Directions:
Polymer
clay head and hands:
Condition
your beige Premo or Super Sculpey until smooth. If using Super Sculpey,
you may want to add just a pinch of the white clay to reduce some
of the translucence.
Shape
a ball that is about two times as large as the face mold. Create
a point that will go into the nose boundary first. Press the ball
into the mold.
Smooth
the remaining ball of clay at the back of the face to form the back
of the head. Use fingers to smooth the clay. Let sit for 20 minutes,
or pop into freezer for 5 minutes. Remove the head gently.
Mold
the ears and press against the side of the head. Press a toothpick
up into the head, forming a neck. Add some additional clay around
a portion of the neck, leaving enough of the toothpick to poke into
the Styrofoam cone.
You
may want to deepen some of the character lines. Use a needle tool,
and proceed gently. You can also extend the chin slightly to change
the look of the Santa.
Holding
the head by the toothpick, smooth blush or pink chalk onto the cheeks,
lips and nose with the paintbrush. You may also use gray chalk to
provide some facial shadows if desired.
Using
pliers/wire cutters, twist a small length of wire into Santa's glasses.
This may take a couple of tries! Bend the earpieces at a 90 degree
angle above the ears, and poke into the head. Then remove until
after baking.
Press
conditioned beige clay into the hand molds. After removing the hands
from the molds, press the end of a 4" piece of wire into the wrist
of each hand. Smooth blush onto the hands also.
Cradle
the head and the hands onto a layer of polyester fiberfill and place
on index cards. (The fiberfill and paper will not ignite, and will
prevent "shiny spots.")
Check
the accuracy of your oven's temperature with an external thermometer
available at the hardware store. Adjust the dial up or down until
the thermometer reads a reliable 275 degrees. Bake the head and
hands for 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before handling.
Using gel pens (or acrylic paints if you have a steady hand and
a fine brush!), color in the eyebrows with fine strokes of white,
black, brown, and grey.
Using
gel pens, color in the eye with white ink, and allow to dry. Color
in the iris with blue or brown. Let dry. Color in the pupil with
black. Let dry. Add a tiny white dot on the black pupil to give
life to the eyes.
If necessary, color in the lips a bit more with a pale coral gel
pen. Now, re-bake your head for about 3 minutes to heat set the
gel pen ink!
Santa's
Clothes:
The
patterns are .pdf files. Download, and then use as patterns!
Santa's
garment patterns
Using
the garment pattern, trace and cut out a garment from plaid scrapbooking
paper. Wrap the cone in the paper, and secure with tape at the back.
Cut
a cloak and a left and right sleeve from the green felt. Blanket
stitch around the edges of the cloak with red DMC. Wrap the cloak
around the body and secure with pins.
NOTE:
See picture to see blanket stitch. This is a simple stitch in which
the needle is drawn through a loop at the top. Insert needle about
1/3 inch from the top. As the thread is drawing down, bring the
needle up and through the loop. Then, insert needle again about
1/3 inch away from the stitch. Repeat.
Wrap
each sleeve around into a tube and blanket stitch the seams.
Place
one hand inside each sleeve making sure the wire is not exposed.
Let the excess wire stick out the shoulder of the sleeve. Pin the
sleeve to the cloak by pressing straight pins all the way into the
cone. Fill the sleeves with cotton balls to hold the hands in their
desired position. Twist the wires together across the back of the
shoulder area. Pin the wires down to the cone if necessary.
Push
Santa's head down into the top of the cone. You may add a dab to
glue to help secure the head.
Cut
a robe from the red felt. Gently stretch cotton balls so they are
2-3" long. Hot glue the cotton around the edges of the red robe.
Allow to dry. (Thin fake fur strips may also be used.)
Fashion
the robe around Santa. Fold the top back across his shoulders for
a large collar. Gather the robe around his waist and tie with ribbon.
Secure the robe at his neck with straight pins.
Finishing
Touches:
Cover
the top and back of the head with a layer of E-6000 craft glue.
Comb the mohair yarn to loosen the strands. Cut strands to the desired
length. Starting at the back and bottom of Santa's head, press the
hair into place making sure it's pressed securely into the glue.
Work
in layers around the head and up to the top until the head is completely
covered. Cover the chin with a layer of glue as well. Cut short
sections of hair and press on for the beard and mustache. Once the
glue is dry, trim as desired.
Cut
a toy bag from the red felt. Blanket stitch the seam for the bottom
and side of the bag. Hot glue more cotton or fake fur around the
top edge of the bag. Once the glue is dry, turn the top edge down.
Fill the bottom of the bag with small rocks or gravel. Place the
purchased toys in the top of the bag. Tie the rope around the top
of the bag holding the toys in place.
Hot
glue the bag to the front of Santa and glue his hands into position
around the toys.
