How To Make Animals Out Of Clay

KA Hanna holds a degree in Fine Fine art/Digital Fine art. She enjoys creating works from small to very big.

Miniature pigs made from Crayola Air-Dry Dirt doing agility

Prokidwriter

Make Miniature Clay Animals

Tiny animals made of clay are easy to brand! This is a fun afternoon projection for kids who love to work with dirt and for crafty adults, also. If you use air-dry out dirt, pieces will dry overnight and be ready to paint the next 24-hour interval. Yous can besides apply oven-broiled dirt like Sculpey.

Finished mini animals are primarily decorative, suitable for dioramas; air-dried pieces can be fragile and will non stand upwards to rough play.

A cat and a squealer made from Crayola Air-Dry Clay

Materials Needed

You volition need air-dry clay to brand these animals. Go on in listen that air-dried, unfired clay can exist breakable, so these animals aren't intended to exist long-lived. They are fun and quick to make and to proceed for a little while.

Dirt

Here are some ideas for dirt types for yous to consider:

• Marblex: This is a grey self-hardening clay that is very hard when dry out. It tin be painted with acrylic paint and gives good results.
• Crayola Air-Dry Clay: This is a white clay that is very soft and like shooting fish in a barrel to work with. It's too inexpensive and widely available. The downside is that the finished, dried pieces are delicate and can easily break, peculiarly fine details similar tails and ears.
• Play-Doh: The quintessential children's sculpting media. Information technology is non very hard when dry, and is more crumbly than Crayola Air-Dry Clay. Information technology works in a pinch, however.
• Sculpey: This isn't an air-dry out clay, just included because information technology's like shooting fish in a barrel to find in many stores and does not need to be fired. It is merely broiled in a home oven at a low temperature, resulting in a very hard and resilient piece. Sculpey is nice because information technology doesn't dry out at room temperature, giving you an extra long working time. It also comes in many colors, so you don't need to paint the finished piece.

Tools

There are special sculpting tools for dirt piece of work, only with kids, you tin can employ the post-obit:

• Mini dowels or toothpicks
• Popsicle sticks
• Thin plastic palette knives
• Mini plastic spoons, from ice cream shops

Miscellaneous Equipment

• Water container
• Paper towels
• Baby wipes for cleanup, or soap and h2o
• Acrylic paints and brushes, if yous wish to paint your animals when dry out

How piggies are made

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How to Sculpt a Pig

A pig has a stout round body, tiny legs, a large caput, and no neck. It has pointed ears that flop forwards. Its snout is apartment with a slight upwardly tilt. With that in mind, hither are the steps to brand a miniature squealer out of clay:

1. Start with a slice of dirt nearly the size of a quarter and nearly " thick. This will be the body piece. You will as well need 4 pocket-sized pieces of clay about 5/eight" in diameter and ane/8" thick to make the legs. Gear up leg pieces bated.
2. Working with the body piece of clay, roll it into an egg shape, then lightly pinch and manipulate the smaller terminate so that it is slightly pointy and triangularly shaped. This will be the snout end.
3. With the snout facing you lot, pinch two ears at the top, in a higher place the snout. Go on to shape and smooth the clay and so that you have two pointy ears to define the caput and face up. Check the sus scrofa's trunk to make sure it is shine. Use a slightly dampened finger or a miniature plastic spoon to help with smoothing.
4. Advisedly curve the ears so that they point forward and slightly downward towards the snout.
5. Lightly flatten the snout.
6. At present you are set to work on the tail. Plough the hog's body around and pinch a small corporeality of clay from the body and so that it makes a long, thin tail of approximately 3/four" in length.
7. Smooth the body around the tail using your fingers or tools.
8. Whorl the tail into a pocket-size tight circle, close to the body. Set the trunk bated to work on the legs
9. Create four brusque cylinders out of each of the remaining clay pieces.
10. To adhere the legs to the torso, use a toothpick or miniature wooden dowel to scratch a hash pattern into ane end of each leg. On the underside of the body, scratch a hash pattern to where you will adhere each leg.
11. Press each leg, matching hash mark to hash mark, into the torso. Use a lightly dampened miniature dowel or miniature plastic spoon to blend the leg pieces to the torso and so that proficient contact is made.
12. Set the grunter onto a flat surface to check balance. Carefully pinch the front feet slightly frontwards to indicate hooves.
13. Allow sus scrofa to air dry thoroughly before treatment or painting. Enjoy your pig!

Cat anatomy

Prokidwriter

How to Sculpt a Miniature Cat

A cat has a long sturdy body, a defined cervix, and a triangular head. Its ears are pointed and upright. It has a long tail, held loftier, and four sturdy legs with defined paws.

Ringlet to Continue

Read More From Feltmagnet

To sculpt a cat, start with a piece of clay approximately i" in bore and 3/4" thick. Divide clay in half. Set one piece bated—this will exist the body piece. Divide the remaining slice in half. Set up i piece aside—this will be the headpiece. Carve up the remaining piece into four pieces of equal size. These will exist the leg pieces. Gear up aside.

1. Working with the body piece, roll and manipulate it into an egg shape. Then continue to pinch, elongate and dispense the small end of the egg into a tail. Bend the tail upwards.
2. Working on the other stop of the trunk, pinch a short neck. Polish the trunk with lightly dampened fingers. You volition stop upwardly with a shape that looks like a sprouted bean. Prepare body bated.
3. Working with the head piece, roll into a polish ball. The lightly pinch the ball to make a triangular shape. Turn one of the points to face y'all and compression 2 ears to define the top of the head and cage. Proceed to shape ears into ii triangles. Shape and smooth muzzle and back of head.
4. Use a toothpick to scratch a hash design into the neck part of the body piece where the head will adhere. Scratch a hash pattern into the bottom of the head towards the back where it will attach to the neck. Bring together head to cervix and use fingers or miniature spoon to smooth the two pieces to ensure a good bring together.
5. Working with the leg pieces, roll each piece into cylinders that are approximately 3/eight" long and 3/8" in diameter. Lightly press the top of each leg piece so that information technology is slightly flattened. This is the height articulation of the leg, where it will adhere to the body.
6. The top inner part of the legs will bring together the lesser outer office of the body. To achieve this, scratch a hash pattern into i side of the flattened part of each leg. Scratch hash patterns into the outside edges of the torso where the legs volition attach. See the picture for detail.
7. Using the miniature spoon or a dowel, shine the leg joints so that they wait well integrated into the body. Plough the cat over to polish the underside of the trunk.
8. Place true cat onto a apartment surface to check balance and feet placement. Curve and pinch clay to brand paws.
9. Permit to air dry thoroughly before handling or painting. Enjoy your cat!

Miniature cats made from Crayola Air-Dry Clay

Prokidwriter

Tips for Making Miniature Clay Animals

• Making miniature animals out of clay is largely about proportion. For almost animals, the torso uses about 2x the amount of clay that the head uses. Legs apply almost 1/4 the corporeality of clay as the head. Add more than or take some abroad as desired to achieve different looks.
• Animals that walk on four legs may look ameliorate past creating a leg articulation that is attached to the sides of the body, as indicated in the directions for making a cat. If yous find this is too difficult, you can still go keen results by attaching the legs every bit you did with the sus scrofa—to the underside of the body.
• Save those "miniature spoons" that y'all become from ice cream shops like Baskin-Robbins. They make great tools for sculpting!

Tips for Painting Miniature Animals

• Allow the dirt to dry completely before trying to paint. Otherwise, the paint will flake off when dry.
• I've establish that acrylic paints work the all-time and concluding the longest. The colors are bright and varied.
• Tempera paints can as well be used, but skilful quality paints last the longest. Dick Blick brand tempera paints are smooth and sleeky and give excellent results.

KA Hanna (author) from America's Finest City on March 21, 2018:

How-do-you-do Sabrina, Thanks for commenting! I may practice some other article to evidence how to do "wild" animals like jaguars, and so stay tuned!

sabrina on March 21, 2018:

can you do a jaguar

Kristen Howe from Northeast Ohio on May 19, 2015:

Someday!

KA Hanna (author) from America's Finest City on May 19, 2015:

Thanks Kristen!

Kristen Howe from Northeast Ohio on May nineteen, 2015:

Pretty cool. Congrats on Editor'south Choice in 2013. Voted upward for awesome!

Loraine Brummer from Hartington, Nebraska on October 11, 2014:

Nice article with easy to understand tutorial. Great for classroom use as well.

Allaboutmom on September 29, 2013:

Nice

KA Hanna (writer) from America's Finest Urban center on August 04, 2013:

Howdy flourish, This works really well for Girl Scouts! Especially when doing badge piece of work or motel activeness when camping ground. If you desire to brand tiny animal SWAPS, I suggest using Sculpy for durability.

FlourishAnyway from U.s.a. on Baronial 04, 2013:

Very artistic. I specially love the little kitty. I can imagine painting him and putting fiddling googlie eyes. Perfect craft for tweens and teens, girl picket troops.

LG from Ozamiz Urban center, Philippines on August 03, 2013:

Yeah..sure...

KA Hanna (author) from America'southward Finest Metropolis on August 02, 2013:

Thanks light20! Hope your nieces savor!

LG from Ozamiz City, Philippines on August 02, 2013:

Swell...this will be fun...I'll teach this to my 5 cute nieces...I have seen them playing with clays several times...so i think that they would really dear this stuff...When it comes to family, I am all about my nieces... hahaha...They are too adorable...

Beautiful hub...and cheers for giving me a smashing idea for sharing quality fourth dimension...

Ceres Schwarz on July 29, 2013:

These clay animals look really cute. The instructions for how to make them would actually help those that are interested in making clay animals. The tips on making and painting the clay animals are also very useful.

KA Hanna (author) from America's Finest City on July 28, 2013:

Thanks Heidi!

Heidi Thorne from Chicago Expanse on July 28, 2013:

And so cute!

Source: https://feltmagnet.com/sculpture/How-to-Make-Clay-Animals

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