How To Make a Polymer Clay Robot

Supplies needed:
One block of black polymer clay
One block of silver polymer clay
Plastic polymer clay tool
Roll of aluminum foil
Toothpicks
Optional: black and white acrylic paints, paper clips

First, tear off a large sheet of the aluminum foil and tape it in place to your table to protect the work surface. Set the aluminum foil to the side but do not put it away. You'll need it again later.

Take the silver block of clay and cut or tear off about a third of the block. work this in your hands for a bit in order to warm it and make it easier to mold. Once the clay is easy to work with your hands and isn't crumbling or hard, begin to mold it with your hands to make a ball and then slightly begin pinching it into a more square shape. This will be the body of your robot. This can be long or short, far or thin, depending on how you want your robot to look. Once your rectangle is shaped the way you want, set it to the side.

Take some more of the silver clay. This time, you'll want about half of what you used for the body. Again, work it in your hands until soft and easy to use. Once soft, begin to mold the clay into a robot's head. again roll the clay back and forth between your hands to make a ball but instead of pinching it into a square, carefully smooth it out to make it round all over. When you're happy with the way it looks, set it to the side.

Pull off a small piece of silver clay, just a pinch. Work it to make it soft. Once soft, place the clay in your palms and hold your hands as if you'd just clapped them together. Start rolling it back and forth to make a snake like roll of clay. Set this to the side.

Pick up your robot's head and stick a toothpick where its neck would be, being careful not to let it go through the top of the head. Leave enough room on the toothpick to stick it into the body. Stick the toothpick into the body, making sure the front of the head is at the front of the body. After they've been joined together, work the clay together just a bit with your finger so they stick together just slightly. Take the snake roll and gently push one end of it down on the back of the robot, right between the head and body. Wrap it around the bottom of the ball/head, making sure it stays between the head and body, until it comes around to the back again. If it's too long tear or cut it off so that you can join the loose end in the same place as you started.

Using your clay tools or a pinky finger, carefully put dips in the face of the robot where the eyes will go. Tear off a small pinch of black clay and roll it into a ball between your fingers to make an eye. Don't put it on the robot yet. Make another eye in the same way, and make sure it's about the same size as the first. Now you can place them on the robot by using your clay tool to press them into the dips you made in the face.

Make feet for your robot by taking more of either the silver or the black clay and creating two siliar sized balls. Pinch these slightly to make discs and push them into the bottom of the body, just enough for them to stick.Make sure your robot can stand up by itself. You can make arms the same way, or you can bend paper clips into the shape you want and place those into the side of the body, making sure you don't leave any gaps between the clips and the clay.

Bake the robot according to the clay's instructions. Let it cool completely.

Now you can paint details on your robot. Paint on a mouth, a door on its belly, knobs and buttons, anything you like. You can also place a small spot of white paint on its eyes to make them shinier.