Mr Tumnus

Merry Christmas!

It was a close call, but I finished this year's ornament just in time.  I went back to a classic:  Mr Tumnus from the Chronicles of Narnia.

Yeah - I reread his description after I had done the legs to discover he's got black fur.  Oh, well.  Brown looks better (especially since his umbrella is black).

Oh, so much new stuff to learn and I really don't do this often enough.  All my clay is drying up, and I'm not motivated to buy more.


This is the first time I've tried fur like this and I'm thrilled with the result.  His legs are really messed up - he's got two sets of knees (and that's how he's drawn in the books).  The bare torso is tricky - I'm glad the scarf covered most of it up.  I've done horns on a Viking helmet before, but not little ones like these.


And that umbrella!  No way I could make it open, but closed wasn't easy.  I worked on the handle and the folds probably as long as it took me to do his face.  He needed a lot of propping to bake because there was so many odd angles.  I was afraid things would move once it was in the oven.

Somewhere along the way, I forgot that I usually do clay eyes.  They had to be painted in, afterwards.  I haven't done painted eyes in over a decade!  (I was going to do brown or green... but only my blue paint wasn't dried solid.)  Looks good, but what an unexpected thing to revert back to the old way of doing things. 

Not sure how enthused my nephew was over Mr Tumnus - something Star Wars probably would have caught his attention than Narnia.  Oh, well.  I am pleased with how the faun turned out and I had a lot of fun making him.  There's always next year to do something more modern.