Temple Owls Cake Toppers

My daughter and son-in-law, who met while attending Temple University in Philadelphia and still enjoy going to Temple Owls football games, thought it would be a fun addition to their wedding celebration to have two little owls atop their wedding cake.

I built these 3″ high owls out of Sculpey clay.  I formed an egg-shaped ball out of tinfoil first for each owl, then laid a layer of terra cotta colored Sculpey on top of that, because if the form is made completely out of solid Sculpey it can take a long time to bake to hardness. I flattened the bottom of each egg so they would stand without rolling over. Once I smoothed out the surface of the terra cotta layer, I added various colors of Sculpey for features, props, and clothing pieces.

I baked the Sculpey as per the directions and the figures hardened perfectly, with no cracks. I added some details – the rhinestones, veil (a snippet from my mother’s wedding veil), dress lace (a snippet from the hem of my gown), and top hat band (ribbon) were glued on afterwards.