Who Sculpted the Moon?

Hey!

I'm working on a 15" hanging crescent moon, with a face, want to come along?

It's Creative Paperclay over a Styrofoam base. I cut a large circle of Styrofoam into a crescent shape and covered it with a thin coat of clay. I've already put flat-back egg shapes on each side of the crescent in the area where the eyes will be (in fact, these will later become the eyes!).

Oh, by the way, if you haven't worked with Creative Paperclay before you have to keep it in an air tight container. It starts to dry immediately. I use a zip-top baggie; a quart size one holds a pound of clay perfectly. Also when you are adding clay to clay, or clay to any surface for that matter, you must wet the clay (or the surface) first. If it's clay just dampen it, too much water will give the clay a mealy texture.

There are two ways of sculpting the face (or anything for that matter),; you can sculpt one feature at a time, allowing for drying time before adding the next feature; or you can sculpt wet into wet with no drying time between features. There are pros and cons to both methods. The former gives you more control, but it takes longer of course. The latter is more spontaneous, but it is so easy to "mess up" what one has done when one is working on top of wet clay. For this moon we're going to sculpt a feature and allow it to dry before adding another. Since it's two-sided there is too much opportunity to "mess up" what we've already sculpted.

First take out a hunk of clay (reseal the baggie) and start to shape it into an upper lip. If you haven't done much sculpting keep a mirror handy and use yourself as a model. See how your upper lip is shaped. Not just the lip, but from your mouth to your nose, the whole section.

Figure where the lip should go. It's okay to draw the layout of the face on the moon with a pencil if it helps, it won't show when we're done. Dip your finger in water and wet the area where the upper lip is going to go. Press the lip onto the moon and smooth the upper and side edges. Use a tool to shape expression into the lip.

For sculpting I prefer antique manicure tools that I find at antique stores and flea markets. But one can also find good sculpting tools in the clay aisle at Michaels (and other craft stores) or on-line from Dick Blick. You can also get some wonderful handmade tools, for a reasonable price on etsy at http://www.amcreatures.etsy.com/

Now, take another hunk of clay, shape it into a bottom lip. This should include the lip and the face under the lip down to where it meets with the chin. The lower lip will have to follow the shape of the upper lip. Wet the space under the upper lip with your finger and press the lower lip onto the moon, smooth the edges down.

Use your tool to shape the expression. You can change the expression a lot at this stage, but be careful not to overwork it, you'll never get a natural expression if you overwork the mouth. Again, it helps to have a mirror handy so you can check your own lips for expression.

Prop your moon up so it can dry without smashing any of the hard work you've done!