How to Attach Hair to Polymer Clay Sculptures

Add hair to polymer clay using a few basic materials.

When you make a sculpture of a person or animal out of polymer clay, the sculpture can appear flat and plain if you use clay throughout the entire piece. One solution is to add materials with different textures onto the piece, such as hair. This will make the sculpture more dynamic and realistic. However, polymer clay is baked in an oven, which can burn hair. Attach hair onto a clay sculpture using a few basic sculpting techniques.

Things You'll Need

• Cookie sheet
• Toothpick
• Oven
• Wig hair
• Scissors
• Tacky glue

Instructions

1. Sculpt your polymer clay figure to your specifications, and place it onto a cookie sheet.

2. Poke tiny holes onto the area that you want the hair to be using the tip of a toothpick. Add as many holes as you prefer.

3. Bake the prepared clay sculpture in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven fro 10 minutes. Let the sculpture cool for 20 minutes.

4. Squirt a tiny dollop of tacky glue into each hole on the sculpture.

5. Cut hairs off of a wig, and insert the cut end of the hairs into the glue-filled holes on the sculpture. Add as many hairs as you prefer. Allow the tacky glue to dry for 30 minutes.

6. Trim the ends of the glued hair to the length that you prefer using scissors.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoid touching hot polymer clay. Hot polymer clay can cause burns on skin.

• Keep hot polymer clay out of the reach of children.

References

• Stampington; Polymer Clay Basics; Sharilyn Miller
• Sculpey: Polymer Clay Information