Introduction: How to Make a Sugru Tux!

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Our hackerspace, The Rabbit Hole, had a Sugru night this past Friday (7/12) and while I tossed around a few ideas, we had way too many Linux folks around to not make the Linux mascot - Tux.

What you will need:
  • Sugru Colors: Black, White, Yellow - one pack of each.
  • A picture of Tux
  • Your fingers!
This Instructable submitted by the Rabbit-Hole Maker Space as part of the Instructables Sponsorship Program.

Step 1: Make the Body of Tux

Using the white sugru, start molding it into the shape of a chubby hourglass.  This gives you Tux's stomach as well as his face.  Once that general shape is done, add a division down the top half of the "chubby hourglass" to give you a bit more space for where his eyes will go.

Step 2: Adding Eyes to Tux

Now, using the black sugru, you want to make two tiny little balls, flatten them, then put them in the general eye region for his face.  Now is also a good time to add the division between his eyes and start filling out his head.  

I did this by rolling balls of sugru, and then filling them on top of the head, and smoothing them down.

Step 3: Adding the Tux Coat and Beak!

So once you have the head shaped correctly, get a larger piece of sugru, roll it into a ball, then flatten it out.  Wrap it around the back of  Tux.  It'll make it look like he has a popped collar/cape.  Smooth the edges down and mold the edges around the sides and bottom.

As for his beak and feet, it takes a bit of finagling with the yellow sugru to make the correct shape.  Just remember not to use TOO much Sugru, or the beak will be too large, and the feet too large.

With the feet, shape them to have three webbed toes. It's okay for the feet to be a little thick, actually adds some nice volume to Tux.

Step 4: Finishing Touches

Even though penguins can't fly, they still have to be able to swim!  So to make their flippers, take a small amount of Sugru and make it  into a very thin sort of teardrop/cone shape, then flatten slightly.  You still want it to have some thickness, but not so that they look like tree branches.

Then shape them slightly so it looks like they're bending. Place them to the side of Tux's head, the arms should reach down to near the bottom of the feet.  This gives you some space to work the flippers so they're placed around his feet, like he's holding onto them.

Step 5: Voila!

And once you've smoothed out all of the edges, voila!  Linux Tux!

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