This neon yellow cat is two thick slabs of clay: a body cut in profile with a hooked tail, and a head standing across its front with a wide pink grin, two tiny fangs and big white-ringed eyes. White pixel ribs and bones on its sides make it a cheerful little skeleton cat. The steps stack a 15 mm slab, roll the pixel pieces in level, cut the outlines, pin the head on and drag in a fine streaked grain. The picture is here for inspiration: follow the steps as a guide, then change the colours, the bones, the face or the animal to make your own version.
The pictures began as AI-assisted concept images and are here for inspiration. The steps are a guide to making your own version, so change the colours, size or details as you like. Clay brands, ovens, glues, finishes and hardware behave differently, so follow their product instructions and bake a scrap before a batch. Some product links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Check listing details, dimensions, materials, and fit before you buy. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Full disclosures
What gives it this look: the body is one flat-sided piece about 15 mm thick, so from the side it reads as a silhouette and from the front as a block. On a cat about 7 cm tall and 8 cm long the head is about 5 cm wide, wider than the body is thick, so it hides the body from the front. The legs are about 2 cm wide and 1.8 cm tall with a gap of about 2.5 cm between them. The ribs run along the upper flank as a stepped fishbone about 4 cm long, and the bones follow each leg. The mouth is the biggest part of the face, about 2.5 cm wide.
Lookbook view
Before step 1, get 2 mm graph paper, a pencil and small scissors for the templates, two glossy tiles and parchment. Use Sculpey Premo in every colour, so one packet's bake instructions cover the cat. Cut every pixel piece before you stack the slab, so you can lay them on while the yellow is still soft enough to take them level.
On 2 mm graph paper, one square per pixel, draw the body in profile about 40 squares long: a straight back about 22 squares above the ground, a front leg and a back leg about 10 squares wide with a gap of about 12 squares between them, and at the back a tail post that rises about 10 squares and curls forward into a rounded hook. Draw the head as seen from the front, about 25 squares wide and 25 tall with two ears stepped in three squares each. On the same paper draw the white pieces: a fishbone of ribs for each flank, a stepped bone for the outside of each leg, a mark on the tail, and two pairs of bones for the front of the front leg; and the face: two stepped white eye rings, tall blue pupils, a small pink T nose and a wide stepped pink mouth with two white fangs. Cut each one out as a template.
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Condition all the Sculpey Premo Fluorescent Yellow and roll three sheets 5 mm thick, with a 5 mm slab height guide or an equal stack of playing cards under each end of the roller. Stack them on the tile, pressing each one down with the acrylic block from the middle outwards so no air is trapped between them, for a slab 15 mm thick. Do this twice, once for the body and once for the head. If you see a bubble, prick it with the needle tool and press the air out.
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Roll white, pink and blue about 1 mm thick (between two stacks of three playing cards) and cut the pixel pieces from their templates with the tissue blade held upright, lifting it at every corner so the steps stay square. Lay the body template on one slab and set the ribs and leg bones for one side in place by eye, then the face pieces on the head slab. Cover with parchment and roll once, lightly, so the pieces sink level into the yellow.
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Chill the slabs briefly so they cut cleanly. Lay the body template on its slab, trace round it with the needle tool, and cut straight down with the tissue blade in one press for each edge, rather than sawing, so the sides stay square and do not drag. Cut the head the same way. Lift the waste away and soften the outer corners with a fingertip. To decorate the other side of the body, lay parchment over it, slide a second tile on top, turn the sandwich over and lift off the top tile. Set the second set of ribs and bones in place and tap them down through parchment with the acrylic block.
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Stand the body on the tile. Push a piece of armature wire about 3 cm long halfway into the middle of its front end. Film the front end and the back of the head with Bake & Bond, then press the head onto the wire, standing across the front of the body with its bottom edge resting on top of the front leg. Tap the two front-leg bone pairs onto the front face of the front leg. Look from the front and the side: the head should stand upright and the cat level on its feet.
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Chill the cat briefly so the pieces do not smear. Drag the stipple tool lightly in straight lines, along the length of the body and across the head and legs, so fine streaks run over the yellow and the white alike, as in the picture. Keep the strokes going the same way on each face.
Stand an oven thermometer beside the tile. Fold a sheet of foil into a tent over the cat with a clear gap above the ears and tail: the white shows browning first, and foil that touches the clay can leave a mark. Bake by the instructions on your Sculpey Premo packet, going by the full 15 mm thickness of the slab, since this cat is solid. Let it cool fully on the tile, then press the head and each piece gently: nothing should move.
Help with this step
Leave the cat as it comes out of the oven. The picture is matte, and the streaked grain shows best with no coat on top.
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What you will need
Everything here is used in the steps above. The clay is for this cat; most makers already own the tools, so tick those off first.
About three 2 oz (57 g) blocks of fluorescent yellow make a solid cat about 7 cm tall and 8 cm long from a 15 mm slab; small pieces of white, pink and cobalt blue cover the bones and face.
The bright yellow of the whole cat. Condition all three blocks together so the body and head match.
The pixel ribs, leg bones, tail mark, eye rings and the two little fangs.
The big stepped mouth and the small T-shaped nose.
The tall blue pupils; lighten a pea of it with a crumb of white for the softer blue-violet in the picture.
A film where the head meets the body and a trace under each pixel piece bonds them in the oven, so the head holds and nothing peels off after baking.
A short piece pushed half into the body and half into the head pins the butt joint, so the head cannot twist or knock off.
Dragged lightly in straight lines, its bristles leave the fine streaked grain in the picture, over the yellow and the white pieces alike.
Tick what you already have, then get only what is missing.
Rolls the three 5 mm yellow sheets and the thin white, pink and blue, and rolls the pieces level into the slab before you cut it.
Set a 5 mm guide under each end of the roller so all three yellow sheets come out the same thickness; stacked, they make a slab an even 15 mm all over, so the cat stands straight and every edge is the same height.
Presses the stacked sheets together without trapping air, and taps pieces down on the second side and on the legs.
Cuts the 15 mm slab straight down in one press, so the sides of the cat stay square, and cuts every stepped edge of the pixel pieces.
Traces round the paper templates on the thick slab, pricks any air bubble between the sheets, and dabs the adhesive.
Laid over the slab when you roll the pieces level, and used in the tile sandwich to turn the body over without marking it.
Two tiles: build on one, and use the second to sandwich the decorated body so you can turn it over; bake the finished cat standing on a tile.
Sits beside the tile so you bake at the temperature on the Premo packet; white shows browning first if the oven runs hot.
There is no core in this solid cat; a sheet from the roll folds into the oven tent that keeps the white from browning.
For a head or piece that comes loose after baking, a cat that rocks, or a crack.
Only if the head or a pixel piece comes loose after baking, or for Sculpey's crack repair mixed with dust from a baked offcut.
Only if the baked cat rocks: laid flat on the tile with water, it levels the feet.
Wear it while you sand the feet level or a crack repair.
Each one walks through a technique used in this piece, in full detail.
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Custom range
Ask for a build pack to make it yourself (a supply list and a making plan for your version), or ask the studio to make the finished pieces for you.
More small desk figures to make next, with different shapes, textures and faces.
Pin it to a board, copy the link, or keep it saved here while you make your own version.
Tag Clay Bake Studio on Instagram or TikTok so we can see how you adapted it.
