How to Make a Clay Base for an Eagle Sculpture

Clay sculpture can be relaxing and fun for all who participate. You can create some great gifts for family and friends, all while experiencing the gratification of exploring your artistic tendencies. An eagle is a common subject for sculptural endeavors. In these steps you will build a clay base for your eagle sculpture which is strong enough to support the weight of the wet clay.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Wood or wire
• Lazy susan
• Modeling clay

1. Build an armature for your sculpture. This can be out of wood or wire. If you are using fired clay, then you must build the armature out of a non-flammable substance. The armature needs to be strong enough to support the weight of the wet clay, as well as any pressure you put onto the clay as you are building your eagle sculpture.

2. Roll out a 1/2-inch thick slab of clay. This doesn't need to be perfectly smooth, as you will modify it to create a natural looking base for your eagle bust.

3. Place the armature on the work area.

4. Mold the clay to the armature so that the clay will rap around the armature and the armature will provide the frame for the addition of the eagle bust.

5. Manipulate the clay so that the base is flush to the work area and it flows into your intended shape. If you want your base to appear as a basalt rock, then make sure that you sculpt in the smooth rock faces with the sharp fragmented corners and breaks.

Tips & Warnings

• An armature is a structure used to support the weight of a sculpture. The armature is built inside of a sculpture so that it invisibly provides support to extended parts, such as wings or branches, without adding a lot of additional weight to your finished piece. They are used in both hollow and solid sculpture pieces.
• If you don't know what you want the base to appear as, take a look online and see what types of environments eagles are often found in. The graphic galleries on the Internet will give you many good ideas to work with.