Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hi, my name is Ella and I am a
polymer clay artist. Welcome to my course. I especially enjoy
working with mugs because not everybody
likes the sculptors. But if you put the sculpture on
a mug, everybody drinks. Every body drinks tea, drinks
coffee, at least water. People can use
that piece of art. and Enjoy. Working with polymer clay is a way for me
to tell my story. Everyone has a story and I
think these characters on the mug tell different stories. That is why I prefer to work on different projects and not to do the same thing
again and again. I think that's the most
exciting part about this line of work because you
can make different things, you can make flowers, or you can make characters,
movie characters. Just a simple doll on a mug. Everyone make a different story Everyone tells
a different story. And you can be your own
fashion designer, you know. I hope you enjoy this video. Also I hope to see your beautiful projects
at the end of the course. Thank you guys for watching
and see you in the next one.
2. Face: After cleaning your tools, your working surface
and your hands start needing and making a ball in
palm of your hands. Then put it on your mug. and press it gently
with your finger? Then use a baby wipe, wet wipe, make up wipe or anything
that doesn't make you clay sticky, and clean
any unwanted lines, fingerprints, or any
dust and particles. Then use your finger and press it right in
the middle of the face. We need this dent to
make the eyes later on. Then take a little bit of clay. As you can see in my hand. This much is enough. and make a balll in
palm of your hand. Starts rolling from one side and make a little tear sheep. Then place it on the face
where the nose supposed to be. At this point I'm using
this very thin dotting tool, to blend the nose with
rest of the face. I'm just using the dotting tool, to blend the edge of the
nose to the rest of the face. Then I'm using my needle tool to blend a little
bit further and also to make the nostrils for erasing any lines or any lines that your tools
made or to further blend the nose I'm using a Q-tip
and rubbing alcohol. You can use this in areas that you're baby wipe cannot reach. Then I'm using another dotting
tool with a little bit of bigger ball to make two dents to mark the sides of the mouth. Then we should grab
our X-Acto knife. Make a cut, not a straight one, more diagonal cut. Somehow a smile like cut
from first side to the other. Then with your dotting tool, mark the lower lip, and define it. Then you use your
finger to blend any extra clay that you have, with marking the mouth and bring it down
to the chin area. Now you have a defined
and beautiful lower lip. If at this point you lost
some shape in the face, you can just fix it
with your finger. Then I'm using the tip
of my exacto knife to just take the upper lip a
little bit forward and then I use my thumb to just
push it a little bit back to make an upper
lip with my extra clay. Then I push the chin
to close the mouth. It needs a little
bit of practice, but practice always makes perfect. Then use the dotting
tool and make a dent from the nose to the upper lip. W are just doing everything to
make it look more natural. Then use a big dotting tool. with the big ball. I'm showing you
for the comparison that it should be this big. The other one I
used for the mouth. Just mark the eyes. in the area that you earlier made with your finger. Then I flatten a
piece of white clay. I'm just doing
that so that I can cut identical amount of clay. I want the eyes to
be as similar as possible in the terms of size. Then I made two
balls for the eyes. If you can measure
correctly with your eyes, or your hand, then
you can do that too. You don't necessarily
need the cutter to do so. But I found this the easiest
way to have similar parts. I just cut the similar
parts with the cutter and then I do what I need to do. Then we just press them
gently into the eye socket. Now, I use a smaller
cutting tool to just cut two round circles for the colorful area of the eyes. I don't know what
that calls. But I wanted blue
eyes for my doll. But at this point, if
you need another color, you can just cut a
different color. This round shape cutters are such a
lifesaver and they were so inexpensive and I
bought them from Amazon. Now I use my smaller cutter and make two tiny black circles. I made small balls in the palm of my hands
and position them. on the eye I use my dotting tool to just
press them into place for the white areas of the eye. I'm just taking a
little piece of clay with my needle tool, just
position them in the eye so we have this
reflect of light. Then I roll a fine
piece of clay. I'm trying to be as
fine as possible. I cut two little pieces
from this long line. I want to use them as eye liner I just take them with
my dotting tool. I try to position it
right above the eye. And if it's too big, we will cut the extra. it's too long. So I'm cutting the tip. Just be careful not
to cut in the doll's face. Then the other. I am trying to look at both eyes and make
them as similar as possible. Then you can use
acrylic paint marker for the eyelashes or you can cut them from the clay
as well, but it's a little bit of a messy
process and I opted to use an acrylic paint marker . I'm using this dark brown
clay as eyebrow color. Try to have the
identical amount. and just make sure
that you convey the feeling right,
because eyebrows, are really important to change the
whole feeling of the face. I use my exacto knife to just cut small strokes
into that piece of clay so it imitates the
eyebrows perfectly. And then I use this
blush from Essence. I always use this blush. I think it looks
really natural on the doll. And I blushed the face. I use this same blush with a narrower and smaller brush
to just color the lips. That's it for the face.
3. Body: For the neck area, I'm just rolling a
little piece of clay. I cut the tip and place it right under the chin Shape it as you want it. and cut the extra. Then make a ball in palm of your hands. The size would be as you can see in the vidio, and then roll
it from just one side. You will make this kind of tear
or triangle shape, and then press it
right below the neck. I just shaped a little
bit with my fingers. Then I cut a V shape
from the lower end. Then grab a body color and roll it a little bit make a tear shape and then a little bit
higher, and roll it again. And then gain! I really don't know. I hopefully the video will be more clear than my explanation. We would like to make the ankles
a little bit more defined. and the rest a little
bit on the chubbier side, cut the extra and
attach it to the body. Do that again. I make a ball, then a tear shape. And I roll it further. I leave the tip alone and
then roll it further with my fingers to have
a little bit of ball-shaped to the end
and then I even it out. Then I cut the extra
and attach it to the body. Then I clean the legs
with my baby wipe.
4. Shoes: I pick this beautiful
purple color for the shoes. I cut two V shapes
from the clay. This part is also extra we
only need this part. These two areas
will be two shoes. It is sort of a ballerina flats. Just place the V on the foot, and you can also
take the other leg, put it aside so again, work more freely at the first foot. Cut the extras. Make sure that it's
containing the whole foot. Then cut the extra. I always when I make something, I clean it with my baby
wipes so I can erase any fingerprints or
any sort of dusts or any unwanted
things that is on my
00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:29.555
clay then I'm using my needle tool to make some kind of like pattern or sewing pattern on the edge
of the ballerinas shoes then I cut two very fine ribbons and I place them like an X on the ankles, kind of like she tied the ribbons around her ankles. Then we do the exact same
steps for the other foot. Place the V on the
foot cutoff the extras define the shape. Make some sewing pattern. Cut the ribbons and place
the ribbons like an X on the ankle. I also decided to
make two extra pieces of ribbon and place
it on the sides. Just some extra details to make it nicer.
5. Skirt: I flattened a piece
of white clay, white shimmery clay, with my pasta machine. Then I bend my
blade a little bit to cut the extras then I size it on my doll to see how big it is. So it should be cut
in half almost. Because I want the beautiful
shoes to be visible. Then I use my wavy cutter to cut some waves from the
lower edge of the skirt. Then I use some cornstarch. This is such a useful tip. When you are making skirt. You want to make some
ruffles. This way Your clay doesn't stick to itself and make everything harder than it needs to be. Then I start making a fan shape with my fingers on the upper edge of the skirt. We are gonna make them this way. Make sure that at both
ends the clay is inward. If you think your
ruffles are uneven, you can use use something like this
knitting needle that I'm using to just make sure that everything is
identical and nice. The length of the
waist area should be similar to the
waist of your doll. And then press it firmly
with your thumb so that you can fix the ruffles up there. Then cut
the extra clay from the top. Then use your exacto knife to cut a little bit
from your doll's waist. where you want the skirt to be attached. Then just push the skirt into that hole. Then use a needle tool
to fix the skirt. I am using Mika powder in this
beautiful purple color. to make some
beautiful details. on the edge of the skirt. I'm just coloring it. Like so. You could also do this
before attaching the skirt, but I just forgot. As you can see, it
would be Such a beautiful additional
feature to the skirt.
6. Coat: I use the pink color
that I used for the body. I am making another skirt. Just cut the extras as you did on
the other skirt. Also from the slides
the cuts should be diagonal cuts. This time you should, cut it in half. If you feel they are uneven, you can cut it even more. Even a little bit
of a diagonal cut. Again, I am using cornstarch
a little bit. Just to avoid the stickiness. so I can changed the position
of ruffles if I need to. Then I cut a little bit more to make sure that
the size is right. instead of fan shape, this time, I'm just bending the clay, and stick it inwards. Just like so. It's more like a
pleated skirt, I guess. Then I press the top to fix it. I do the same for the other part I am trying to see how I can make it
identical to the other part. Again, I fix the other part too. Then I cut the extra pieces
that I just pressed. Then I also cut a little
bit from the front because I want the slit
to be visible. I want the lower skirt to be
visible in-between the two parts of the coat. I use a needle tool, to press the skirt a little bit. This time we should
blend with the top. I place the other
part on the skirt. I try to find
the best position. Then I use my needle tool
to just blend it with the top. We can use the dotting tool to blend it further. Take your time at this point to blend
everything perfectly. I erase any lines that my tools made with the baby wipe.
For the declarations on the coat I use the spaghetty maker of my pasta machine and I made some stripes. You can also hand cut them. If you don't have a pasta machine.
Then I am just rolling them. and I make small flowers. I use three colors,
That goes with my pink coat. So I'm using these colors
to make the flowers. You can pause
the video at this point to make your flowers as I
did and place them on the coat. I stop at this point
because I want to make the collar. For the collars I just cut a piece of
pink clay. That's it. You just need two rectangular
and just size them on the doll so that you have the suitable size for the coat. I just place them
on the coat and cut the extras. I use my silicon tool with flat end. I put a further flowers
on the collars as well. I want to make the
sleeves for that Take a piece of
clay, make a ball, and then make a drop shaped by just rolling one
side of the clay. Size it on the doll always
size it on the doll. See if you need it to be shorter or longer. For me, it's should be
a little bit shorter. Now the size is right. I make another ball
for the other hand, make a long drop. This time I size it
with my other sleeve. Cut the extra. Now take your dotting tool with medium ball, and make a round
dent into each sleeve. This is where you put the hands, For the hands, just take
a little bit of clay in the body color. Then make a drop shape and put the sharper side into the hole that you just made for attaching the sleeves, you should just pick up
the collar a little bit, put the sleeve just underneath and make sure that put the collar
back in the place. Put some flowers on the
edge of this sleeves as well. You don't need to go all around just the visible area
would be enough.
7. Hair: So for the hair, I made this beautiful
blonde color by mixing a little bit of Fimo
gold, with white color. Now I cut some pieces. I cut them also in half
because I saw that its too big. Then I press each piece, roll it, and press
it a little bit. And then I use my
needle tool to make some hair lines on my piece. When you are rolling it make sure that one end is a little bit narrower
than the other one. Then I pull it a
little bit so that my line would be
straight and nice. Then I cut the end and then I roll the end like so to make some curls. and then I place it on my doll. I make the other one. If you see that you can make more
lines. then do it. The more lines would be better looking. Then again pull it a little bit. cut the end, and curl a little bit, and place it on the doll in front of the other
piece of hair. I put these two pieces
close to the shoulder so I don't have a gap
between the hair and the mug. This would be just like a puzzle to place it and see
where it looks better. I also make two pieces to go top
so that the hair appears fuller. I have three strings
of hair on each side. Then I use my needle tool, to make a part, and blend the sharp
areas together then I roll two small pieces to put
on each sides of the face. Front sides. You can also make a
line on this one too.
8. Hat: So now for the hat
I am just making a ball in this beautiful purple color. Then I press it against
my surface so that I have a flat end place it on her head. I turned it around to find the best perspective that it works on the head.
I press it to attach it on the doll Then I roll another
piece in the same color. I use, my cake smoother or any smooth surface
that you have, to flatten it a little bit. Then I cut and I put it
around the top of the hat, making sure that the whole area is fixed on the doll and
is sticking properly. To the doll, and to the mug. I cut a very fine ribbon. I just flatten this piece of
clay with my pasta machine. I put the ribbon around
the hat. and cut the extras. We also can make some
flowers for the hats. This way, the whole look will come together and our girl would be
fashionable and stylish. I'm just making some of these easy flowers. I put them on the hat and
make sure that they are attached properly. That's it.
9. Bake and Glue: So now our art is
ready to be baked. I preheat the oven to
110 degrees Celsius, and I put the mug on a piece of baking sheet and put it in the oven and bake
it for one hour. After one hour, I take it
out and let it cool down. So now that my mug cooled down. I put my finger nail under the doll, and push it a little bit. Then it comes right off. Sometimes it comes off as a
whole and sometimes like now it comes off in separate pieces. In this case we
glue each piece separately on the mug. First I clean the mug thoroughly Then I put a block of clay under the handle so I can glue the
doll exactly in the center. Please attention at this point, if you are making this mug for right or
left handed person. Because if the person
is left handed, you should glue the art on
the other side of the mug. I use Uhu epoxy glue
for my projects. This one is the strongest
one I found in the market. and it takes 90 minutes to dry. I mixed the equal
parts, of both glues. I put the mixture on the back of my work and I'm being
careful to not make a mess. I leave some areas without glue so that I can put superglue later. I also use a toothpick for smaller parts.
So I don't make much from it. I also use superglue so the
doll doesn't slide on the mug. Until the epoxy glue dries and make
bonds. Now I use few drops of
super glue so that my art will stick instantly. Now I placed the art in the center wait a few seconds until super glue dries. Then I do the same steps for the head or any separate parts. I use the epoxy glue. and some drops of superglue. Now I place it exactly where it supposed to be. wait a few seconds until it dries. I check if any glue is where it doesn't supposed to be. Now, we should wait for 90 minutes until the
glue dries completely.
10. Project: So here is the final result. Thank you for watching. I cannot wait to see your beautiful projects
in the project section.
Ela Piero, Polymer Clay Artist
