Monkeying Around....

Here we go!

First a list of things that you will need.

Granitex clay. It is put out by Fimo, I believe. I don't have a wrapper anymore. As you can see, it looks kind of tweedy like the socks. It comes in various colors. I bought grey long ago and am still using it....It lasts a long time. You also need a bit of white and very little red. You need two #14 seed beads or a tiny, tiny bit of black clay.

For tools, you need a roller to flatten the clay, a blade to cut it and a few toothpicks for shaping. That's about it....Oh! An oven to cook the clay also. Follow manufacturer's directions for baking.


The first thing that I did was make a pear shape from Granitex about 1/2 to 3/4" tall. Then I rolled out snakes of the grey and the white for the legs, arms and tail. They are all the same diameter. I think that they start out about 3/16", but as you manipulate the clay, they will lose some thickness. Do all of the attaching with a light touch. This clay is very soft.

I made a ball for the head that was about a quarter of an inch from the grey clay. I rolled a small ball and cut it in half for ears.

I rolled a smaller white ball and cut it in half, using only one of the halves for his mouth area.

I rolled out some white very thin for his hat. You could use any color for this or not bother with a hat. That part is up to you.

I cut some lengths of the grey snake a little longer than 1/2". Five pieces all about the same. Then I cut five pieces of white about 1/8" long. I married these together by pushing them together and then gently rolling them to make them stick.


First you want to do the head. that is the least fragile to work on.

I stuck a short piece of a toothpick into the body and then put the head down over that.

Next the mouth is smoothed on with a toothpick all around.

Flatten a piece of the red as thin as you can get it and cut an oval with pointy ends from it. Gently place that on the white and shape it further with the blade of an Exacto knife.

The ears are each formed from a half of the small ball of grey and flattened somewhat before sticking them to the head, on either side. Then you poke a depression in the front center of each with a blunted toothpick.

The beads are stuck to the front and pushed into the clay slightly to make sure that they stay in place.

The hat is simply a tiny circle placed on the head and then a thin strip forms the turned up brim. The bow is just two tiny loops stuck to the top. You could just put a ball on top for a pompom.

The last thing that you do is attach the legs to the bottom of the body, the tail to the bottom back and the arms to the shoulder area by flattening the upper ends a bit and smoothing them to the body with a toothpick.

Lastly, you pose the monkey the way you want him to sit, or in the case of this one, the way Tessie wants him to hang over her arm when she carries him around.

Did I mention that the first word out of Tessie's mouth when she saw him was, "MINE!!!".

Well....We know what Tessie is getting for Christmas this year. She made it clear that he should have brothers and sisters...

More fun than a barrel of monkeys...Hey! Who keeps their monkeys in a barrel anyway? That doesn't seem like a very pleasant place to live.

I am off to make brother and sister monkeys.

See you tomorrow.