Polymer Clay Bear Honey Jar Holder Gifts

I bought jars of local honey to give away as Christmas gifts.  Each bear was personalized to the receiver annd their favorite items (ex.  cupcakes!)

List of Bears in this Instructable

Honey Jar Bear 1:  Fezzes are Cool Honey Bear
Honey Jar Bear 2: Tommy Donut Bear
Honey Jar Bear 3:  Kill Bill Cupcake Bear
Honey Jar Bear 4: Pulp Fiction Twist Bear
Honey Jar Bear 5: Psychiatrist Bear


Materials

Fimo Polymer Clay - I used white, tan/brown, green, fluorescent (for glow in the dark effect), red, translucent yellow, black and various other colors

clay machine (or rolling pin) - I find that running the polymer clay through the machine makes it easier to work with.  If I don't run it through the machine first, I find it hard for me to squeeze and work with just my hands because it is so stiff.  I also find it nicer to work with than with rolling pin to flatten the clay.  I bought my sculpey machine from Joanne's for $9 with their Veteran's Day 60% off coupon.

Fimo liquid clay / Sculpey liquid clay - a less translucent liquid clay may work better for custard such as the kind made for Sculpey.  Fimo baked too clear.

Colored Chalk - for 'painting' the clay before baking.

Acrylic paint - very small amount for painting after baking.

Woodland Scene's water effect - optional if you want to create a brook.

Clay tools - bought from Hobby Lobby and Michaels.  I mostly use the one with the tapered ends.

Ball tools  - large ones bought from Michaels.  Smaller ones are dotting tools used for nails and bought from amazon.

Varthane Polyurethane High Gloss - bought from Amazon

Step 1: Basic Bear Instructions

Here are the basic instructions for making a bear.

I like to work on a piece of ceramic tile so that I can just pick it up and put it on a pan for baking. 

1.  Roll a ball of tan/brown clay for the body.  Mine is about 1 inch in diameter though they varied in size.  For this body, I had mixed a tan piece with dark brown. 

2.  Roll a second ball slight smaller for the head.

3.  Using a large ball tool, create a slight indentation on the body so the head can rest on it.  Place the head on the body.  For added stability, cut a small piece of wire and attach the wire through the head and body .

4.  Roll a lighter colored clay into a small ball to make the muzzle.  Cut the ball in half and put it up to the head to verify the size is good for the face.  Using the large ball tool, make a slight indentation on the flat site of the cut ball so that it can rest on the face.  Add the muzzle to the face.

5.  Roll a small ball of black clay for the nose and 2 smaller balls for the eyes.  Taking a small ball tool, make two indentations on the face for the eyes,  and a larger ball tool for one indentation for the nose on the muzzle.  Add the nose and eyes to the bear.

6.  Roll a small ball of tan/brown clay then cut it in half.  Place the cut balls near the head to verify the size of the ears.  Taking the ball tool, make an indentation in the middle of it for the ears.  Place the ears on the bear and blend with the ball tool.

7.  Roll a sausage of tan/brown clay to be used for the arms.  Roll the sausage so that one side is wider (the hand) than the other.  Using a an exacto knife, make slits for the fingers.  Roll ball for the feet.  Arms and legs may be attached after clothes are adding, etc.

8.  Baking

Place the ceramic tile on the metal tray.  I like to add a piece of foil around the clay in case it burns.

Bake the clay per instructions on the package.

I have a terrible toaster oven that drops temperature after 10 minutes of baking.  I set it for 255 and then it drops to around 225 based on my oven thermoter.  For this reason, I like to bake it for at least an hour.  I've had problems before with under baking and the pieces later becoming brittle and sticky.

Let it cool after baking before glazing.

9.  Glaze

Using a brush, apply the gloss coat to the baked piece.  The instructions on the can indicated to apply at least 3 coats and allow them to dry in between.

I am using Varathane Polyurethane High Gloss as recommended by the clay communinty.  I had made the mistake of using a spray gloss previously.  The spray gloss made my piece turn sticky and soft.  I believe some people use Future Floor Polish.

Step 2: Honey Jar Bear - Create Base

Run some green clay through the clay machine or flatten with a roller.  Place the flattened green base on the tile.  Place the jar on one end of the green clay base.

Roll a long sausage piece of green clay and wrap it around the base of the jar.  Trim the excess sausage.

Blend the sausage piece with a tapered clay tool and smooth with your fingers.

Trim off excess clay around the base.   Trim around the honey jar, and leave a large patch at one end for the bear to sit on.

Step 3: Fezzes Are Cool Honey Bear

Follow the basic intructions for creating a bear.

1.  Create Fez

Roll some red clay into a ball.  Then roll just one end to make it into a fat cone shape.  Flatten the top of the cone. 

Taking a large ball tool, create a small indentation at the bottom of the fez so it can rest on the bear's head and place it on the bear.

Take very small piece of black clay, roll it into a sausage, then twist it slightly to give it a rope like appearance.  Flatten one end of it to make a tassle.  Take a tooth pick and make striations on the flattened end of the tassel.   Place the tassel on the fez.

2.  Arms and legs around bowl

Roll a ball of white clay and push a large ball tool into the white clay to make a bowl.  Place it in front of the bear.  The arms and legs will go around the bowl.

Create the arms.

Using a small ball tool, make indentation in the hand to shape fingers.  Place the arms and legs on the bear.

3.  Adipose

The Adipose was also one of my favorite creatures on the show.

Roll a ball of florescent clay to make a glow in the dark Adipose.  Slightly flatten the ball of clay, and make the top slightly more narrow than the bottom.

Roll 2 small balls of the fluorescent clay for the feet.  Roll 2 sausages for the arms.  Use a small ball tool to shape the fingers and attach arms and feet to the body.

Use a small ball tool to make an indentation for the eyes and the mouth.  These will be painted after baking with black acrylic paint.

Place the adipose next to the bear with one arm resting on the bear's leg.

4.  Fish Fingers

Roll a small sausage using white clay and cut into 2 pieces.  Flatten 4 sides of the pieces to make rectangular shape.

Take a small nail ball tool and make dimples all over the piece to give it fish finger texture.

Shave a tan/orangeish piece of chalk to make powdered paint.  Dust the fish fingers with the chalk. 
Put the fish fingers in the bowl.

Take some liquid fimo and add shaved yellow chalk into it for the custard.  Mix the chalk with the liquid fimo, then put it in the bowl.  In hind site, the fimo was too translucent.  I would have preferred to use Sculpey liquid clay.

5.  Bow tie

Flatten a piece of red clay and cut it into a bow time shape.  Roll a small red sausage and wrap it around the middle of the bow tie.

Take the ball tool and make indentations on the bow tie.

Add it to the bear's neck.

6.  Babbling Brook

Roll a long sausage of green clay and lay it on the base by the bear to create a brook.  Blend the edges with a tapered tool and your fingers.

To make flowers, roll a small piece of yellow clay.  Taking some scissors, make small cut to split the ball in half (but not all the way).  Snip each of the halfs again to make 4 petals.  To make 5 petals, snip the ball so that one side is larger than the other.  The larger side will be cut into 3 sections instead of 2.

Take the small ball tool and flatten each of the petals.  Round the tips of the petals slightly.  Add the flowers to the base.

Roll some small balls of Fimo Effects grey granite colored clay to make pebbles for the brook.  Add to the brook.

7.  Bake

8.  Finishing

Take a tooth pick and dip it in black acrylic paint.  Paint the eyes and mouth for the Adipose.  Paint any other pieces if desired and let dry.

Glaze.  After the glaze has dried, I applied some water effects to the brook and blended it with a small brush.

The water effect looks like glue but will dry clear.  The water effect has not completely dried yet in the picture and that is why it shows up as white.

And Finished!

Step 4: Tommy Donut Bear

Follow the procedures for creating the basic bear.

To make the donuts, I used 2 types of clay - light tan colored and white. 

To make the creme filled donuts, roll out a small ball of clay and flatten it into a thick rectangular shape.  Taking a clay tool with a tapered end, make a hole on both ends of the donut. 
Roll a small amount of white clay and insert it into the hole.  With a small ball tool, create swirls on the cream.

To make the round donuts, roll a ball of clay and flatten it slightly.  Take a tapered clay tool and create a hole in the middle.

To make the crossaint, roll a piece of clay into a cylinder, and taper the ends and bend it into a crescent shape.  Texturize it using a needle tool and make 3 cut marks using an exacto knife.

For the white clay donuts, take a brush and brush it over colored chalk.  I used a mixture of brownish colored clay and layered it on the donut to give it a baked look.

For the glaze, color some liquid sculpey with white chalk shavings.  For the chocolate glaze, mix dark brown chalk shaving into the liquid sculpey.  Brush the colored liquid clay over the donut top.

To make the sprinkles, I glazed the donut first then I took a razor blade and shaved some red / yellow chalk over the glaze.

Add some flowers around the bear.  Bake and glaze the bear.

Step 5: Kill Bill Cupcake Bear

Follow the instructions for a basic bear.  However, because the arms will be raised to hold a sword, I cut a piece of wire and inserted it through the body for additional support.  Bend the wires to pose the bear's arms.  Make a small indentation in the bear's hand so that the sword can be inserted.

Yellow track suit -

After adding the arms, run a piece of yellow clay through the clay machine on a thin setting.  Cut rectangular pieces of the yellow to wrap around the arms and the body.  The seams were blended using a ball tool, tapered clay tool, and then smoothed over with my thumbs.

Run a piece of black clay through the Sculpey Clay machine through the thin setting.  Cut small black stripes using an exacto knife and added to the track suite -  use the Kill Bill picture for reference.

Sword -

Run a piece of grey clay through a thicker setting on the clay machine.  Cut a sword shape.  For the handle, roll a small thin cylinder and flaten on one side.  Take an exacto knife to make cuts on the handle (refer to the picture).

Cupcakes -

To make the cupcakes, roll a piece of translucent clay into a ball, then roll one end to make a fat cone shape.  Flatten the bottom (thinnest part of the cylinder) and create an indentation with a large ball tool for the top.   Using the tapered tool, create ridges around the cupcake 'paper' cup.

Roll a white piece of clay into a ball.  Flatten the bottom of the ball and insert it into the 'cup'.  Texturized the the cupcake using the ball tool.  Color the cupcake by brushing brown, yellow, and orange colored chalk over it - layering each color to give it a baked look.

To make the frosting, roll a long piece of white clay and coil it into a circle.  Take a small ball tool and create lines of swirls in the 'frosting'.  Add the frosting to the top of the cupcake.

To decorate the cupcake, roll very small balls of various colors of clay and add to the frosting. 
Roll long, thin sausage using various colors of clay and take an exacto knife to cut sprinkles.

Bake the bear and sword.  Take out the sword from the oven before the rest of the bear has completed baking so that it doesn't burn.

Take small amount of glue and glue the sword to the hand using the Kill Bill picture as a reference.

Glaze the entire piece.

Step 6: Pulp Fiction Twist Bear

Wire Armature -

This part could probably be skipped and just create a basic bear.  In other posed bears, I decided to only cut a short piece of wire, insert it through the body, and  then bend it slightly to pose the arms, instead of creating this armature

Create an armature for the body for support.  I bought the wire from Walmart for about a dollar.   Take a length of wire and wrap it 2-3 times in a circle.  Then take the end of the wire and shape then into the arms. 
Roll a piece of tan clay into a ball and cut it in half.  Create indentation on both halves of the ball using a ball tool.  Insert the armature and close the two halves of the ball.  Smooth the seams using your thumbs.

Follow the rest of the instructions for the basic bear.

Hair -

To make the hair for Mrs. Mia Wallace, roll a piece of black clay through a fairly thin setting.  Cut the black clay into small rectangular strips.  The hair will be created by laying the rectangular clay pieces around the head and blending the seams together.
Cut a smaller piece of retangular black clay to make the bangs and add it to the head.
Using a clay needle tool, run lines through the hair to texturize it.

For Vincent Vega's hair, add side burns and a pony tail.  Refer to the Pulp Fiction picture for reference.

Clothes -

Roll a piece of white clay using a thin setting on the clay machine.  Cut the clay into rectangular piece.  Wrap the clay around the body but make sure the seams are in the front for the button shirt.  Open the shirt at the top and bend a small piece of the corner to make a collar for Mia's shirt. Add rectangular pieces of white clay for the arms.

For Vincent's shirt, use 2 small rectangular pieces of white clay and add it to the front.  Bend the small piece of the corner of each retangular piece to make a collar.  The shirt will be 'buttoned' up to the top.  The shirt does not need to wrap around the entire body - just the front.

Cut a small, white rectangular piece and add it to the arms for the shirt cuffs.

Roll a piece of black clay using a thin setting on the clay machine.  Add a rectangular piece to the arms and cover it just behind the white shirt cuff.

Add a rectangular piece around the body, making sure the seams are in the front.  Bend a small piece of the corner at the seams to make a collar on the black jacket.

Pose the bear using the Pulp Fiction picture as a reference, and then glaze after it has cooled.

Step 7: Psychiatrist Bear

Follow the instructions for the basic bear.  Before baking, take a needle tool and add a small hole on either side of the eyes to insert the glasses later.

To make the book, roll a piece of white or translucent piece of clay and flatten it into a thick rectangular piece to make the pages of the book. 
Roll a piece of colored clay through the clay machine (not too thin) to make the book cover, and cut it into a long rectangular piece (the size of the pages created).  Insert the pages of the book in the middle of the rectangular piece, and trim the book cover. 
Taking the needle clay tool, create lines along the top, side, and bottom of the white rectangular piece to create the look of  'pages'.

To make the chair, roll a thick sausage of black clay and flatten it into a thick oblong piece.  Using an exacto knife, cut 3 deep grooves into the black clay and fold it along the grooves to shape into a chair.  Roll a piece of black clay and flatten it at the top and bottom and add the chair piece to it.

To create the pencil, roll a small sausage piece of yellow clay.  Add a very small piece of white clay to the end of the sausage and shape it into a point.  To make the paper pad, roll a piece of white clay into a ball and flatten it into a thin retangular piece.

To make the table, roll a piece of black clay into a ball, and flatten the top and bottom.  Roll a smaller piece of black clay into a ball, and flatten the top and bottom.  Add the table top.

Bake the clay.

After baking, find some psychology book covers and adjust the size to the size of the clay books and print it out.  Glue it to the books and add modge podge over it so the ink won't run.

To make the glasses, use a small thin piece of wire.  I used a paper wrapped wire that was found in the floral section.  Bend the wires into loops to make the glasses (refer to the picture).  Paint the glasses black.  Insert the ends of the glasses into the holes in the face.

Take a small amount of acrylic paint and paint the very tip of the pencil. 

Glaze the entire piece.