There were no instructions with the images but I figured they couldn’t be too hard if fourth
 graders created them. I brought in balloons, boxes, tape, flour, water, a whisk and heaps of newspapers and
started the project with my 4th graders. Within the first 30 minutes, I learned the following:
 Children love to bury their hands in flour goop
 Some children are allergic to flour goop
 Tape alone does not hold up long dinosaur heads. For extra long anything, you need aluminum foil
 Kids love to scrunch aluminum foil and throw across the room
 Flour goop does not come out of carpet
By day three, I learned this….
 Building the armature can take 2-3 classes and most every kid will need help
 An extra heavy application of flour goop can take over a week to dry
 You need lots of storage for paper mache projects especially if you don’t limit size
 Tempera paint will crack and chip off when dry
 Kids are generally bored of their paper mache projects unless you have a plan and finish the project within 5
class sessions.
Sounds a bit negative, right? Well, let’s just say that it took 7 years….SEVEN YEARS….to try paper mache
again.

Art Class: 2012

When I began planning my lessons last year, I knew that I wanted to try projects that were out of my comfort
zone as an art teacher. Projects that either didn’t interest me or used a technique I wasn’t familiar with. Many
of my readers have asked me for years to develop more form based art projects, but I had resisted. And given
my last paper mache dinosaur experience, I felt I just wasn’t qualified.
But the mission statement for my e-course, Beyond the Basics, was learning how to teach more advanced
techniques, and if I wasn’t willing to do it, how could I motivate others? I also thought about my students and
knew how much they would get out of a really good form-based lesson, so I tried again. This time. I really,
really thought about what projects I would do. I read Julie Voigt’s posts (Art for Small Hands) on paper mache
and liked her approach. I read how Phyl from There’s a Dragon in My Artroom approached paper mache and
quite honestly, I almost gave up. She is truly the Queen of Paste!
I experimented on my own and eliminated some steps and added others. By the time the kids came to art
class, I had a plan. My main goal was to offer the child the opportunity to build a form based project on his
perception of the object. I came up with a pretty good strategy (the Beyond the Basic e-course has two days
devoted to this process, so I can’t spill my secrets here) but here are a few general nuggets to share with all of
you:
 Use photographs and/or 3D models to use as inspiration rather than illustrations
 Use Elmers Paper Paste. So darn easy and CHEAP
 Plan on two full days for armature building and keep it small. Make your sample small. Pick small objects. Do
anything to keep things small. Trust me on this one
 Forget brushes; use hands/fingers for applying paste to small bits of paper
 Use either white paper towel or white copy paper for the final layer of paper mache so newspaper print won’t
show through
 Use acrylic paint over tempera paint as acrylic paint won’t chip. It also dries to a shiny finish
 If you must use tempera, apply a layer of Mod Podge for a shiny finish.

The time factor…

The other point, worthy of noting is that it may not be worthwhile to do a paper mache project if you don’t see
your students on a regular basis. Paper mache projects require time. If you have a limited amount of this (like
me) there are other projects more worthy of the time investments. I see each of my classes 15 times per year,
so 5 sessions is 1/3 of the year. Ceramics, for instance, generally takes me 2 art sessions to complete. That’s
a whole lot better than the 5 sessions it took for my camels and giraffes.

The learning factor…

Building a paper mache form based on a familiar object is truly worth the effort. My students had to really think
how to balance the legs, body and in the case of the giraffes, the necks. It required thought and in some cases,
working through frustration. I sat with many kids brainstorming how to get the giraffe to stand upright. In many
cases, the kids figured it out and were pleased with their solutions.

http://www.deepspacesparkle.com/animals-2/