My Tutorial On Making Polymer Clay faces

Hello Everyone,

I have been asked how I make my Polymer Clay faces that I use on my "Spirit of Friendships Dolls". This is my third go at making clay faces and through trial and error the following is the method that works best for me. I have never made a "Tutorial" before and I am certainly NO expert but I am Happy to share with you the process on how I make "My Clay Faces". I have Six Pictures in the message before this one that show the stages I go through.


(1) First I gather all my "Stuff" which includes a Pasta Maker, Face Molds, Kato PolyClay in the colors of Translucent and White, ( there is also Fimo and Premo Polymer clay brands) varies sizes of brushes, Clay Cutter, Sculpey Acrylic Clay Roller, Pearl Ex Powder Pigment Series 2 and 3, Sculpey Glaze in Satin.
(2) I prepare my molds by putting them in the freezer of my refrigerator for approximately 5 to 10 minutes. I also place in the face mold itself a weee bit of corn starch and then brush it all out before putting in the clay. These two methods I use because it helps the clay faces come out of the mold easier and the molds are very clear with no imperfections most of the time.
(3) Then I take a small cutting of clay and start rolling it between the palms of my hands. I make several different sizes of clay balls to accommodate the different sizes of face molds.
(4) Sometimes I also use settings 8 and 9 on my "Pasta Machine" and roll the clay through the machine. Depending on my the size of the face mold I take the rolled clay and start placing it inside of the mold. Then I take my "Acrylic Clay Roller" and roll and press it over the clay which really pushes the clay deep into the mold and the faces come out much clearer with no imperfections.
(5) To clarify, I use the two above process in placing the polymer clay into the face molds. I have found that "Most of the Time" I just use the small sizes of round clay balls and press them into the molds with the "Acrylic Clay Roller". I try to not over estimate the size of the clay balls. Because if you use to much clay for the face mold size you end up cutting away the excess clay around the faces. This process is a trial and error process until you learn to estimate the amount of clay your molds really need.
(6) I take my clay faces and place them on a foil tray which came with my toaster oven. The photo of "Clay Faces" in the first two rows on the "Left" side of the tray I used the "White Kato Polycaly"and the 3rd and 4th rows I used the "Translucent Kato Polyclay".These are my favorite two colors of clay.
(7) Then the fun begins and I start brushing on the Pearl Ex Powder Pigments. I always use the Pearl Ex before "Baking" the clay faces. I have chosen colors from Pearl Ex Series 2 and 3. I used "Pearl White" to get the sparkling look of my faces. Sometimes I put blush on the cheeks and lip color with "Blue Russet". For the eyes I use "Sky Blue". When I use other colors for the faces I "Always" use the "Pearl White" over them to give them that sparkle I like. The Pearl White also warms the colors so they are Not so bright.
(8) Then I place them in a preheat "Toaster Oven". I do not have a regular oven for just baking faces. All the polymer clays and sometime the colors have different temperatures to bake them at. So you always need to check to make sure how long you should leave them in the oven. For the Kato Polyclay the baking time is 10 minutes. I watch them very closely because just in a matter of seconds the faces could burn.
(9) After they are baked and looking wonderful I let them set to cool. Then I use "Sculpey Satin Glaze" to cover all the faces. Let them totally dry to touch. Then these lovely faces are ready to use on my Crazy Quilt Beaded Spirit of Friendship Dolls.

I hope this Tutorial and Photos below provides a good guide to making the Polymer Clay Faces for those who would like to try and make them. I am sure there is many other ways to make these lovely faces but this is what I have found works for me.