Tando Creative: Model it!! Spooky Halloween Project using clay by Art Angel

Well, i thought i’d go all Halloweeny given the day, so this project is centred around all things spooky!

Tando produce some fantastic pieces to help you celebrate your All Hallows Eve, with everything from bats and spiders to coffins and webs, i have picked a selection to work with and given them all a base coat of Decoart Carbon black

I have used a variety of stencils placed over my pieces and added texture using Decart sand texture paste as i didnt want flat surfaces

While the texture paste was out i coloured some by adding a touch of yellow paint and applied it to my thins to add a bit of interest to my skulls and skeletons by just dabbing it on with my finger.

While these were drying i base coated two 3d coffins in carbon black chalk paint and added coarse pumice stone to one, and sand texture to the other using a brick work stencil to give a variation in texture. When these were dry i built the 3d structure by glueing the pre scored tabs. Left until the glue was completely dry then sprayed each of the insides with decoart media misters in magenta and violet shimmer

I sprayed the textured outsides with black dye spray and force dried with a heat gun, i then sprayed over with a metallic gold spray, this moves the dye spray underneath as the dye spray is water based and not permanent like an acrylic based spray. This movement creates the easiest of worn surfaces which is the effect i’m after. Again i dried this with the heat gun. When dry i went over the whole of the outside with white wax to bring out the texture even more, this creates a lovely stone finish

I repeated the same technique on all my other “stone” pieces

I set these aside to build up my tombstone. The layered arch with cobweb is so versatile as it has so many different layers. I separated mine and used all the open pieces mounted onto the largest solid arch, i used the middle arch independently and kept the smallest to use in another project

Even though i wasn’t using all the layers i still wanted to keep the dimension so i mounted all of the open arches on to 3m shaker foam before putting them together

To hide the foam tape you can coat the sides with texture paste and paint when dry

I had previously used air drying clay in some Silicone moulds to create my embellishments, these had already been left overnight to dry so i painted these using the same stone effect as i had in the rest of the project

The wings i wanted to mount on my big tombstone but the span of the two of them together was wider that the recess created when building up my layers, to compensate for this as i really didn't want to opt for smaller wings, i layered up some off cuts of grey board and mounted my wings on those (always keep your scraps as they are perfect for this!)

I done the same with my clay plaque for the second tombstone and them it was time to start assembling

I used gel medium to secure my two upright tombstones at the back of my base board, and layered the pieces of my coffin at the front with the skeleton sitting up inside. I decided i only had room for the one coffin so the second i will save for another project

I covered my spider with expanding foam and glued it to the web, mounted my wings and crow skull near the top iof the big tombstone, added my plaque to the smaller one and scattered some fine gravel and static grasses throughout the base, and last but not least added some bats!