Clay Recipes to Make for Kids

Today I came across a collection of homemade air dry clay recipes at "Crafting a Green World" that are kid-friendly and earth-friendly.   Recipes include basic natural play dough recipe, aromatherapy play dough, gluten-free cornstarch dough, edible play dough and modeling beeswax.  See Five Natural Modeling Materials You Can Make Yourself.

Author says:  "I tend to choose to make our modeling materials for a few reasons. I’m much happier spending a hour in the kitchen every few weeks mixing up several batches of natural play dough than I would be spending that hour driving to the store and back for Play Doh."

How to Photograph Your Clay Jewelry for Online Sales

Homemade Photo Studio

How to Make a Homemade Black Ice Photo Kit.  Desired Creations share tips for photographing your hand-crafted jewelry.  Professional photographers often use a black background with a very soft bright spot highlighting the jewelry.    Author says:  "....not being a professional photographer, I saw no justification to spend lots of money for the special kit."  Read article to learn  how to create, at a low cost, the photographic lighting style used in better quality publications.

Make Miniature People with Darwi or Paperclay

This French artist (Lauren) has created a whole village of miniature people from Darwi air-dry clay.   These are uncomplicated little dolls with painted features and clothes made of paper.  Creative Paperclay would work well for this project also.

How to Wrap Foam Balls Without Trapping Air

Many air-dry clay projects call for Styrofoam shapes as armatures for figure modeling. On my other blog, "Cold Porcelain Tutorials", we've featured a series of videos from Marisol Romero showing the proper way to wrap Styrofoam shapes with cold porcelain (without getting cracks or trapped air).   The very same methods could be used with any brand of soft air-dry clay.    Check 'Cold Porcelain Tutorials' for video demos showing how to wrap small and large foam balls, half-spheres, double-spheres and more.

How to Create Craft Porcelain Clay Roses

Clay Roses by Linda Peterson

As featured on Livin' the Creative Life, Linda Peterson shares how to create delicate roses from the air-dry clay called "Craft Porcelain"  (from Amaco).    This product is said to be similar to the homemade cold porcelain paste we've often mentioned .... but I'm told by those who've used both products that the

Mixed Media Clay "Face of Mother Nature"

Hearty Clay and mixed media combine to create this nature-inspired wall hanging.  Created by Judy Ross of Sun City, Arizona.   Judy first creates molds from quick-set plaster or mold compound.  Next, Hearty clay is pressed into molds to create embellishments.

Got a Glue Question?

Sometimes you just don't know which glue would be best to glue two different kinds of materials together.   Here's one place to start looking for answers....the "Glue It To It' widget at Michaels.   Just select the name of the two items you want to glue together from the drop down lists and Michaels will suggest a glue product that'll do the job!

Make a Miniature Stack of Pancakes

Make these realistic mini-pancakes for your dollhouse, roombox, diorama or even as a jewelry charm.

This video from Kawaii Supply shows us how to make a short stack of pancakes (with butter) in miniature using air-dry clay.  Cosmos Clay (from Japan) was used for demonstration, but almost any air-dry clay would work, including cold porcelain.  Acrylic craft paints were used to tint the white clay before modeling.