Spooky Office Plants
Hey there ghouls and creeps! This week I wanted to try something a little different by experimenting with a different medium. This coupled with the fact that I’ve been diligently working on redecorating my craft space, inspired the creation of this project! Oven bake polymer clay is super easy to work with, requires just 30 minutes of baking time to harden, and is lightweight! All of these characteristics made this an excellent choice to create these spooky office plants! For the cyclops peony, I wanted the freedom to sculpt an eye to the exact size I wanted while not weighing down the head of the flower. For the sandworm tentacles, I wanted them to be rigid and have varying heights. Let’s get started!
I rated the Spooky Office Plant project as easy! Skills and techniques involved in the making of this project include sculpting oven bake polymer clay, baking, sanding, painting, and gluing.
Step 1: Sculpting: For the cyclops peony, roll a ball of your clay 2″ in diameter. Press the clay ball to your work surface, and flatten the edges creating a hill or mound of clay. Then roll a coil 3″ long and flatten the coil creating an oval shape. Drape the coil around the top of your eye to make the top eyelid. Repeat these steps to create your bottom eyelid.
Using a photo of an eye as a guide, begin using your tools to define the top eyelid and other wrinkles and contours of your eye. This will make your eye look more realistic! Keep comparing your clay eye to your photo reference to determine what areas need improvement. If you find that your clay begins to dry out, simply add a little water to your clay. You’ll be surprised too by your innate ability to see when something doesn’t look right on your eye sculpt! Trust your instincts and keep adding/removing clay, and contouring the surface until you’re satisfied!
Trim the excess clay away from around the eye. I opted for a teardrop shape so that the edge didn’t seem too uniform. I also pressed the clay so that it gradually became thinner closer to the edges.
For the sandworm tentacles make coils with pointy tips in varying lengths and with a 1/2″ diameter. Twist each tentacle before placing it on a sheet of tin foil.
Following the manufacturer’s instructions for time and temperature to bake your pieces.
Step 2: Sanding and Touch-Ups: Once your pieces are cured, use a sanding block or sandpaper to remove any imperfections in the clay’s surface or to modify the shape of a piece. I sanded down the outside edges of the eye to improve the profile. The sandworm tentacles didn’t need a lot of touch-ups, for these, I sanded down each one’s base so that it would adhere flush to my cardboard.
Step 3: Painting: Using acrylic paints, paint the eyelids and crescent moon pupil of your cyclops peony. Don’t be afraid to add shadows and gradients to give your eye depth! I free-handed the stripes on the tentacles, and they turned out great! Following the manufacturer’s instructions, set your eye and tentacles aside until completely dry.
Step 4: Gluing: Take a hot glue gun, and adhere your eye to your peony’s center. Apply a little bit of glue to the surrounding flower petals and press them around the sides of the eye to camouflage the edge.
Cut a piece of cardboard, matboard, or card stock to fit inside your pot. Arrange your tentacles ahead of time to figure out placement, then hot glue each tentacle. For mine, I divided my circle’s circumference into sixths and made marks a 1/2″ from the edge for every third. For the remaining marks, I measured an inch from the edge.
Place your tentacles on top of a styrofoam cylinder inside your pot. Fill in around the tentacle’s base with moss.
Yay! You’re finished! Set your new spooky plants in your office, on a shelf, on your dresser, or nightstand! They make great decor pieces to compliment your creepy style!
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Ready for your next project? Here are some tutorials on the blog I think you’ll like! Frame Flip tutorial: https://britnijade.com/frame-flip/, Macrame Wall Hanging: https://britnijade.com/macrame-wall-hanging-w-bones/, or the Spider Web Macrame: https://britnijade.com/spider-web-macrame/. Enjoy!
