Snowman Holiday Votive - Sculpey Clay Projects

Snowman Holiday Votive
Design by Shelly Comiskey

Materials:

Kringle & Snowman E-Z Release Push Mold
Premo! Sculpey or Sculpey III in the following colors:
- White 5001 or White 001
- Black 5042 or Black 042
- Orange 5033 or Sweet Potato 033
- Blue Granitex 3004 or Red Granitex 3005
3.5" frosted glass votive candle holder (other sizes will work as well)
Seed beads
Old toothbrush or Scotchbrite for texturizing
Chalks
X-Acto Knife or Rolling Fiskars Cutter

USING FLEXIBLE PUSHMOLDS TO
MOLD IN COLOR:

Practice to determine how much clay will fill your selection. It takes less than you might think!
When building in color layers, a little goes a long way. Use a clay shaper, paintbrush handle or a pencil eraser to pull any excess away from the lower boundaries.
You want to just fill the lower boundaries, even leaving them a little shallow. The final layer of color will fill into the shallow areas, leaving a neat border. But, if the first colors are "domed" up, the final molding pressures will force the "dome" out of its boundaries, leading to a smeared look. LESS IS MORE in this case.
When the lower boundaries are filled with their colors, press the main clay color into the center of the mold. Gently press and pat so it flows into the shape. When the clay is nearly level with the top of the mold, use your index finger to gently pull any excess away so that you can see all edge boundaries of the mold. This eliminates a "skin" that would need to be trimmed away.
Let the clay "rest" for some time; or, put the mold into the freezer compartment for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from freezer, and "pop" your molded piece out by pressing from the backside of the mold. It will come out like an ice cube.
If any color residue remains, wipe the mold out with a baby wipe or a Windex dampened paper towel

Directions:

Knead the white clay until soft and smooth. Using a glass, bottle, or brayer, roll until about 1/3" thick.
Measure the circumference (distance around) the votive. Cut two 1" wide strips the proper length of the circumference.
Use the X-Acto knife (children need adult supervision with this step) to freehand cut a randomly scalloped border on one edge. Wrap around the top of the votive.
Press the second strip around the bottom of thevotive, and smooth into place. It should have some random ups and downs to resemble a snowbank!
With the toothbrush or a Scotchbrite scouring pad, texturize the snowbanks.
Molding the Snowman:
- Follow the instructions shown in "Using Flexible Pushmolds To Mold In Color" to form your snowman. Use black for boots, orange for nose, colored Granitex for scarf and hatband, etc. The most important thing to remember is to use LESS than you think you might need!
- After unmolding , place two tiny seed beads onto the snowman's face for his eyes. Firmly press the snowman motif onto the glass votive. Polymer clay adheres very well to glass without an additional adhesive.
- Scrape pink chalk with a knife. Pick up the dust with a makeup applicator or a paintbrush and "blush" the snowman's cheeks.
Roll tiny balls of white clay (to resemble falling snow), flatten, and adhere to the glass votive.

Baking Instructions:

Sculpey III items bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes per 1/4" of thickness in a calibrated oven. Always check your oven's accuracy with an external thermometer. Premo! Sculpey items bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes per 1/4" of thickness in a calibrated oven.