Make Your Own Mandrake

The past two weeks have been busy with a tea party project (I'll be posting that soon), a side project (which will be posted before that), and some wardrobe sewing for a few American Girl dolls (which I won't post because the dolls' hair is in a constant untamable "wind-tunnel" state). Anyone have any tips on smoothing out the 'dos?

Anyway, I thought I'd share a tutorial on making your own polymer clay mandrake ornament for all those Harry Potter fans out there. It is a relatively quick project so let's get started!

Materials:
Polymer clay, mini terra cotta pot, tacky glue, 22 gauge brown cloth stem wire, railroad landscape material in brown, antiquing fluid or brown acrylic paint, toothpick, stylus, or any other sculpting tools, plastic leaves, small styrofoam ball, wool roving or twine (optional), and earmuffs.

Condition clay and roll into a cylinder, then twist ends in opposite directions.

Using an xacto knife, make a slit for the mouth then shape the bottom lip with a sculpting tool. 

Make eyes with a stylus then add small clay snakes to form brows. 

 Smooth brows and add small ball of clay for nose. Add indentions for nostrils then smooth out the nose.

 

Twist three small clay snakes for the arms and the top of head. Smooth onto the body then add texture with the xacto and stylus. Use a toothpick to make a hole in the top of head so you can add the plant later. If you'd like, you can also make holes in the hands to add root fibers with the wool roving. Bake your clay accordingly.

Time to paint! Slather your mandrake with antiquing fluid or watered down acrylic paint, wiping off excess until you're happy with the results.

Smash the styrofoam ball until it fits inside the pot, pushing it a little ways under the edge of the pot. Glue in place. Add paint to your pot if you want a dirty kind of look. Take the stem wire and twist it around the pot, then wrap short end around long end of wire. Determine how long you need to make the hanger then twist wire around a paintbrush to make a loop. Attach remaining wire end to the other side.

 

Paint top of styrofoam ball brown, then glue fake landscape material around edge of pot. Glue plant to top of mandrake and add wool roving to hands, then glue into pot. Now you've got your own Mandragora! Don't forget your earmuffs.

Pretty fun, huh?