Polymer Clay Pumpkin using Pumpkin mold

In an effort to add more whimsy, fun, and "magic" into my own home I began creating tutorials and now molds for creative projects. This first mold is a Jack O lantern and is the first of what will be a set of 5 pumpkins each with their own personalities. This blog post is a quick tutorial on how to use these molds with Polymer clay. It's very simple but for a beginner it could be frustrating to get them to turn out right. So to save you some trouble here it is:

First knead your polymer clay with your fingers until it is soft and easy to work with.

Break off a small bit of clay and place as far as you can in the nose. If you do not do this step you may end up with a pumpkin who has just half a nose. Use a blunt tool to push the clay all the way down into the nose. I used the back of a sculpting tool by Carie Schoen, (seller ID Kelbycarie on Ebay)You can also use the back of a paint brush.

Roll a small ball of clay and place in center of mold. Squish really well. Press hard in order to squish out any unwanted lines and air that might be trapped in the clay. But not so much that it causes the clay to come up out of the mold.

Roll another small ball and repeat squishing until face half of the mold is full. Cut or break off any excess.

You can fill up the second half of the mold with just one large ball of clay because it doesn't have the facial details. After both halves are full, fit the molds together. Give a nice squish to the mold. Heat oven according to Polymer clay brand's manufacturer instructions (each brand is slightly different) place the mold in the oven and bake according to polymer clay manufacturers instructions.

After mold has cooled pull apart and take out pumpkin. You may see a seam line on the sides of the pumpkin. Where the mold halves meet. This seam can be carved down with an Xacto knife and sanded smooth.

This pumpkin mold is sold here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/aleahklay