Owl Canvas

Owl Canvas by Bea Grob

Don't forget to be Owl some....

Lately, I needed a little gift for somebody who collects owls. It was a good excuse to play a bit with Makin's Clay®. 

Supplies and Tools:

Makin's Clay® in red

Makin's Professional® Cutting mat (small)

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin's® Cutter Sets Sun, Water Drop, Round

Craft paint in greens and a brown as patina

I also had a mini canvas and a tiny round cutter (you could use instead a larger straw or something similar) and a napkins. Whenever you use napkins, make sure that you have only the top layer to work with. 

I started by cutting some clay and then picked up any leftovers on the plastic, it is really easy and so there is nothing wasted, just press your ball of clay onto the parts that stuck to the wrapping plastic. And, as always, I put the non used clay right away into a zip lock bag with a moist towel.

I ran the clay straight away through the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®, no conditioning needed with Makin's Clay®. I made a sheet on the thickest setting.

First, I cut out the body of the owl. Create a template like mine, use a stencil, or a printed image to trace.

I put my owl, which I touched up a bit at the edges, onto a ceramic tile. Next, I rolled out another sheet, but this time on the setting #3. I sprayed the owl and the new sheet lightly with plain water.

Carefully place the napkin onto the clay as flat as possible, then tap it to make sure that there are no air gaps. 

Now it is time to grab the smallest cutter from the round set and start cutting some circles. Try to push the cutter down as straight as possible, this helps to make sure that the napkin doesn't tear in places where we don't want it.

I started at the bottom with adding the circles for the first row and then started from the top going down. I shifted the second and all the following row slightly downwards a notch each time.

I had to spray the napkins again, as it started to dry while I was carefully cutting and placing the circles.

For the eyes and the beak I chose more yellow parts on the napkin. Again, I used a round cutter, this time the middle size and the tiny one. I cut the beak with the knife.

For the eyebrows, I used the water drop cutter the biggest size. I needed them symmetrical so I grabbed an acrylic block and used it “the wrong way.”  Don't press it down with bare hands, it is pretty sharp. Now for the wings, I made a template and cut them out with the blade. 

While the owl is drying, it is time to paint our little canvas. I used two craft paints in green and applied it with a sponge. 

When the owl is dry, it is time to give some depth, first with the brown acrylic which I applied with a brush and then wiped of with a moistened towel.

We are not done yet, now we also need some highlights. I use a white posca pen, which is a marker filled with acrylic paint.

I glued my owl onto the canvas with some tacky glue (make sure that paint and owl are dry).

I also made, from the leftovers, some flowers with the sun cutter set.  I rolled out the clay to the setting #3 which is pretty thin, this means the clay is flexible and I can bend it around the canvas. I didn't use them all, but you can always use them as embellishments in another project.