Polymer Clay Figurines tutorial with Papa's Clay

July 21, 2021

We're going to make a Mario mushroom polymer clay figurine in this Papa's Clay polymer clay tutorial.

This tutorial will help you with constructing figurines out of basic shapes and will cover some basic polymer clay sculpting techniques. You can use the super mushroom from Mario Brothers that you make as a key chain, earring, toy, or magnet. This polymer clay figurine is made out of some basic shapes that are added on to each other and only requires one baking to complete.

Here's what you will need to get started:

Step 1 - Condition the Clay

Papa's Clay conditions differently than other types of clay. It just needs some gentle rolling and heat from your hands. Make sure to condition your clay before you start working with it. Small pieces take just a few seconds to condition and big pieces can take up to a minute or two. You can use a hair dryer to condition it even quicker.

Step 2 - Make the super mushroom stem

To get started, Take your light skin clay and get it into a rough rectangle shape. Cut off any excess clay on the sides so you have a rough square. Use your finger to push the bottom down in the middle so that the bottom is rounded and looks like it is tapering down. Then push in the bottom corners so they also look rounded. Use your finger to smooth out the bottom sides so that everything looks smooth and rounded.

Step 3 - Make the super mushroom cap

Take some red polymer clay and get it into a kind of circle shape. Then put it on top of the mushroom stem so that it overlaps the top a bit. Use your fingers to shape it into more of that mushroom cap shape. You might need to push up on the red clay at the top of the face and down on the sides. In order to look like the mushroom, the part that is covering the face should be curved up and the sides should be curved down. Your polymer clay figurine should be taking shape now and will only improve as the other small details are added.

Step 4 - Add the white dots

Take a little ball of white polymer clay and push it down into a circle. Then put that in the middle of the red part. Make another circle for the sides. Cut out two the two sides of the circle so that the parts you cut out look like the edges of a circle. Then put those two sides pieces on the side of the mushroom top.

Step 5 - Make the black part of the eyes

Take a small amount of black clay and cut it out into two equal parts. Roll the parts into ball, then roll them a bit more until you get more of a rounded ellipse. Place the black clay on the face and move it into position.

Step 6 - Make the white part of the eyes

Take a really, really tiny piece of white clay and cut it in half. Then roll it into very small balls and place them towards the top of the eyes. Use your finger or a tool to flatten those balls a bit.

Step 6 - Bake your polymer clay figurine

Use a clay cutter or something flat and slide it under your mushroom to get it off your cutting surface. Bake it in the oven for 15 minutes at 265 degrees and then your super mushroom is complete.

Using these basic techniques and shapes you can make any type of polymer clay figurine. If you want to make a 3D super mushroom, then you basically follow all the same steps except you don't flatten everything out.

Watch the full video here:

https://youtu.be/ExichJFhuvg