This neon yellow cat sits on two rows of pink, with stepped pink ears, big blue-rimmed pixel eyes, a pink T-shaped nose and a wide pink mouth, and every curve of its body is stepped into tiny square terraces. The steps build it the way a 3D printer does, in thin clay layers each cut to a stepped outline and stacked round a foil core, then add the ears, tail and pixel face and bake it seated on its tile. The picture is here for inspiration: follow the steps as a guide, then change the colours, the animal, the pose or the layer size 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 a stack of layers about 2 mm thick, each a little wider or narrower than the one below, so the sides climb in square steps like the contour lines on a map. On a cat about 10 cm tall that is about fifty layers, and the widest, across the haunches, is about 7 cm. The face is the one flat front on the cat: every head layer ends on the same line, so the eyes and mouth have a level place to sit. Each eye is about 1.5 cm wide, a white stepped oval inside a dark blue rim that is two squares deep along the top and bottom and one square at the sides. Fine pale dots run in rows over the whole surface; they are a finishing touch you can add or leave off.
Lookbook view
Before step 1, get 2 mm graph paper, a pencil and small scissors for the layer templates, and an envelope to keep them in order, since many layers share one template. Clear a glossy tile to build the whole cat on, so it is never lifted. Use Sculpey Premo in every colour, so one packet's bake instructions cover the whole cat. Cool clay keeps square steps: if a slab feels soft or warm, rest it on a cool tile or briefly in the fridge before you cut.
On 2 mm graph paper, one square for each 2 mm layer, draw the cat at full size from the front and from the side, about fifty squares tall: sitting haunches, front legs, head, and two ears at the top. Draw the face on the side view as one straight upright line from the chin to the brow, so every head layer ends in the same place and the face comes out level. Number the rows from the bottom. For each row, draw a stepped oval made of whole squares, as wide as the front view and as deep as the side view at that row, and cut it out as that layer's template, with a small notch at the front. Where the front legs stand apart in the lower rows, draw them as separate pieces. Layers of the same size share one template. Every step then comes from the grid instead of by eye, and the notches line every layer up to the front so the cat does not twist.
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Condition all the Sculpey Premo. Roll the Fluorescent Yellow and some of the Fluorescent Pink 2 mm thick, with a 2 mm guide strip or an equal stack of playing cards under each end of the roller, so every layer is the same height and the terraces come out even. Roll a few slabs at a time rather than all the yellow at once, and rest them on a cool tile. Roll small pieces of pink, white, cobalt blue and black 1 mm thick for the face, and work a speck of black into the cobalt until it matches the dark blue of the eye rims.
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Lay each template on a slab, trace round it with the needle tool and cut each straight step with the tissue blade held upright, lifting the blade at every corner and starting the next edge fresh, because dragging it through a corner rounds the step. Cut the bottom two layers from pink and the rest from yellow. For every layer that will hold the core, all but the bottom few, the top few, the legs and the ears, cut the middle out and leave a wall about 6 mm wide all round, so the clay stays one even thickness to bake through. Nick the front notch into each layer and keep them in order on parchment.
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Build on the tile. Lay the two pink layers, then the yellow layers in order, each notch to the front and each outline centred on the one below. Dab a few traces of Bake & Bond round each layer, well back from the outer edge, and press it down lightly through parchment with the acrylic block, so it bonds in the oven without sliding. Every few layers, crush heavyweight aluminum foil hard into the hollow until it fills it level with the top layer: loose foil leaves air pockets that can bulge or crack the clay in the oven. Pack the foil right out under the chin, because the head layers jut out over the chest and rest on it. Close the body and the head with solid layers. Every five layers, look from the front and the side: the steps should climb evenly and the cat should sit straight.
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Cut each ear as a stepped triangle from two 2 mm yellow layers pressed together, and cut a smaller stepped pink triangle from 1 mm pink for its front. Tap the pink on through parchment, dab Bake & Bond on the top of the head, and stand the ears there, one at each side, a square in from the back. For the tail, press three yellow 2 mm layers together, cut a stepped curl that rises from the base, and stand it against the back of one haunch on a trace of Bake & Bond. Each ear and the tail should stand upright without leaning.
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Build each eye on a scrap of parchment. Cut a stepped oval from the 1 mm dark blue, then a smaller stepped white oval that leaves the blue showing two squares deep along the top and bottom and one square at the sides, and a black square two squares across for the pupil. Slide the blade under each piece, carry it flat, and lower it one edge first onto the piece below, so no air is trapped and the thin clay does not stretch. Press the eye once through parchment, then dab Bake & Bond on the face and press the eye on, with the tops of the two eyes level.
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Cut the nose from the 2 mm pink as a T: a bar three squares wide and one tall on a stem one square wide and two tall. Cut the mouth as a bar about seven squares wide and two tall. Set each on a trace of Bake & Bond, the nose centred between the eyes and the mouth just below it, and tap them down through parchment until their edges sit down. Both should stand proud of the face, as in the picture.
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Stand an oven thermometer beside the tile. Tuck a little polyester fiberfill behind the tail, and against the back if the cat leans at all from the side, because clay softens a little in the oven before it hardens. Fold a sheet of foil into a tent over the cat with a clear gap above the ears: foil that touches the clay can leave a mark. Bake by the instructions on your Sculpey Premo packet, going by the thickest solid clay, the front legs, since the foil core is not clay. Let it cool fully on the tile, then press each ear, the tail and each face piece gently: nothing should move.
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The picture has a soft satin glow. You can leave the cat as it comes out of the oven, or brush on two or three thin coats of Sculpey Satin Glaze with a soft brush, letting each coat dry as the label says. Brush along the flat faces and away from the stepped corners, so the glaze does not collect in them and soften the steps.
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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 cat around 10 cm tall with a foil core; one block each of pink, white, cobalt blue and black covers the base, ears and face with plenty to spare.
Crushed hard into the hollow middle of the layers as the stack rises, it fills the body and head so the clay wall stays one even thickness to bake through. A folded sheet from the same roll makes the oven tent.
The neon yellow of every body layer, the ears and the tail. Buy all three blocks at once so every layer matches.
For the two pink layers at the base, the inner ears, the T-shaped nose and the mouth bar.
A few traces between the layers, under the ears and tail and under every face piece bond them in the oven, so nothing lets go after baking.
For the white stepped ovals of the eyes.
With a speck of black worked in, it makes the dark blue rims round the eyes.
For the square pupils, and a speck to darken the blue rims. A tiny corner of the block is enough.
Tick what you already have, then get only what is missing.
Rolls every layer 2 mm thick between guide strips, so the terraces climb in even steps.
Held upright, the tissue blade cuts each straight step of every layer, and slid flat underneath it carries the thin eye pieces without stretching them.
Traces round each paper template on the raw clay, so every step is cut on the drawn line.
Presses each layer down through parchment with light, even pressure, so it bonds without the steps spreading.
Keeps the cut layers in order, and lets you press layers and face pieces without fingerprints on the neon yellow.
Build and bake the cat on the tile, so the soft stack is never lifted and the base stays level.
Sits beside the tile so you bake at the temperature on the Premo packet, whatever the oven dial says.
For the satin glow and the fine white dots in the picture, a cat that leans before baking, or a part that comes loose or a base that rocks after.
Two or three thin coats give the soft satin glow in the picture. It is water-based and made by Sculpey for baked clay.
A soft brush lays the glaze on thin along the flat faces, so it does not collect in the stepped corners.
For the fine white dots in the main picture, the dotted-surface variation. The 0.7 mm extra-fine tip puts down a small, even dot of white acrylic on the baked yellow, so the rows stay neat; try a row on paper first to judge the spacing.
A little tucked behind the tail, or against the back of a cat that leans, holds it upright while the clay softens in the oven.
Only if an ear, the tail or a face 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 base.
Wear it while you sand the base level or a crack repair, to keep baked clay dust out of your lungs.
Each one walks through a technique used in this piece, in full detail.
Five ways to build polymer clay pixel art, compared on one 12 x 12 design: stacked cutter layers, one stepped silhouette, square tiles, a pixel cane or clay beads, plus the sum that sets each pixel's size.
Your cutters shape each piece, but you place every colour layer by hand. Lift thin layers on a flat blade, line each one up before any pressure, then press the stack lightly through parchment.
Small figurines look simple until the base wobbles, the cap droops, or the face gets smudged while you are still shaping the body. This guide covers the order of operations that keeps polymer clay characters stable with cleaner features.
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.
