Round 2 of Then and Now Polymer Clay Creations!

Sorry it has been a little bit since I blogged last. The Dragon Con Art Show in September takes alot out of me and then my work usually increases due to the loads of custom requests I get swamped with afterwards. Not complaining, I love the work but it leaves very little time to blog and since most of the commission requests I am currently working on are for Holiday gifts, I can't post my progress.
But I can post my sculpting Progress over the years. I like to encourage artists to never stop trying. Practice really does make perfect but improvement comes slowly sometimes and can be discouraging. But don't give up fellow artists.
Here are some of my Then and Now sculptures that I hope will help motivate and inspire. :)

I hope you all enjoyed my throw back photos. Here's another blog of my Then and Now Progress pieces if you need more encouraging.
Then and Now Polymer clay creations: Always Keep Trying! 
Check out my work on my Instagram and Facebook!
Thanks for reading!
~Caralyn

How to Make your Dragon

I have had a soft spot for Dragons since I was a little girl. Then I grow up and still can't get enough of them, it's obvious from my collection of little hand-sculpted polymer clay cuties. I have been sculpting Myxie Dragon Pals for several years now :)

But I thought it would be neat to make a big one. So first I started with the general shape I wanted. This Dragon was going to be framed so I was just sculpting the head and neck. 

After pressing in his glass eyes I sculpted the details on the face. With a sharp clay tool I etch each scale into the soft polymer clay. His teeth were sculpted using transparent polymer clay so his toothy grin would look more realistic. 

Not sure what the fleshy part hanging off the neck is called but I've seen reptiles with one so I assume Dragons have one too... so I sculpt one on my Dragon and add more horns down the back of his head :)

After adding his chest plates, a plate at a time, I then add his scales, placing each one by one. Making sure not to forget to add the scales in the frame background to give the appearance that he is coming out of the frame. The process took a while. 

Once each scale was in it's place I was able to attach his large horns. And then he was ready to be baked. Usually with my larger pieces I bake them in sections but I was able to heat this guy all at once.

 Now to paint on the details and my Dragon is ready to hang on anyone's wall. I painted in all the cracks and corners with dark blue paint and then wiped the excess off to make the end result a lovely light blue.

This Dragon was such an awesome experience. I was able to stretch my creative muscle and try out techniques that I haven't been able to try on my smaller pieces. This piece took me over 30 hours and approximately 7 ounces of polymer clay to complete. He stands around 8 inches tall and is probably my favorite of my sculptures right now. :)

This dragon will be displayed in my Gallery at the Dragon Con Art show in September for those of you that would like to see him in person. 

I hope you all enjoyed my Step by Step process. 

Thanks for reading!

~Caralyn 

Riding a Steampunk Carousel

    I have always loved carousels ever since I was little and didn't have people yelling at me to get off and let the children have a turn...Who says adults can't go to carousels and ride while screaming that they are a princess...Annnywhoo
So I made my own carousel horse and due to my love of all things steampunky, I put a fun little twist to the traditional carousel ride. :)
It's all about dat base so that's what I started with, take several small wood circles, glue them together and drill a hole through the center. ( I got my husband to help with that part because I can't be trusted with power-tools.:P ) Then paint your base, I used white and gold.

 Now for the main part. Sculpt a rough shape of your horse; I usually sculpt the body and limbs separate. After you finish the details on the face you then attach the limbs to the body with wire.

Then you can sculpt any more details to the piece. I usually sculpt pieces that stand freely but this sculpture was a little more challenging because I had to sculpt each part while it had a large wire through the center of it. Made it very difficult to put down, and figuring out how to bake my horse was another chore entirely.

Time to add the steampunky accessories! Using clay and metal jewelry and watch pieces I bring my steampunk carousel horse to life.

All Done! Despite the size of this sculpture, he almost looks like he could carry children around and around until they got sick. FUN!!! :D

I am super happy with how this piece came out, I would love to make a few more steampunk carousel animals but I am not sure if I will be able to with the up coming Dragon Con Art Show I will be attending in September.
Keep checking out my Blog and FaceBook page to see what all I will be working on as the show approaches. :)

Thanks for reading.
~Caralyn