Made by Holly Halter
Here is my just completed sculpture Egyptian Cat with Plover. I have just started working with Jonni’s Original Recipe Paper Clay and am making a series of cat sculptures. My sculpture is 15 inches high. It is two-sided – gold on one side and black and white on the other. The body of the cat is paper mache clay textured with lace and handmade stamps. The head and the Plover are decoupaged photo images. The Plover base is made of Polymer clay. The cat’s legs and the tail are wire encased in Plumbers Putty. Plumber’s Putty is one of my favorite mediums/adhesives. It will adhere all kinds of non-porous surfaces which is very inexpensive and it cures quickly. The base is a wood block covered with slabs of polymer clay using a mold that I made. I plan to do a series of cats in various themes. I hope to figure out to add whiskers with fishing line or wire.
Formerly a ceramic artist, I had to sell my kiln as I can no longer physically handle all the heavy lifting involved.
Challenges – I think I did not squeeze enough water out before mixing in all ingredients. I did not use the scale method as I forgot how to use it. I need to figure that out. I kneaded and kneaded small portions into flour or cornstarch but it was still unworkable. I bought some dry joint compound and kneaded that into small batches at a time. This helped a lot and it firmed up my clay.
I am trying to learn how to cut shapes out of Paper Mache Clay. Because of the paper fibers, one can not really cut it cleanly with an Exacto knife. I ran into the same problem when I used to work in Ceramic Paper clay, but that was slightly easier to cut as the clay had more body or heft to it.
I have been watching Jonni’s wonderful tutorials for about a year now, and have been so inspired by this incredibly talented and generous woman.
Hello – I am now working with Laguna air-dry ceramic clay and am now able to achieve the forms I want to make. I printed my image on my low-end inkjet printer onto Apollo brand ink-jet transparencies. I painted two layers of Liquitex Acrylic Matte Medium onto wet clay and laid down the image and burnished it with my finger. I am almost ready to make my first Tuxedo Cat sculpture. I am still intrigued with paper mache clay and may explore that medium in the future.
Very nice… thanks for putty info…
You’re welcome, Brenda. I am searching this site to see if anyone has tips on image transfers on paper mache clay. Have a nice weekend.
Very clever and interesting sculpture. I like it. Have you heard of Magic Sculpt? It is like plumber’s putty but I think it has a longer workable life, about 45 minutes. I use it for details. I hope you keep posting your work. It is very unique and truly artistic.
Yes, thank you. I have heard of Magic Sculpt. I think I checked on the prices recently, and seem to remember it was kind of pricey. But it might be worth considering for the bonus of extra work time. Thank you for your kind response, Pat. All the best.