Miniature violets

Make these miniature violets from cold porcelain following this tutorial by Ernesto Baldini of  Punto Sur

Of course, other air dry clays could be used.  Instead of miniature, you could even try make these flowers actual size using these same techniques.

Cold Porcelain Posies; how to make & how to paint!

Sorry there haven't been any posts lately, I've been sick and not on computer.  But all is well now, so let's make some clay flowers!

In the first video, Tryny's Design shows us how to make some small flowers with homemade cold porcelain paste.  In the second video she demonstrates her delicate flower painting techniques.

Happy St Patrick's Day

A man was on a walking holiday in Ireland. He became thirsty so decided to ask at a home for something to drink. The lady of the house invited him in and served him a bowl of soup by the fire.

There was a wee pig running around the kitchen, running up to the visitor and giving him a great deal of attention. The visitor commented that he had never seen a pig this friendly. The housewife replied: "Ah, he's not that friendly. That's his bowl you're using."

The Monsignor greeted Paddy and said "Congratulations on your 50th wedding anniversary! Have you any plans made on how to celebrate?"
"Well," said Paddy, "on our 25th Anniversary I took Mary to Ireland."
"And what are you going to do on your 50th?" asked the Msgr.
"Well," said Paddy "I think I'll bring her back."
 

Visit PaddysDay.us for more Irish Jokes, Blessings & Legends  

How to make a clay carnation

Did you know that you can make clay flowers with cold porcelain and other air-dry clays following tutorials written for sugar paste flowers?    The process is exactly the same except where they might use egg whites as an adhesive, you can use glue!    Clay flowers can be made into an arrangement or made to decorate a cake.  Many brides are having clay flowers made into a permanent bouquet for their wedding keepsake!

Click here for a tutorial to make the carnation shown above.   Remember, this may be a sugarcraft tutorial, but you will be using air-dry clay!  Cutters and veiners are tools used to create the carnation in this tutorial.  Making clay flowers with air-dry clay is not as common in USA as other countries, so molds & cutters for leaves and petals can  sometimes be quite expensive.  Most are designed for, and  used by,  commercial bakeries.   However, lower-cost petal molds are starting to become available (such as those shown here) or you can make your own cutters.  See this post for making cutters.  

Hope you enjoy making carnations!

Create This Delightful Bear

This cute bear was made with Delight air-dry clay following a tutorial from the makers of Creative Paperclay.

Delight clay is one of my favorites.   It is extremely soft and easy to shape or mold.  It holds its form while shaping and then air hardens to create an extraordinarily lightweight (about ½ the weight of Creative Paperclay) finished piece.

Water base paint can be kneaded into Delight to make an infinite range of colors with which to work. Of course, it can be colored with any kind of paint after it's dried. Note:  When you add acrylic craft paint to tint the uncured clay, it will dry to a slightly lighter color.

This teddy bear tutorial is suitable for beginners....modeled with basic shapes, mostly teardrops!

Tips for working with Craft Porcelain

Tips for working with Craft Porcelain from Linda Peterson.   She says:   "It's not a new medium, though it is maybe an unfamiliar one. I first introduced this air dry clay on The Carol Duvall show a couple of years ago. It is definately one of the shows that I would consider one of my 'hits'."

In that comment, Linda is referring to the commercially available Craft Porcelain (by Amaco) and not necessarily the homemade cold porcelain paste we've often referred to on this blog.   Products are very similar .... but I'm told by those who've used both products that there some difference in the handling characteristics between this brand and the homemade paste.   Around the world there are many other brands of cold porcelain commercially available at reasonable prices...but in USA, not so much.   Not yet, anyway!  ;-)

Linda goes on to say:    "Today I was again working with Craft Porcelain clay doing the designer thing in trying to 'stretch' its limits and see what you can mix in...and what you can't. I have several 'test' pieces lying on the workbench drying."   Click here to read more about her experiments.

Have you tried both Craft Porcelain and homemade cold porcelain?    Would you post a comment about your experience and give us your opinion?

Make this business card holder

Wouldn't you like to have this cute holder to display your business card or a photo?    This tutorial from Makin's Clay shows you how to make all the tiny flowers, the pots and the picket fence.   Have fun making a bunch of colorful clay flowers!   Great beginner tutorial!

Flower Garden Project

How to make cold porcelain paste

Cold porcelain is a very versitile air-dry clay that you can make at home with simple ingredients.  It cures/dries to a hard, durable 'porcelain-like' finish.  In this video, Sangeeta Shah shows you how to make her basic cold porcelain recipe, which she cooks in microwave for just a few minutes.   I've followed this recipe myself and I can testify that it is very easy to make cold porcelain this way!

More about cold porcelain at Cold Porcelain Tutorials