Trash Cat

A grinning Tom in your trash

Posted by Azraels Requiem

About

Recently created for my first tutorial for cut out + keep, this is my Trash Cat.

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You Will Need (6 things)

  • Air Dry Clay
  • Acrylic Paint
  • 1 x Plastic Ball
  • 2 x Plastic Doll Eyes
  • 1 x Tin Can
  • Found Objects

Steps (9 steps, 300 minutes)

  1. 1

    I start out with discarded plastic ornaments, my attic just so happened to be littered with them when squirrels managed to get in there but I digress. I usually brush on a water and school glue solution and apply small squares of tissue paper, once dry it gives the clay something to hold onto but I chose to skip it for the purposes of the tutorial.

  2. 2

    I decided early on that I wanted to make a cat so I drilled two small holes and pushed a pair of Cat style doll eyes, but I have in the past used buttons, marbles, eyes cast in resin. A slightly pricier option would be to buy glass eyes from taxidermy sites but pay close attention to the size often listed in millimeters so its probably a good idea to chose eyes from small species animals since the eyes are the approximate size of the animal in question.

  3. 3

    Next is a small amount of air drying clay, I don't generally map out an idea for my projects. I do a quick image search on a search engine and base my ideas loosely on what I see. Here I used terracotta colored clay, no reason but I will say I prefer the white clay because its easier to paint. My local craft store just ran out of the white.

  4. 4

    Here is a profile picture. Notice that I do not cover any more than half of the ball, it cracks way too much when the clay shrinks.

  5. 5

    Working with small amounts of clay at a time, I detail the face.

  6. 6

    You'll notice it cracks around the eyes. I usually take liquid super glue and put a few drops into the cracks and fill them in with clay later.

  7. 7

    Here comes the tissue paper and school glue solution. You can cover up cracks this way too but the face won't be as smooth. I cover any exposed plastic with paper to achieve a relatively smooth and paintable surface.

  8. 8

    Here he is painted

  9. 9

    I glued his head to a body made of a small bottle, covered it in the same way I did his head. I glued that into a can and added hands made of old glove fingers, I also added pieces of foil, plastic, foam and other assorted items that would look like trash but not smell. Now he's ready to sit on your shelf.