FAQs

What sort of sculptures do you make?
I make creatures of all types, both cute and realistic. They tend to be fairly small because of the material I work with (polymer clay), and are usually anywhere from 1 to 4 inches tall.

My work is split between the 'wee creatures' and commissions, although I only take on a few commissions at a time. The wee creatures are usually cute mice, guinea pigs, bunnies, cats, moles, owls, snails, penguins, sheep, cows, pigs, chimps, polar bears, etc - these are affordable sculptures and highly collectable, making unusual gifts or lovely keepsakes which make you smile. The wee creatures can be customised and personalised to a certain extent.

Commissions are more involved sculptures, and can be realistic animal sculptures, character creatures (eg mice dressed up as famous people), clay versions of loved toys (although I won't recreate an existing design that's covered by copyright and design laws, eg Minions or Hello Kitty), wedding cake toppers, etc. You can see the wee creatures I've made before on my Flickr page.  I prefer not to repeat commission designs, as I would much rather work with you to come up with something unique and special.

Click here to see what people say about my work.



Where do you ship to and how do you package the wee creatures?
The wee creatures are very good travellers, and quite happily travel all over the world. I usually use normal first class post (within the UK) and normal airmail services (for international orders) for my standard ranges. For one-off creatures and commissions, I send them using a signed for/tracked service.

All creatures are carefully packaged in bubble wrap, tissue paper and sturdy presentation boxes, with a signed certificate giving the name of the piece, and the date of creation.
In the unlikely event of a breakage in transit prior to delivery, please return the damaged item, together with the original packaging, and I will either provide a replacement or refund you the purchase price. For one-off commissions, only a refund will be offered.


How much do they cost?
The cost of the standard range wee creatures varies depending on the work involved, and usually start from £15 plus shipping, and go up to about £50.

Commissions are priced on an individual basis depending on the amount of work involved. Larger commissions, eg, realistic dog, cat and rabbit sculptures, usually start from £100 plus shipping, as these usually take at least a day to make.

Wedding cake toppers also usually start from £100 plus shipping. Smaller commissions, eg personalised wee creatures, usually start from about £30.

All prices in my shop and stated here are in GBP (British Pounds Sterling). To find the equivalent cost in your local currency, there are a number of good websites you can use.

What payment methods do you accept?
You can buy from my online shop using either a debit/credit card, or a Paypal account. There's more information about how it works here.

For all other orders and commissions, I accept Paypal for orders placed outwith the UK. I send all Paypal requests in GBP - thankfully Paypal takes care of the currency conversion without any input from me!

For UK orders, I also accept bank transfers and card payments by phone.

Do you offer gift vouchers?
I've considered introducing gift vouchers, but have decided against offering them for the time being because the Creature Events are so popular, and it's hard for me to guarantee that I'll have the capacity to make a particular wee creature to order. If I find a way round this, I'll make an announcement by newsletter.

Where can I buy the wee creatures?

There are three main ways to buy the wee creatures - see the "How to Buy" page for more details.

I also occasionally sell one-off sculptures by auction on eBay. I announce details of these auctions on Facebook and by newsletter, and they usually run for 3 days.

I only take on a few commissions at a time, and when I have available slots, I will send out a newsletter to those signed up to receive emails about commissions.

How should I display the wee creatures?
The wee creatures are able to sit on your shelf or desk on their own, and they are designed to be free-standing. However, you can buy a hand-turned wooden display plinth which is a lovely way to show off the wee creatures to best effect (and they enjoy having a good view!) The plinths are usually available to buy separately from my shop, unless they are out of stock.

You can also buy lovely wooden display units from Small Display Units - I've been working with Jackie to provide lovely homes for the wee creatures.

Do you do wholesale?
No, sorry - it's all I can do to keep up with my own online sales, so you will only be able to buy Quernus creatures direct from me.

How do I get in touch with you, and how will I know what you're up to?
There is a contact form you can use, and I aim reply to emails a couple of times a week. You can also reach me through my Facebook page.

The main way I keep in touch is through newsletters and Facebook. When signing up to my mailing list, you can opt to receive emails about commissions, the Quernus Christmas Club and the Quernus Tour. If you select none of these options, you will still receive my general newsletters, which give details of new ranges, auctions, sales, etc.

I also update my blog now and again when something interesting happens (or when I have time!)

Do you go to craft fairs and events?
Since I only sell online, I no longer go to craft fairs and events. However, I am still hoping to do the Quernus Tour throughout the UK at some point, which will be effectively touring round with a craft fair just for those who'd like to meet me and the wee creatures. I'll probably need some help to organise this!

How can I buy your Christmas creatures?
The Christmas Creatures are very popular - you can request specific Christmas Creatures at the SSQE events, and I will also hold some Christmas-themed Mini SQEs.

I will also do some Random Creature Listings of Christmas Creatures throughout the year (particularly if I'm asked to do that).




I represent a charity - would you be able to donate a wee creatures to help raise money?
In the past, I have done my best to help out charities as often as I could by donating a commission or a special piece to raise money by online auction. However, because I now donate all ticket sales to charities, and I also run my own Pay It Forward Mice initiative, I have decided not to support any additional events through donations.

I really like your photos and designs – can I use them for my own purposes?
All images and products are available for social sharing (e.g Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Pinterest, etc) provided that full URLs and credit are given to Quernus Crafts and/or this site. Sharing is positively encouraged! Please contact me to request prior consent if you would like to use any images or content for any other purpose.

All site content and designs are Copyright © 2009-2016 of Kirsten Miller and Quernus Crafts. All rights reserved. Anyone found to be in breach of copyright will be legally pursued.

I’m a crafter too – do you do swaps or trades?
Sorry, no – I just don’t have the time to do that sort of thing.

How do you keep the finish on the wee creatures so smooth and clean?
A great proportion of my time in making the wee creatures is spent keeping the clay as pristine as possible. I wish I worked in a hermetically sealed space, but I suffer from the same of dust, fluff and flob that everyone else does who works with polymer clay! It's quite a sticky substance, and so attracts dust, fingerprints, etc like a magnet. Although it's a lot of hard work, the effort is definitely worth it to get a consistently smooth and clean finish. 

To illustrate the point, I made a mouse and didn't take my usual steps to keep the clay clean. He's so grubby that he wanted to go off and have a bath immediately, so I gave him a rubber duck ;)

First and foremost, I keep my hands clean at all times. I scrub them regularly, particularly when changing colours, or after having got up to do something. I try and work on one wee creature from start to finish to minimise the chance of getting my hands dirty again. I always work from light to dark clays to avoid colour bleed where possible (whites, blacks and reds are particularly notorious for bleeding into each other). I also keep several lumps of white scrap clay handy so I can roll that between my hands when I'm about to start work on a new creature. This helps to remove the worst of the dust, dirt and oil that are on your hands, even after cleaning. White is the hardest colour to keep clean, and because I work a lot of with white, there are times when it's really frustrating, and I often 'write off' the first white mouse of the day because it usually attracts the worst of the dust and fluff.

Whilst working, I use a combination of a scalpel and baby wipes to keep the clay clean. I use the scalpel to carefully scrape off any debris on the clay surface - painstaking work! As for the baby wipes, I had to experiment a lot to find the best brand to use, because you don't want ones which shed too many fibres, or you're left in a worse position than when you started. It's trial and error - for those of you in the UK, I use Morrisons Savers Fragrance Free Baby Wipes. To get a smooth finish, I just use my fingertips, and lightly smooth the clay as I go.

What do you use for the eyes?
I use round semi-precious black onyx beads of varying sizes, which I buy on eBay.

Do you use paint?
No – polymer clay is self-coloured and can be mixed and blended to any shade. I prefer the depth of finish you can get when using self-coloured clay.

I also use millefiori techniques to create patterned effects (eg for the Snails) - polymer clay is truly the most amazing and versatile material I've ever used, and I love experimenting to find out what I can do with it. I've just got lots to learn!

How did you get started with sculpting? Did you do any courses?
Going right back to my childhood, I've always enjoyed sculpting, playing with Plasticine, air-drying clay, etc. I first came across polymer clay in 2000, and I made the wedding favours and cake toppers for my own wedding (30 wee creatures and a pair of wedding bears!) I didn't touch polymer clay again until 2009 when I gave up my job as a lawyer, and I found a few blocks of clay left over from the wedding. I thought I'd have another go and see what happened. The rest, as they say, is history ;)

I am self-taught and have never done any courses or classes - I've just played around and enjoyed seeing who emerges next from the clay! The best advice I can give anyone who's thinking about trying polymer clay is to get some blocks, by a good tutorial book, and just have a go :) When I do the Quernus Tour, I'll be giving demonstrations and running a few workshops, because it can help to see how things are done - sometimes it's hard to imagine what can be done when faced with a 2oz block of polymer clay!

I am also an official demonstrator for UK Staedtler, the manufacturers of Fimo, and so I can sometimes be found giving demonstrations in arts and crafts stores in the north of England.

What brand of clay do you use?
I don't find a huge difference between the main brands of polymer clay, and so I choose the clay based more on colour than anything else. I use mainly Fimo Soft and Professional (formerly Classic) for the mice, piglings, sheep and cows, and mostly Premo Sculpey for blacks and reds, mainly because the Premo clay doesn't leach colour as much as Fimo colours do. I love trying out the various new clays that periodically come on the market, like the Fimo Effects and Sculpey Accents. In 2014, UK Staedtler brought out a new clay to replace Fimo Classic - I am a big fan of Fimo Professional, and you can read some reviews about it here (I was one of the three reviewers). I used the Fimo granite and white granite effect clay to create these moon-gazing hares, sanding and buffing the clay once cured to create more of a stone-like finish.


Although Fimo and Sculpey bake at different temperatures, I've not had any problems mixing the two brands of clay, but you should always read the manufacturers' instructions, and do your own experiments to find the best temperature for strength, durability, etc.

What equipment could you not live without?
I use digital scales to measure out the amount of clay I need for each design (eg a tiny mouse uses 5 grams of clay, whereas a Penguin uses 10 grams). I also have a digital thermometer for my table-top toaster oven, and that's been a fantastic way of making sure that the wee creatures are cured at the correct temperature (which is very important so that the clay doesn't crack or weaken). I also have some favourite tools which I use every day when working with clay, like various gauge knitting needles, a doll-making needle, and a ball tool (used in cake-decorating), as well as some dental tools. And of course baby wipes!

How do you bake the clay?
I use a dedicated table top toaster oven to cure the clay. With larger pieces, I will use my own household oven (it's important to use an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is right). The chemicals are non-toxic but can give off fumes, which is why your ordinary oven is sometimes not recommended. But I haven't had any problems, and for occasional use, it's really not an issue. You can create an aluminium foil tent to place over the piece whilst baking, and that can help limit the fumes. So I'd say that occasional use in a normal oven is fine, but if you're planning to do lots of curing, it's best to invest in a separate toaster oven, which doesn't cost too much. Because of how often I use mine, I've gone through two in the 5 years since starting Quernus (the top element went on my first oven, which meant the bottom element worked twice as hard to maintain the chosen temperature. The mice I was curing at the time had very toasty bottoms and feet that day!)

To prevent scorching from the top element, I use a foil tent which I cut from tin foil baking tray - that's much sturdier than normal tin foil. I also line the bottom of the oven with broken bits of terracotta tile, as this helps to absorb and distribute the heat more evenly. I use a ceramic square plant tray which I line with a sheet of ordinary paper, as that stops the bottom of the clay going shiny (as it can when you bake straight on a ceramic tile or baking tray).



Last updated: June 2016