Making Faux Fossils

     My eight year old nephew has a upcoming Boy Scout event and they are learning about fossils.  My sister who helps with the Boy Scout activities was visiting with me about the upcoming event.  They want the boys to be able to dig for fossils. So I decided to help by making faux fossils.
     First I went out in our yard looking for bits of nature and found plants, and sticks.  I also raided a box of sea shells.  I took earthenware mud and made a flattened ball and pressed the objects into it to make an impression.  I wanted to have lots of variety for the new fossils.  I loved the plants but I wanted a creature hummm... after some thought and searching I found a old plastic bug in a board game and I pressed it into the clay, the bugs are my favorite but I only made a few as I was almost done when the thought hit me.
     I fired the pieces after they dried, and then took coffee grinds from the coffee pot and put the grinds in a bowl with some hot water and submerged the now bisque pieces into the mix.  I let them soak all day as bisque is very porous.  I let them dry overnight and then I hit them with some brown shoe polish for a little depth.  I think they turned out really cute, and they did not take that long to make.  I used pottery mud but these could be easily made with polymer clay, just bake the clay as directed and touch up the details with some paints or inks suitable for polymer clay.  This might be fun for a birthday party or even as a treasure for geocaching. 

This one was made with a plastic bug

I like that plant and shell designs.

Acorns and sticks worked well for impressions.