Post #719016 by MadDogMike on Mon, Jun 2, 2014 12:53 PM

Another success for paperclay, this time a B-Mix Paperclay. Was making a large iguana head approx 4 inches in diameter and 7 inches long. Needed to have a wooden core in it so it could be attached to a wall. I made the desired size and shape core in both wood and in Styrofoam. I made the iguana around the foam core with sides about 1.5 inches thick.

I let the iguana set out with no wrapping for a couple of days until the clay hardened, I used a hook to break up the foam and pull it out of the cavity. The reason for the foam core instead of the wooden core was to eliminate the possibility of cracking if the paperclay shrunk against the core. I put it in a heated air cabinet and force dried it over 2 days. A piece with regular ceramic clay that thick would have taken WEEKS to dry without cracking. After bisque firing, the paperclay had shrunk slightly. I sanded my wooden core down so that it would slide into the cavity.

The wood core will screw to the wall, the iguana slides onto it and is held in place by a wooden dowel that goes crosswise through the core and the iguana (seen just in front of the large eardrum)