Easy Starters

Techniques

Lots of techniques are to be patient and go slow and practice. And it works. But we can go way more specific.

Shape Starter: The Shape Starter technique is one for early beginners and it involves lots of 3D shapes of all sizes. A few examples are: cone, sphere, cube, cylinder, pyramid, and many more. There are some 3D shapes for clay that you probably haven't heard of before like: snake, egg, disk, and teardrop.

Step by Step Directions: The step by step is a great way to learn because it goes nice and slow. You probably use it all the time without knowing. This strategy is when you look at directions and go one step at a time. One of the techniques you can using on this slide is this.

Picture Copying: The picture copying technique is one that many use for drawing and sculpting. Picture copying is when you look at a picture and try to copy it. Sometimes this isn't good because the artist who made it might not want you copying. But if the picture is on a website, google, or anything that anyone can access, it's most likely okay. And if not, then it's their fault and not yours. We also used this strategy in this slide. So you can read the directions and look at the picture.

Dragon

( This is simpler with air dry non-toxic clay)

Pick a color.
Take a color and make a thick snake. (body)
Put your finger 1/3 of the way (about, no need to be perfect) and roll the 1/3 part ( the end closer to your finger is where you roll towards) into a cone.
Put that aside and take a smaller chunk.
Roll it into a very thick snake. (This will be the head.)
Take another small piece and split it in two, then make them both into teardrops.
Make the teardrops flat. (wings)
Take one more small piece and make it into four pieces.
Take a piece and make it a snake (in between thick and thin) do this to all of them.
Take all of your pieces and connect them to the body.
Make eyes and horn to attach. (horns are cones)

Lion

(This is easier with non-toxic air dry clay.)

Take a small piece of yellow-orange clay. ( You will also need a brown.)
Roll it into a thick snake. (body)
Take another piece and roll it into a ball. (head)
Take a piece of brown and break it into 7 pieces and roll them into a spheres. (mane)
Take a piece and make four evenly sized snakes. (legs)
Take a tiny piece and roll into a snake. (tail)
Take a piece of brown, roll it up, and put it on the snake you just made.
Connect all the pieces. ( If you need, look at the pic.)

Unicorn

Make a sphere about the size of grape.
Make another one the same size, and roll it a little so it is an oval.
Take the sphere and place it on top of the oval. Make sure it's secure.
Take a piece of clay half the size of the others, and make it a snake, then put it on where a unicorn's mane would be.
Take a piece of clay about a centimeter across and roll it into a thick snake.
Do that 3 more times for the legs, then stick them on.
Make two small spheres for the ears and stick them on.
Make eyes, and add hooves if you want.
Make a small cone and roll out the bottom a little. Add this as the tail.
Make a cone for the horn, and add it on.
You're done!

Cat in String

(Kitten not included.)

Make a sphere and pinch the end a bit to make the snout.
Roll an oval twice the size of the head for the body.
Connect them together. Make four little skinny ovals, for the legs.
Roll a thin oval for the tail and stick it on.
Make two small spheres and roll them into cones. Then make them flat.
Add those on the head as the ears.
Add any extra details to the cat that you would like. I added a spot.
Make a long, long snake and wrap it around the cat randomly.
Connect one end of the string to a small sphere if you want.
If you want to make the kitten, then repeat steps 1-7 in miniature size.