Materials:

• Premo! Sculpey or Sculpey III in the following colors:
  • White 5001 or White 001
  • Black 5042 or Black 042
  • Cadmium Red 5382 or Red 083
  • Beige 5092 or Beige 093
  • Ultramarine Blue 5562 or Navy Blue 363
• Wooden Egg (available at craft retailers)
• Floral Tape or Sobo Glue
• Sculpey Diluent or Translucent Liquid Sculpey
• White Seed beads
• Mini Carving Gouge
• Needle Tool
• Paint Brush

2. Using beige clay, form a 3/4" ball and flatten onto the side of the wooden egg near the top.

3. With the end of a paint brush, penetrate the clay to form the eye sockets. You can also form the mouth if you wish. It helps to decide how big to make the hose. Form a small teardrop and place between the eyes and almost to the mouth. Smooth the top of the nose into the forehead and the sides into the cheek and eye area. Reopen the eye sockets.

     

4. Make the forehead from a small log and place above the nose and eyes. Smooth the top with your thumb. Use the needle tool to smooth the forehead near the eye area.

     

5. Cheeks: Form a 7/32" ball, and cut in half. Place each under the eyes. Smooth the sides upwards toward the top of the brow. Smooth the edges with the needle tool. Smooth with your thumb to give a rounded appearance.

     

6. Place a small amount of dark blue clay into the hole of each seed bead. Place the eyes in the sockets. Place a very small piece of beige Sculpey III above the eyes to create eyelids.

7. To make the eyebrows, roll white clay into a very small log. Cut at the tips where the log narrows. Place this above the eyes and texture with the needle tool.

8. The Santa suit is made with red clay. Run red clay through the pasta machine to give it a thickness of 1/16". Form into a rectangle of 1-3/4" by 6". Wrap the clay around the wooden egg so that the seams meet in the back of the egg. Flatten the top of the red clay against the egg. Cover the whole bottom of the egg to help add a larger base.

9. The arms are formed by rolling a log of red clay 7/16" in diameter to a length of 3". Cut in half for the two arms. Bend these into two "L" shapes and attach on the sides. Using your thumb, smooth the shoulders, rounding them. Seal each addition of clay. Use a taper point clay shaper to do this. This is optional, you may elect to not smooth the joints.

10. Bake the piece at this point so that you don't accidentally smudge the white clay with red during the next steps. Bake at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

**TIP** You may wish to use Sculpey Diluent or Translucent Liquid Sculpey to help the bond between the baked clay and the unbaked clay in the following steps. Use a small drop on the baked clay to help the unbaked clay adhere more firmly.

11. Roll a white clay log 1/4" in diameter that is 4-14" long. Starting at the middle of the cheek, wrap the clay around the head and end at the middle of the opposite cheek. Trim off the excess clay.

12. Texture the white clay with the needle tool. In the back use your thumb to spread the log further down the back of the figure. We will be adding clay to make the hair longer, so let's start now.

      

13. Roll two white balls 3/8" and place where the beard stopped, under the cheeks to the middle of the nose. Use your fingers to pull the clay down toward his arms. Texture with the needle tool.

14. Since the wind is blowing his bears, we need a small ridge of hair to show that his hair is being blown on top of itself. Add a small log of white clay. I also want to show this with his beard blowing over his arm. Add a bit to demonstrate that. Then, fill in any other areas that need additional clay. Texture the hair with the needle tool.

15. Finish his hair. You may elect to make the hair shorter than the example. I like it long so I will add a series of logs of various lengths and texture with the needle tool.

16. Make the cuffs and mittens. To make the cuffs, roll a 3/8" log of white clay. The length should also be about 3/8". Place on the end of the arms. The mittens are made from a 3/8" log of black clay. Flatten the end with your thumb, make a cut about 3/4 of the way across the hand. Round the thumb and the rest of the mitten. Roll the wrist areas to get a very small pointed log.

Make a hole in the cuff with a knitting needle and then push the small pointed log of the mitten into the hole. Press the white clay cuff around it. Texture the cuff with a needle tool or carving gouge. Do the same on the other side.

17. Roll a ball of white clay 7/8" in diameter. Flatten the center slightly and place the base of the Santa in the flattened part. Let the roll come up over the Santa base. Texture with the carving gouge.

18. To form the hat, roll a white log 3/16" in diameter. Begin at the front of the head, just above the eyebrows, and continue until the two ends meet in the back. Cut off the excess. Texture with the carving gouge. The tassel is formed from a half ball of white clay and should be 3/8" in diameter. Put aside for last.

Roll a log of red clay 3/8" in diameter and 2" long. Insert a knitting needle into the end, and while holding the clay log still, roll the knitting needle. When that side is flattened to your satisfaction, turn the log and flatten another side. Continue until you have formed a cone shape.

Test the fit of the cone inside the hat brim. If it needs more thinning, use the knitting needle or your fingers to stretch the clay to fit inside the brim. Use the needle tool to press the hat against the inside of the hat brim.

Gently pull the tip of the hat down to the shoulder. If it seems to long, cut off the excess. Add the tassel ball of white clay you saved from earlier. Use the needle tool to seal the connection, and texture with the carving tool.

NOTE: If you wish Santa to be an ornament, you can push a piece of wire (same size as your drill bit) through the hat down to the wood egg prior to baking. After the Santa has cooled down, you can use a hand drill to drill into the egg and then screw an eye screw into the wood. In this way you will not damage the clay after all of this work!

Baking Instructions:

For Premo! Sculpey, bake the Santa for 30 minutes at 275 degrees F in a calibrated oven. Leave the Santa in the oven as it cools down. For Sculpey III, bake for 15 minutes at 275 degrees F in a calibrated oven.