Luck of the Irish: A Leprechaun

I did a swap with a friend on Craftster, and one thing she said she'd really like is something Irish.  I saw she had some cute leprechauns posted on Pinterest, and thought it would be fun to try and make her one. I am not a clay person, but I had some paper clay and really wanted to give it a shot. I know a lot of people use foil as the bases for clay things, but for the shape of this guy, I used a plastic Easter egg. The egg was a nice smooth surface to work on. If I were to do it again, I'd glue it shut before working with it, because for a while there, it was popping open and that was a bit frustrating, to say the least.

So here he is, with his lovely egg-shaped figure. I used inks to age him and glaze to make him shiny.

 

My daughter found the rusty shamrock years ago. It's the perfect thing for him to hold, and really helped me deal with the question of what to do with his arms.

Because he was formed over an egg, he didn't sit well at all, until I gave him a bit of a bum.

Here's a closeup of his freckly face.