Creating the Shaman is easy and quick, but involves many steps. To make the whole procedure simple to understand, we have divided the project into three sections: the head, the body, and the jewelry.
If you are making several dolls at once for gifts, you may want to make all the heads and bake them together.
At this stage, you need:
Copper Sculpey III
Feathers
Craft Stick(s)
Exacto Knife
Star Stamp (ours by Hero Arts)
Ceramic tool shaped as shown
Duco Cement (or similar)
Step 1: Each Shaman’s head takes 1/2 of one of the predivided bars in a 2oz package of Sculpey. If you are using another brand of clay, that equates to 1/4oz of clay, or a ball approx. 5/8" diameter. Roll the clay into a perfectly round ball in the palms of your hands. Step 2: Flatten the ball on a smooth surface - pushing down with the palm of your hand. It should still have a nice rounded “face” and measure 3/4" in diameter. Reshape with your fingers if necessary to get a nicely shaped face. Step 3:Pick up the head gently and, using the Exacto, cut a slice in one edge for the craft stick “neck”. If you inserted the craft stick (Step 4) without making this cut, the head would get pushed out of shape.
Step 4: Insert the craft stick into the slit you have cut, and reform the head to the stick. Use your fingers to round it back into shape if it is at all distorted. Step 5: Using the wedge shaped ceramic tool or something similarly shaped, make an indentation for the Shaman’s left eye. Step 6: Place the edge of the tool at a 45º angle to the eye and make another indentation. This will look like a backwards “7” and will represent the Shaman’s nose and left eye.
Step 7:Turn the head and make another indentation for the Shaman’s right eye. If making the indents has distorted the shape of the Shaman’s face, use your fingers to return it to its nice rounded shape. Step 8:We found that using a stamp to put a symbol on the right cheek (in this case a star) gave a bit of mystery to the face and took care of the need for a mouth. The face looks complete and rather interesting. Step 9: The Shaman’s “hair” is made of feathers which you just stick into the top of his head. Make sure you use purchased feathers and not those of wild birds that you have found or been given (it’s illegal to do so).
Step 10:
Place your Shaman head (or heads if you are making several) flat on their backs on a piece of corrugated cardboard and bake in a 265º oven for 20 minutes. See the Polymer clay instructions in Now What? Volume 1 (bottom of the page) for additional information on the baking of polymer clay. Just close that window to return here.

There is no problem with baking the feathers at this low temperature.

When the heads are baked and cooled, check to see if the head is firmly stuck to the craft stick. It usually isn’t. Pull the head off, put a little dab of Duco Cement (or other jewelry or model cement) on the end of the craft stick and reinsert it. Then, you can be sure that your Shaman will never lose his head - even when those about him might be losing theirs!
Now, let’s get this guy a body. . .
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