Happy Holidays

I hope that whatever you are celebrating this holiday season is a special time for all!

I will be spending time with family and taking a break from posting here for a week or so.... see you next year!  ;-)

Happy Holidays

Mary

Christmas Cat Tutorial

This tutorial from Makin's Clay shows you how to create this cute Christmas kitty. http://www.makinsclay.com/US/eng/project_gallery/seasonal/xmas06.htm

Makin's Clay is one of the air-dry clays that is available in colors. However, if you want to use Creative Paperclay for this project or another brand that is only available in white, you can pre-tint the clay with acrylic paints or a little bit of cake colorant paste, like that made by Wilton.

Art Doll Artists

Art Dolls from some of the best Art Dollmakers on display at the 2007 Annual NIADA Conference.

Beautiful air-dry clay flower arrangement

Have you ever made flowers with clay?   Many brands of air-dry clay can be made into very thin, translucent petals that are also strong.   "Craft Ideas for All" has a nice little tutorial for creating roses and cherry blossoms to make the pretty arrangment shown here.     Other posts on their blog indicate that they use both Delight clay and Deco clay for their flowers.    

Tip:  This tutorial tints the air-dry clay with acrylic paints.   A less messy method is to use paste cake colorants like those made by Wilton .   Colorant sets are available in soft pastel, flower colors.

Hope you enjoy this tutorial!

Ideas for creating texture

Go to http://pottery.about.com/od/surfacetreatments/ss/impressed.htm for some ideas for creating texture in your clay using everyday objects such as rubber stamps, roulettes and coggles, pine cones, branches, twigs, stems, barrettes, balls of twine, bottoms of  bottles, woven wicker and grass baskets.

Tutorial: Easy holiday ornament

Here's a quick and easy air-dry clay ornament to make. I bet you could come up with all kinds of ideas for different words and for customizing this project.

Author includes a link to the font she used to trace letters.
http://ginghamcherry.blogspot.com/2009/12/joy-to-world.html

How to slice a banana

  Hi folks!   I'm running short on time today and don't have anything ready to post....so here's a bit of nonsense to make your day!  ;-)

Amaze your family and friends with this trick!
How to slice a banana inside its skin
http://spiritsdancing.com/msblog/how-to-slice-a-banana-inside-its-skin

Creative Block

~ click image to enlarge ~

Introduction to Claymation

Do you like the claymation films as much as I do? Have you always wanted to try doing your own claymation? Here's a short introduction to the process. This  tutorial from Dick Blick (PDF) was written as instructions for a school project, but I think it is suitable for both kids and adults!

This project would be a great project to share with the kids. It goes thru the steps of planning a storyboard, taking the photos and creating the animation of a butterfly: Claymation Metamorphasis .

Plasticine clay is usually used to create stop-motion animation because it never dries and shapes can be

Spotlight on Hannie Sarris, Fairy Fantasy Art

Hannie Sarris is a doll artist working primarily with air-dry clay (LaDoll) and specializing in fantasy figures. Hannie says: "I experimented with all kinds of figures, but slowly returned to my first childhood love: fairies and fantasy....I adore the timelessness and the lack of boundaries of the fairy fantasy world." The photos shown here are just a few of her lovely figures, see more on her website Fairy Fantasy Art.  These beautiful and delicate dolls are larger than many fairy figures you'll often see made of polymer clay.

Although Hannie will sometimes create with

Tutorial: Personalized Ornament #2

Here's another personalized Christmas ornament that you can give as a gift or make for yourself.   This tutorial for a teddy bear family and house ornament is from Makin's Clay.   Makin's Clay is an air-dry clay that is available in many colors, but other brands of air-dry clay will work as well.   Most air dry clays are only available in white, but you can pre-tint clay with acrylic paints or paste colorants .... or paint after curing!

Tell us about the personalized ornaments you've made with air dry clay!  Do you have any tips to share?   ;-)

Tutorial: Personalized Ornament

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a nice holiday weekend (in USA)!  I was busy with Thanksgiving and shopping from Black Friday to Cyber Monday!  TOO much time spent shopping...LOL!  Haven't had any time to post on this blog, but now my Christmas shopping is all done and maybe now I can come up with some new tips and tricks for your clay projects. 

This Tuesday Tutorial is from Makin's Clay to create a personalized Christmas ornament with air-dry clay.   Makin's Clay and a few other brands are