Cloud's wolf fenrir ornament
From CosplayWiki
Contents |
How to make Cloud's Wolf Fenrir Ornament
from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Materials
Tools
Procedure
The first you need to do when you try to sculpt something out of clay is to find lots of reference images of the item you are trying to sculpt. In this example we will be scuplting Cloud's Wolf Fenrir Ornament from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. You should probably find more than one picture, envisioning the item from as many different angles as possible.
You'll notice, when you examine the item and break it down into its' component shapes, that the item seems made up of different layers. A round, flat base covered by a layer of leaf-shaped fur locks, with a mound rising out of that to form the snout in front. (Think about which parts of the ornament you'll have to lay down first and what parts you'll have to build on top of them later and you should have a good idea on how to make the whole.)
The first step in recreating this item: make the base. This was done by flattening a ball of sculpey to create a disc about 2-1/2" wide. I created the rounded outer rim of the ornament by making a long snake shape out of sculpey and wrapping it around the disc.
With the base made, I then stenciled in the rough shape of the wolf's head, marking it's placement on the disc. I then began to build up a mound of clay upon the disc, in the spot where I thought the clay would be thickest.
I then began work on making the mane of the wolf - the leaf-shaped locks of hair which would frame his head and provide the base for the rest of the figure. I made each leaf shape individually and placed them all on the disc around the raised mound.
The next thing I work on is the mouth. I lay down a couple of rounded slabs of clay, one to serve as the bottom of the mouth, and the other to serve as the roof of the mouth and the snout. I'm not too worried about the fine details at this point - I just make sure I have a general snout shape and enough clay built up there so I can fit in the hanging ring later.
The next thing I work on are the ears. I form a triangular piece of sculpey and put a dent in the middle to create the inside of the ear. I then scratch a few lines on the sides of the ear to create a "tufted fur" look. Once the ear is formed, I place it on the disc and work it into the as-yet-unformed rest of the head.
I begin to work on the head, pressing in the sockets where the eyes will go and defining the brow ridge a little more. I then finish defining the mouth and use a cylinder-shaped tool to create the hole-shaped depressions in the side of the mouth that the mouth ring will eventually hang from.
Now's the time to finish the forehead region. I form the eyes and lay down small, lentil-shaped pieces of sculpey, using a tool with a bevelled edge to define the features and create the "fur lines." I lay down more layers of sculpey to build up the snout and I use a needle-like tool to create the nostrils in the end of the nose. I then define the mouth a little more, using a flat tool to press in a ridge around the edge of the snout to create the lips.
I can't add the mouth ring as of yet, but I can at least cut it to shape. I take a small 1" plastic curtain ring and I cut a small section out of it. The plastic is slightly flexible and the ends of the rings will slip into and out of the depressions on the side of the mouth easily once the clay is baked.
I bake the clay according to the directions on the polymer clay package. (In a 275 degree oven for about 20 minutes or so.)
