Recently I had to do a clay project in one of my art classes recently. The clay that we used was raku clay. It is a water based clay that is pretty cheap and easy to work with. I collected up the extra clay from people who didn't want theirs some of it was new, some of it was reclaimed. After a few horrible failures at trying to use the packing tape and seran wrap method to cast my head (my fault on the failures) i decided to go a more basic route. I used the Flying Squire Mark VI HD helmet that i had sitting around in my room to size a Styrofoam ball that I picked up at the craft store. Once I shaved down enough to get the ball to fit into the helmet i mounted it on a 1 1/2" steel pipe that is attached to a Pipe flange on a good sized piece of particle board. From there I simply covered it in clay until it was roughly the same size as the Pep version that I had and started carving. Here are the process shows that I took...
I wrapped the styrofoam ball in clear backing tape after I got it sized. The clay seemed to stick to it alot better. The tape needed to be dry though, if the tape gets any water on it then the clay doesn't stick very well.
First layer of clay.
First roughing out of the helmet
Comparison Shot
A bit further along in the process with more detail added in.
Sorry that its so many pictures.
I did this over the course of about 10 hours or so. I also have the entire thing built onto a lazy suzann, it makes it alot easier to work on. The project itself has a long way to go though. The back side seems to be a little short and there is still alot of detail that needs to be added, not to mention the other side of the helmet has barely even been started and it is a little to wide compared to the pep version. Its a great projects though, because I am working with a material that is new to me and I am learning alot with every part that I work on. I will keep this updated as I continue to work on it.
The long term goal is to cast this helmet and make molds from it. I will admit that I do like working in clay like this. It has alot more freedom to it that the Pep versions don't offer (IMO). If this project does end well then I will be doing some others like it, perhaps a few WoW helmets for my fellow WoW junkie friends or some of the other permutations on the Halo armor.
Either way, let me know what you guys think! I live on criticism!
I wrapped the styrofoam ball in clear backing tape after I got it sized. The clay seemed to stick to it alot better. The tape needed to be dry though, if the tape gets any water on it then the clay doesn't stick very well.
First layer of clay.
First roughing out of the helmet
Comparison Shot
A bit further along in the process with more detail added in.
Sorry that its so many pictures.
I did this over the course of about 10 hours or so. I also have the entire thing built onto a lazy suzann, it makes it alot easier to work on. The project itself has a long way to go though. The back side seems to be a little short and there is still alot of detail that needs to be added, not to mention the other side of the helmet has barely even been started and it is a little to wide compared to the pep version. Its a great projects though, because I am working with a material that is new to me and I am learning alot with every part that I work on. I will keep this updated as I continue to work on it.
The long term goal is to cast this helmet and make molds from it. I will admit that I do like working in clay like this. It has alot more freedom to it that the Pep versions don't offer (IMO). If this project does end well then I will be doing some others like it, perhaps a few WoW helmets for my fellow WoW junkie friends or some of the other permutations on the Halo armor.
Either way, let me know what you guys think! I live on criticism!
