This Blog is Moving!

I'm moving my blog to whohungthemoon.com I hope you'll continue to follow, we haven't finished the moon yet!

Thanks!!

Sculpting the Moon

Okay, I forgot to mention it last time, but I'm sure you're way ahead of me and you thought of it yourself: you need to put eyelids on the other eye! Did you do that? If not go ahead and to that, same way as below. Oh, but do look at the eye on the other side so that they relate to each other. They don't have to match exactly (ours don't), but they do have to relate. Our moon probably won't be viewed straight on very much. In fact he'll look a bit funny from that angle, but we still want his eyes to relate. Trust me.

Now that that's done, we'll move on to the chin. Pinch off a chin-sized hunk of clay, and begin to shape it with your fingers. Again, it's sort of a C shape. Put it against your moon to see how it's going to fit and adjust accordingly. When you are happy (or close enough to happy) with it, wet the chin area with your finger and press the chin in place. Smooth the outer edges with your fingers. You'll probably be fine using just your fingers for this step; no details to worry about.

The Moon Continues

It's been awhile, but part of the fun of working with Creative Paperclay is that we can come back to it at any time (even years later!) and just pick it up and go on, so lets do it!

It's time for eyelids, upper and lower. We want a wide, C shape, not very thick, for the upper lid. Shape the clay, try it out to see how it fits. You can always cut some away with your X-Acto knife if you have too much. When you're happy with the shape wet the area above the eye with your finger and press the eyelid onto the moon. Use your fingers and tools to smooth the clay and shape it on the eyeball. You want a clean edge on the eye, check you own eyes in a mirror for reference.

Take a smaller piece of clay for the lower lid. The lower lid has a bit of a curve, but it's generally not as pronounced as the upper lid. Keep the clay thin, if it's too thick your moon will have puffy eyes. Again, once you have the clay in a shape you like, wet the area on the moon with your finger, place the clay and smooth it with your tools and fingers. Smooth out the edges of the clay as much as possible so you don't have to fight them later.

The moon has eyelids!

Who Sculpted the Moon (new eyes pictures)

Who Sculpted the Moon? (new eyes)

Now it's time to put the eyes in their proper place.

Take a piece of clay out of the bag. Since you're going to need two eyes you can sculpt both eyes at the same time if you want, but do remember that you'll have to be careful not to squish one while working on the other when you put them on the moon. It is easier to get them the same size if you do the eyeballs together though. Do it one of two ways (I suggest trying both and seeing which is most comfortable for you). You can make a football of the proper size and carefully cut it in half with your X-Acto knive, or you can take two pieces of clay the same size and shape them into flat backed football shapes. There, pretty simple, isn't it?

Decide where the eyes should go. Look at the moon both from the sides and from the front to be sure of where to put the eyes. Mark it with a pencil if it's easier to keep track of the placement that way. Using your finger wet the area on one side and place the eye on the moon, making sure that the angle of the eye is confortable. Smooth the edges with your fingers and/or your tools. Repeat with the other eye on the other side!

Let the eyes dry!

Who Sculpted the Moon? III

One of the many things I love about working with Creative Paperclay is how forgiving it is. If I'm not happy with something I can change it at any time, even after it's dry.

The eyes are in the wrong place and they need to be fixed! I just use a sharp X-Acto blade and laying the knife as flat as possible against the moon, carefully cut the eyes off the moon.

Voila! No more problems with the eyes!