LedBust

In this project, I was exploring a way to use light with clay, so my first thought was create a Glowworm but it turns out my inspiration leed me to create a bust of a creature, and that creature GLOWS.

- Clay

- Wire

- Tape(Can be any type of tape)

- Old newspaper or magazines

- An empty bottle of water

- A small cord of Christmas lights (preferential LEDs)

- 1 spoon

- Old table lamp

First:
Cut 3 pieces of wire, 1 with at least 25 cm, 1 with at least 15 and 1 with 10cm (these measures are relative to the size you want)

Second:
Make a cross (like a 4D axis) with wired and tape.

Third:
Cut the top of the water bottle and make a small hole on the bottle cap, sick the wire cross on it and use tape to enforce the stability of the support.

Add paper around the "Cross" until you have the size and the similar shape of the final product, tape will help to stick the paper together. This doesn't need to be perfect because you can shape the perfect form better with the clay.

Create a first layer of clay around the paper shape.

Shape the formation of the face in a way that paper can't force the format being changed. Note that, sometimes the clay can have a lot of water so the paper will not be in is initial form, to prevent that, fulfill the paper gapes with tape.

To start the 1 led should be the closest to the power source, so it will be possible to omit the battery box in the place of most interest.

Precede the LEDs in the first layer of clay and go adding clay so that the LEDs got stuck to the clay, so that the LEDs were not completely erased/omitted the best is to do this process with them On, so you can omit the maximum of LEDs and see their light.

Personally I like to start with the eyes, so I put 2 clay balls in the place where the eyes will be, a vertical clay cylinder where the nose will be and a horizontal one in the mouth place. If these cover any led, you should replace the led position on the 1 layer of clay. Then just shape the eyes, nose, and mouth as neatly as possible.

Add a second layer of clay to omit the wires and the most you can of the LEDs.

Before starting with the scales, I added the creature some ears, so I just started with 2 clay balls on each side of the face and went prying them until they looked like the worst ears I've ever seen.

To make the scales use the handle part of the spoon, pressing the clay repeatedly with the spacing you prefer. The wider the spoon handle the wider the scales will be, I personally used a teaspoon. During this process, you can also improve the creature's appearance.

For support, I used a table lamp. It is essential to choose the holder before finishing the face, as you may need to add extra clay inside or even change the shape of the face. Sometimes it may make sense to pierce the clay itself and in this case, it may be easier with dry clay.