Here's a fun tutorial based around The Sword in the Stone. For this tutorial, we sculpted a miniature of Arthur pulling the sword from the stone. This goes along with another tutorial on how to make the complete diorama: The Sword in the Stone Diorama.

First, we start with creating a wire frame that will be the base for the sculpting putty. Cut a length of wire about 6 to 8 inches long. Fold in half and make a loop at the top. The loop at the top will be the head.

Using pliers twist the wire around in order to make the neck.

Now, pull the two ends of the wire apart in order to make the arms. Take the two ends and twist them back towards the body.

Continue down the body twisting the wire and then repeat the last step for the legs. For the excess we twisted the wire back up the body to create contours and a better surface area for the putty to stick to.

After this stick your wire frame into the top of a cork. This will make sculpting and painting your miniature much easier.

Now, mix together a small amount of sculpting putty and apply a thin layer over your wire frame. You do not have to worry about details at this point as you will be adding more layers after. Remember you must have the frame in the position you want it in, because there is no going back once the putty is dry.

Sculpting putty is a special kind of putty. You mix two parts together then in a period of time it cures and hardens.

I use: Procreate Putty 2.5 Oz.

Once this layer has dried mix another small amount of putty like you did in the previous step. Use little globs of putty to start forming the muscles in the body like the arms and legs.

For the long shirt create a thin rectangular shape out of the putty and wrap it around the miniature and ruffle it. For the upper part of the shirt do the same thing, but on a smaller scale. Also, remember to flatten out the area where the belt is supposed to be.

You can now add a head and carve out the individual details. We started with a rough base for the head and started to shape a chin, nose, mouth and eyes. Once this is done clump some small pieces of putty together and with a tool do the hair. For the detail work we used an x-acto knife.

Next, paint your figure. For this tutorial we use acrylic paint on the shirt and bigger details. For the smaller details like the eyes and trim on the shirt we used paint pens. Seal your miniature with a bit of mod podge.

Now it's time to make the sword! Take a popsicle stick and carefully cut it in half. Shape the remainder so that it has a point and is more like a sword. Also, when you are shaping the sword, taper the sides in order to give your blade and edge.

For the handle take a small piece of a stick and shape it into an ovular shape and taper it in one direction. For the rest of the handle we used a small screw.

Glue these three pieces together and paint them and seal the sword with mod podge.

Glue the sword into your miniatures hands, remove the cork and your done! Now you have a nice little miniature Arthur from sword in the stone. In the next tutorial we add this miniature to a diorama shaped like a stone!

Here is the tutorial showing how to make the diorama piggy bank.

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