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Materials You Will Need
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Step 1: Sculpt Mushrooms
For this project I decided to sculpt the top and base of the mushrooms separately because I had just opened up a brand new container of foam clay and it was taking longer to hold its shape. I first made a kinda large marshmallow shape for the base entirely from foam clay, and then for the mushroom tops I shaped a little bowl and used aluminum foil to get it to hold the shape. I then let it dry overnight on some wax paper a good 8hrs. 
Step 3: Cut Centers for the Stick
So since this is a dango we of course needed a stick to hole them all on. While the foam clay was still drying I used my awl tool to poke a hole in the center of each of the mushrooms. You could alternatively use another sharp object or even a pencil, but I like my awl because the metal was very easy to scrape the excess foam clay off of after. It took a little trial and error, but then I was able to get all three on my wooden dowel and arrange them in a way I liked. 
Step 5: Prime & Paint
I like to prime foam with mod podge, so I applied two coats of it and let it completely dry. Then I went in sections doing the off white, red, and then finally the white spots. 
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Step 2: Assemble the Mushrooms
After letting the clay dry overnight they were starting to hold the shape a bit better but still not completely dry. I carefully removed the aluminum foil from the inside of the mushroom tops and then since the inside was still tacky I was able to replace the foil with the mushroom bases and not need glue to get them attached! If I had sculpted the entire thing out of foam clay at once I think it would have turned into one blob instead of a clearly defined mushroom so I would definitely recommend if you have a more complex shape to either use a mold or sculpt in pieces before assembly.
Step 4: Glue & Let Foam Clay Dry
Now that the mushrooms were on the dowel, they just needed to be glued in place. I used tacky glue which is incredibly strong and dries clear. All I did was liberally apply glue on the dowel where I wanted the mushroom and slide it into place. I also used some tacky glue in between the mushrooms for additional points of security. Tacky glue can take up to 24hrs to fully dry, so I waited another day before I started the painting.
Step 6: Faces and Sealing
The final step is to add the adorable faces to the mushrooms! I used a whipple clay decoration pen in brown to add the faces. I like that it adds a little raised dimension to it, but you could definitely get a similar look with just acrylic paint. The clay pen needs a little time to fully dry so I left it alone for a few hours then did my final two coats of mod podge to seal the entire dango and call it done! |
