Happy New Year's Eve and a Free Polymer Owl Tutorial

Since I didn't give each of you a gift for Christmas,

I want to make it up to you right now and give you this free 

Polymer Clay Owl Tutorial.

Here's what the finished raw owl can look like.

I haven't added a patina to this or cured it, so it's the raw, finished owl.

 Here's another variation on the same type of owl.

Now, Here's the Tutorial.

Take a small amount of clay, shape into a ball, then roll the clay into an oval about 1/4" thick.

Using a poking tool or your finger or something that will make an indent, make two dents in the clay at the top where you want your owl's eyes to be.

Make two small balls of clay.  Put them in the indents for the eyes.  Smush them into the "eye sockets."

Make two more indents into the eye sockets.

Add two more small balls of clay, smush the clay and put the smushed clay into the eye sockets.  

Take another small bit of clay and form it into the beak.

Press the beak in between the eyes.

(At this point, you can use some liquid polymer clay to ensure that the small pieces of clay stay in place.  I usually don't use it, but it certainly is an option.)

Take a small piece of clay and form it into a mustache shape.

Cut the shape in half.

This piece of clay will become the ears for our owl.

Put the ears next to the side of the owl's eyes.

Press firmly into place or use liquid polymer clay to attach.

Take two small pieces of clay and make them sort of wing shaped.

Place the wings just over the ears on the side.  Press in place firmly or use liquid polymer clay.

This how the placement of the wing over the ear should look.

Now we can add a little bit of texturing.

I made cross hatch marks on the wing and one vertical crease on the ear.

I added some hash marks on the nose and some indents on the belly and dots in they eyes.

Let your creativity flow when it comes to texturing.

Now, I forgot to measure how long of a piece of wire I used, but I'd say it was 3/4" to 1 inch.

I bent the wire in the middle and added two little hooks on each side.

These little hooks will help the wire stay in the clay.

Press the wire clip into the clay.

Again, you can use liquid polymer clay to help hold the clip in place.

I pressed it into the clay and pressed firmly in the clay.

So far, so good!!

Ta-da!

You are finished with the raw, unfinished version.

Now, what you will need to do is to "cure" your owl following the manufacture's directions for the clay by baking the clay in an oven that you have dedicated for polymer clay only.

Then, if you like, you can add a patina or not.

I'd love to see what you do with this tutorial.

I hope you enjoy it!!