How to Make a Horse Out of Modeling Clay
- 1). Study and learn horse anatomy before you attempt to make one of the animals out of modeling clay. Assemble a collection of reference photographs from books or the Internet. Photograph horses yourself from all angles and in a variety of poses. Draw horses from life to familiarize yourself with how their bodies look and move. Make naturalistic drawings of horses running, grazing or resting.
- 2). Build an internal armature to support your horse sculpture. Use a screw gun and screws to anchor a galvanized steel, round floor flange to a heavy wooden base. Screw a piece of galvanized steel pipe, threaded on both ends, into the flange. Attach a threaded pipe tee to the top of the pipe.
- 3). Cut three sections of 8- to 10-gauge flexible copper or aluminum wire and thread them through the tee. Pull the wires through the tee until equal lengths come out both ends. Wrap 20-gauge wire through and around the tee to snugly secure the three wires. Set the armature on a lazy Susan. Bend the wires into the pose of your horse. Refer to your photographs and drawings to get the correct angles of the legs, neck and tail.
- 4). Use a horse skeletal anatomy book as a guide to building a correctly proportioned horse. Build up the basic muscle groups by attaching small lumps of clay to the armature in an additive process. Work and and form the clay with your fingers. Smooth it with sponges. Use wooden or plastic ceramic sculpting tools such as scrapers, ribs and modeling tools to work up the shape of the horse.
- 5). Use subtractive clay tools such as clay cutters, knives, ribbon and loop tools to remove clay from concave areas of the horse's body including the flanks, nostrils, shanks and hocks. Incise fine hair details on the mane, forelock and tail with a toothpick or needle tool.
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