Santa Piglings and Robin Tree Decorations (b.28 November 2009)

After the success of Santa Cat Tree Decorations, I decided to make the rest of the range - so here are Santa Pigling and Robin Tree Decorations!

Piglings (b.26 August 2009)

After what seems like ages, I made some more Piglings last night. It was a bit like coming home - I loved working with their expressions (and each one IS different), and also making a clear distinction between large and small. I'm happy with the way these have turned out, and they are very quick to make.

The large piglings measure 3cm wide by 2.5cm tall, and I use the 4mm obsidian beads for eyes. The small piglings are 2.5cm wide by 2cm tall, with 3mm black onyx beads.

Piglings are now on sale at my Folksy shop - click here for more information.

More Piglings (b. 6 August 2009)

I was in town on Tuesday and bought a 350g bar of Fimo Soft in flesh pink (#43). I really hadn't been convinced by the colour (or consistency) of the SuperSculpey - it really ended up a bit dark for the piglings.

But I knew as soon as I saw the large bar of Fimo that this was just the right colour. I'm delighted with the way these have turned out.

I tried a couple of different variations, and the pigling on the far right has 4mm black bead eyes, rather than the usual 3mm (close up of this pigling in this photo). I managed to line up the nostrils with the eyes with the ears, quite by accident, and I think this has resulted in the best facial layout I've found so far. This pigling measures about 3cm (just over an inch) from ear tip to ear tip, and the smaller version is about 2.5cm. I think making more of a distinction between the two sizes will work better.

And this is the Ascent of the Piglings! Going from left to right, it shows my first effort and all subsequent experiments using different clays. I am sure my experiments will continue, but I think I've finally hit on the shape, colour and composition that I like best.

Piglings No 2 (b.3 August 2009)

Second batch of piglings born now that the SuperSculpey has arrived. It's very easy to work - it feels like 70s bubblegum! It has a translucent quality and the shade is a lot darker than I was expecting. You can really see the difference when comparing the latest batch with the original piglings.

On balance, I'm inclined to go with the paler clay, and I have now bought a 500g block of Fimo Soft, pale fresh colour. That being said, the latest batch stands up pretty well on its own, so I'll use what clay is left, and perhaps make some more one of these days - more piglings to follow shortly!

Piglings (b. 27 July 2009)

OK, so I went a bit mad on Monday. Had lots of ideas about different animals to try, but I couldn't get enough of these little guys. I wanted to see how quickly I could make them, and how easy they would be to assemble.

Turns out it takes about 30 minutes to make four of them. I'm very fond of these - I experimented with using a core of scrap polymer clay and then using a veneer of pink/beige, but this allowed air bubbles to creep in and a few of the piglings have cracks in them. The better option is to go with a solid ball of polymer clay, and so I've now ordered some Super Sculpey in beige/flesh colour to see whether how this works as an option. It's so important to be scrupulous about baking temperature and timings, and so I have now invested in a table-top oven toaster which will be dedicated to polymer clay creations. I read a good tip that putting shards of terracotta tiles at the bottom of the oven would help even out the temperature, which should make baking more easy to monitor. Can't wait to refine these little mites further!

Pigling the First (b. 23 July 2009)

Made very quickly at the end of a long day of getting back into crafting. Delighted at how well he turned out. I based the design on an old ceramic pig I've had for many years, and which I've always loved.

I love using black beads for eyes - a favourite trick of mine I've been using for years. Love the large nose, and the stylised round shape - will see whether it'll work with different animals.