Papier Mache - Tutorials - The Magic Faraway Tree

Time for the characters

With the tree nearly finished, it was time to make the characters to live in it. Having never before worked with clay or fimo, I was unsure which would work best. I decided to start with the air drying clay, and chose Moonface as my first character - because I thought he would be the easiest! I had purchased some small glass eyes from the internet and set about making him. I was pleasantly surprised how well he came out for a first attempt, but once he had dried, I was not happy with the appearance of the clay. I tried painting him, and then stupidly gave him a slight varnish. I felt this ruined him altogether as it gave him a shiny face. I tried to improve him with some eyebrows, but also think this was a big mistake. So this Moonface was destined for the bin!

After this I decided to have a go with Fimo. Again started with Moonface. This time he worked out much better and looked like I had hoped for. I quickly followed him with Silky's head.

Next was the Angry Pixie, Old Mr. Watzisname, and my favourite The Saucepan Man.

I moved on to make the three children's heads, but had become unsure of the head I made for Silky. I decided to make an extra one with big ears just in case I changed my mind about her.

So, with all the heads completed, all I had to do now was give them some hair and fix them on the bodies (which were small woden dolls that I had bought some months ago). Some of the dolls had outfits that fitted perfectly, but I did make Silky's dress and wings, along with the Angry Pixie's outfit. The pans used on the Saucepan Man were from an old dollshouse.