I thought it’d be fun to pair up last week’s collab wrap up with a technique I experimented to create the charcoal base for my fire element dragon. With charcoal, I found the polymer clay resources to be very skimpy, so I spent some time working with reference images and experimented until I created something I liked.

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to share this technique with you all! It requires pretty everyday supplies, and you can substitute items to fit with what you have on hand. This is perfect for any level of sculpting as well.

Supplies:

• Black polymer clay
• White polymer clay
• Silver pearl ex (or eye shadow)
• An exacto knife, needle tool, or some other tool for texturing (I have a few pictured for reference)
• Orange and yellow acrylic paint (optional—this is if you’re wanting to add a “firey” look, but this charcoal also looks great without paint!)
• A detailed brush for painting (not pictured; you could use a needle tool or small ball point tool)
• Glaze (not pictured)

Step 1: Mix

To start, we’ll need to mix a very dark gray. Mix small amounts of white clay into your black until you have a shade you’re happy with. I kept mine pretty dark, but I wanted to make sure it would be noticeably not black once it was baked (sculpey iii and premo darken a tad during baking, so it’s something to keep in mind while you’re mixing colors).

Once your shade is where you want it, you’ll want to mix in silver pearl ex (or eye shadow) to help give it that slight glimmer that charcoal can have. You’ll be adding more pearl ex to the surface later on, but this helps create a nice base for you to work with that adds to the realism of the finished creation.

Step 2: Flatten and fold

If you have a pasta machine, go ahead and roll your clay through on the thickest setting. If not, fear not! You can use a roller to flatten by hand (anything with a smooth surface that looks similar to a roller can be used), or you can use your hands as well. As long as you can flatten it out, it doesn’t need to be even. I would suggest flattening your clay to between 1/8″ and 1/4″ if possible, but feel free to experiment!

Once you have your sheet of clay, preferably with uneven edges, you can begin folding it on itself. If you’re going for a chunk of charcoal (like this tutorial), keep folding it in half until it’s at the desired size. I bunched in the clay from the sides to help make the chunk a little more uneven and thicker. I liked having an uneven ledge at the top to help add to the layered look charcoal can have.

If you’re looking to do more of a flattened piece for a base, I think the folding is still key. I took a flattened piece of clay that was a little longer than what I needed for my base size. I folded over an edge (it was also uneven so it wasn’t just a flat, perfectly cut edge) to give a little dimension to one side. You could do this as needed.

Reference of a more flat piece of charcoal

Step 3: Texture

Once you have you the shape you’re looking for, it’s time to texture! This was my favorite part of the whole process; all you need is your exacto knife, needle tool, and any other sharp line tool in your arsenal. I like to use the needle tool to make deeper lines, and I accentuate the folds in the clay as well. This will help add an additional layer of texture beyond the stippling we’ll do.

After the deeper lines are taken care of, you’ll want to take your blade and “stipple” it against the clay to create the grainy texture of charcoal. I like to change the direction of the stipple to look like different pieces are blending into each other, but this is completely up to you. I alternate between stippling and dragging the blade across the surface for different kinds of lines.

Step 4: Paint

If you’re looking to create a “fiery” effect in your charcoal, this is where you’ll be adding that to your piece. You can do this step after baking as well, but I wanted to make sure I could widen the gaps if needed.

I started with orange acrylic paint. Using a detailing brush, I watered down the paint and began stacking it up in the gaps around the charcoal. Once I had this base coat, I went back over it in spots with yellow paint while the orange was still wet. I used watered down yellow paint to help it blend.

Step 5: Apply pearl ex

Let your paint dry completely, and then it will be time to add the shimmery top coat of the charcoal. Open up your pearl ex (or other silver shimmery powder) and lightly dip your finger in the powder. You can knock off the extra powder in the lid so that you aren’t brushing it into the cracks of your charcoal.

You’ll then brush it across the surface of your charcoal, with the grain, so that you’re just covering the surface. This leaves the crevices the darker color of the clay while highlighting the surface.

Here is what this looks like once you have the paint and pearl ex applied:

Step 6: Bake and glaze

Now we’re ready to bake everything up! Since mine was a chunk of clay, I ended up baking this for an hour at 275 degrees F. Because this piece has paint and pearl ex on it, I recommended glazing it to help protect everything.

Baked and glazed charcoal

And if you’re not looking for the “fiery” effect that I added in this tutorial, here is what the chunk looks like with just the clay and pearl ex (the chunk under his paws have no paint, and the base underneath him does):

And that’s it! Easy peesy!

Do you think this is an effect you’ll be able to use in your sculptures? Is there something you’d like to know more of in regards to this technique? Let me know in the comments below!