Couple of Cats

I cut a couple of pieces of wire, bent them into a flat U shape and taped the top. The right one I covered with a layer of bubble before I added tinfoil and the one on the left I covered just in tinfoil.

Once I'd built them up into the shape I wanted using tinfoil, I covered them in masking tape. I left the top exposed so I could use the wire to hold a polystyrene ball.

Next I mixed up some clay. I used black Powertex and kept feeding StoneArt powder into it. 

Until I got something like this, a clay.

I painted an area of the masking tape with Powertex.

I rolled out the clay using my hands and pushed it onto the masking tape. Putting the Powertex on beforehand helps it to stick.

I covered everything but the ball with clay and left it to dry.

I'd made extra clay to cover the head the following day. As long as you seal it tight, you can keep it up to a couple of weeks before you use it.

This is how it looked the next day after it had dried. All the way through the process I made sure it stood on its own.

The one on the right was the frame with the bubble wrap and tinfoil and the one on the left was just the tinfoil. I wanted to experiment to see if there was much difference in how the clay worked on each one.

They have both been in the airing cupboard for a few days and are now rock solid. The one on the right fell over and the ear bent and is set solid, happy accident. The white that you can see is where I didn't totally mix the Stoneart in 100%, but it doesn't bother me as it just adds to the look and I'm going to paint it anyway.

So here I have painted the one on the left in pewter and the one on the right is still the raw clay.

Right one is now painted too, I used bronze.

And from the side so you can see their tails and the right one I also angled the head.

And here they are from a slightly different angle. It's amazing how much texture you get from your hands when applying the clay and how this comes out in the dry brushing.

Close up of the textures.

The base of the pewter one.

And the base of the bronze one.

Hope you found this useful and if you want to, don't be shy, leave me a quick comment.