Easy Clay Sculpture Ideas
For a quick (and sometimes dirty) craft project, consider clay sculpting. When you’re working with clay, you get to mold the materials into any design you like, squeezing and forming shapes with abandon. Make simple clay sculptures to decorate your home, give as gifts and inspire your artistic side.
Initials
Stake your claim on your sculpture by forming your initials out of clay. While it may not seem like alphabet letters are well-suited to a sculpture, you just have to look at the "Love" artwork created by Robert Indiana. The sculpture features the four letters of the word "love" and may inspire your own design. Build your initials out of clay, then gently press them together to form a sculpture. Options include stacking them double, like Indiana’s sculpture, or stacking them in totem form, one on top of the other.
Snowman
Whether the weather outside is frightful or not, you can invite a snowman into your house year-round when you sculpt him out of clay. For a basic snowman, make three different-sized balls. Attach them together by gently pressing the smallest ball on top of the medium ball and the medium ball onto the largest one. For extra security, anchor the balls together using toothpicks. If you’re going for a rustic snowman look, you’re done. Otherwise, personalize him a bit by rolling very tiny buttons, eyes and mouth accents, then pinching skinny lines of clay and adding them as arms. An added benefit is that this snowman will stay by your side no matter the temperature, never melting into a liquid pile of hat, nose and buttons.
Heart
As a gift for Valentine’s Day or an anniversary, a sculpted heart can make a hefty impression. Making the heart is easy. Select enough clay to get the heart as large as you prefer, such as a fist-sized batch of clay for a heart-shaped paperweight. Roll the clay into a smooth, round ball, then use your pointer finger to begin "denting" the ball at the top. As you press the ball with your finger, it will begin to take on the heart’s divided lobe shapes at the top. Smooth out the heart’s shape with your hands and you’re done. To add extra designs, use a toothpick to engrave your initials into the heart or add swirls and patterns.
