CODE GEASS - LELOUCH/ZERO (FIRST SUCCESSFUL POLYMER CLAY, ALMOST)
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON 27 JAN 2015
Remember my first try on polymer clay that was a massive big fail? I completed it!
Yes! It's Zero/Lelouch from Code Geass! I personally think that it's still quite fail but not as bad as the first try HAHAHHAA. I'll talk about the fails later in this post.
I made my Zero using this picture which I found in google searching "code geass zero chibi" and this was the cutesttttt. Obviously it looks much better than the clay I made. But considering it's my first try....... (excuses excuses lol)
Anyway, Code Geass is an anime that my boyfriend introduced to me. It's his favourite anime and after I watched it, it became one of the top few on my list too. If you're interested you can go here to read the synopsis, I don't want to give any spoilers!
So before I knew that clay existed, he kind of requested a Zero, and it was MONTHS AGO. Back then the only craft I make was via crochet and knitting. But using crochet, it's really hard to get the details and I'm someone who really wants details as well as making it small, like at least half the size of my hand, so crocheting is really out of the question.
After I know the existence of polymer clay, the first thing I wanted to make when I finally got my supplies was Zero!
Which is honestly not really a good idea because it's really tough LOL I really should have tried something easier like maybe with simple shapes but THIS IS THE FIRST ONE I DID. I should have gotten my basics down before attempting something like this but I was impatient hahah.
Before talking about the process of making Zero,
Remember in my #fail post I talked about how using vaseline to kind of soften the clay so it can be conditioned a little bit easier? NOPE. DON'T DO IT. LOL. I mean yes, it helps to condition the clay easily but it also makes it super tough to work with afterwards because it gets so sticky and slimy and you can't really do anything to it like carving.
So what I did was I leech it, that's where you put the clay that's conditioned too much/too soft in between two pieces of paper (don't use paper that has inks on it, just to be safe so that nothing gets in your clay), stack books or anything heavy on top and leave it for a day or so to make it firmer. The picture above shows the amount of oil(?) that I leeched out. There are various methods to do this but this is what I did.
Sometimes you might even get clays that's already too soft from the package itself so this is what you can do too. I guess firmer clays are easier to manipulate but if it's too crumbly...
What I did when I was making zero was actually just using my hands to condition it! Weird right?? I had a blister before that but now it seems so much easier! It could be because 1. It was the first time I touched a polymer clay and it was tougher than I expected so the second time I try to use it I was already expecting it or 2. Because the clay was opened maybe the humidity did something to it.
But all in all, using your hands can condition the clay quite easily!! What I did was I kind ofcollect all the crumbly clay on my palm and gently attempt to make them into a ball, rubbing them. I am guessing that the heat from the friction of my palm warms them up a little and it gathers them up, which after that I will the use my fingers to soften them.
I feel that they're conditioned enough when you pull them apart and no "crumbs" fell down. It really doesn't have to be stretchy like gum. (That's my personal opinion, I may be wrong and I need to experiment with it more)
Also, I'm really sad because my blade got kind of...rusted?? I am thinking it might be because of the wet wipes, the rusted place looks like streaks of water that might have been left when I was cleaning it up. Which was weird cause I made sure I dried everything with tissue paper. :(
But then again, it might just because of humidity itself. I don't think this is stainless steel so maybe when it's really getting worse I'll try and find a stainless steel blade. I put this in a sandwich bag with dehumidifier so I'm hoping it'll slow down the process. I wonder where I can get stainless steel blade....
But enough digress!
After a lot of fails, I finally got into something like this.
Initially I kept on making the head first etc and it was really difficult to make the body afterwards. So I tore it off and made from scratch and made the body first. It worked much more better!
So I made a mental note to myself that I must always make the base first.
It looks really funny now haha the way it's standing seems weird, I probably should have made the legs differently........ I was pretty happy about the mask, but one side broke off while working on the cape because I prebake it and clays that are not baked fully can be VERY fragile. It was quite frustrating and I tried my best to patch it up but now the smoothness of the whole mask is gone :(
It was also proving quite difficult to make the mask because I didn't have a pasta machine yet and it was hard to make the clay flat consistently, so I had quite a hard time making the mask.
I made sure I got a pasta machine before I make the cape because cape needs to be flat, FLAT!!!!!!
When making the cape, I wanted to make sure it could stand with the support of the cape, so I used the extra clay that I have and not going to use as a support Zero when I bake it.
I made the cape with one side red and one side blue and go through the pasta machine together. So I had extras when I cut the pieces I needed out. I used those extra and rolled them up together to make the two supports. THIS ONE LOOKS LIKE A SQUASHED SPIDER MAN HAHAHAHAHHAHAA. *random*
But anyway, I finally completed it. It's really not the nicest looking thing on earth but I'm proud of it because it's my first polymer clay model.
Things I'm not happy about and need improvement on:
My painting skills. IT SUCKS. I need to get thinner paintbrush, and also mix the colour properly. It looks too bright on zero :(
Zero wasn't able to stand properly. When I was baking the top half of the cape, I laid it down flat. So the legs got pressed downwards and the top half of the cape isn't really exactly rounded. :(
I need to remember that they are all prebaked so they are REALLY fragile. Ugh. The bottom cape broke like into 3 parts, the side on it's left hand. I had to patch it up but I don't think I did it well.
Need to have all the materials. I didn't have dark blue paint so I used fimo liquid clay with dark blue pastel and covered up the cape and parts where my yellow paint was accidentally painted on.
THEN I baked it at the wrong temperature, I didn't look at it carefully and realised that I needed a higher temperature for liquid clay and lesser timing AFTER I took it out of the oven T.T It was too late by then and you could see the streaks of liquid flowing downwards the back of the cape....... :(
It's now at the bottom of his computer desktop with the Santa Darth Vader lego his friend gave him for christmas haha. Even though it's really not very well done, he still likes it and I'm glad. ^^
(Photo credits to my boyfriend who sent it to me hehe)