Paperclay Forget-Me-Not Photo Album

By Amanda Marks

I found an 8"x8" blank photo album that has been blank since I bought it.  I always wanted to do a mixed media piece with is but wasn't quite sure on what and how to achieve this.  I finally figured it out - PAPERCLAY!  I did sketch out my idea and decided to put Forget-Me-Nots on the front cover.
I apologize that there are no photos of this my camera decided to be difficult (camera took pictures without saving the photos).  Here are some very precise directions on how I did the flowers.


I took the Paperclay and rolled out two long snake like pieces for the branches.  I wet the side of the branch that would meet the album, I took one of my tools to flattened the edges to the book cover.  This way I would not need glue to adhere the flowers or the branches to the album.  To create the flowers I took the clay and rolled five small balls of clay equal or as close in size as possible.  I took one ball at a time a squeezed it flat between my fingers.  I wet the base of each petal and worked them together with a sculpting tool.  I then adhered each flower to the branch with a little bit of water.  I did not use glue on the tree or the flowers.

I decided I wanted the background with texture.  I had some amazing homemade paper that I bought when I was in college and tore it up and added it with gel medium to the background.  I will say I would recommend doing this first then added the Paperclay to the background.  I did this after I made the forget-me-nots.

Since this is my baby book I wanted to create some "baby" embellishments for the front of the book.  I took some more Paperclay, rolled it out and stamped with my baby foot-prints and hand-prints stamps.  I let those dry over night and then decided to emboss them.  My reasoning for this was I am looking for new ways to use this product and experiment with it, why not give it a try.  I took my Tim Holtz Embossing Pad and added gold embossing powder to each one.  I then took my heat gun to set the powder.  There was some areas I missed but I like the way it looked so I took my Time Holtz Victorian Velvet Pad and stamped the remaining area.  I am thrilled with the results and it has really wanted me to get more embossing powder and experiment even more!  I decided that pink really was not working with the background so I colored the pink area purple with one of my Bic Mark-Its.  I was really pleased with how the turned out but it wasn't what I had in mind.  I love the technique but I wanted it to have an unfinished, vintage look opposed to a clean crisp cookie cutter look - I was originally going for.

I also wanted a name plate for the book.  I took the rectangle for the metal punches and made a rectangle plaque.  I stamped AMANDA JEAN ST. VINCENT - AUGUST 20, 1979 with my metal punches.  I did not need a hammer because the clay was wet.  I secured this with a little water and a sculpting tool to the album.

I took the Paperclay and rolled it out with my fondant roller (I bought one just for Paperclay because it has thickness guides).  Trimming the paperclay at the edge of the album for a smooth, even, edge.  I then added water to adhere the paperclay to the album and once used a scultping tool to secure the paperclay to the front of the album.

Taking my Baby Foot and Hand Print Rubber Stamps and stamped them into random areas.  I also have a rubber stamp quote that says:  "We don't remember days we remember memories."  Ceasar Pevase that I used for the background.

I placed the new paperclay around the name plate and since I did not properly piece the new clay to the plaque, it cracked.

I made some slip with dried Paperclay and water.  I put it in a cup with a lid for future use and I filled the crack with a sculpting tool.

I really wanted to see what items worked with Paperclay and through my previous experiment I choose to emboss the paperclay.  I once again used my Tim Holtz Embossing Ink Pad and rubbed the Paperclay with it.  I added the gold embossing powder to the paperclay.  I took my heat tool and melted the embossing powder.

I wanted to keep the cool color scheme but didn't want it to look boyish so I opted for purple.  I took my homemade purple alcohol ink and painted the stamped and embossed images.
I personally am thrilled on how it turned out and I see a couple more of these in my future.