FESTIVE SCARECROW
Designed by Oscelyn Brooks

Materials Needed:

• Premo! Sculpey:
  • ½ oz Beige 5092
  • 2 oz Orange 5033
  • 2 oz Ecru 5093
  • ¼ oz Raw Sienna 5392
  • 2 oz Granitex Blue 3004
  • 2 oz Purple 5513
  • Cadmium Yellow 5572 - very small amount (for button or patches)
  • Cadmium Red 5382 - very small amount (for nose, buttons, and/or patches)
  • Black - very small amount (for soles on shoes and shoe strings)
  • White – very small amount (for eyes on black bird)
• Tools
  • 2 inch Straw Hat
  • Needle Tool (Thin knitting needle size 1)
  • Large knitting needle
  • Seed Beads size 11
  • Extruder - Clay Gun w/ screen disk for hair
  • Toothpicks
  • Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS)
  • Pasta Machine (PM)
  • Circle Cutters 1 ¾ and 1 inch
  • Blade
    

Directions:

Condition all clay according to manufacturers’ instructions.

• Using the circle cutter, cutout the orange clay and make different size balls for the pumpkins. For this project, I am using balls of clay ranging from ½ inch to about 1 inch in diameter. (Save a ball of clay, about 3/8 of an inch, for later to make buttons, the beak on the black bird and/or patches). Use the remaining package of orange to make extra pumpkins for your scarecrow.
• Using the needle tool to impress lines in the clay to resemble the vertical ridges in a pumpkin.
• Use the end of a large knitting needle to put a small hole in the top of the pumpkin, where the stem will go.
• Roll a small ball of raw sienna and shape into a teardrop. Put a dab of TLS in the hole and then insert the brown stem as shown.

Bake pumpkins 275 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool and set aside.
*******If you would like to permanently attach the pumpkins to the Scarecrow bake pumpkins with toothpick inserted. See details in the “Finishing Touches” section.

Note: Always clean your hands well before working with different colors of clay, especially when working with light colors.

HEAD

• Roll a 1¼-inch ball of flesh colored clay for the head.
• Use the thin knitting needle to make a line down center of the face/head, as shown.
• Use 2 seed beads for eyes, cutout a tiny triangle shaped nose from red clay (rolled down to #4 on PM) and place it just beneath the eyes. Draw a mouth using the thin knitting needle. Set head aside.
  

SHIRT

• The shirt can be any color of your choosing. I used purple. Roll a 1¼-inch ball of clay into an egg shape. Add buttons to the top front (the narrow part) of the shirt. Add vertical lines at the bottom of the shirt as gathers.

• Roll two 5/8-inch balls and shape into elongated eggs for arms. Use a large blunt ended knitting needle to put holes in arms for hand placement. Roll across work surface to make the sleeve opening a little wider.

• Roll two 3/8 inch balls of flesh into shapes shown. Shape by rolling the clay between thumb and forefinger near the bottom, see picture. Place a drop of TLS into each sleeve and then insert hands, pinch sleeve gently to get a tight fit around the hand. Attach sleeves to shirt/upper body. Smooth seams. Use the needle tool to put creases in the folds of the arms and then set upper body aside.

              

PANTS

• Roll a 1 and 1/8 inch of granitex blue into a log about 4 inches long and ½ inch wide. Bend legs in half. Use knitting needle to impress creases and gathers in pant legs.

• Insert toothpick at back pants to make a small mark, then remove, add a dab of TLS. Cut the toothpick into 3 pieces. Use a piece to insert into bottom of each leg. Insert the 3rd piece into the bottom of the shirt. This will help keep the scarecrow together. Then, align the shirt with the hole you made in the pants and attach. Press upper and lower body parts together firmly.

SHOES

• Roll 2 – 5/8 inch ecru balls into egg, and then flatten slightly. Attach to pant legs.

• Roll 2 – 3/8 inch black balls into eggs and flatten slightly. Attach soles to bottom of shoes. Draw tread marks on bottom of each shoe sole.

• Add show strings, if desired.

Finishing Touches

• Add a 3/4-inch ball of raw sienna to a 1 1/8 inch ball of ecru. Blend well. Roll down to #2 on PM. Using ½ inch circle cutter, cut out collar, score as shown. Place a drop of TLS on shirt, place the collar on the upper body, then put another small drop of TLS on top of collar, to help secure the head. Insert a toothpick and place head on top of collar.

• Roll the remaining ecru mixture into a ball, then roll into a log thin enough to fit inside the clay gun. Extrude strands for hair. Place the hair on his head.

• Place the largest pumpkin between legs and place the remaining pumpkins around the scarecrow, using a little TLS to help adhere the pumpkins to his body, small pieces of toothpicks can also be placed on the side of the pumpkin, then use this to attach pumpkins to scarecrows body.

• Bake the Scarecrow for 1 hour at 275 Degrees F, use an oven thermometer to assure proper baking temperature.
  
• Put on his hat, pressing his hat down, firmly but gently, without distorting his face. Press his hands close to the pumpkins and add extra pumpkins, as desired.
  

BLACK BIRD

• Roll a small ball (about ½ inch) of black clay into an egg shape. Roll 2 – ¼ inch balls into eggs shapes, and then slightly flatten for arms. Roll 2 – 1/8 inch orange eggs for feet, press in 2 lines for toes.

• Use two tiny pinches of white for the eyes and 2 even smaller pinches of green for the eye color.
  
• Roll a 3/16 inch orange ball for beak. Taper ball on each end, see picture, and attach to face.

• Use TLS to sit bird on pumpkin and scarecrows hand.
  
• Give him a belly button, if you’d like. Just use the large knitting needle and press gently.

Variations:

• Add a little bit of raw sienna to make a darker skin scarecrow.
• Use different colors for the shirt and pants.
• Change the button colors.
• Take a large chunk of scrap clay, condition well, roll into a ball, wrap with ecru color, and then flatten. Scratch the pad of clay with a needle tool to imitate straw. Place you pre-baked scarecrow on the pad. Use TLS to aid in the adhesion.
• Change his smile
• Add some apples and some leaves!
• Use your imagination and have fun!