How to Stick Clay to an Aluminum Armature

Clay is a malleable substance that is made of various types of earth and used as a sculpting medium.

Clay is an easy-to-use medium used in the formation of sculptures. Unlike metal, stone and plaster, clay is soft, malleable and may be molded many times before it hardens. Unfortunately, these same qualities also make clay sculptures with heavy or thin components structurally unsound and can cause them to collapse under their own weight. For this reason, many artists use wire frames attached to aluminum armatures as a skeletal support structure that allows them to effectively create sculptures.

Things You'll Need

• Drawing paper
• Pencil
• Aluminum armature wire
• Wire cutters
• Needle nose pliers
• Floral wire
• Aluminum armature
• Clay
• Gloves

Instructions

1. Draw a two-dimensional outline of the shape of your sculpture on a piece of drawing paper using a pencil.

2. Draw a line through the middle of all of the extremities of the sculpture. This will represent the shape of the skeletal support structure you will make out of aluminum armature wire in a later step. For example, in a human body sculpture, draw a line from the middle of the head to the lower torso. Then draw a line extending from that line into each of the arms and legs of the drawing.

3. Cut a length of aluminum armature wire with the wire cutters that is the same length as the center support line you drew on the drawing paper in step two. Repeat this step if your sculpture outline required multiple skeletal support lines.

4. Place the length of aluminum armature wire on the drawing paper, and bend it using the needle nose pliers to match the shape and curvature of the center support line you drew in step 2. If more than one piece of aluminum armature wire is needed to complete this step, tie the pieces of aluminum armature wire together using a length of the lighter floral wire so that the formed wire is combined into a single structure.

5. Attach the skeletal support structure made of aluminum armature wire in step four to the arm of the aluminum armature using a length of floral wire.

6. Mold pieces of clay around the aluminum armature wire structure taking care to completely cover the wire. This will create the general shape of your clay sculpture.

7. Continue to mold and refine the general clay shape created in step six until the final desired sculpture form is achieved.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear a light pair of gloves when cutting or bending wire. The cut ends of wire are sharp and may cut you if you do not protect yourself.

References

• Armatures
• Types of Clay