Whenever I work with clay, I always wonder what animal I should make. After thinking about random animals, I decided to make a DIY cat with air-dry clay. The brand of clay I used is La Doll Premier air dry clay. It’s one of the best brand of clay I’ve ever used.

This DIY project is suitable for you who is interested at sculpting. It doesn’t need special skill to make it. Even a beginner could make this cat. You can also turn it into another animal with the basic thing you’ll learn in this tutorial.

It’s the handmade item you can give to a cat lover. I am sure they will love it. You can also use it as a charm for keychain and other accessories. Without further do, let’s dive in to see the materials needed to make this project.

Tools and materials

o   Air-dry clay (La doll or Premier)

o   Aluminum foil

o   Silicone tool

o   Sanding paper

o   Water

o   Acrylic paints

o   Brushes

o   Sanding paper

o   Varnish

o   Pink blush or soft pastel

Instructions 

Firstly, let’s make the base using aluminum foil. This is great for saving your precious clay. Shape the aluminum foil as shown.

Roll the clay thinly and evenly and cover the aluminum foil with it. Using silicone tool, blend everything to achieve a smooth surface.

Attach some clay on the face to make cheeks. Blend it with the silicone tool.

After you’re done, attach little triangles on the head as the ears and blend the edge using a silicone tool.

 Note: use a bit of water if needed to help the blending easier but don’t overuse it.

Attach some clay on the lower body creating a base for placing the legs. After it’s done, attach the little legs on the base.

Let’s move on to the arms and the tail.

Let the clay dry for a day and sand the surface with fine sanding paper to fix some bumps, uneven surface and so on. Then, paint the entire cat with white acrylic paint.

You can coat or spray with varnish after painting it with white acrylic to preserve the color. Then, you can paint another color on some parts as shown below. I used orange acrylic paint to color it.

Make the eyes, nose and mouth with black acrylic paint. Let’s apply some pink blush on the cheek to make it more adorable. Lastly, you can spray the entire sculpture with varnish to avoid dust, discoloration, and so on.

And… your cat is done!