Turn Polymer Clay Into Adorable Fairy Garden Miniatures

Why is polymer clay the ideal substance for fairy garden miniatures? Whatever your theme is, you can craft the cutest objects to compliment it with this versatile substance. Nothing wrong with thinking small when you’ve got bridges, doorways and gnomes out and about…this stuff is the bomb-diggity.

And with the exception of a few helpful tools, you’ll only need some imagination and ideas for little objects (I thought I’d include that as well) This kind of clay, which bakes to a firm finish in your home oven, is hands down the “awesome sauce” for adorable miniature accessories you’ll cherish and love.

And of course you can combine it with other media, like small sticks, artificial moss, beads, glitter, and what have you, including dollhouse furniture to complement it. 

In this post I’ll show you not only some great ideas for sculpting the most adorable polymer clay fairy garden miniatures, but how to preserve them too, season after season.

Why Polymer Clay as a Substrate?

If you’re familiar with different “modeling compounds” you may already be familiar with polymer clay, maybe you’ve tried it a time or two? And If you ever tried no bake clay that sets on its own you may have some results too that were good but they didn’t last as long?

Air dry ( no bake) clay is great and I’ve used plenty of it in the past, but when moisture is involved, it does not bode well. Heck, it’s even water based, what moisture gives it in strength, it can be lost when moisture evaporates just as quickly, making it a poor contender for something in that will be exposed to, well, the elements.

Polymer clay is resilient, made to be baked, can be sanded, drilled, and is resistant to moisture. I could go on and on, bug you get the idea. There’s a reason I call it the “awesome be sauce”!

Sculpting Foundational Objects – Bridges, Doors and More

Let’s start with some foundational objects like doors and bridges. Hey all those lovely fairies have to have a place to traverse…And no mini fairy garden wouldn’t be complete with a cute cobblestone or wooden bridge. You can get some clay that is already in shades of brown or color it yourself ..Think fences, hedge rows, etc.

It would be a good idea if you are putting together an ensemble of a bridge, fence, door, etc. to make them the same color scheme and design so they’ll fit your theme and look cohesive.

Use basic and neutral colors including green, gray, tan, etc.  Below you can see a door design look at the way the ridges are made. With the right tools you can do this too.

Holidays

If you wanted to have a holiday theme going you could always adapt it around that holiday. Think of objects that align with that motif. Christmas, you have lots of options like snowmen, trees, wreaths, etc. Halloween would be cute too, think mini jack o lanterns, ghosts, spooky things like black cats, zombies, etc.

Whatever your taste leans towards. You could always change out your mini garden’s theme for the upcoming holidays and have a set of accessories from clay you use every time the holiday rolls around. That would be a fun activity to do with the kids too.

Sculpting the Characters

As someone who has had their share of fun making people out of clay you’ll love this one though it can be a little challenging. Mythical creatures like gnomes might be easy to do when you think about how much is represented by a tall hat and a cloak. I saw a cute tutorial for clay gnomes the other day. A newbie could do this easily, you’d need flesh tone and whatever color for their hat and cloak.

Check it out…they’re too cute, you’ll almost certainly want to make more than one!

The kinds of people (mostly fantasy and folklore based) that fit a fairy garden include:

• Fairies (of course!)
• Gnomes
• Dwarves
• Wizards
• Elves

Sculpting Animals

I’m sure fairies keep pets too? No reason you couldn’t give them some cute clay animals to keep them company. Magical unicorns would be great, I made one a few years ago and she was quite a beauty.

Some ideas for good animals to include in mini fairy gardens include:

• Cats and dogs
• Birds
• Unicorns
• Dragons (hey, they are magical after all!)
• Woodland animals: squirrels and chipmunks
• Rabbits

Little Houses

No fairy garden could be complete without the little dwelling…after all that is where our mythical friends find shelter. No doubt some of them are elaborate, with chimney pipes, windows, thatched roofs and other elements.  A distinctive fairy house should resemble a storybook picture – a little whimsy (with a little work.) 

I found this one to be a great representation . It was hard to think of the “right” look off the top of my head but a little Pinterest inspiration always helps!  Think of the many times you’ve seen toadstools represented….the roof looks just like that. Add a little foliage trim to the outside with green clay for a charming finishing touch.

Toadstools Don’t forget…toadstools! No quaint fairy garden would be complete without them and they are so easy to make, if you can follow the above for the houses, you can make a batch of these woodland cuties. I’d use white or some light color clay although you could always make the caps some kind of exotic color as I’ve seen that lots of times in fairytale books (where a lot of us got our inspiration.)

Pebbles and Rocks...You can make the fairies’ dream home a real paradise with the addition of pebbles and rocks so the setting looks natural and they look great as edging around the vegetation, bridge, pond, etc. And you’d be a fool not to because if you can roll clay into balls you can make clay pebbles for sure! Try to stick with natural earth colors like tan and gray which are most realistic.

Notice I have combined different elements’ here? I have my clay figurines, and their setting, too. I used rocks with flat, smooth surfaces (hard to come by, but if you do, hang on to it…you’ll be golden for this) Building your objects d’ arte onto a nice flat base will make all the difference, combine details like I have done here. You can use a good solvent glue to secure the small objects.

Should You Paint Your Fairy Garden Miniatures?

You could paint your finished polymer clay miniature fairy garden accessories if you didn’t use colored clay.  pre colored objects would be just as impressive. (Not to mention that painting these little details will be time consuming) Not to discourage you, just something to think about.

Polymer clay comes in a vast array of beautiful colors, and not to mention some of them are different styles like glitter and shimmery, pearlescent and you could always take some loose glitter and work it into the small pieces of clay and it will set up nicely after baking the objects will have a touch of glam and even more magical.

Adding Color to Clay

In addition to using solid colors, I like to create color variations that look unique but natural. Some people like to use alcohol inks, which will produce a solid color. But if you want to get a marbled effect for the purpose of mimicking nature or just pure whimsy, It is best accomplished with pastel chalks.

Start with white or translucent clay only for best results. I normally take about three colors, (in related shades) and just scrape  a little bit of chalk dust off and roll the piece of clay into it. I repeat for the second and third colors.  I roll it slightly, I don’t want the colors to become muddy.

I love the translucent clay best, I find my objects look just like quartz when they are finished! I would experiment with both  and see what you can come up with?

You could also do this with Mica powder, which would be great for objects you might want to be sparkly and magical, like unicorns and fairies, as mica, a popular product used for dying soaps or bath bombs, has a natural sheen to it, making it ideal to use as a color add-in. And of course, a pinch of glitter mixed in for a little wow-za.

Baking Your Clay Miniatures

Now it’s time to cure those lovely polymer clay fairy garden miniatures you’ve worked so hard to create… in your home oven right? Which is great…but for small objects, I like to use my toaster oven! Why? First of all, it uses less energy than my conventional/convection oven. Two- it doesn’t make the house hot, which is nice during the spring and summer months. Third, for tiny things it doesn’t need all that extra space!

Be sure to do a few things first…

• Cover your objects (the heating element has low clearance and you don’t want your objects getting scorched!
• Do a test bake first…with small space the temp could be greater than a conventional oven (you may consider a standalone oven thermometer as well)
• You may want to use a ceramic tile to set the objects on which has a “heat sink” effect them (keeping the temp more even).

In the past you could buy a dedicated clay oven (a company called Amaco used to make them, but now it’s been discontinued.) But a little toaster oven you want to dedicate doesn’t cost a lot…I’ve had this one since 2009 and she still runs like a top!

Last but not least. After the timer dings (I set mine for 15 minutes) resist the temptation to pull all those darling fairy garden objects out. Leave them be…Polymer clay has plasticizers in it that even after baking, could revert quickly to their pre-baked state so it is best to leave them alone and let them cool off before you handle them,

Preserving Your Finished Miniatures

This kind of clay is surprisingly resilient, as a long time aficionado I can assure you. But you still want to protect your objects as they may be entrenched in dirt, or possibly getting wet.

I would also recommend you add a coat of sealant to your finished miniatures, so if they get wet they won’t be damaged, you could also glaze them too. Take the time to let them dry for at least 24 hours so they will be fully cured. And for the love of God don’t use a substance like Mod Podge to do this, it is important that you seal them properly with a product made to fully protect clay figurines.

Mod Podge is a glue based sealant and it will just leave the objects sticky and you definitely don’t want t that!  Now over to you. Have you ever made polymer clay fairy garden miniatures? What did you make that you’re proud of? Go ahead and share in the comments, we’d like to see it!