I like to make these little magnet people because they come out so cute and yet professional looking, and you can personalize each one to suit the person you are giving it to.
- Emily
Materials: Sculpey or Fimo clay; seed beads; toothpick; magnetic tape; Pilot pen or fine-point permanent marker.
Instructions: 1. Decide what color(s) you want to make the body of your magnet. If you want to mix colors, roll each into a log, twist them together, and then mix them into a ball. Your ball of clay should be around an inch to an inch and a half all around.
2. Flatten the ball and pinch the clay a little at the top, to form a teardrop. Put this aside for now.
3. Choose the color of clay you want for the face; make another ball of clay that is about 1/2" to 3/4". Flatten the ball into a pancake-like shape. Don't flatten the clay completely; there should be some thickness to it.
4. Gently press the flattened ball of clay onto the teardrop shape. Be careful not to push too hard so you don't smush the face.
5. Choose two seed beads for eyes, and gently push them into the face.
6. Take a toothpick and give your magnet a mouth. To add a cute touch, take 2 extremely tiny balls of light pink clay and gently push each piece right beside the mouth.
7. Get another small piece of the skin-colored clay, or white clay, and flatten it into an oval. Place the oval horizontally in the center of the body. You will be writing your name inside this oval after the magnet is completely finished.
8. Get several more seed beads in as many different colors as you'd like. Carefully push the beads around the edge of the oval. The beads look best if you put them in with the hole facing upward.
9. Get four more small balls of skin-colored clay. These will become the hands and feet.
10. Pinch 2 of the balls to form a teardrop, and flatten them slightly. At the curved part of the teardrop, curl the ends up slightly.
11. Gently push the hands onto the body of the clay on the left and right edges, several millimeters down from the face.
12. Flatten the other two balls of clay into ovals.
13. Gently push the ovals along the bottom of the body. Make sure that the ovals are wrapped slightly over onto the front of the body, so they look like feet.
14. Choose the color clay you want to use to make the hair. You can make almost any hairstyle you want to: braids, long and straight, curls, short, etc. Get creative! You can add little "accessories" to the hair too, like sequins or little stars. Most hairstyles can be made by rolling several thin logs of clay out and molding them how you like.
15. Preheat the oven for 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Put your magnet onto a cookie sheet covered with foil. Once the oven is preheated, put your magnet in for about 15 minutes. When it is finished, let it cool for at least 15 to 20 minutes. Don't worry if it is slightly soft when you first take it out; it will harden completely once it cools.
16. When the magnet is cooled, you can write your name inside the oval. Then get a piece of magnetic tape and put it somewhere on the back of the magnet.
Materials:
