Polymer clay nose TUTORIAL

This is how I make my bears' noses. I love this way of doing noses as it gives me the chance to make realistic detailing on my animals.
To begin with, you will need:
-Fimo clay (any color will do, I use black for a realistic look)
-A glass eye (you don't need it to be big, in this instance I used a 4mm eye).

Fimo & glass eye

I always work on my needle felted faces using a felt template to give me the idea of the bear nose. The shape is not that important at this stage, it is useful to have an idea of the approximate dimension of the nose I want.

Bear with felt nose template

 Step1
Take a portion of the Fimo clay, and gently roll it into a ball. To guess the correct size of the ball put it beside your nose template. Don't take too much!

In this instance it was a bit too big, and I had to make a second one smaller...I ended up with two noses! :-)
You can reduce the quantity while working on the nose shape of course...but at the stage when the shape is almost done I prefer to make a new one and have two instead of reducing and remolding the first.

Step2
Take your glass eye. If the metal loop is round, flatten it with your pliers. Same as you would do when using it as an eye! Push the glass pupil right in the middle of the Fimo ball.

Step3
With a toothpick gently roll from the outside of the ball perimeter towards the metal loop. The clay should seal the glass pupil inside the ball. The surface around should be flat and even.

Step 4
Remove the felt nose template.Trim the loose strands of wool in the nose area.With your awl poke a hole where the nose should be attached.

Step 5
Put your Fimo ball on the bear face, inserting the metal loop in the hole. 

Step 6
Now...have fun hand sculpting the shape you like best for your bear. What I like most doing it this way is that you model the nose right on the bear face, so you have a very precise idea of the look you are aiming at. Also, the nose fits perfectly the muzzle area. It will stick a little to the needl felting underneath, but it is not a problem to remove it later.

Step 7
Here are some pictures of the 'nose in progress'. I use tooth picks and grill picks to do my sculpting, and go very gently with my fingers.

Making nostrils with a grill pick

Extra detailing with a toothpick

After some toothpick rolling to even out

 Below a couple of pictures of detailing on 'nose number 2'

Step 8
When you think your nose is ready to be baked, remove it very gently from the muzzle. If you are afraid to ruin it, harden it up a little bit putting the head in the freezer! ;-)

You can remove some of the longer wool threads that stick from the back of the nose, but don't worry, they don't burn in the oven.
I hold the nose with a clip. The clip holds it from the metal wire. This way the nose touches no surface while baking and bakes better.

Ready for baking!

 Trim the nose area after removing the nose!

This is the muzzle after the nose is gone

 Step 9
Bake following your clay instructions. When the baking is done, you can let your nose cool slowly....or put it into cold water if you are in a hurry! ;-)

Both noses after baking- front

back

Step 10
You can attach your noses right away, or you can give them a little finishing touch. I sand my noses a little bit.
This nose was sanded using number 400 sandpaper, which is very fine. You could also give your nose a rougher look using a coarse sandpaper. Sanding is useful also because it takes away your fingerprints from the noses...;-)

Wash them, dry them, paint them with acrylic paint.

Here they are now, ready to be used! ....I will be using the small one! The big one I will keep for a rainy day! ;-)

I hope it was helpful...or interesting at least! Next time I will explain how I attach my noses to the muzzle!