How to Make a Mosaic Box

Decorate a wooden box with mosaic tiles made with Delight air-dry clay.   Frame a photo for top of box!  See step-by-step tutorial at Paperclay.com

Paperclay Christmas Ornaments

Martha Stewart shows us how to make ornaments with Creative Paperclay and cookie molds.   Delight Clay is from same company but is ultra-lightweight, so might be an even better choice for ornaments!

Customize a Face Mold for Santa

Air-dry clay can be used with push molds just like polymer clay.  Today's tutorial from Polymer Clay Express shows you how to customize a Polyform (Sculpey) face mold to create a Santa face.   The completed face can be used for an ornament, package topper or a Santa doll.    Tutorial:  Customizing "Grandpa" to make a Santa ornament    Even though the tutorial was written for polymer clay, the steps are essentially the same with air-dry clay...just don't bake and let it air dry instead.    You can leave the clay in the mold while drying, if desired.    

The tutorial doesn't make it clear that flesh colored clay must have been used to start with (it looks white in photos) because it skips the step to paint the flesh color and goes right into antiquing.    For air-dry clay users, you can tint the raw clay in advance or paint with acrylics after it cures.    I prefer multiple THIN layers of paint for the skin tones.    

Only the very soft air-dry clays are available pre-colored and other brands must be pre-tinted or painted.   Some soft clays may work OK in the push molds but many soft brands do not hold detail well.   It will look OK at first, but as it dries it sorta 'puffs-up' and detail gets lost.      Clay brands such as Creative Paperclay,  Delight and LaDoll may work better.   Those clays also allow more customizing because re-shaping and blending of seams is easier.   Please leave comment if you have any questions!

Make a Miniature Seagull

Have you been thinking of making a beach-cottage dollhouse  or a beach-theme diorama?   This miniature seagull (1:12 scale) would be so perfect for that!   This detailed step-by-step Seagull Tutorial from Lesley Shepherd at About.com suggests using air-dry Delight clay to make the bird because Delight is very lightweight when cured.  Birds made with air dry clay can nest in branches or hang on tiny trees without pulling the tree branch down. 

Of course, if you prefer, other brands of air-dry clay could be used....or even polymer clay!  If miniatures are not your thing. I believe this seagull could be created larger using this same tutorial and still look very real!

Excuse me now, I must go and plan my miniature rustic beach cottage (with some seagulls)!   I think I will make it as 3-D wall art instead of a complete house!   Still planning........!    ;-)

Tutorial: Clay Peonies

Here's another flower tutorial from CreativeNimi at Crafts For All.    This time she uses Delight air-dry clay to show us how to make a Peony.   Cold porcelain and many other brands of air-dry would work as well (the softer clays seem to work best).   

With 3 Peonies and some flower buds, she demonstrates this lovely floral arrangement.

Tutorial: Clay flowers-Make this festive rose arrangment

This flower arrangement is very striking. I like the red, green, white color combination.   This would make a lovely decoration for the Christmas holidays.   Maybe if I get started on making an arrangement like this now, I might finish it by December!  LOL  


Deco Clay was used to create flowers shown in demo.   Homemade cold Porcelain, purchased Craft Porcelain, Delight, Daisy, Hearty and Makin's Clay are a few other clays suitable for this project.


See tutorial at Craft Ideas for All


Red, white and green clay will be needed.   For cold porcelain and clay brands that aren't available pre-colored, tint your white clay with a little acrylic paint, with color paste made for cake decorating & sugarcraft or with colorants made especially for cold porcelain.    


If you're not familiar with colorants, Wilton Icing Colors, shown here, is one example of colorants that are available in paste form from cake decorating suppliers,  at Michaels and online at Amazon.   Jars of paste colorants can be purchased as individual colors or as sets. 


Colorants specifically for cold porcelain are not readily available in USA, but you might find a supplier on the web. 

Tutorial: Roses made with air-dry clay

Follow this tutorial to make a beautiful white rose floral arrangement with green and red accents.  The green buds are made with clay but the red berries are purchased fillers.  Delight clay (lightweight clay made by Creative Paperclay) is used in demo  but many other brands of air-dry clay would be suitable, as well as cold porcelain.   See step-by-step tutorial for beautiful clay roses.

How to make a clay Hibiscus flower

This Hibiscus tutorial shows you how to make a Hibiscus flower with Hearty Clay.  Many other brands of air-dry clay would work, as well as cold porcelain.   A set of flower-shaping tools are recommended to make this flower but you might be able to substitute tools you already have.

This flower is a bit challenging to make and is probably not a good choice for your first clay flower!  ;-)  

How to make embellishments with ADC

Toodles and Binks shows us how to create embellishments with rubber stamps and air-dry clay for your scrapbooking project or some other clever project!  

Part 1



Part 2

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!

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!

Teddy Bear Delight Tutorial

Tutorial Tuesday: Teddy Bear made with Delight paperclay. An easy beginners tutorial to make a delightfully cute little slouching teddy bear (from Paperclay.com).