Whimsical Clay Narwhal

This is not a narwhal. I'm calling it a narwhal, but it's a narwhal in the same sense that Mickey is a mouse and Bugs is a bunny. I've taken some anatomical liberties, to say the least.

A narwhal is an Arctic whale related to the beluga. The body is torpedo-shaped, not round like a ball. A narwhal is not blue; it is white, mottled with brownish-black markings on the dorsal side. Like other whales, its eyes are on the sides of its head, not toward the front. Its most distinguishing characteristic (usually only present in males) is its long, spiral left canine tooth that can grow to be 10 feet long. Since it is a tooth, it protrudes from the mouth, not from the top of the head.
 
If you are looking for a realistic craft about narwhals, this is not the tutorial for you. This whimiscal version plays on the narwhal's nickname, "the unicorn of the sea." Affiliate links below. 

 

Whimsical Clay Narwhal

Materials:

• Model Magic 
• toothpick
• embroidery floss
• craft glue
• black Sharpie
• googly eyes

Steps:

Use the Model Magic to shape the rounded body of the narwhal. Its tail fin should be gently forked. Form two small triangular pectoral fins. Set all three pieces aside to air dry.  

Coat a toothpick with craft glue and twist a piece of embroidery floss around it to form the narwhal's tooth. Set it aside to dry completely. 

Paint the narwhal's tooth an off-white so that the toothpick and the embroidery floss are the same color. Let the paint dry. As you can see, I didn't paint the one end - that's the end I was holding and that would be hidden once I inserted the tooth. 

When everything is dry, assemble the narwhal by gently pushing the toothpick into the narwhal's forehead (again, we're going to "unicorn of the sea," not realism). Glue the eyes in place and give the narwhal a Sharpie smile. Glue the fins to the body. 

If you're looking for other narwhal ideas, check out my ideas for a narwhal-themed party and a Twinkie narwhal. And then look at this fabulous tea infuser - so much fun! 

The Narwhal Party

This post contains affiliate links. 

Time to share all the fun details from Trevor's narwhal-themed birthday party! 

For the fourth year in a row, Trevor opted to have his party at the ice rink. It makes everything so easy for me, because all I have to do is bring the cake/cupcakes. They provide everything else. The kids skate, eat lunch, skate some more, eat cake, and skate some more. As long as they'd like, actually. Though after 3+ hours, they were exhausted!

Trevor worked with me to design the cupcakes. Through trial and error, we worked out a way to make cute and easy narwhals. We started by putting toothpicks into Zachary Fruit Slices. Then we dipped each Fruit Slice into a bowl of Candy Melts (10 black discs and 30 white discs mixed to make the perfect gray and enough for 18 narwhals). The toothpick made a very convenient handle that allowed for full narwhal coverage. After dipping each narwhal, we set them on waxed paper to dry, then added tiny black sprinkles for eyes.   

We frosted each cupcake with blue frosting, then nestled in a narwhal. We put our cupcakes directly into our 3-in-1 cupcake caddy (LOVE that thing). Here they are on the dessert table at the party, with Trevor's stuffed narwhal. It was a souvenir from when his Cub Scout pack spent the night 'sleeping with the sharks' at the Monterey Bay Aquarium a few years ago.

Rather than use a boring candle for Trevor's cupcake, I made a few changes to a store-bought whale candle pick and ended up with a narwhal. Here's the before and after:

   

Just use a fingernail to gently scrape the yellow star and the mouth off the candle. It flakes off easily. Glue a googly eye over the black eye, use a Sharpie to add a smile, and then gently twist a toothpick into the forehead. Remove the toothpick and break it in half. Put a drop of glue in the hole, then put the toothpick back in the hole, broken end first. 

Here's the birthday boy with the narwhal candle lit.

We added one other fun narwhal touch to the party. We started with a wooden dolphin shape and some wood dowels. We broke off the dorsal fin, then used sandpaper to smooth off the narwhal's back. We sanded off the bottlenose to make the rounded snout of the narwhal. Then, we painted it gray. When it was dry, we glued on a toothpick tusk, a googly eye, and a dowel.

  

The party guests could use the narwhal-topped dowels to create skewers of candy. 

We made one final narwhal item, but did not end up using it at the party. We slit an empty wrapping paper tube vertically, formed it into a tusk shape, then wrapped it with masking tape. It's now a cool ring toss game! 

As always, I loved working with Trevor to plan a fun party to match his theme idea. It turns out that narwhals make a pretty good party theme!

It's Almost Time for the Narwhal Party!

Today is Trevor's 12th birthday! As you might have noticed in the title of the post, we will be celebrating with a narwhal-themed party. Trevor has chosen some really fun party themes over the years and once again, he did not disappoint!

I made the invitation by editing one of the ready-made templates on PicMonkey. It took less than 10 minutes, at least half of which was choosing the perfect colors of blue. Here it is, with the personal information removed:

The template I started with is called "Hanukkah Partaaay." It's 6" x 4", which makes it so easy to print invitations inexpenisely. As you can see, I lightened the blue, moved the text, switched out the larger of the two fonts, added a rectangular overlay, added a narwhal, and topped him with a party hat. Quick and easy! 

Next week I'll share the decorations, cupcakes, and other narwhal-themed touches from the party. Happy birthday, Trevor!