This tutorial post is continued from
Dem bones, dem bones, dem fish bones! Part 1
Spooky fish skeleton that is not just for Halloween.
At least that is what I think anyway.
I love this cane.
I hope you have fun making it too.
You will need:
Clay slicing blade
Clay machine
Ruler if you wish
I mixed the black clay with Biscuit and the white clay with porcelain in equal parts
Condition and roll out the black in to a sheet on the thickest setting in your clay machine.
This is the last picture from part 1 here
Dem bones, dem bones, dem fish bones! Part 1
Add a sheet of white to the center of the cut on one side. The sheet will be rolled out on the 3rd thickest setting.
Put the stack back together with the white sheet in the middle…
Roll a 1/2″ coil of the white clay and press in to a triangle with your thumb and forefinger.
Add the triangle point up to the fish bones. Like this.
Roll a 3/4″ coil of black.
Press that coil into a triangle too.
Make the points of the triangle pretty sharp.
Trim the triangle black piece to fit the stack of rib bones.
Cut that triangle piece in half.
Make the points even sharper if you have too.
Add one half to one side of the tail and the other half to the other side of the tail. Press in to the tail evenly.
Add a sheet of black clay rolled out on the thickest setting in the pasta machine to the bottom of the tail.
Like this!
Roll a 1″ coil of white clay and trim to the length of the stack of bones and tail.
Press this in to a triangle shape and see if it is the same size as the stack of bones and tail.
Cut straight down and cut off one point of the triangle.
Like so!
Place a bamboo skewer or brass rod on the cut side of the big triangle on the top 1/3 of the triangle.
Press the rod gently in to the triangle.
Add the other cut sections right back to the triangle with the brass rod still in place.
Form the 2nd cut half around the rod to form a half circle cell in the both pieces of the triangle.
Peel the one section off the other section and remove the brass rod.
Roll a coil of black clay the size of the brass rod about 1/8″ and place in the channel of the big part of the white triangle.
Cut off the black coil so it is the length of the white triangle piece.
Place the smaller section of the triangle together with the larger one leaving the black coil inside.
This will be the eye for the fish bone cane.
Using your blade again cut into the opposite side of the cane at more of an angle. Cut all the way through to the bottom edge of the white triangle.
Like so.
Pull off the small section with never changing the orientation of the pieces.
Roll out some black clay on the 3rd thickest setting and place a strip about 1/4″ in width on the length of the small cut off white piece of the larger triangle.
This piece will slide under the bigger white piece of the triangle, so the black strip will go along the outside edge of the small piece.
Like so!
Using your thumb and forefinger compact everything together. Shaping back in to a triangle and pressing the small piece with the black together with the large piece of the triangle as if it is one piece.
Place the triangle head in the center of the bones on the stack.
Roll a black coil that is 1 1/8″ in diameter and the length of the stack of fish bones.
Press in to a triangle shape and cut the pieces in half.
Make the points of the triangle more defined.
Place one half on each side of the head of the fish.
Wrap all sides with a sheet of black rolled out on the thickest setting.
Reduce by compressing all sides one at a time with the palm of your hand and then flipping the cane from end to end and compressing all 4 sides of the cane again.
Repeat this slowly and gently until the cane is smaller by half the size.
It is best to be more forceful in the center of the cane to force the inside of the cane out.
As Katherine Dewey once told me “Oh, you are pressing on the “x” and the “y” axis which forces the “z” out through the center”.
EXACTLY!
This is the inside of that cane using that method!
Enjoy and have a safe and fun Halloween!
Boos and hisses!
