MINIONS!!!

I got my Play with Clay swap done last night right before we had a crazy thunderstorm that had me seriously worrying I'd have to flee to the basement with my cat children.  Ok, I'm a bit antsy about all things "tornado" so I was probably over reacting.  Me?  NEVER!

MINIONS!!

They're pretty dang cute if I may say so myself.

The swap requirements were to just make something using clay.  Any old thing you wanted.  It was also a beginner swap so your item didn't need to be perfect, which is good because these minions, while cute, are far from perfect.

I haven't played with clay since I was a kid.  And that was real clay, not the paper stuff I used for these minions.

Let me just tell you, paper clay has its pros and cons.  One pro and con at the same time is the texture.  I needed to get my hands a tiny bit wet so it wouldn't rub off on my skin and so it would stay smooth.  But if you use too much water it gets slimy.

It does work well and if you're careful and patient (and have more experience) I'm sure you can get a nice smooth and non-lumpy finish.

It also takes a while to dry if you use a big hunk.  My first go with this project, I just made to little nuggets of solid clay and they took days and days to dry.  So I made a second set with foil cores which dried much quicker but I think also lended to a bit more lumpiness.

A HUGE con I discovered was my cat, Olive, was obsessed with this project.  Normally my cats neb my stuff a bit (I sew in my kitchen so it's all right there for their inspection) but she would no leave these alone.  I even tried to outsmart her and put them down in a rope basket I use as a shopping basket when I go up to my craft stash room.  I was all proud of my ingenuity until I came home one evening and I found tooth marks on one of the samples.  It was a significantly smaller one that I had made just to see if a small one was doable.  She also knocked the solid clay ones down on the floor and got debris all over them.  I still used them for practice (painting, etc).

Good thing I started the project well in advance so I'd have time to try a few things, huh?

At first I thought I might add arms and legs but then I realized they could be bean style (my sister mentioned it and I liked the idea--it was also WAY easier).  At first I was going to use all paint but then I realized I can have some seriously shaky hands and I kind of wanted to do some sewing for this too.

So I made the pants out of felt.  There's also a dab of glue inside the bottom so the pants are not removable.

I wasn't sure at first how I was going to do the faces then one of my swap partners sent me some glue on google eyes as an extra in a package and BAM, problem solved.

Glue ribbon on for the goggle strap, glue on google eye(s) over the seam where the ribbon ends meet, and add the mouth with a marker.  (hot glue, mind you)

I won't lie, the cyclops one is my favorite.  Part of it is the eye and a bigger part is the mouth.  The mouth was a total accident.  There was a small wrinkle/scratch in the clay there (like I mentioned, smoothing was my weak point) but it was placed perfectly for a cocked mouth.  All I had to do was add the marker color.

I love when things like that happen.

I'm very pleased with how they turned out.  They're imperfect but that's kind of the heart of the swap.  We were just to enjoy using clay and I definitely had fun with this.  AND, I still have at least half the packet of paper clay.  I might have to make myself one of these.  Or maybe make one for my cat!

Next up?  A flower dotee for an angel swap (I'm angeling for someone who got ripped off on a flower dotee swap and they're making me a zombie dotee for the one I got ripped off on--sweet!).  And a few more stuffed toys for the Fluff Project.