Sculpey Clay Ornaments

I have never made Sculpey ornaments before, but a few years ago I purchased a simple kit to make four Christmas ornaments. Viva loves clay, so last week I brought the kit out. The project went pretty much as you'd expect if you knew the children well.

Viva created a gray cat on her own. The only part she asked for my help with was twisting the two snakes of clay to make a two colored scarf. I helped the boys extensively and she may (or may not!) have picked up a few tips from my instructions to them. 

Jake needed a lot of coaching, but he was willing to give it a try once I demonstrated how to do something. He did the majority of the work on his dog. I helped with the hat and scarf and I added the eyes and tongue. (We forgot the ears--we were in a rush as it was time for Jake to go to karate.) 

Bentley chose the most difficult design to make: a skating black cat. The cat was in glide position with one leg extended back and the other stretched forward. Bentley had a hard time with every part of the sculpture. I showed him four or more times how do roll the head and body, but he just wanted me to do it for him. He molded the legs on his own, but he wasn't happy with the results. I made the scarf for him. After adding on the tail and one ear cat he declared: "This is impossible." "I hate this!" He stomped off to change into his ghee for karate. 

While he and Jake were upstairs changing Jake told Bentley that Bentley's cat was ugly. This made Bentley so angry he came flying downstairs intent on smashing Jake's dog. I protected the dog. I tried to point out to Bentley that Jake hadn't even really seen Bentley's cat up close, so Jake wasn't qualified to judge. 

The truth is that Bentley's cat was not looking good and he knew it. Jake and Viva had sculpted animals in sitting positions. Their dog and cat had no legs, just paws peeking out. I decided to remake Bentley's skating cat into a sitting cat. I kept B's head, body, tail, scarf and ears. I removed the awkward legs and added four small paws and made a cat face. I told Bentley it was now my cat, but he claimed the cat as his own. 

I made a pink cat of my own. I enjoyed working with Sculpey and it was easier than I thought it would be. Viva and Jake played with Sculpey a couple of times after we made the ornaments (Viva made another ornament), but Bentley has not gone near it.