Tortoise or the Hare? I’m going for the Tortoise!


After my last post on the Reptile Show, I have decided to make a tortoise out of silver clay.  Thank goodness I have artistic license!  My vision (goal – hope) is to make a small recognizable tortoise that could be duplicated and used as a ring, a pendant, earrings, or beads.  Not having done any of this before, I decided to share the experience with any of you who might be interested! 
First I need to decide on which kind of tortoise….so I Googled ‘tortoise’ and got some amazing pictures.  What a variety!  After looking and thinking, I selected the Star Radiated Tortoise.   It has a very pronounced star pattern and will be a challenge.  
 My plan is to carve a small tortoise out of polymer clay, a medium that is easy to work with and manipulate.  I chose red because I like red! 
I put my new Craftoptic glasses on and start conditioning, moving and carving  referring to the pictures.  As I work with the polymer clay, it gets warm and a little squishy so that my finger prints start to become the pattern.  Start over!  After a few failed attempts, the animal takes shape and is the correct size.  Finally figured out how to put his shell bumps on and texture patterns. 
 Tonight I am baking the red tortoise in my toaster oven. 

 After he is done (hard) I will make a mold and then make several tortoises from silver clay. 



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  1. Truscale29December 2, 2011 at 6:04 PM

    Tortoise on one finger, hare on the other, and the race is on!

    ReplyDelete

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