DIY: polymer clay comic strip panel

Holà! 

It's been a long time since I haven't posted any article because I've been a bit busy these last few weeks. On the other hand, I have photos for articles that are ready, but I couldn't decide on which article to post first. I have lots of articles ideas on several of my travels so given the current situation, I thought it might be a better idea to start with something else! Anyway, I hope that you and your relatives are doing good. I got back to France because I am (initially) on holidays. It looks like I am going to stay here longer than expected...

I know that it can sometimes be difficult to find things to do while being locked up at home. I guess we are all facing this situation. However, in the beginning of my holidays, when the epidemic hadn't  paralysed Europe yet, I went to Brussels where I visited many museums. One of them was the Comics Art museum, which inspired me this DIY. I will tell you more about my favorite things to do in Brussels in another article. For now, I am going to show you how to create a comic strip panel out of Fimo (polymer clay).

I've decided to make this for my father's birthday. Therefore, I chose a panel from one of his favorite comic strips, which I found funny. In this time of confinement and quarantine, this DIY will allow you to pass the time, while making someone you miss happy, once the situation goes back to normal. Moreover, if you regularly use polymer clay, you should have all the material needed at home; no need for you to go out!

To give you an idea, it took me around two entire days to make this panel, taking into account the mixing of colours and the time needed to take the pictures for the article. In general, the more detailed and coloured the panel you chose is, the more time you are going to need to make it.

This time, I have decided not to show you what I did step by step in pictures, but rather to show you the progress in a "video". I thought that it made more sense knowing that the steps are very simple and similar. I hope that you will enjoy this format!

Without further blabla, let's get into it:

You will need:

- polymer clay of different colours
- a blade
- an x-acto knife
- a rolling pin
- a toothpick or a small eye-screw
- two jump rings
- two crimp pliers (it is doable but more difficult with only one)
- a ribbon of your choice
- a thin black marker
- a piece of drawing paper
- scissors
- liquid glue

Step 1: Choose a panel of comic strip that you want to reproduce.

Step 2: Make a list of colours that you are going to need. Mix different polymer clay colours together, in order to get a sufficient amount of the colours you need.

Step 3: Start with the background of your panel. In my case, the background is the blue sky, so I started by making a blue rectangle of the size of the panel. This way, you can then add on the different elements.  

Step 4: Create the elements of the drawing one by one. Start by flattening out the clay using the rolling pin. Then, cut out the elements using the x-acto knife for more precision. Add the elements to the background. Lastly, if you want you can create texture using a small ball of aluminum foil for instance (for the ground), or making stripes with the x-acto knife (for the wood).

Step 5: Bake the polymer clay panel in the oven, as indicated on the packaging (e.g. I used Fimo, so I had to bake it for 30 min at 110°C). Let it cool down.


Step 6: Use a black thin marker to draw  the outlines of the drawing onto the panel. It is optional, but it makes it more detailed.


Step 7: Cut out a speech bubble in a piece of drawing paper, and write down the text on it using a thin black pen. Glue the speech bubble on your panel using universal liquid glue.


Step 8: Make little wholes in the two upper corners using an eyes-crew. You can also make the wholes before the baking using a toothpick. Pass a jump ring through each whole. (I explained you how to do that right in this post)


Etape 9: Pass the ribbon through one of the jump rings and make a knot. Repeat the same step on the other jump ring with the other side of the ribbon. I made a tie knot, but you can make whichever knot style you want.

Tadaam!

I hope that you like the final result! 

I am really happy about how it turned out because, even if the object is not clearly useful, it still is a nice present idea. Hung on the wall in between other frames for example, it can look super cool. Moreover, it is a truly original and totally customisable idea. 

The difficulty is not high as it only requires to reproduce an existing comic strip panel. Obviously, you can add on or take out elements of the panel as you like.

I strongly recommend you to make this DIY during the confinement because one: it will make the time pass, and two: it is a way to make someone that you currently can't see happy!

By the way, I have a question: Does the confinement make you more creative than ever too?? Because for me, the more I create things, the more I have ideas, and the more I create! So with all this spare time these days, my room looks more like a workshop than anything else 😅! 

Enough chatting, I wish you a creative confinement! 

Mafral.