Anyway, Code Geass is an anime that my boyfriend introduced to me. It's his favourite anime and after I watched it, it became one of the top few on my list too. If you're interested you can go here to read the synopsis, I don't want to give any spoilers!
So before I knew that clay existed, he kind of requested a Zero, and it was MONTHS AGO. Back then the only craft I make was via crochet and knitting. But using crochet, it's really hard to get the details and I'm someone who really wants details as well as making it small, like at least half the size of my hand, so crocheting is really out of the question.
After I know the existence of polymer clay, the first thing I wanted to make when I finally got my supplies was Zero!
Which is honestly not really a good idea because it's really tough LOL I really should have tried something easier like maybe with simple shapes but THIS IS THE FIRST ONE I DID. I should have gotten my basics down before attempting something like this but I was impatient hahah.
Before talking about the process of making Zero,
So what I did was I leech it, that's where you put the clay that's conditioned too much/too soft in between two pieces of paper (don't use paper that has inks on it, just to be safe so that nothing gets in your clay), stack books or anything heavy on top and leave it for a day or so to make it firmer. The picture above shows the amount of oil(?) that I leeched out. There are various methods to do this but this is what I did.
Sometimes you might even get clays that's already too soft from the package itself so this is what you can do too. I guess firmer clays are easier to manipulate but if it's too crumbly...
What I did when I was making zero was actually just using my hands to condition it! Weird right?? I had a blister before that but now it seems so much easier! It could be because 1. It was the first time I touched a polymer clay and it was tougher than I expected so the second time I try to use it I was already expecting it or 2. Because the clay was opened maybe the humidity did something to it.
But all in all, using your hands can condition the clay quite easily!! What I did was I kind of collect all the crumbly clay on my palm and gently attempt to make them into a ball, rubbing them. I am guessing that the heat from the friction of my palm warms them up a little and it gathers them up, which after that I will the use my fingers to soften them.
I feel that they're conditioned enough when you pull them apart and no "crumbs" fell down. It really doesn't have to be stretchy like gum. (That's my personal opinion, I may be wrong and I need to experiment with it more)
But then again, it might just because of humidity itself. I don't think this is stainless steel so maybe when it's really getting worse I'll try and find a stainless steel blade. I put this in a sandwich bag with dehumidifier so I'm hoping it'll slow down the process. I wonder where I can get stainless steel blade....
But enough digress!
Initially I kept on making the head first etc and it was really difficult to make the body afterwards. So I tore it off and made from scratch and made the body first. It worked much more better!
So I made a mental note to myself that I must always make the base first.
It was also proving quite difficult to make the mask because I didn't have a pasta machine yet and it was hard to make the clay flat consistently, so I had quite a hard time making the mask.
I made sure I got a pasta machine before I make the cape because cape needs to be flat, FLAT!!!!!!
Things I'm not happy about and need improvement on:
- My painting skills. IT SUCKS. I need to get thinner paintbrush, and also mix the colour properly. It looks too bright on zero :(
- Zero wasn't able to stand properly. When I was baking the top half of the cape, I laid it down flat. So the legs got pressed downwards and the top half of the cape isn't really exactly rounded. :(
- I need to remember that they are all prebaked so they are REALLY fragile. Ugh. The bottom cape broke like into 3 parts, the side on it's left hand. I had to patch it up but I don't think I did it well.
- Need to have all the materials. I didn't have dark blue paint so I used fimo liquid clay with dark blue pastel and covered up the cape and parts where my yellow paint was accidentally painted on.
- THEN I baked it at the wrong temperature, I didn't look at it carefully and realised that I needed a higher temperature for liquid clay and lesser timing AFTER I took it out of the oven T.T It was too late by then and you could see the streaks of liquid flowing downwards the back of the cape....... :(
(Photo credits to my boyfriend who sent it to me hehe)