Lil' Lamb
Lil’ Lamb by Christi Friesen Use polymer clay to create a lovely little lamb focal bead embellished with pearls Aww, aren’t lambs cute! – all wooly and innocent and sweet. This cutie will certainly add interest to any necklace. No matter what your skill level is in working with polymer clay, this lamb is so easy to make that you’ll want to create a whole flock! Of course, the first step in any polymer clay project is to condition your clays to soften them up and get them ready to use. Roll, fold and twist the clay, or run it repeatedly through a pasta machine. Once the clays are flexible, it’s time to mix up some sheepy colors. If you’re the black sheep of the family, you may want to mix a different set of colors, but otherwise, for this little lamb let’s use a creamy white for the wool and golden brown for the legs and face – always a good look for a lamb. These colors are Premo brand polymer clay, my favorite for sculpting – just the right consistency! For the wool color, white and pearl, combined in equal amounts with a bit of ecru added will make it a nice, bright ivory color. (The white/pearl combo should be about three fourths of the mix with the ecru making up the other quarter.) Blend the clay thoroughly, in the same way as you initially conditioned it – either by hand or with the pasta machine. For the face and legs, blend together burnt umber, gold and ecru clays according to taste (artistic taste of course, polymer clay makes a lousy snack). More ecru in the mix makes a lighter color, more burnt umber makes a darker color. Again, blend the clays together thoroughly. Start by taking a bit of the wool-color clay and rolling it into a ball about the size of a grape (I know, grapes come in lots of sizes, just pick a generic grapey size!) Flatten the ball in your For this project you will need: hands a bit – a squashed grape. Now use the ! polymer clay (I recommend Premo! piece of thick wire and brand): white, pearl, ecru, gold, burnt lay it on the flattened ball, umber towards the top end, and ! beads for eyes (two 3-4mm round, dark press in slightly. This beads – this project uses garnet) piece of wire will hold ! beads for wool accents: aprox. a open a channel so you dozen pearls or other white/cream-colored can string it up later. It beads will stay in throughout ! wire for attaching beads: 28 gauge, the sculpting and baking aprox. 12 inches total process. ! wire for stinging channel: 16 or 14 gauge, aprox. 3 inches Next make the legs – start with four balls of the brownish clay. It’s ! tools for sculpting easiest to make all the little balls of clay first, which gives you a ! oven, oven thermometer better chance of having four matching legs! Roll all the balls into ! optional: paint (light brown), sponges, logs. Now flatten one end of each log by pressing it firmly onto your work surface – this will be the hoof end. Do this for all four legs. paint brush, clear coating/varnish (Sculpey Satin), mica powder The feet are simple – sheep have a cloven hoof, so just a little split down the middle will create that look. Stand up the leg on the work surface and just cut straight down to make a notch. Use a sculpting ©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
1
tool to press into the cut to smooth it so that it looks more natural. Do this for all four hooves. To add the legs to the body, just press them into place. I suggest this lamb should just stand straight up, looking forward. In a “Do you have some lamb snacks in your pocket for me?” kind of way. To make this pose, the back legs get pressed in place first – push them onto the back of the oval. There should be a little space between the legs. Then place the oval with the back legs in the back down on the work surface, and press firmly to attach. The front legs just press in place on to the front of the oval – don’t worry about the top ends of the legs, they will be covered with wool (well, clay pretending to be wool, anyway). Space them in between the back legs. Press the tops of the front legs into the oval firmly, flattening them quite a bit – this will keep the woolly surface even, when we get to that part! Ok, let’s get to that part. There are lots of ways you can do the wool – the simplest is to just make little balls of clay and press them on all over. Cover the body, over the ends of the front legs, down on the visible part of the belly. Press them firmly, but don’t smoosh them – round and fluffy is best. Oh, and the balls of clay should completely cover and encase the wire. Once the woolly bits are all in place, time to add the head. Adding the head after putting on all the wool helps keep the little face from getting lost. Roll a ball of clay from the brown mix. Wash your hands first – the residue of the white clay usually gets on the dark clay (and vice versa, so don’t touch the white clay now if you can avoid it). The ball for the head should be about a third or a fourth the size of the ball of the body. Form it into an oval shape and then press the oval into place towards the top of the body, centered between the front legs. Press in place by using your thumbs to press it on. This will create indentations while attaching to the body which become the eye sockets – pretty cool, huh? Now the eyes – these are garnets (one of my favorite beads to use for eyes), but anything dark and round will work. We’ll add a wire tail to the beads to really help the clay grip them, avoiding the likelihood of them coming out after the piece is baked. The first step is to snip off a piece of 28 gauge craft wire and slip on the bead. Now pull the wires up, parallel to each other, so that the bead rests at the bottom of the curve. Grip the wires with your pliers and twirl the bead with your fingers until the wire twists right up to the base of the bead. It ©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
2
helps to grip the wire about a quarter of an inch or so away from the bead. Snip off the excess wire to leave a “tail” about an eighth to a quarter of an inch long. Wire up the other eye bead in the same way. The eyes go into the center of those indentations. Press the beads, wire side first, of course, straight into the clay and embed the bead halfway into the clay – with any luck you’ll hide the wires. Nose and mouth are next. For this step, it’s helpful to have a tool with a small pointed end, but a steak knife (one without a serrated edge) can also do the trick. Press the tip of the tool into the end of the face to create nostrils – two little lines that look a bit like a “v” will do the trick. The center of the “v” should be centered on the face. Now make a little line to turn the “v” into a “Y”. Next the mouth – just press in a little line with a slight curve to it (it’s a happy sheep!) on either side, connected to the line of the “Y” you just made. There … personality! Oh, and we can powder the nose, too. A little blush of mica powder (this is a coppery color). Use a soft paintbrush and just dust on a very faint coating on the tip of the nose. Ahhh, cute. Time to finish up the hairdo - we don’t want this lamb to be having a baaaaaaaad hair day, do we? Press more balls of the white clay right on the forehead, joining into the wool of the body. Don’t forget to wash your hands first and get that brown residue off first. Well, now he’s a bald sheep – we can’t have that! So add ears! that will solve that problem. Just roll out two teardrop shapes from the brown clay (if you want you can make these shapes while you’re still playing with the brownish clay, before you wash your hands).
Now use a dowel tool to poke a hole into each side of the head. Press the teardrop shapes into the holes (pointy sides in the hole, roundy sides out). Press them firmly to attach well. You can pinch the tops of the ears a little to flatten them just a bit.
©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
3
How to you like it so far? Pretty good, huh. Now the fun part - adding beaded embellishments to really make this lamb snazzy! I chose to use pearls, because I think they look fun with the wool, but any bead you think goes well will work – use crystals if your sheep is really bling! or dagger beads if he’s a bit of a rebel (you know, kinda’ punk with all those spikes). Drop shaped or round beads work equally well, and any color that goes with the woolcolored clay will look nice - whatever works for you! Wire up the pearls (or whatever beads you chose) the same way as you did the eye bead. You’ll need at least a dozen of them. Press them in! Fun, fun, fun! Don’t forget a few on the forehead wool.
Once you’re satisfied with the way everything looks, it’s time to bake the piece. Polymer clay bakes in a regular oven at 275ºF (or according to your clay manufacturer’s instructions). This bead will take about 30-45 minutes at that temperature to cure properly. Use an oven thermometer to monitor the temperature, since it’s very important to that you can keep an eye on your oven’s performance. And don’t forget to use good ventilation as baking clay does produce fumes that some people are sensitive to. Ok, once the baking is done, let the piece cool completely. Remove the wire by grabbing it with pliers, giving it a twist to loosen the grip, and then pulling it slowly out of the clay. At this stage, you’re done, but I always think it looks a bit better with a patina added. This is a simple step, but if you’ve never done it before, it’s a good idea to practice on something else first. Adding a patina simply means using acrylic paint to antique the piece – brushing the paint on and then rubbing it off the surface to leave color only in the deepest cracks and textures. Any acrylic paint will do, I used a medium-toned brown. Brush it on and immediately wipe it off with a damp sponge (wring the sponge out good before using so that no water is left, just the dampness). Use lots of sponges so you can make each wipe with a fresh sponge – you don’t want to just smear paint all over everywhere! Icky, muddy sheep. Once the paint is dry, you can leave it like that, or you can paint on a clear coating to protect the piece and add that nice finished glow. A glaze with a matte or satin finish is much better for this project than a glossy one. Don’t paint over the pearls, or the eye beads, it makes them dull. Let the coating dry. Finally, you can pop it back into the oven for one last bake at 200ºF for 20 minutes to set all the finishes. And now go show off your cute little lamb – don’t be baaaaaaaashful! ©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
4
Here’s an idea for turning the cute little lamb steps into shaggy little ram steps: Follow the same steps, but spread the legs out a little – more of a gamboling sheep than a standing-around sheep. I’ve put the face more to the side, too, to enhance the appearance of running. Instead of ears, add horns! Make these by rolling some of the brownish clay into a longer, narrower teardrop shapes, then twisting into curvy horns. Press the horns into the clay in the same way that you would if they were ears. Instead of round little balls of clay to make bouncy wool, use rice-shaped bits of clay to make shaggy wool. Add them by pressing onto the body - the same process as if they were round, except that it’s best to start at bottom and work up, overlapping one row of rice-shaped bit of clay on top of the previous row. And for a final shaggy touch, use a dowel tool to push strands of fiber into the clay – in between the ricey bits looks best. (These are actually snips of an old dishtowel!) Don’t worry, they bake in the oven, no problem! Finally, after baking, you don’t want to add a clear coating to the wooly part, it gets into the fibers. Either skip that step, or only add it to the legs and face. And there you are, a shaggy ram!
Christi Friesen’s polymer clay work has won awards and been exhibited in shows, museums and exhibits. She teaches classes worldwide, and has created a series of how-to books, and downloadable projects. For more info, visit her site: www.ChristiFriesen.com
RESOURCES . beady eyes, mica powders and sculpting tools: www.ChristiFriesen.com . pearls: your local bead store or online at www.FireMountain.com . natural wool: local craft store, or fabric/wool store
©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
5
1
tool to press into the cut to smooth it so that it looks more natural. Do this for all four hooves. To add the legs to the body, just press them into place. I suggest this lamb should just stand straight up, looking forward. In a “Do you have some lamb snacks in your pocket for me?” kind of way. To make this pose, the back legs get pressed in place first – push them onto the back of the oval. There should be a little space between the legs. Then place the oval with the back legs in the back down on the work surface, and press firmly to attach. The front legs just press in place on to the front of the oval – don’t worry about the top ends of the legs, they will be covered with wool (well, clay pretending to be wool, anyway). Space them in between the back legs. Press the tops of the front legs into the oval firmly, flattening them quite a bit – this will keep the woolly surface even, when we get to that part! Ok, let’s get to that part. There are lots of ways you can do the wool – the simplest is to just make little balls of clay and press them on all over. Cover the body, over the ends of the front legs, down on the visible part of the belly. Press them firmly, but don’t smoosh them – round and fluffy is best. Oh, and the balls of clay should completely cover and encase the wire. Once the woolly bits are all in place, time to add the head. Adding the head after putting on all the wool helps keep the little face from getting lost. Roll a ball of clay from the brown mix. Wash your hands first – the residue of the white clay usually gets on the dark clay (and vice versa, so don’t touch the white clay now if you can avoid it). The ball for the head should be about a third or a fourth the size of the ball of the body. Form it into an oval shape and then press the oval into place towards the top of the body, centered between the front legs. Press in place by using your thumbs to press it on. This will create indentations while attaching to the body which become the eye sockets – pretty cool, huh? Now the eyes – these are garnets (one of my favorite beads to use for eyes), but anything dark and round will work. We’ll add a wire tail to the beads to really help the clay grip them, avoiding the likelihood of them coming out after the piece is baked. The first step is to snip off a piece of 28 gauge craft wire and slip on the bead. Now pull the wires up, parallel to each other, so that the bead rests at the bottom of the curve. Grip the wires with your pliers and twirl the bead with your fingers until the wire twists right up to the base of the bead. It ©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
2
helps to grip the wire about a quarter of an inch or so away from the bead. Snip off the excess wire to leave a “tail” about an eighth to a quarter of an inch long. Wire up the other eye bead in the same way. The eyes go into the center of those indentations. Press the beads, wire side first, of course, straight into the clay and embed the bead halfway into the clay – with any luck you’ll hide the wires. Nose and mouth are next. For this step, it’s helpful to have a tool with a small pointed end, but a steak knife (one without a serrated edge) can also do the trick. Press the tip of the tool into the end of the face to create nostrils – two little lines that look a bit like a “v” will do the trick. The center of the “v” should be centered on the face. Now make a little line to turn the “v” into a “Y”. Next the mouth – just press in a little line with a slight curve to it (it’s a happy sheep!) on either side, connected to the line of the “Y” you just made. There … personality! Oh, and we can powder the nose, too. A little blush of mica powder (this is a coppery color). Use a soft paintbrush and just dust on a very faint coating on the tip of the nose. Ahhh, cute. Time to finish up the hairdo - we don’t want this lamb to be having a baaaaaaaad hair day, do we? Press more balls of the white clay right on the forehead, joining into the wool of the body. Don’t forget to wash your hands first and get that brown residue off first. Well, now he’s a bald sheep – we can’t have that! So add ears! that will solve that problem. Just roll out two teardrop shapes from the brown clay (if you want you can make these shapes while you’re still playing with the brownish clay, before you wash your hands).
Now use a dowel tool to poke a hole into each side of the head. Press the teardrop shapes into the holes (pointy sides in the hole, roundy sides out). Press them firmly to attach well. You can pinch the tops of the ears a little to flatten them just a bit.
©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
3
How to you like it so far? Pretty good, huh. Now the fun part - adding beaded embellishments to really make this lamb snazzy! I chose to use pearls, because I think they look fun with the wool, but any bead you think goes well will work – use crystals if your sheep is really bling! or dagger beads if he’s a bit of a rebel (you know, kinda’ punk with all those spikes). Drop shaped or round beads work equally well, and any color that goes with the woolcolored clay will look nice - whatever works for you! Wire up the pearls (or whatever beads you chose) the same way as you did the eye bead. You’ll need at least a dozen of them. Press them in! Fun, fun, fun! Don’t forget a few on the forehead wool.
Once you’re satisfied with the way everything looks, it’s time to bake the piece. Polymer clay bakes in a regular oven at 275ºF (or according to your clay manufacturer’s instructions). This bead will take about 30-45 minutes at that temperature to cure properly. Use an oven thermometer to monitor the temperature, since it’s very important to that you can keep an eye on your oven’s performance. And don’t forget to use good ventilation as baking clay does produce fumes that some people are sensitive to. Ok, once the baking is done, let the piece cool completely. Remove the wire by grabbing it with pliers, giving it a twist to loosen the grip, and then pulling it slowly out of the clay. At this stage, you’re done, but I always think it looks a bit better with a patina added. This is a simple step, but if you’ve never done it before, it’s a good idea to practice on something else first. Adding a patina simply means using acrylic paint to antique the piece – brushing the paint on and then rubbing it off the surface to leave color only in the deepest cracks and textures. Any acrylic paint will do, I used a medium-toned brown. Brush it on and immediately wipe it off with a damp sponge (wring the sponge out good before using so that no water is left, just the dampness). Use lots of sponges so you can make each wipe with a fresh sponge – you don’t want to just smear paint all over everywhere! Icky, muddy sheep. Once the paint is dry, you can leave it like that, or you can paint on a clear coating to protect the piece and add that nice finished glow. A glaze with a matte or satin finish is much better for this project than a glossy one. Don’t paint over the pearls, or the eye beads, it makes them dull. Let the coating dry. Finally, you can pop it back into the oven for one last bake at 200ºF for 20 minutes to set all the finishes. And now go show off your cute little lamb – don’t be baaaaaaaashful! ©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
4
Here’s an idea for turning the cute little lamb steps into shaggy little ram steps: Follow the same steps, but spread the legs out a little – more of a gamboling sheep than a standing-around sheep. I’ve put the face more to the side, too, to enhance the appearance of running. Instead of ears, add horns! Make these by rolling some of the brownish clay into a longer, narrower teardrop shapes, then twisting into curvy horns. Press the horns into the clay in the same way that you would if they were ears. Instead of round little balls of clay to make bouncy wool, use rice-shaped bits of clay to make shaggy wool. Add them by pressing onto the body - the same process as if they were round, except that it’s best to start at bottom and work up, overlapping one row of rice-shaped bit of clay on top of the previous row. And for a final shaggy touch, use a dowel tool to push strands of fiber into the clay – in between the ricey bits looks best. (These are actually snips of an old dishtowel!) Don’t worry, they bake in the oven, no problem! Finally, after baking, you don’t want to add a clear coating to the wooly part, it gets into the fibers. Either skip that step, or only add it to the legs and face. And there you are, a shaggy ram!
Christi Friesen’s polymer clay work has won awards and been exhibited in shows, museums and exhibits. She teaches classes worldwide, and has created a series of how-to books, and downloadable projects. For more info, visit her site: www.ChristiFriesen.com
RESOURCES . beady eyes, mica powders and sculpting tools: www.ChristiFriesen.com . pearls: your local bead store or online at www.FireMountain.com . natural wool: local craft store, or fabric/wool store
©2010 Christi Friesen, and revised ©2015 Christi Friesen www.CForiginals.com All rights reserved. Please do not reprint this project without written permission from the author. But DO feel free to create and sell your own work as influenced by this project!
5
