DIY Zombie Gnome for Halloween

Instructions

1. Make your gnome eye, nose, hands and feet by combining a portion of bright green and dark green polymer clay until you have the color you want. I used an entire 2oz brick of bright green clay and a bit of the dark green.
2. Pinch off a tiny bit (just a pinch) of this green clay and set aside for making an eye in a moment.
3. Roll a quarter-sized portion of this clay into a neat ball. This is the nose. Set aside.
4. Make the feet by breaking off about 2/3 of the clay, then breaking that in half. Form each into similarly sized rectangles about 3-inches long and an inch wide. Widen the toe end (which ever end you decide is the toe) and, with your exacto knife, cut 5 slots into that end about 1/8 of the way through the rectangle. These form the toes. Using your finger or a flat-sided tool, round over the edges of each toe. With the exacto knife, flatten and scrape a little bit on the top of each toe to form a toenail. Ensure you like the size of your gnome feet. Set aside.
5. Roll out the remaining lump of clay, split it in half and repeat making the feet shapes, but make the cuts deeper and slimmer to form the fingers. Set aside.
6. Make the eye by rolling a quarter sized portion of white clay into a neat ball. Roll the remainder green clay into a ball, then flatten it into a disk. Place this green disc onto the white ball and press it down firmly. Repeat with a smaller disk of black clay and place it in the center of the green disk. Roll a dozen red, very thin snakes about 1 inch long, then press them into the white part of the eyeball in random patterns, creating veins. Press the end of your raffia-wrapped floral wire into the back of the eye, creating a hole perfectly sized for the wire. Remove the wire and set aside.
7. Bake the eye, nose, hands and feet per the clay package's directions. Allow them to cool fully.
8. Trace and cut out the gnome body shape and bottom circle shape from the green craft felt and the hat shape out of the black craft felt, per the Cozy Gnome pattern.
9. Fold the gnome body shape in half and run a hot glue hem along the open side, being sure to leave the last 2 inches of seam un-glued for use in turning the gnome body in a moment. Attach the bottom circle shape by gluing it in place, leaving the last 4-5 inches open. Allow the glue to cool completely, then turn the body of the gnome right side out.
10. Fill the gnome body with the polyfill. Tuck a small portion of polyfill into the top of the gnome body to fill out the cone shape of the head, tuck the floral wire inside and glue-hem the body closed.
11. Roll the hat into a cone and glue it in place. Using the scissors, shred the bottom 1/2 inch of the open cone, pulling on the felt to make it look torn and raggedy.
12. Paint the nails on the toes and fingers black and allow that to dry.
13. Cut out the beard shape from the faux fur by turning the fur over and cutting only the fabric with the exacto knife. Hot glue the beard to the body.
14. Hot glue the nose in place about 1-inch below the top of the beard. Place the hat on top of the gnome's head, tucking it down over the top of the nose. Cut a jagged rip into one side of the hat, reaching just above the beard. Make the edge raggedy.
15. Using your wire cutters, curl the raffia-wrapped floral wire into a spiral, then hot glue the eyeball to the end. If desired, paint the raffia-wrapped floral wire red and allow that paint to dry. Hot glue the loose end of the spiral just under the edge of the hat at the ragged hole above the nose.
16. Make the legs by gluing two of the hair rollers to the bottom side of the gnome, in position where you'd like the feet to be.
17. Cut the pant leg shape from the pattern and make the pants per the pattern directions. Hot glue the pants in place on the bottom of the gnome and shred the bottom edge of the pants to make them look torn.
18. Hot glue the bottom of the hair curler legs to the top of the feet toward the back. Wrinkle the pant legs over the top of the feet.
19. Cut the jacket shape from the pattern and make the jacket per the pattern directions, wrapping it around the gnome and hot gluing the jacket body and collar in place.
20. Cut the remaining hair curler in half, roll each half in the black felt. Be sure to leave it about 1/4 inch longer than the hair curler, then shred the loose end. Hot glue the felt in place around the hair curler creating arms, then hot glue each arm under the edge collar of the jacket, creating arms.
21. Hot glue the hands to the end of the arms inside the raggedy edge of the sleeve.
22. Cut a raggedy hole in the top of the hat, then add random bits of scrap red felt into the hole created to look like a wound.