How to make a Zombie Bee out of Foam Clay

Let’s make some fun Halloween monsters!!! Here you will learn how to make this spooky zombie Bee with basic materials and a lot of foam clay. You will also learn a lot of good tips for things that can go wrong when working with foam clay. After you are done with this tutorial you will have upleveled you sculpting skills and gained some very great techniques to successfully create flawless sculptures.

Why Foam Clay is So AMAZING!

Crafting with foam clay is not just about creating cute figures; it’s like a therapy session that’s all about relaxation and pure enjoyment. Imagine the joy of squishing, molding, and creating without any mess – that’s the beauty of foam clay! It’s not just for the kids; adults can totally get in on the fun too. So, if you’re looking for a creative outlet that’s soothing and brings out your inner artist, foam clay is the way to go!

It’s a fantastic indoor activity for the whole fam! It’s the perfect medium to improve your sculpting skills. If you are looking to quickly learn new skills to master your other mediums such as polymer clay or ceramics you are at the right place! Foam clay is so quick and easy to work with that you can practice many projects in a short amount of time improving your skills along the way. What are you waiting for? let’s get those creative vibes flowing together! 🌈✨

Tips for working with Foam Clay

• If you have a particular soft and sticky clay I suggest to let it dry just a little bit and then mix it well or you can add a different type of clay called SOFT Clay. This will take the tackiness out and give the foam the needed support to hold its shape.
• The Secret to a super smooth and wrinkle-free appearance is your palm and the right pressure. When you roll the clay between your palms don’t be afraid to really squish and roll it around. This will ensure all the wrinkles disappear. Then you lessen the pressure and shape it into its final form.
• if you are trying to save money and color your own clay use Gel Food Colors. I find that acrylic colors will mess with the clay’s consistency and will dry it out which makes it impossible to work with.

If you are brand new to foam clay watch my beginner playlist on youtube that will go more into detail and teach you everything you need to know about foam clay.

Let’s get started

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED:

Foam Clay

5 inch Foam Ball

Toothpicks

Food coloring

Acrylic paint

Mod podge

Posca pen

Scale

Dotting tools

Super glue

soft pastels

Watch the Full Video Tutorial here:

Step 1: Color your Clay

you will need the colors from last week when we prepared the zombie turtle: light green, pink and orange. If you need help prepping those go check out the turtle video here.

For the Zombee you will also need: red, purple, and dark green

Take about 15g of your leftover light green and add a drop more dye to make it a darker. Then take just a small chunk of black – you can find all the measurements in my printable when you sign up – and mix mix mix.

Repeat the same thing for the purple. This will make it look “dirty” as it should for a zombie bee.

You do not need much red and purple but I recommend to mix at least 2-3g or else its just too messy.

Step 2: Cover the Styrofoam ball

First you have to cut out a piece of the ball so you can fit the brain.

Roll out at least 100g of light green clay to cover the styrofoam ball.

covering is still new to me and not easy at all 🙂 you should watch this video.

I left the clay fairly thick, maybe 0.5 inches because am paranoid about the styrofoam showing if the clay rips. I hope this gets easier, haha. Good thing it’s a zombie LOL! No need to be pretty.

To let the trapped air out of the brain dip, poke a hole in it and gently press it out.

I moistened my hands with water in hope of smoothing it out a bit more, without creating stretch marks. All the details we will be adding to it will help cover all the imperfections. And again, its a zombee so don’t worry too much!

Step 3: The Face

For the eyes, I used this new size chart. Use the 33mm mold and prepare two of them.

For the iris use the 9mm mold and prepare two balls, then flatten them and attach them to the eyeballs.

Tip: make it easier on you and shade with shaved soft pastels before you attach the eyes

Shade the body with green soft pastels

For the lips, roll out the red clay to about 7 inch then attach the ends to form a circle. To create the inside of the mouth roll out some black clay.

Add the lips on top of the black and cut off the excess with a knife or scissors.

For the teeth, roll out some white and cut about 0.5 inch of small pieces. You can go crazy and make different sizes or throw in a gold tooth xD

The tongue is about 1.5 inches. Shape a flat oval(ish) and attach it to the mouth then add some texture to it with your pointy tool – read till the end as I have some tips and tricks for this step that will help you when you recreate this design! –

For the brain roll out a sausage and start folding it. Create 2 layers and then give it a slight rounding. Repeat this with each half, then combine them and add them to the bee.

TIP: definitely add lots of pink soft pastels to the brain! Why? stay till the end as this is another tip for you!

Step 4: Make it a Bee

Next roll out dark green clay to about 10 inches and flatten it with the rolling pin. Cut any excess with scissors.

Next shape the wings out of white clay. Use a cookie cutter to cut out a bite off one wing. then attach them with some glue.

I have a good tip on these too before you get started with your own Bee regarding color bleeding. Skip to the end for all the Tips.

The way I attached them worked out but I will recommend something better at the end.

The bone is made of 3 parts. 2 balls for the end and one sausage. If you don’t feel comfortable guessing the amount I have free printable available with measurements when you sign up for my free newsletter.

Take a little red clay and make a ball to create an open flesh wound. There are different ways to attach the bone. What I did in the video was just to plop it on to the face. Dont do that! it drooped down. Read on for what to do instead.

Draw the stitches with a black posca pen.

For the patch, cut out a square of purple clay and roll out black clay into a very thin string. Cut small pieces to create the sutures and attach them all around the purple patch.

Next, we will add some more detail to get that zombie look. Paint clusters of different-sized dots using a green posca pen. You can use the Posca pens or a dotting tool and acrylics.

Add some blood veins to the eyes with a red posca pen. I love those pens because they are so easy to use and you don’t have to squeeze a paint drop onto a random surface that you then forget to clean up and end up having to scratch off the paint. They come in different sized tips this one is: …..

Add the pupils with black. And after the black dried add the white sparks.

I used the same mod podge and red acrylic mix that I used in the turtle tutorial. Get the details here

That’s it! You just finished an amazing ZomBEE!!!!

5 Valuable Tips Before you get Started

Here are some valuable lessons I learned that I want to share with you, so you have the best chances to succed and have a pleasant foam clay craft experience!

Tip 1: Covering the styro foam

Don’t use me to learn how to cover styrofoam. I am new to this as well! Here is a good resource to check out how to cover a ball. She is so much more graceful than me. https://fb.watch/sm_rLzXI-K

Tip 2: Time your shading

Always shade first!!!! It makes it easier to not get the pastels onto parts where it shoudl not go. I get ahead of myself all the time. I do not plan out my designs out. I just turn on the camera (if I don’t forget to hit record) and GO! After an intense Pinterest research of course! If you DO mess up you can clean it with alcohol. I find wipes work best especially if they arent drenged. Too much moister is not foam clays friend.

Tip 3: Beat Gravity and keep your shape

Here is what you can do for the bone to avoid the drooping due to gravity:

option 1: poke the toothpick into the flesh wound (cringing as I write this) and then gently slide the bone on the toothpick

option 2: poke a toothpick in the bone, and let it dry in a floral foam block to avoid a flat back. Then poke it into the wound after it completely dried.

the tongue had also gravity challenges. I think it would help if you let it dry first and then attach it with a toothpick as well.

Tip 4: The mouth

Next time I would cut the black part into the shape of the mouth and attach it to the bee. Then “frame” it with the lips. I don’t like how it’s lifted and shows the black underneath. Or an even better way is in the next tip.

Tip 5: Color bleeding

An issue that I hear again and again is color bleeding. It happens sometimes to me too. Mostly, when white is involved. One thing you can do to avoid this is to let one of the pieces dry before you attach them. They seem to only bleed while they are both wet. For example in this design I would do the black background, attach it to the face, then place the teeth and let them dry. Next day, I would roll out the lips and cover the teeth, lastly add the tongue.

Same exact thing for the wings. Here I would either make the wings let them dry and glue them the next day or take it a step further, and poke toothpicks, let them dry on the sponge just like with the bone and then poke them into place the next day.

I hope this was helpful. If you have any tips on what worked best for you please let me know! I would appreciate if you could share this post on your social media or pin it to your pinterest bord.

Happy Crafting!