AngelClaus Miniature Ornament

AngelClaus Miniature Ornament
Design by Kris Richards

Materials:

Sculpey III, or Premo! Sculpey clay in the following colors: White, Beige, Blue, Dusty Rose (for Premo, mix your own pink from a tiny bit of red and white clay) NOTE: These are VERY tiny miniature ornaments! You do not need much clay. Refer to picture below (see penny for size ratio).
Needle tool
X-Acto knife
Fine glitter (polyester glitter such as Jones Tones works great on clay and won't melt in the oven!)
White "phone" type vinyl coated copper wire
Oven set to bake reliably at 275 degrees
Old baking pan lined with index card
Wire cutter or old scissors for cutting wire
Kemper pattern cutter: Largest heart-shaped cutter
U.S. penny (to give you a great guide on size ratio).

Instructions:

Roll one ball of white clay the diameter of a penny, and shape it into a tall "Hershey's Kiss" shape with a long "tail." Curl the "tail" as shown.

Roll a smaller ball of clay and shape it into a tube long enough to skirt the diameter of the bottom of the shape you just made.

Wrap it around the bottom and meet the ends together at the back.

Roll a smaller tube of clay and wrap it around the top part of the shape as shown.

Make a very small ball of beige clay and flatten it for the face.

Press the face on below the hat brim.

Roll a double-pointed snake out of another small ball of white clay.

Press the snake on around the bottom perimeter of the beige clay face piece for Santa's beard.

Mix a bit of beige and a smaller bit of pink clay together, and divide into two very tiny balls of clay.

Press the tiny balls onto the face where shown.

Roll a tiny ball of beige clay and press it on the face between the cheeks for the nose.

Roll a short, double pointed snake of white clay.

Press the short snake onto Santa's face below his nose and between his cheeks for the moustache. Use the X-Acto knife to press a line down the center as shown.

Use the needle tool to drill two holes into the sides near the top half of Santa's body.

Roll two small white balls of clay and then shape them into rounded teardrops. (Place your finger lightly on one end, then roll that end so it tapers into the teardrop shape.)

Press the pointed ends into the holes you drilled. Make sure all surfaces mesh together than that there are no gaps left in the clay.

Roll two tiny beige balls of clay for Santa's hands.

Press the hands onto the ends of the arms. Make sure that the clay meshes well.

Mix a tiny bit of blue clay to a larger amount of whte to get light blue. Press the larger ball of light blue clay flat and large enough to be bigger than a penny.

Use the large heart-shaped cutter to cut out the shape for the wings

Use the X-Acto knife to cut the heart down the center.

Press the hearts onto the back of the Santa as shown.

Roll out a thin ribbon white clay just long enough to fit between Santa'' beard and the bottom trim on his robe.

Press three holes down the center with the tip of the needle tool.

Drill a hole in the back of the hat with your needle tool to accommodate a looped white phone wire. (See Penguin Santa Ornament for more details on how to make this loop.)

Add fine glitter, and bake on an old baking pan or cookie sheet at 275 degrees F for 30 minutes. (Be certain to calibrate your oven with a separate thermometer. If still uncertain, bake at 265 degrees F.)

Front and back of finished Mini AngelClaus ornament.