Directions:

1- Condition all your clay well. Kneading or rolling through your pasta machine until it is warm and soft. Take your beige clay and roll a ball about 2/3 of an inch. Roll a smaller ball slightly less than 1/4 inch, you can adjust it if you feel the nose looks too large. Apply this smaller ball directly to the middle of your larger ball. Press in slightly making sure not to squish your head! Next, using your needle tool, carve in a little smile just under the nose, add creases if you'd like, see picture.

2- Choose your eye color and using your toothpick press them into your ball of clay right above the nose. Try spacing them closer together or further up to give different looks. Next you're going to roll two tiny little fat snakes for eyebrows, and one larger fat snake for a beard. It's easiest to roll your large snake slightly thinner on the ends. As you're placing this on your face you can pull and stretch it a little to make a nice fit.

3- Use the needle tool to add little creases around the eyes.

4- Let your little head rest up a bit while we start on the hat. Roll a 3/4 inch ball of green clay, gently roll this into a short fat cylinder shape. Use your thumb to press into one of the ends, we're going to start pulling out and flattening the bottom into a brim, keeping your thumb in place, this make take a little shaping and smoothing.

5- Now we're going to decorate the hat!! Roll out a very flat sheet of black clay and using your blade slice a thin strip about 1/4 inch wide, the length doesn't matter yet as we will need to do some trimming. Roll a tiny little ball of gold clay and press it flat, lay the gold clay roll in the middle of your black strip.

6- Roll a small thin log of green clay about 3/4 inches long and 1/16th inch thick (approximately, no need for a ruler). Divide this log into 4 equal parts with your slicer and roll each into a tiny little ball.

7- Place these 4 little balls onto your gold circle and using your needle tool, press in little tiny creases to shape the leaves.

8- Your little leprechaun should look something like this now. You can use your toothpick, skewer or needle tool to gently pierce through the hat. Go halfway through one side, twisting, and then go through the other side making sure they match up. Reshape your hat if needed, mine needed it! I also chose to take a tiny little blush on my pinky finger and just dab it onto the cheeks, a small paintbrush works well too, don't use too much!

It's time to bake the pieces! Bake at the manufacturer's recommended temperature and time. Use an oven thermometer, as baking above the recommended temperature can cause darkening and even burning

9- Once cured allow your pieces to cool down. Snip a length of your elastic cord, I've used about 7 inches. Thread this through your two leprechauns. You may need to clean up the holes with your needle, or I sometimes use a drill with a very small bit. If you're having trouble threading your elastic I find a little clear nail polish on the end, left to dry, makes life much easier!. Tie a knot and snip off the extra elastic. See photo.

10- Slide your knot into one of the holes if possible. Tie another knot right in the middle of your loop to form a bauble. You should have two loops attached, with a head on each loop. Next step? Wear ‘em!

For the necklace the leprechaun instructions are the same. Here I've used glass pony beads and handmade polymer clay beads to accent.
For the clover beads: Roll a small ball of gold clay and press it down just slightly to form a hockey puck shape (following the direction in step 7 to get this bead). Pierce gently and bake/cure according to your package.
For the swirls- Roll a log of green clay. Apply thinner logs of gold clay down its length. Continue rolling on your surface twisting the log slightly and rolling it smooth. The more you twist the thinner and more plentiful your gold stripes will be. Cut to desired lengths and pierce. Cure! Wear!