Create a Faux Bronze Bust with Creative Paperclay ®

Hello everyone! My name is Cinnamon Willis and today's tutorial is going to show you all how to create a faux bronze bust using Creative Paperclay®. In honor of Black history month, I am going to introduce you to an African American sculptor who was part of the Harlem Renaissance named Augusta Savage. She was a notable sculptor, teacher and an activist that fought for equal rights in the arts for African Americans. Most of her work was done in clay or plaster and painted to look like it was a bronze sculpture since she couldn't actually afford to work in bronze. Her art was heavily documented, but the location of most of the pieces are unknown. Her most notable work is the bust above called Gamin which is also made of plaster and painted to look like bronze. In today's tutorial, I'll be working in a style that resembles Mrs. Savage's style more so then my own. I hope you enjoy and take time to look at some of Mrs. Savage's other incredible works.

Courtesy Federal Art Project, Photographic Division collection, 1935-1942. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Supplies:

• Chicken/poultry Wire
• Thin wire
• Pliers
• Scissors
• Creative Paperclay®
• Newspaper
• Masking tape
• Sand paper
• Acrylic paint
• Sealer, Varnish

Start with a sheet of chicken wire, cut it down to the size you would need it to be for the head, neck and shoulders for your piece. Start shaping it with your hands and pliers, be careful not to poke yourself. I usually take the ragged ends of the chicken wire and fold them into each other. Take the lose wire and weave it if needed to fasten the ends of the chicken wire together.

Take your masking tape and wrap it around the chicken wire completely. You could paint a layer of gesso on top of the tape so that the clay could adhere better to it or just stick it on as I sometimes do. You may need to add a drop of water to the surface for the clay to grab hold to better.

Start adding your first layer of clay to the base. Once the piece is dry, which roughly takes 24 hours depending on the thickness of the clay, you could begin working on the details such as the face shape and features. This can be done by adding a drop of water onto the places that you would like to add clay to and blending the new clay into it. Don’t worry about getting things perfect when working with moist paper clay, most of the sculpting is done when it is dry.

When working on a piece like this, I find it easier to build up the face in different intervals and allow each stage to dry before I continue. This allows me to work without worrying about me ruining a part of the doll or bust that isn't dry yet. As I always state in my tutorials, the drying process can be sped up with a toaster oven set to approximately 200- 220 degrees. Make sure to check on it every twenty minutes to ensure it doesn’t get burned! It's great for those who are impatient like me!

While sculpting this bust I began to realize that it more closely resembled a man's face than a boy's. Instead of the painter's cap that was on the original sculpture, I decided to go with the classic Kangol cap.

After building up this piece quite a bit with the clay, I sanded down the parts that I wanted to be smooth such as the face. I use different grits of regular sand paper that you can find in the hardware store to get the results shown above. 

I used Craft Smart's metallic brown to get the bust to look bronze. There are many other metallic brands that would give you the same results, this is just the brand that I had on hand. It took about 5 coats of paint to get the color to be even. If you want to take it a step further, you can do a wash with black paint over the piece to give it a worn look instead of this finish that I have.

Seal with varnish and you are done!

Thank you all once again for stopping by, and I hope that you enjoyed today's tutorial! You can find Creative Paperclay® at the following retailers Creative Paperclay® Online Store, Michael's, Amazon, Joann's.

See more of my work at Melandolly.com and be sure to catch updates on my Instagram page!

Creative Gift Boxes with Rachel Whetzel

WHAT YOU'LL NEED to make your own gift box:

A box that you can repurpose, or a new box. Either should be made with a paper like finish.

Creative Paperclay®
Paints. I use Folk Art acrylic craft paints.

Stain. I used Valspar antiquing stain, and Ranger Ink Distress Inks (walnut)
Paint brushes
Scissors
Papers (I used an old dictionary page)
Glue. I used Elmer's School Glue for this project. 

Texture Plates, Rubber stamps, and other items for creative texturing. 

Wet the surface of your box, and start pressing clay into it.

When the top is completely covered, start pressing texture into the wet clay. I cut some punchinella, and pressed that onto the top.

To get a lot of my pieces pressed well into the top, I would turn the box top upside down and press into the counter tops.

I kept layering stamps and texture plates until I got the look I liked.

Once the top was dry, I sanded the sides of the box smooth, and glued dictionary pages around the outside. Once the glue was dry, I trimmed the excess paper.

Then I painted the top of my box! Once the paint was dry, I layered in shading by using stain (black paint would work too) and wiping the surface, leaving black in the crevices of the piece, and allowing the blue paint to show through. I used some of my Alumidust BRONZE to add a fun bit of color and shimmer on the US Art Quest stamped area, by using my finger to lightly dust the piece and rub the bronze in.

When I was all finished with my layering, I finished off the look by using Ranger Ink's Distressing Inks to darken up the edges of the box. Then I topped the whole thing off with a pretty white piece of twine.

I also played a bit with the twine placement, so that the lid could be removed without taking off the twine. Now I have a really cool, totally unique gift box to put something pretty in!!

Thanks for reading! If you'd like to keep up with me, and see more of what I'm up to, I'd also love it if you'd visit MY BLOG and Subscribe! You can also find me on FACEBOOK!