Polymer Clay Tenth Doctor Flat-back Charm

So maybe you're waiting for the next episode of Doctor Who, and for whatever reason, you're on this website looking for things to do. Cool, here's this, then. If you have clay, and an oven, then this is an easy enough project to survive the boredom of waiting for the next episode or season. Have fun!

Also, sorry about the occasional shadow of my phone in the pictures, I didn't have the best lighting :|

Alright, so you really don't need all the materials I'll have listed, but this is just what I generally use for projects like this:

A Pasta Roller- So you really don't need this, as you can easily substitute it with a rolling pin, but I find it a lot easier to get nice, uniform pieces of clay using it.

Eye-Pins- You don't necessarily need these either, but if you want to be able to wear your charm or put it on a chain, then I suggest putting in an eye-pin before you bake your clay.

Sculpey Glaze- I like to glaze my pieces after I bake them, but again, this is not nessisary, I just like to have that extra shine, as well as protect the piece a little bit more.

Xacto Knife- In order to get clean cuts on your clay, just use some sort of blade or knife

Other Sculpting tools- I like to use nail art dotter tools, they just have a small rounded tip that is good for helping to smooth and mold the clay. I usually find them at my local craft store, but they are easily found on amazon.

Clay- I generally use polymer clay for my charms, and I prefer Sculpey, but Fimo is just as good. For this specific project, I used a small amount of black, red, and white, but also used the beige, copper, and dark brown in larger quantities, and mixed them according to the colours needed.

Before we start, I'd like to share some tips that will hopefully make the whole process a lot easier, and the end product a lot nicer. Before you begin using your clay, it is helpful to clean your work area so that you don't get bits of fluff and whatever other junk you have on your desk all over your clay. In order to get my work space really clean I actually use a lint roller or a piece of tape and that usually handles the fuzz well. Also, when using a pasta roller, use the lowest or thickest setting, because if it is too thin, it ends up bunching up, which isn't the worst to fix, but it's just kind of annoying. Also, if you're working with white and red clay, make sure to use the white clay before the red, as the red clay (at least the Scupley brand) will stain your fingers and make your nice white clay a light pink.

To start off, we'll make the head and the body. To get the colour for the head, I primarily used the beige and mixed in some white and the smallest amount of red, as a little goes a long way. Once that was thoroughly mixed, I pressed it flat, maybe half a centimeter thick and about the size of a quarter. For the body I used white, and put that through the pasta roller, and folded it over to get the thickness about right, then cut out the rough shape with my knife and smoothed the edges. It doesn't have to be perfect, this is the first layer when making the clothing.

To attach the head to the body, I took some of the flesh-toned clay from before and shape it into a sort of trapezoid, cutting off the bottom and the top of the body in order to have a clean transition from one colour to the next. As for the top of our trapezoid, press that into the bottom of the head, and smooth the clay into one piece, just by gently stroking it down.

Next, I took a small piece of white clay, and pressed it quite flat, shaping it into a small rectangle. Cut it in half on a diagonal as shown, and attach to the top of the shirt. Next, roll a small ball of red clay, and put that between the two pieces of the collar, (you can cut the collar if you need to, in order to make room). After that, make a very small snake of red clay, and press that flat, cutting it into an appropriate length and cutting the end into a small point if desired.

So what I usually do (because I'm really lazy), is just make a rectangle with my dark brown clay, making sure its about the height of the shirt. I then cut out a flat-topped triangle, and the top of the rectangle. Don't worry if your cuts aren't the neatest, just smooth down the edges, and round them a bit. Once you're happy with your pants, you can press them into the body, just take care not to mush them. At this point, you can add the details in the pants if you want, I just use my xacto knife to cut very small lines, not at all deep into the clay, making the pockets and so on.

To start, I rolled out a sheet of the dark brown clay, and cut it into a large rectangle. Then I cut the top at a slant and wrapped it around the body, cutting of the excess underneath. I also added the collar, pockets and small buttons. The collar is the same as the one on the shirt, only a bit longer. The pockets are just small rectangles pressed quite flat, the buttons are very small balls of clay, pressed down with a a piece of pencil lead. Don't press it down all the way at the bottom, instead push it up a bit at the corners, as he is going to have his hands in his pockets.

Roll out a sheet of copper clay mixed with the beige, and place it under the body, slightly below the start of the legs. Cut around the body, and remove the excess clay. Cut out two long triangles, and then cut out two more triangles out of those triangles, to make the lapels on his coat. The seams don't have to be perfect, as the arms will be added in the next step.

Use the coppery clay that you used for the coat on the arms, rolling it into a fairly thick snake. Cut on a diagonal, and mush the end down a bit. Attach to the body, curving the arms to meet the crease in his suit. Where the the arms curve, I like to put two lines to indicate the creases in his coat.

I like to go for a really simple face. I took the dotter tool, and made two divots in the clay for the eyes to sit in. Then take two small balls of black clay and gently press them in. At later time, I realized I forgot to put a mouth on him, so you can go a head and do that now, just with a small thing like a pencil lead.

To begin, roll out a sheet of dark brown clay, and attach to the back of the head. Then roll out a snake of dark brown clay, and press it flat, and wrap around the head, so that you don't have any gaps in the hair. Make the sideburns next, just two small logs of clay pressed into the face. The hair is just a small snake of clay, with pointed ends, which I cut in half and attach to the head. Make sure to start putting the pieces of hair on one side of the face, and layer it going to the other side, so that you don't have to mess with trying to get the strands underneath the others.

I got a fairly large eyepin, and stuck it in the top of the head. Once the hole was made, I coated it in a little bit of liquid scupley, which isn't really needed, but I find that it helps keep it in.

Now to bake it! I use an old baking tin, but even just tin foil will work to put it on. For sculpey, I bake it at 275 degrees Fahrenheit or 135 degrees Celcius for 15 minutes.

Once you take it out, you can glaze it or not, but if you do, just make sure you let the glaze dry for long enough, I usually let it dry overnight, but I live in a dry place so I'd recommend a day.

I hope you enjoyed this project, and you have ended up with your very own mini Doctor. Feel free to ask any questions!