A new segment here on The Book's Buzz! I was thinking about infusing the two things I love to do: talk about books and create things with polymer clay. Today's post is going to be about the infamous Harry Potter sorting hat. Make your own with these simple steps and easy-to-find materials. Yes, you heard me right! You don't need any professional tools or anything, just clay. The one I made was a little darker than I planned on but that's 100% my fault because black paint is not very forgiving (for future reference!). Let's get started!
What You'll Need
- Polymer clay (preferably the color of the hat, which is brown. Or you could always just buy white clay and paint it brown after)
- Eyepins (can be found in any artisan craft store)
- A ball tool (or any household item that is in the shape of a tiny ball, small enough to make the grooves for the eyes)
- Black crafter's paint (whatever brand you have on hand)
- Paintbrush
- Not shown here but any polymer clay tools (or household items if you're not a crafter and don't want to invest in expensive tools. Even toothpicks can be used to make grooves.)
How to begin?
Make sure your hands are clean before beginning. Clay is somewhat sticky and leaves a matte feeling on your fingers so make sure to wash them before eating, drinking, and touching other items. Clean your workspace by laying out some type of silicone mat (or a paper plastic protector, in this case what I used in this photo) so the clay doesn't stick to any unnecessary debris. Make these two pieces: a flat circular shaped bottom and a cone looking shape to act as the base. If your clay is too hard, knead it with your hands until it's softer to work with.
Attach the two pieces together to create the hat. This is going to be the 'blank canvas' we'll be working on for majority of this project.
Make the attachment more seamless by hiding the empty space left when you put the two parts together. Basically make it look more or less like it always started as that one shape instead of putting two together. For this, you can use your hands, toothpicks, ball tool pens, basically anything that'll get the job done!
Draw an outline for the eyes. This step isn't really necessary but I find that it's easier to pinpoint where I want to make the holes.
Because Mr. Sorting Hat has a lot of deep creases, we want to demonstrate this by taking strips of clay and seamlessly attaching them to the face. Blend them in to make them look like they were originally there and not like you added them on. Use the ball tool pen to make deep grooves for the eye sockets. This part is really up to imagination. You can refer to a picture (like I did) or you can be creative and see how it goes!
We have to make the mouth, or how else is he going to tell us what house we're in? Use any tool that can accomplish a long mouth shape in the face. Clay is very forgiving so if you don't like the mouth once you've carved it in, you can always add more clay on top of the spot you messed up on and start over!
Make a nose by taking a small triangular piece of clay and blending it into the face. The Sorting Hat has a ton of creases! Replicate these creases by taking long strips of clay and blending them into the face. Make as many as you want! It really depends on if you're looking at a picture or depending on memory. When you're satisfied with the way the hat looks, bake in the oven according to the instructions listed on your clay package.Play around with the clay until you're completely satisfied. I was working on the face for two hours before I baked mine! I hope you all enjoyed this post. I'm also sorry in advance if you didn't understand my explanations. I'm speaking in terms of what makes sense to me so I apologize if it doesn't make sense to you. That's why the pictures are there!
