Polymer Clay Squirrel – “What-atorial”

Well …. sometime technology is a real pain in my squirrel tail. I used a “real camera” instead of my iPhone to take your tutorial pictures this week hoping that since we’re now back to “full tutorials” that they would be awesome pics. Somehow my SD card became “corrupted” and I have lost everything on it, save for 4 pictures … of course of the END of the project! ARG! *Insert horrible frustrating sounds here* So … this being said today’s “tutorial” sadly will be more of a non-picture commentary on the project. I cried over this problem this morning, pulled myself together and then took a deep breath. So instead of a tutorial, today you get a “what-atorial” … my code name for “what just happened to my tutorial pictures?” Deep breath …. and moving on …

Remember: Tutorials can not be completed without the book.  Please order the book here.

Polymer Clay Squirrel Tips:

Because of the aforementioned disaster that took place when making my Mrs. Squirrel, I will be giving you some tips to help you through the tutorial that is featured in Christi’s book, beginning on page 10.

As I have been doing, you will see that my squirrel looks different from Christi’s in many ways. I would wager to say it is more “me” than Christi. Most noticeably, my squirrel has an obvious lack of mixed media and beaded additions and focuses more on clay sculpture; in addition to that whimsical and playful look that I love. I have not decided whether or not I will antique this little cutie (she’s about 3″ tall, so she’s hardly “little”). I kind of like her just as she is … what do you think?

Here’s some tips to help you with your little squirrel creation in this week’s “What-atorial”:

• Make it yours. What do you like about Christi’s style? What do you not like about it? When you make your polymer clay squirrel if there’s something you want to do differently, do it!
• Add something fun if you want! Since we are in the “Woodland Creatures” book, I decided to add some woodland fun to my squirrel. I added a head wreath of flowers, some handmade millefiori caned leaves, and a few curly twigs.
• Need a great millefiori caned leaf tutorial? Try this one from ClayGround’s Karen Walker. It’s one of my faves and is easy to adapt and do with just a small skinner blend.  Or make it easy on yourself and make it as Karen has.
• Make cute ears! Often when creating animals and creatures, the fun is in the ears.  While Christi’s ears are far more realistic than mine, mine are cute & easy.  See the mini-tutorial at right (yes, this picture I was able to retrieve).
  • To make these ears, simply roll a log.
  • Join the ends of the log together.
  • Pinch the ends into a tiny tear drop of a shape.
  • Make a “dent” with a ball tool where you want the ears to be.
  • Insert the tip of the ears into the dent.
  • Blend the seams.

Salvaged Pictures!

Well, I was able to salvage a few of the pictures off my SD card. Alas, they were all at the very end of my process.  Here’s a few notes on them though…

• At first my squirrel was going to be a Mr. Like all things I design and create I let each one talk to me. I also decided that it is NOT a he, but rather a Mrs. and needs some flowers on her head.  So I added some bright pink marbled flowers and white flowers too.  I also added some hair because everything looks cuter with some whispy hair.  Lastly I added some caned millifiori leaves that I whipped up and a couple curly twigs. And now my “He” is a “She” and is much happier about it too!
• Sometimes change is good.  At the point where these photos take over I have already decided that my acorn need NOT have a silver top. You can see that there is a lot of “silver” or “pewter” tones to my sculpture. While this is not bad, it made the acorn get “lost.” I wanted my acorn to stick out and get some attention … so with the addition of a green top, caned millifiori leaves, and a few curly twigs, it’s looking much better.

What Did You Create This Week?

For this week’s project you can create either a squirrel (page 10) or a fox (page 25). What are you going to create? Be sure to come on over to the Sculpting Group and share what you are working on.

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The Friesen Project

The Friesen Project is done in conjunction with Christi Friesen. All tutorials are retaught here with her expressed permission. Please make sure to read about the project here, and get answers to the most common FAQS here.

See you next Friesen Friday,
Until then, Happy Claying,

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