This week we were ready to add modroc to the wire sculptures we made last week. Though of course for some, the wire was a perfect medium for their creatures and they started afresh today.
The trick with the modroc is to keep it wet while you’re working. If you let it dry it’s harder to add more layers, or to alter the ones you have. For this you also have to keep your water fresh – once it’s cloudy it needs replacing. This means everyone has to concentrate and the classroom is quite a bustle! But in this way you can mould and sculpt with the modroc, for example changing some shape in the wire you weren’t happy with or adding extra details such as ears or horns.
If starting from scratch you can either make a very quick wire sculpture and stuff with newspaper, or go straight to the newspaper and scrunch and mould using masking tape to keep the desired shape. Be careful to integrate new parts by embedding into the main shape, rather than just sticking on as this is more fragile. This way is also more realistic – legs are not just stuck on the body, they grow out of it. Also without a wire armature to support, it’s sensible to avoid animals with long, spindly legs.
The kids had such fun and were so excited about painting them next week.
