Using the printout, make a plan for your ocean floor. Make sure to include features such as the oceanic crust, the continental land mass, abyssal plains and hills, trenches, shelves, ridges, islands, seamounts, etc. Decide the colors for the different ocean floor features. For example, you could make the continental land mass red, the oceanic crust brown, the abyssal plains and islands green, and the shelves blue.
Turn the shoebox onto one of its long sides, so that the opening is facing you. Make sure what you have planned for your ocean floor will fit easily inside.
Using your plan and the printout, if needed, begin layering and shaping the modeling clay into the features you have chosen. Clearly define the various features using the colors of clay you previously decided upon. If you are including a continental land mass in your model, sculpt the land mass, but do not attach it to the shelf. Set the land mass aside.
Cut out the pictures of deep sea creatures and color them, if desired. Glue them to the back of the shoebox above the oceanic crust and abyssal plains.
Define sea level using plastic wrap. Cut a piece of plastic wrap the same length and width of the shoe box. Tape one end of the piece of plastic wrap inside the shoebox touching the top of the shelf you made. Stretch the plastic wrap tautly and tape to the other side of the box, touching the top of your second shelf. If you included an island on top of abyssal plain ridge, make sure to snip a small hole in the plastic wrap for the island to rise above sea level. Attach the land mass you made to one shelf, on top of the plastic wrap. If it will not attach securely, push a toothpick through the plastic wrap into the shelf, leaving half exposed, and attach the land mass to the toothpick.
When your ocean ridge model is finished, set it aside to allow it to dry. According to the kind of modeling clay you used and the density of your ocean ridge, drying could take anywhere from 3 to 5 days.