Blue Wonderland

Recently I have come to terms with the idea that green is no longer my favorite color, instead, the beautiful color known as blue is! I believe that even though blue is usually represented with sad emotions, it also portrays to life and magic in some form or fashion. So, I decided that my room needed a new centerpiece. Hence, the blue wonderland came together as creatures pose in their beautifully blue scenery. I hope you enjoy being whisked away into this whimsical forest setting as you prepare to get your handle dirty with clay and paint. Enjoy and thank you for joining me on this journey!

-Air dry clay

-Varying shades of blue paint

-Varying shades of blue colored pencils/pens

-Towel

-Toothpicks

-Shadow Box

-Bug

-Paper

-Scotch tape

-Old newspaper

-Paintbrush

-Scissors

1) Grab a small piece of clay and carefully mold it around a toothpick as seen in the second picture.

2) The third picture portrays the idea of gradually building out the base to be an almost lumpy oval as seen in picture 4.

3) To give some realistic proportions, picture 5 showcases adding more clay in the middle of the oval to produce a body shape.

• To smooth out the area use a flat surface such as a paintbrush or even a pen, make sure that the clay is wet, and apply pressure back and forth until smooth.

4) Once the body shape has reached its desired state, add the ends of four toothpicks into the sculpture to mimic arms and legs as seen in picture 6.

5) Make a small ball of clay and pierce through one of the legs as seen in picture 7.

6) Create a dull triangle shape by pushing the ball up and smoothing the edge to elongate the clay as seen in picture 8.

7) Repeat steps 5-6 to create the second leg.

8) Grabbing a larger ball of clay repeat the process that was previously done to make the first arm that is positioned near the body.

• When smoothing the arm, ensure that the end is thicker than the beginning as seen in picture 11.
• When the arm is fully smoothed out, grab a pencil and outline the shape that is connected to the body as seen in picture 12.

9) For the next arm, attach a ball of clay to the elevated toothpick and smooth the area down ensuring that the spread is semi-equal.

10) To create the 'hand' for the arm made in the previous step, attach a small ball of clay onto the top as seen in picture 13.

• Ensure that the hand is inverting more towards the doll... for more support, a small toothpick can be inserted and molded around.

11) Next, Grab a small ball of clay and make an ident as seen in picture 15 to make a cat ear shape as seen in picture 16.

12) Once the shape has reached its desired look, poke a small toothpick on top of the head and place the ear there (Make sure to smooth the edges)

13) Repeat steps 11-12 to complete the second ear.

1) Using a full toothpick, mold clay around the base as seen in picture 1.

• ensure that both ends are fully covered.

2) Attach a small toothpick onto the top as seen in picture 3.

3) Grab a longer rectangular piece of clay that is roughly 1.5 inches and attach it to the toothpick.

4) Once the clay begins to dry, add more clay to the new addition to create a leaf-like shape as seen in picture 5.

1) Set an oven to 375, add foil underneath the clay, and bake for twenty minutes.

• If an oven is not available or desirable this specific clay dries over time so just allow it to set out over a night and it should be good to go the next day.

1) Roll a small amount of clay into a small ball.

2) Grab another small piece of clay and shape it into a teardrop/petal shape.

• Repeat this step until 4 petals are made.

3) Once the petals are made, attach them to the small ball made in step 1 by placing them under the ball and smoothing them down as seen in picture 3.

4) Repeat steps 1-3 to produce as many flowers as desired.

5) To create the baby flower, create a small oval.

6) As seen in picture 6, use a pair of scissors to make two crossing slashes as seen in picture 7.

7) Repeat steps 5-6 until the desired amount of baby flowers are produced.

1) Repeat steps 1-7 from the first creature to build the base of the body.

• The key difference is that the legs will be slightly forward, in turn producing a butt-like shape for the creature as seen in picture 3.

2) Once the leg stubs are created, make the legs longer and place one over the other as seen in picture 4.

3) The first arm that is pointed downwards will include placing and smoothing a ball of clay around the toothpick creating a semi-even piece.

4) As the arm is almost done, add a small ball of clay at the end and smooth it flat out as seen in picture 6 to create a hand.

5) For the next arm, grab a ball of clay and smooth it down creating another semi-even piece.

6) Attach another small clay ball to the end, and smooth it flat out to the point where it is over the head as shown in picture 5.

7) Lastly, grab a pencil and create the fingers by making 3 lines.

• Once this process is finished place the creature in an oven at 375 for 20 minutes, or allow it to air dry.

1) Using newspaper (old) create a rectangular-like structure that is a little over 2 inches high and 0.75 inches thick as seen in picture 1.

2) Wrap the whole structure in any scotch tape as seen above.

3) Once the structure is reasonably firm from the tape, start by applying a thin layer of clay around the base.

• Use a wet brush to gently stretch the clay around the whole base.

4) Once the whole base is covered in clay, apply a small amount of water in case the clay is beginning to dry.

5) Next, press the rock into a textured surface such as a towel to produce a realistic look.

6) Once you are happy with the texture, grab the second creature and press it into the top of the rock at an angle.

• The point of this step is to create little molds for the butt and legs so that when the pieces come together they fit nicely together.

1) Using newspaper (old) create a rectangular-like structure that is a little over 3 inches high and 0.75 inches thick as seen in picture 1.

2) Wrap the whole structure in any scotch tape as seen above.

3) Repeat steps 1-2 twice, making the additional bases roughly half of the previous one.

4) Create a circle of scotch tape for sticky sides all around, and place these circles in between each layer as seen in pictures 2 and 3.

5) Once again wrap the whole base in more scotch tape so that the piece looks continuous as seen in picture 4.

6) Once the structure is reasonably firm from the tape, start by applying a thin layer of clay around the base.

• Use a wet brush to gently stretch the clay around the whole base.

7) Once the whole structure is covered, add another layer to the second base as seen in picture 6.

8) Smooth out the edges, and then poke continuous holes into the finished product looks like picture 8.

9) Lastly, grab the first creature and press it into the first layer as it molds around the legs as seen in the last picture.

1) Create a thin and small flat circle of clay and add a smaller ball of clay in the middle of the flat circle.

• Smooth out the ball so that the piece looks continuous as seen in picture 3.

2) On top of the ball, add a smooth triangle as seen n picture 4 (ensure that the two are properly connected).

3) Next, create another thin and small flat circle of clay.

4) Create two thin rounded strips of clay and bend them other like a rainbow.

5) Attach these two curved strips up on the flat circle as seen in picture 6.

6) Add step 5 onto the top of step 2, pushing on the bottom of both to connect the pieces.

7) Create a small circle of clay and place it in the front of the lowest level of the structure, adding divots in the middle as seen in picture 7.

8) Create two slightly thicker half arches, that curve at both ends.

9) Create a small flat circle that has a slight thickness to it as seen in picture 9.

10) Add a small arch over this structure to act as a handle.

11) Attach the two half arches o the bottom of the circle as seen in picture 11, allowing the more curved handle to be free.

12) Attach the curved handles to the lowest level of the other structure as seen in picture 12.

13) Place a small and messy ball of clay into the middle of the structure to act as fire as seen in the last picture.

1) Grabbing both of the rock structures, lightly dap a light/watered-down blue paint around the bases.

2) Slightly darkening the blue, dab around the structure some more.

3) Using one last darker shade of blue dap along the base again make sure to get the folds to create the illusion of shadowing.

NOTE: Inspect the pictures to see the progression in darkness.

1) Using a dark blue color, paint the petals for all the petals.

2) Using a blue metallic color, paint the middle of all the flowers.

1) Paint both of the creatures a light diluted sky blue.

2) The leaf umbrella for creature one should be fully painted the same color as the creatures.

3) Grabbing a dark blue, paint the majority of the leaf umbrella, leaving dabs of light blue on the top visible.

1) Grab a dark shade of blue and add more color to both of the rocks to create a dark contrast as seen in the pictures above.

2) Grabbing the first rock structure, glue down the second creature as placed previously (follow the indents).

• The creature should be at the top of the structure as seen in picture 2.

3) Grab the first creature and glue it into the indents placed on the second rock structure.

• Picture 5 showcases this.

4) Next, on the second creature's head add one of the small flowers as seen in picture 2.

5) Create cat-like faces for both of the creatures (eyes, mouth, and nose).

• Pictures 3 and 6 show this idea.

6) Using the blue metallic paint, paint a random curve along the second and first creatures to almost represent the idea of tribal paint.

• shown in pictures 4 and 7.

7) Once dried, glue the leaf umbrella to the first creature as seen in the last picture to give the illusion that it is holding the umbrella.

NOTE: I took apart my lamp to properly paint every detail.

1) Grabbing a dark blue, paint the top handle area and the 'rainbow' arches along with the dial button.

2) Grabbing the metallic blue, paint the rest of the structure excluding the small flame.

3) Finally, grab a light blue and paint the flame.

NOTE: This bug came from an old project from a friend, sadly the model is not available but any bug will work.

• If you make this bug, then the steps written below can be followed, if not then no worries!

1) Use a dark blue color, either original or created (I mixed a light blue color with a dark grey color).

2) Pain the whole of the bug the dark blue.

3) Grabbing the metallic blue color, paint the edges and the antennas of the bug to create a cool shimmer as seen in the last picture.

Not wanting to confuse the viewer by explaining a drawing I made sure to display each part of the process. Go through the pictures in the order provided and you will end up with the same results.

Not wanting to confuse the viewer by explaining a drawing I made sure to display each part of the process. Go through the pictures in the order provided and you will end up with the same results.

NOTE: I Used varying blues and whites to get the desired colors (apply more pressure for darker areas).

Not wanting to confuse the viewer by explaining a drawing I made sure to display each part of the process. Go through the pictures in the order provided and you will end up with the same results.

NOTE: I Used varying blues and whites to get the desired colors (apply more pressure for darker areas).

1) I used a shadow box that is 9x11 and 2 inches deep.

2) Place the picture into the back of the shadow box.

3) Add strips of scotch tape to both ends of the box as seen in picture 2 for a safe base to add glue.

1) Place small squares of scotch tape everywhere on the shadow box where a structure will be glued down.

2) Grab the first creature and its rock and glue it down on the far right side.\

3) Grab the elevated second creature and its rock and glue it diagonally on the far left side.

4) Add the small lantern right next to the structure of the first creature.

5) Glue the bug on the outside of the box, overlapping between two sides as seen in picture 6.

7) Lastly, glue down the flowers randomly along both of the rock structures.

No matter if you are taking this project or just curious about my build, thank you for your time, and have a wonderful/whimsical day/night!