Dollhouse Miniature Roasted Turkey

 

Watch the video here.

This week we are making a roasted turkey for the dollhouse. After all nothing says holiday dinner better than a huge turkey to put on the table. This is a really fun polymer clay project and it really is fairly simple.

I do recommend having some good photos to use as reference while working on this project. Also if you have a mini platter, cutting board or roasting pan you want to display your turkey on/in be sure to have it on hand so you can create your turkey to fit that container.

I kept this project to as few clays as possible. I used just a tiny amount of translucent clay mixed with an even tinier amount of any brown. In fact that tiny ball I mixed in the video was way more than needed. It is just harder to get a good mix with less clay and I also felt I needed to have enough for you to able to see it on the video. The brown clay I used was straight out of my scrap clay bag but you can use any brown clay you have. Add a very tiny amount of the brown, just enough to barely tint the translucent. 

 

This clay is then rolled into a snake about 1/16” (about the diameter of a toothpick). Cut two pieces that are about ½” long. Use a pointy tool to make a crease in one end of each of these then roll the opposite end to a point. Bake these at 250°F for 5 minutes. Set these aside to use as the bones that will stick out of the legs of your turkey.

The tool I used to check the size of these small snakes was something I picked up at Home Depot several years ago. It was in the tool area with the drills and drill bits and is designed to help you pick the correct size drill bit. It has a lot of really helpful sizes to reference with small clay projects and since it is made of metal I don't have worry about the raw clay melting it like with plastic.

For the body of the turkey you can use any white clay. I used some Sculpey Original since it was on my table when I sat down. This project is made of very simple shapes so any white polymer clay will work. We are going to start by adding some texture to the clay. Start with a ⅞” ball of the white clay. Now work 1 teaspoon of white sand into the clay. You might not be able to get all of the sand worked in, get as much worked into the clay as possible. I had just a few grains left when I was done. In the video I show the texture this gives our clay.

Now divide off ⅓ of this ball of clay and set it aside.

Use the larger portion of the clay to make the shape I showed in the video. Work with your clay until you are happy with the shape. Now hollow out the clay shape.

The smaller portion of clay needs to be divided into thirds now. Two of the smaller pieces will each make up a drumstick/thigh portion for our turkey. When forming the drumstick/thigh portions be sure to make them opposites to you that you will have a right and a left to add to the turkey. Add the bones we baked off in the first step to each leg. Add these to the turkey.

The last ⅓ will make the 2 wings. Roll into a thin snake, cut into half and form the two wings. Adding them to the turkey.

Use any leftover clay to make a small flat bottomed snake to use as sliced turkey later.

At this point my clay was very soft and not cooperating so I stuck it in the freezer for about 5 or so minutes, just enough to solidify it a bit.

The texture comes next and for this we are using some crumpled aluminum foil and a dish scrubber. Use a light hand so you don't misshape your turkey.

One last step before baking, we need to add some color with some artist chalk. I used the same colors I use when I am making baked goods: a warm yellow, a reddish brown and a dark brown. 

 

Start with the yellow and cover most of the surfaces of the turkey, follow with a bit less of the reddish brown and lastly just a touch of the dark brown. Be sure to do the top surface of the snake for sliced turkey too.

Slice that snake of turkey into slices that can be used later. If you want to now is also the time to remove a slice or two from the breast area of the turkey too.

Now bake all the pieces at 275°F for 20 minutes.

Allow to cool to room temperature then coat with Satin Mod Podge avoiding the exposed turkey meat where you removed the slices.

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