Halloween Sculpey Creatures

One of my children’s favorite holidays is fast approaching. My four-year-old cannot decide whether to be a “Tigger,” or a honeybee (like her baby sister.) It may all depend on which costume is the easiest for mom to sew. We have already decorated our sliding glass doors and windows, at Elise’s urging, with brightly colored pumpkins and autumn leaves. The crispness in our air today heralded the arrival of this brand new season, already underway according to the scuttle of dried leaves across the front porch and the sun slipping quickly beneath the mountainous skyline before dinnertime is over. Ah, fall is here.

And time for a new craft idea! At my children’s insistence, we purchased the fun-looking clay at the craft store over the weekend, good ol’ Sculpey III. It was on sale, .69 each, a bargain too good to resist. We decided to make homemade Halloween magnets to “dress up” the refrigerator and file cabinets. Crafting with Sculpey is a terrific way to spend a rainy fall evening with your kids, and get some decorating done as well.

MATERIALS:

5- 10 Halloween shades of Sculpey III modeling compound. Orange, green, brown, red, yellow, and brown are excellent choices.

Assorted Sculpey shaping tools, Xacto or Sculpey knives for cutting, and smoothers (small crochet hooks work well here).

One small wooden rolling pin that you have “dedicated” for use with Sculpey only, no food products.

One aluminum plan or baking tin, that you intend to use only for Sculpey creations.

One package of super-strong round magnets, containing 8 – 10 magnets each.

One bottle of tacky glue or Sculpey glue.

Various shapes of Halloween wooden cut outs, i.e. cats, pumpkins, ghosts.

Your oven.

DIRECTIONS (One dimensional creatures):

1. These are the easiest to make and fun for kids. First, knead the clay so that the temperature of your hands warms it into a pliable medium. This takes about five minutes. Kids really like this part.

2. Using your wooden rolling pin, roll out the clay until it is about ¼ - 1/8 inch thick.

3. Place the rolled clay on a hard surface, such as a cutting board, to protect you countertop or table. Trace the shape of the wooden cutout with your Xacto knife, paying attention to sharp corners and detail. Be sure to press hard enough on the clay so that the knife makes a clean cut.

4. Add details with different colors of clay, as necessary. For the ghost, you can shape tiny, black eyes and mouth, and the word “Boo!” Press into the white ghostly shape, and roll slightly with the rolling pin to set the black clay. Cats need eyes and mouths, which can be added using a teeny bit of white, red, and green clay. For pumpkins, you can shape leaves separately, and tiny, curly vines, enhancing the orange pumpkins with these realistic features.

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