A while ago, I sent out some Fimo modelling clay to some bloggers and asked them to try out some kits and supplies and see what they made of this fabulous modelling clay. They pretty much all loved it and I think some new crafty obsessions were spawned. Fimo is so fantastically diverse, easy for kids to use and easy for adults to take on a step further. The internet is littered with the incredible creations made by different people; it’s inspiring and daunting to see what can be done with such a simple clay. I’ve been enjoying collecting ideas together on Pinterest, an online mood board where I can be found as MerrilyMe.

Below are links to the reviews that our bloggers did – I sincerely hope I did ask everyone for permission to use the photos and am sorry that it took so long to do my thank you post. You are all FABULOUS!

First up is 2 Stars & a Swirl who made robots and sheep. I was seriously impressed at what so small a person could achieve. The fold over create your own kits are great for learning but this is a real testament to how easy the instructions are to follow.

Over at Rollercoaster Mum it was Unicorns – and in what becomes a bit of a theme – mum took over to get them JUST RIGHT Along with many other plus points, this mum really liked it being a good, quick craft that was nearly mess free – and I agree

Dinosaurs were the order of the day at Seasider in the City where a small person did a very creditable job of making a formidably frightening  fella.

While similarly scary sea monster appeared over at Egg Dip Dip where, to her credit, mum managed to hand over the goods to the kids

The basic starter kit was a big hit at Red Rose Mummy’s house and I think I spy some Angry Bird inspiration in amongst all that. This review really shows how quickly kids will seek out their own ideas with polymer clay and start to create all on their own.

I absolutely love that The Cheetah Keeper has done video reviews of their Fimo exploits. Dinosaur aliens – now there is a combination!

T-Rexs and Tiaras tried out a bead roller and was very pleased to be able to make lots of uniform beads with it while over at the anamumdiary they had a go at millifiori and although they found it a bit of a challenge, they managed to make a great beaded decoration with it.

I think I was most impressed of all with the models made by Maxi and Mini at Mum in the Madhouse. The elephant and lion really caught my eye but I also loved the lion. I think they are fabulous!

Fimo really comes into its own for kids at Christmas I think. Alyson, with added pasta machine and cookie cutters, had fun making Xmas decorations with her kids and at school. It’s just such an easy way to keep kids entertained with something they can take home and show off afterwards.

There were bears and Cbeebies characters made over at The Gingerbread House. They said they didn’t dare show us any pictures – but I bet they were fab

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For the last few years I’ve been involved in a Secret Santa and it has become a bit of a tradition to make something for my victim in Fimo. I’ve depicted a family in Animal Crossing style and a family with an Outwell brand obsession around their Outwell themed Christmas Tree. Last year I had someone I didn’t know so well at the time, so he got a money tin based on the names of his daughters. Not sure why I don’t have a record of either of the last two though; how annoying

This year I drew (snort! the organiser made sure I was doing her!) a family who have just spent an off grid year travelling the country, working on organic farms and trying out some versions of alternative lifestyles along the way. I’ve been completely awed by their experience – there is no way I could live such a varied year but it has sounded amazing. As I know them really well, it did make it very easy to do a polymer clay round up of their year, plus they are a family who are hugely good sports at having a bit of fun poked at them, so I knew I could really let rip

The blog they have kept in their year on being the Wondering Wanderers has been fascinating, I really recommend it!

The full model, which was roughlyA4 sized.

Nic, mostly known for her ability to consume vast quantities of wine and meat while loathing all vegetables, blogged the year with laptop, 3 Mifi and phone, with the Kindle we gave them as a leaving pressie for company. We are confident her toenails were polished at all times.

I couldn’t resit putting our PuddleChick family in for company along the way along with fish and rod and copious wood to chop

An allotment appropriate to the family eating requirements

We holiday together lots; Ady is rarely seen without a vacuum cleaner in hand. I like to think of him keeping the edges of the allotment spic and span.

Star loves hens and ducks and all things animal.

Dragon tends the fire while peeling carrots.

Be afraid pig, be very, very afraid.

Nic, on the other hand fear lentils and all who wield them! As pompoms are my other great crafting love just now, I added one of them in too!

I had a ball making this; it was naturally last minute, needed to survive some journeys and so was a slightly naive style but I had so many ideas. I might have to ask to do them again next year!

I recently made these cake toppers for my penguin mad daughter, who was born on Bonfire Night. Combining penguins and fireworks is no mean feat, I can tell you! I was inspired to have a go at a Christmas penguin and here is a tutorial so you can try too!

I’ve made a list of Fimo colours on CraftMerrily which are great for Christmas but for this penguin you just need polymer clay in:-
black
red
white
yellow

It’s really important not to discolour your white, so I recommend very clean hands and working with one colour at a time, as I have done in the pictures.
I tend to have baby wipes on hand too.

1. First roll a ball of white Fimo into a circle/egg shape/oval. The exact shapes will alter the character of your penguin and different shapes are great to experiment with.

Before you move on, also make two small eye dots and flatten slightly, a large hat pom pom and a long thin sausage for a hat trim.

2. Make two yellow tear drops for feet and flatten them slightly; then make a thick yellow triangle for the beak. Again the shape of this will alter your penguins look and is fun to play about with. I marked a groove around two sides of the beak to give it a slightly open mouthed look.

3. Make a red ball and then shape it into a hat shape with your fingers. I also made a long red sausage, flattened it slightly and used a knife to cut tassels into it but you can leave that bit out if it feels too hard.

4. Next, roll a black ball as a head. It will look best really circular so take the time to shape it nicely between your palms. The wings are two tear drops flattened out and then given a pinch to shape them. They’ll look just fine as a simple shape too, so don’t worry if the wiggle is too hard to achieve. It takes practise!

5. I make my penguins with ‘coats’ on, rather than trying to make a moulded, all in one, body shape. Make a large ball of Fimo and then flatten it into the shape in the picture. The dent at the top becomes his collar.

6. Time to dress him! First clean your hands thoroughly as the red and black will have discoloured them. The gently drape the coat around the body so about 2/3 of the ball is covered.

7. Pop his head on to the top of the ball and press it gently so the coat, body and head stick to each other, add his eye whites and bead, leaving enough space under his beak for a scarf to go round.

8. Gently lift your penguin and sit him down so he is on his feet, with about 2/3 of them sticking out in front. Use a knife end to gently press 2 toe dents into each foot.

9.Take two tiny pieces of black and make eye dots. When I’m making lots of characters I pre make eye whites and put the dots on and bake them in batches to save squishing them when I put them on. The direction of the eyes will alter the penguins expression, so take care to have them a similar size and pointing in the same direction – or he may look a little confused! If the dots are scary, wait till afterwards and draw them on with a black indelible pen.

10. Put his wings on each side, pressing firmly so they are attached at the shoulder and near the front of his coat. I tend to leave the tips not pressed down to give them a little movement and realism. Don’t worry about blending them to the coat unless you want to; the scarf will cover the joins.

11. Finally, tuck his scarf around his neck and put his hat on. The hat will look best if you gently press your thumb into the underside so it is concave and fits his head. Add the white trim, with the join at the back and texture it if you wish using a cocktail stick. Add the pompom.

These penguins will look lovely on a cake, or on a mantelpiece or, if you put a hole through the hat, hanging on the tree.

I’ve been making more dragons; this lot are all now safely in their own homes, except for magpie with his hoard of gold. They turned out very different to the first batch; I definitely think they have a life of their own.

I’ve been using the Christi Friesen Dragon book to develop my skills. I often find it hard to get started on an idea, but once I get going my imagination develops quite quickly. Christi’s book has been great but within about 3 dragons, I was on my way and out on my own. I’m loving watching them develop.

I think you are either a person who needs ideas to get started with Polymer Clay, or you aren’t. I definitely do, although I find once I’ve tried a project, I can then go off on my own tangents quite quickly. I have my absolute favourite polymer clay artists, Maureen Carlson and Christi Friesen and I recommend ALL of their books, especially as they show you lots of techniques as well as great projects. There are other books too and the ones below are ones I’ve kept on my shelf, either for me or the girls. I’ve listed them in order of simplicity.

I’d love to do them as image links, but today, this blog thinks that is a bad idea. Sorry
Ha! Edited to add an aStore.

The Incredible Clay Book: How to Make and Bake Zillions of Clay Creations (Klutz)

Handmade Polymer Clay Greetings Cards (Handmade Greetings Card)

Tasty Trinkets: Polymer Clay Food Jewellery (Twenty to Make)

Polymer Clay Bears (Twenty to Make)

Imagine Your World in Clay: Create Family and Friends in Polymer Clay

Clay Characters for Kids

How to Make Clay Characters

Making Gifts with Polymer Clay

Dragons: Tips, Techniques, Inspirational Ramblings, Creative Nudgings and Step-By-Step Instructions to Help You Create (CF Sculpture)

Under the Sea (CF Sculpture)

Birds of a Feather: Beyond Projects (CF Sculpture)

Cats Big & Small (CF Sculpture)

Down Under (CF Sculpture)

How to Make Clay Characters

Get Creative with Polymer Clay (Quick and Easy Crafts)

Step-By-Step Polymer Clay in a Day

Steampunkery: Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Projects

Polymer Clay and Mixed Media – Together at Last: Incorporating Craft Materials and Found Objects in Clay Figures

Fairies Gnomes and Trolls: A Fantasy World in Polymer Clay

This is a simple tutorial to make a polymer clay basket. I filled it with flowers, which turned it in to a great Spring, Easter or Mother’s Day craft.

Unfortunately, due to a brush with a 6 year old and the floor, my camera refused to focus properly, so the pictures are neither as good or as detailed as I would like. Sorry!

1.So, this tutorial starts with a palm shaped lump of clay. Easy

It is kind of the ‘earth’ inside this planted basket. I’ve made it brown to make it easy to see  what I’m up to, but to be honest, waste clay will do – it won’t be seen. If you are being thrifty, you could make this shape out of tiny foil and then just cover it in a layer of clay. Even a layer just on the top, the flat side, would do.

2. Choose 3 colours of brown you like and roll them into ropes. Then twist and scrumple those ropes into one long rope, so it is a smooth rope of marbled colours.

3. Fold that rope in half, then twist it carefully lengthways until you have a fresh long rope. This time you want to keep the texture of the twist but also make it reasonably solid and firm, so it is easy to work with.

4. Turn the ‘earth’ flat side down and then, starting at the table, coil your rope gently around the earth, following the shape of it, until you reach the top.

5.When you turn your basket the right way up, the ‘earth’ will be flush with the top of the basket.

That doesn’t look quite right, so use a spare bit of your rope to add a rim and some handles. (See picture in step 6).

6. Add a splodge of green on top of the earth. This is just a quick way of building height into the middle of your flower and leaf arrangement. If you are a purist, you’ll want to do this properly with leaves and stalks and things that need masses of patience!

7. Here’s where my camera died so I just can’t give you the step by step pictures I’d like to. However, I tend to use icing cutters anyway, so you’d have been a little on your own for this bit. An easy way to make leaves is to make tear-drop shapes in green and squash them flat. Make simple flowers with 5 flattened balls of the same colour and a contrasting central one. Roses are lots of flattened petals layered around a central coil.

I added a few snaky tendrils for depth. The key to a simple but pretty look is to build up from the bottom. Leaves first, then large flowers, then lots of smaller ones tucked randomly into crannies. It is great if leaves can hag over the edges and fall on top of each other though, it really helps to make it natural.

I invented this quick craft to do with 17 children aged 3-12. They loved it and produced some great results; here are a few of them.

We sell a huge range of Polymer Clay at CraftMerrily.

Trees are very important to me right now; in my head they are linked with our little boy Freddie, who lived just 11 days and died in mid April. A lot of my creativity is inspired by him just now.

Here are some more trees I’ve been creating.

These two are spring and summer from a set of simple season wall plaques.

This was inspired partly by a photo from my flickr stream and partly by a picture in my head which I know I took but now can’t find!

It’s essential Dartmoor, England, a place we love as a family. My husband grew up there but it has held my heart for a long time.

This bejewelled creation came from my head but has been helped along the way by enjoying the mixed media work of lots of Flickr artists and also Christi Friesen, who I just love

I’ve been working on some simple tree ideas for polymer clay pictures recently; trees have been a bit of a theme in our family and my personal art work throughout the summer. While fiddling away with some shapes and ideas, I created this tree, a simple, almost naive style of tree which seems very pleasing to me.

As it happened, I had to do an art workshop with some children the next day and decided I’d have a go at this project with them. It worked incredibly well, so I’ve used pictures of their process for this tutorial. Obviously an adult might choose to be a little more refined with shapes and colours, but I think these photos show very well what can be achieved with a light hearted approach to this polymer clay craft. Apologies for the quality of the photos; I only had my iphone with me on the day!

1. Create a blue background to suit the size of project you want to make. This will work well either light blue for a day time scene or dark blue for night. Marbling it, particularly if you can keep the lines horizontal, will give it a some depth and make it that little bit more sky-like.

For my original, I ran it through a pasta machine till it was really thin and made a feature of the jagged edges. The detail on the back was made using the Spring Morning Texture Plate from Studio By Sculpey.

2. For the trunk of the tree, I made a thick sausage out of brown and copper Fimo blocks, rolled together and bent gradually back on itself so the lines of colour were up and down and in soft coils. Cut the sausage to slightly longer than you want the tree to be, then pinch out the base into a simple root shape.

3. Make two cuts in the top downwards, dividing the top quarter into 3 even pieces. Roll the middle one into a more natural barrel shape, then twist the others slightly so their flat edge is the base of the branch. Press the piece on to your base.

I textured my trunk lightly with this coils embossing plate from Studio By Sculpey but detail could equally be added by hand using a knife.

3. I used scrap Fimo for the leaf part of this project (actually, I used scrap Fimo for all of it!) I made pea sized blobs (the finished item was about 6 inches tall) of mixtures of green and yellow polymer clay and dotted them randomly around the branches. A couple sit on top of each branch but I found it looked better for some gaps between the actual blobs, as if the sky was showing through.

4. Once the blobs were in place, make a dimple in the top of each one. I used a Fimo Clay Tool but the wrong end on a pencil would work well too.

5. Choose some plain contrasting colours and put a blob into the top of each leaf dimple. We liked it best with 3 colours and tried to make sure there were no two colours the same next to each other.

6. Finish the colour contrast blobs off by putting a little hole into the top of each one.

I think all the kids were as pleased with their end product as I had been with mine. They ranged from age 5 to age 12 and, considering they had the same instructions, the same colours and the same tools to work with, they produced 6 very different end results.

Optional Step 7. For the rocks and grass on my version, I used simple blobs of Granite Effect Fimo and for the grass I made a mix of yellow and green ropes blended together into a rough mix that kept the lines  more of less going in one direction. I chopped these and marked the surface with lines and the tops with indentations. Simple, but effective, long grass.

I must admit, I’ve really loved the colours in the Studio By Sculpey range for some of my recent nature based projects but the cheerful bright colours of Fimo Soft were also excellent.

I actually made this bird, again inspired by Christi Friesen’s new Birds book, by each stage in around 50 photos. I have a plan to animate these into a film of how it was made, but the photography wasn’t great and post production may take a while!