Good afternoon, folks! It is a chilly and blustery day in the Midwest today, but that is awesome considering that Turkey Day and Christmas are literally right around the corner ready to slap us in the faces with good, fattening food and Christmas cheer! I love Christmas cheer! At my work place—if you can call it that, it is more like a nut farm—I bought this tacky little Christmas tree for our Christmas party. It is so cute though! Christmas trees should not be all tinsel-y and multi-colored like this tacky little tree, but it is just a baby tree and oh-so-cute! I love Christmas trees!

Speaking off trees, the Anti-Tree Coalition (the Davey Tree Company) woke me up at 7:30 this morning so they could cut down two more trees in my neighborhood! Over the summer, Davey Tree cut down five trees in my neighborhood, which is not good considering that I live a few miles away from a steel mill and clean air is necessary! Darn you Davey Tree, I do not need to breathe! *Gasps for air* Save me!

Alright, so what do I want to teach you guys today? Well, Alex and I have already done a lot of drawing tutorials, so I suppose I should show you something else. How about clay sculpting? We have not done a tutorial on that yet. Since I am a little bogged down with homework (there is only two weeks left of class and finals week is quickly approaching), I have to recycle a tutorial I did for another web site. After next week, however, I will be back in action with new material! Yay!

Well, I like butterflies and since many people are a little hesitant to start sculpting with clay. I think a butterfly is easy to make and a great first project for anyone wanting to create artwork with it. Once people get a hang of working with clay, it becomes easier. Let us begin with this simple project!

Supplies you will need:

Clay: I prefer Sculpey III Polymer clay . This clay is easy to work with and comes in a wide variety of colors. For this project, let us just use white clay. After the figure is created, we will paint it any color we want.

Coffee Stirrer: Coffee stirrers are great for adding details, so keep one handy.

Clay Rolling Pin: These are great for making your clay nice and flat.

Baby Powder: Baby powder helps clay not stick on surfaces.

Seed Beads: Use these for eyes.

Clay Knife: Please DO NOT use your regular kitchen utensils on your clay! Polymer clay contains compounds that are dangerous for consumption!

Tin baking Pan: To use while cooking your clay. Again, please do not use a pan that you normally cook with!

Oven: To bake with.

Now that we have our supplies, we are ready to begin!

Step One: Knead your clay between hands until soft and warm. You do not want to knead your clay so much that it is tacky and is stuck to your hands. If the clay does stick, use your baby powder. You do not want your Polymer clay to feel like Play-Doh or cooking dough. Which reminds me; do not eat your Sculpey, it will poison you! Just a little disclaimer for the children out there.

Step Two: Take a portion of the white clay and form a long butterfly body. The body should be about two inches in length and gently pinched half a centimeter in; this is the butterfly head. Next, roll out another piece of white clay until it is three eighths of an inch thick. In the pictures, I used two differing colors of clay to show how the body should look and how the clay should be rolled out. I hope I am not confusing anyone!

Step Three: Lay your butterfly body on top of the white clay you rolled out. Use your coffee stirrer to outline your butterfly wings. You can create any shape and any style for your wings. Cool, huh? You can create a giant Monarch or one of those white fluffy butterflies that float around every spring. Heck, for those of you who like Godzilla movies, make Mothra.

Step Four: Take a clay knife or the coffee stirrer and cut out the wings you created. Next, cut open the butterfly body lengthwise (tail to neck) and insert the wings you cut out.

Step Five: Lower the top part of the butterfly body and seal your edges using your finger. Now your butterfly wings are secure. Next, take two of the long shimmer seed beads and place them at the top of the butterfly head—these are the antennae.

Step Six: Place figure in the 175-degree oven on a baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for at least two hours.

Step Seven: Paint the butterfly any way you choose. You can create a pink butterfly, rainbow butterfly, whatever you like. After painting, make sure you protect your figure by varnishing it.

Wow! That was easy! See, creating objects with clay is not as hard as some people think. Now go out there and create more clay objects!

Are you being the better person by doing what you are doing, or are you coming across as a fool? Two wrongs do not make a right. Think about it.

Love always,

Marisol

Tags: anti-tree, Bead, Butterfly, Christmas, Clay, Food, Mill, Rolling Pin, Sculpting, Tree, Turkey