How to Make Super Sculpey Armature
Use Super Sculpey to its full potential by building an armature to give your sculpture or craft a strong internal structure. Super Sculpey is much like the regular polymer clay Sculpey, but it comes only in a semi-translucent beige color -- ideal for animators and artists to recreate human skin. It is soft and clay-like and it cures, or hardens, in a conventional oven. So your creations should be no larger than 12 inches tall, to fit inside the oven.
Things You'll Need
- Aluminum foil -- 12 inches wide
- Scissors
- Super Sculpey
- Paintbrush
- Toothpicks
Instructions
-
-
1
Cut off two 6-inch pieces of aluminum foil from your roll. Cut them both in half lengthwise with scissors. This is the start of your armature for a small person.
-
2
Roll up one piece of foil tightly. Bend it in half lengthwise to create legs. Repeat with the other piece of foil to form the arms. Cut the arm roll in half with scissors. Ball up another piece to form the torso.
-
-
3
Cut the remaining piece of foil in half. Ball up one half to make the head for your Super Sculpey figure. Condition a large handful of the polymer clay by kneading it. This softens and warms up the clay.
-
4
Roll out a 2-inch ball of clay, and flatten it with your hands. Wrap it around the head armature. Smooth the clay over the foil, so it is approximately one-quarter-inch thick over the foil, but keeping the neck area free of clay.
-
5
Add more clay or trim, if necessary. Shape it into an egg-like shape for the head. Pull out a triangular nose shape in the center of the face. Press eye sockets above the nose, and press a mouth shape below the nose, using the point of a small paintbrush.
-
6
Break a toothpick in half, and press half of it into the neck area of your head. Push the torso piece of foil into the other end of the toothpick. Roll out a 3-inch ball of Super Sculpey. Flatten it with your hands, and wrap over the torso armature and toothpick. Shape it to form a neck and chest, leaving places for the arms and lower body free of clay.
-
7
Insert the other half of the broken toothpick into the bottom of the torso. Break another toothpick in half, and insert them into the shoulders for the arms. Press the foil armature arms into the shoulders, and then push the legs into the toothpick below the torso.
-
8
Flatten two 3-inch balls of clay, and warp them over the foil arms. Smooth together and form the hands. Wrap clay around the legs and form the feet. Smooth the polymer clay on the entire figure. Add more clay, if necessary, to create an approximately one-quarter-inch thickness of clay over the armature.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Some artists use 1.5 millimeter aluminum wire to form their armatures. It can be braided to make it stronger. Use wire cutters to cut it and needle-nose pliers can help shape it.
The foil armature can be constructed completely, and then the Super Scupley is added afterward.
Shape your sculpture or craft as you would normally. Bake at 275 degrees F and 15 minutes per quarter-inch clay thickness.
Be sure the polymer clay is not used inside the armature, or it may burn inside.
Allow the polymer clay to cool completely after baking, before handing it.
Resources
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
