Coral Reef Inspired Decoration

Corals are really amazing animals. I always thought they were some kind of marine plants, but when I decided to investigate them, I discovered that they are considered animals and that there are more than 7,500 species, of which 5,000 are already extinct. Belonging to the Anthozoa class, they remain in the polyp phase attached to the ground and unable to move. Corals are extremely important since part of marine life depends on corals for food and shelter.

Corals are very attractive thanks to their different colors and shapes. They always remind me of the movie Finding Nemo

Materials

Cold porcelain or clay for modeling

Embossers

Acrylic paint

A bottle of water

Brushes

Thin wire

Expanded polystyrene

A lighter

Scalpel

stones

I made a little porcelain ball

Then I made several strips

With the help of a tool we will make a hole in the upper part of the strip.

Then we join them all together and thus we obtain our first coral.

Using a cookie cutter or any other type of star-shaped mold,

make a cold porcelain ball and then flatten it.

Place the star-shaped mold and press to cut and obtain the shape of a star.

Make balls and with the help of a tool make the holes.

Place the balls on top of the star to give it texture.

Using a metal rack, place a ball of cold porcelain behind it and press it down. You will see how the porcelain will come out through the holes in the rack and you will have a cool texture.

Then, using a flat tool, remove the porcelain from the rack and let it air dry.

I made a strip of porcelain.

Then, with an embosser, I made stripes on the top part.

Then I started to roll it up to form a sea snail, and in this way I can make many more coral shapes. Let's let our imagination fly.

Here are some other examples of corals that I made.

Here I leave some shapes that are found in corals, you don't have to be an expert, for example I am not very good at making sculpture, but help me with some elements that I had at home, start with a simple cold porcelain ball or something putty mold and then let your imagination fly.

I had a piece of expanded polystyrene sheet at home and I used it to draw the silhouette of a seashell, for the base of my coral reef

With a cutter for expanded polystyrene, I cut all around the edge of the shell.

One of the fish I chose is the famous clownfish

I made the figure of a clownfish, I think this is a very common type of fish in coral reefs.

Then I painted it with orange acrylic paint

Afterwards, with white acrylic I made stripes and then with black I outlined the white lines.

This was another of the types of little ones that I chose, I loved it for its stripes and its shape, this is a very beautiful fish To start I made the silhouette, let it dry and then with a brush and black acrylic, I made the characteristic lines of this fish.

Meet other types of coral species and inspire. Mold a trozo of fria pork, then make it with a small piece of aleta, so that you can paint it in blue and remove some links in disorder in amarillo, you can see it like the fish that are found in the corals.

I molded a small iridescent purple fish, since there are infinite colors and textures in corals, some have this iridescent appearance.

First I made a shape with a tail incorporated and then I made some lines on the tail of the fish, to finish I used the purple color, let it dry and apply the iridescent color.

I wanted to incorporate a manta ray into the reef. So I started by making a strip of porcelain.

Then I made a ball and flattened it and placed it on top of the strip.

I dyed the manta ray blue and made some white dots on it.

I recycled a 5-liter water bottle, since the top part is round and has some shapes similar to seashells.

When I had separated the top part of the bottle, I made some seashell-shaped separations with a marker.

Then, with the help of a cutter, I cut all around the edge, and then I cut it in half, since I only needed one part.

With a lighter burn all the edges

I chose sand-colored acrylic paint, since the bottom of the sea has sand, and I wanted a neutral color for the base of the coral reef, since the colors that will go on top are too colorful.

Let it air dry for approximately 24 hours, this is actually the first time I have used cold porcelain.

When I verified that my coral figurines were hard, I decided to paint them in different colors. I chose many vibrant and striking colors, since this is what characterizes corals, which is why they are so striking.

I chose this type of wire that is very thin and has a very nice golden color to put on the fish, so I could join them to the base of the coral reef and so that at first glance they would look as if they were swimming.

I started by putting the expanded polystyrene base and placing the shell silhouette that I had cut out of the water bottle on top.

When I collected these stones, they seemed very similar to those found at the bottom of the sea where corals form. These stones have a texture very similar to that of the sea. I placed them on top of the base and began to form my coral reef.

With a little hot glue, I placed all my corals and began to organize them so that it began to look like a reef.

Finally here we have a cold porcelain coral reef, I made this with a lot of love and patience.

I loved the result, I hope you love it too.