How to sculpt a figure of Thomas the engine and Annie’s wagon of polymer clay.
Thomas locomotive with a trailer made of polymer clay. Free Video tutorials.
We will sculpt our Thomas locomotive from baked polymer clay. Since the figurine is small enough, any other type of clay will not work for it. From baked polymer clay, you can sculpt such small details as a lantern, windows, and a very small face. Our Thomas turned out to be a little over 2 inches long, more precisely is 2.36 inches. Our locomotive is just under 2 inches high. The size grid on our modeling mat is in centimeters, each square equals one cm. The face of the Thomas locomotive is less than an inch in diameter, it is 0.8 inches if to be precise. First, we sculpt the body of the Thomas train, the entire upper part, as shown in our very detailed video tutorial.
All small parts and joints must be fluffed with polymer clay gel of any manufacturer, it can be Fimo gel, Sculpey, or Cernit. Although the clay sticks well enough when it is wet, we still cannot press hard enough on some parts so that they do not deform. The gel will give extra strength and adhesion to all parts, especially very small ones. Then we put this part on preliminary baking in the oven (10-15 minutes, temperature according to the instructions for your clay).
Afterward, we sculpt the wheels. And here a gel for polymer clay is obligatory since raw polymer clay does not stick to an already baked one. We paint windows with ordinary acrylic paint, whether it is professional art paint, or for children’s creativity, it does not matter.
We make a trailer for Thomas the engine of polymer clay
Our polymer clay Thomas the engine needs a wagon. We’ll sculpt his standard Annie’s wagon. Since our wagon is rectangular, so that it will not be too heavy, we will take aluminum foil for baking. And we will make a base, which we glue with polymer clay. And only after that, let’s start sculpting, as shown in this very detailed video tutorial. The wagon for Thomas is about 3 inches long and the same height as Thomas.
My son asked me to sculpt polymer clay Thomas the engine with a trailer. He just wanted to play with this little train and trailer. The baked polymer clay is strong enough. And you can play it without any problems, there is only one nuance that the hooks for coupling a locomotive with a trailer are not reliable enough. Still, they are thin and fragile to play with. So I replaced them with jewelry pins. I just heated them over a candle and screwed them in.
Too little children under 3 years old cannot play with such toys, since small parts can be broken off and swallowed.
These free video tutorials were filmed specifically for this site and our channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/polymerclayideas/