A Kobold Thief

My Christmas ornaments have varied a lot over the years.  This guy may not be in the holiday spirit, but he's a handsome devil.

I recently found out my nephew plays D&D.  Cool!  I asked him about his character:  a kobold thief.  Kobolds are small reptilian humanoids.  I decided his character would be a fun ornament to make.  It was!

I had ideas for weeks before I started.  It took me a few false starts to get the right colors and re-hydrate my old clay.  (Every year I wonder if I'm going to have to get a whole new set of Sculpey.)  He was simply legs and body for a while, until I figured out what his proportions should be.

I assembled the body and a head full of teeth.  At this point he looked an awful lot like Barney... which was not the look I was going for.  I wanted to make his snout thinner and more fox-like, but the clay fought me.  So I focused on the eyes and horns and scales. 

He was a challenge.  I created him upright and in 3D.  Since all sides are visible, I had to be careful handling him - it was easy to smash his clothing flat.  Once he was complete I had to figure out how to bake him.  The kobold stood mostly on his own, but I was afraid he might soften as he baked.  I propped him up to make sure he wouldn't collapse or fall over.

I was so nervous I checked on him several times while he baked.  I'm thrilled with the final result. I painted the knife blade and added black in the eyes and some gold buckles. 

His face was fun to work on and shaped up nicely after the Barney look-alike.  I've never done eyes quite like this before.  The scales down the back of his head were cool, too.  I enjoy adding in all the details: the cloak and its buckles, scales on his noes, the pouches, the rope belt, the little knife.  I managed to get claws on his toes, but stuck to my usual mitten-hands - I was afraid I'd destroy them if I tried to make clawed fingers.  One of these years I'll take the plunge and attempt fingers.  He's a bit knocked-kneed that I couldn't quite straighten but I'm sure no one will notice with all the other details to look at.

I'm pretty sure my nephew will like it.  He'll get it about the time this post is published.  Merry Christmas!