How to Make Santa Doll Faces

Make your own Santa Claus doll.

Making faces for dolls can be easy if you use polymer clay. Santa Claus is one of the easiest faces to make because half of the face is covered with beard.

Things You'll Need

• Skin colored polymer clay
• Ceramic tools
• Oven
• Parchment paper
• Disposable cookie sheet
• Acrylic paint
• Doll hair, fur cloth or mohair yarn
• School glue
• Paintbrush

Instructions

1. Knead the polymer clay until it is soft and pliable.

2. Roll an egg shape of polymer clay the size that you would like to make the head. The fat part of the egg shape is the top, and the thin part is the chin or bottom.

3. Divide the head into sections. Draw a line through the center of the head from the top to the bottom.This will be line A. Draw a line across the center of line A making a cross shape.This will be line B. Divide line A in half a second time between line B and the bottom, parallel with line B. This line will be line C.

4. Roll a small ball of clay and press it onto the spot on line A where line B crosses it to create the nose. Smooth the nose into the face. Press two small holes into the nose where the nostrils should be.

5. Press a small black bead into the clay above the nose on each side to make the eyes.

6. Cut a slit into the clay under the nose to make the mouth. Press the clay tool upward to cause the mouth to open slightly.

7. Roll a small tube to make the neck. Attach it to the bottom of the head behind the chin.

8. Make a small rectangular piece of clay with rounded corners. Make four holes on both of the narrow sides. This will be the shoulder plate. Attach the neck to the shoulder plate. Roll a blob of foil, place a layer of parchment paper over the foil, and lay the shoulder plate over the foil. It will look like a taco when it is folded over the foil. Place the head and foil on a baking sheet.

9. Bake at the clay manufacturer's specified temperature for 30 minutes. Turn off the oven and allow to cool.

10. Add cheek and lip color with thin acrylic paint.

11. Paint on a thin layer of glue, and coat with a thin layer of hair. Use doll hair, hair from white fur cloth or white mohair yarn to make the hair. Repeat until you get the desired hair thickness.

12. Add eyebrows using the same method as Step 11.

13. Attach the head by sewing the shoulder plate to the body.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't open the oven until it has plenty of time to cool, or the clay will get cracks in it.

References

• Custom Dolls, Houses and Miniatures: Learn To Sculpt a Head & Face From Polymer Clay with Tony Rice

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish