How to make a drip sculpture

Dan Lam’s drip sculptures are often created using painted polyurethane foam. However, you can explore similar visual concepts using the following materials:

• Model magic clay. We used about a “baseball” of clay for each sculpture. I recommend this neon Crayola model magic. #sponsored
• Spray paint or paint of your choice
• Puffy paint! I recommend this Tulip Dimensional Fabric paint.

STEP 1:

To begin you will need a dimensional corner to build on. The edge of a table works great!

Begin by building a little “mountain” or “ice cream scoop” of clay. Throughout the process, this should be the heaviest part of the sculpture.

STEP 2:

Begin adding drips by rolling out small cylinders and attaching them to the sculpture.

A few tips to ensure your sculpture dries effectively are to mark sure pieces add are secured firmly and pressed together. Additionally, avoid making the drips too thin/skinny, too long, or too heavy.

STEP 3:

Continue adding drips.

STEP 4:

Begin to layer smaller drips on top. As you work, consider the physical balance of your drip sculpture. It should hang on its own without needing to be stuck to anything. The heaviest part should be the top.

STEP 5:

Allow the clay to dry thoroughly. Once it’s dry, paint it with a medium of your choice. The example pictured here was a quick spritz of spray paint.

Analogous color gradients are eye catching and really bring the drip sculptures to life!

STEP 6:

Once the paint is dry, consider adding textured spikes/dots on your sculpture. Puffy paint is a dimensional paint that adds eye catching color to the drip sculpture.

Some helpful tips are to start from left-right if you are right handed (reverse for lefties). This helps to prevent accidentally smudging the puffy paint.

..And voila! You’ve created a drip sculpture inspired by artist, Dan Lam!

STEP 7: *optional*

Exploring mounting your sculpture onto another surface for added stability, such as canvas, wood panel, and more.

Here is an example of a larger drip sculpture mounted with hot glue onto the a 8″ x 10″ canvas. Once it was mounted, a layer of resin was brushed onto the surface to give it a really sleek look!

Class at work…

My middle school art classes and I had a lot of fun building these sculptures! Here are a few photos of my middle school artists building their sculptures on the edge of a table. We had lots of drip sculptures drying out on the windowsill! Each drip sculpture needed at least 24 hours to dry properly before adding paint.

Once dry, artists spray painted and then added texture with the puffy paint. The sculptures are fairly fragile so the whole process has to be done with great care. We found that hot glue worked effectively to fix any broken sculptures and some students that had balance issues attached their sculpture to a heavy surface like a piece of wood.

Thanks for checking out this blog post. I would love to see your creation if you use these steps to create your own drip sculpture. Feel free to tag me on Instagram and possibly get featured in this site! Also, please follow Make a Mark Studios on Facebook to keep up with the latest posts! Thanks in advance!

-Stephanie Villiotis, art teacher and creator of Make a Mark Studios