Fairy Door

For years, I have wanted a fairy door. 

Hey, I would welcome a fairy for every room of my house. Years ago, my kids would leave notes for all sorts of fairies:  The Pokemon fairy, the gum fairy, the mint fairy.  Yes, those fairies were busy trading cards and leaving treats! 

This week, I decided to create a fairy door!

 Supplies:
Creative Paperclay ®
wood texture stamp (I used Woodgrain from StarvingArtistamps)
rolling pin
various tools for cutting your paperclay
sponges/brushes to apply paint and a finish
acrylic paints
sand paper
Gesso
Mod Podge
embellishments as you wish
adhesive to glue down your embellishments

1. Roll out your Creative Paperclay ® to about 1/4 inch. You will want to keep this width even throughout.  

2.  Use a texture stamp and make an impression into your Creative Paperclay®.

3.  Create a template for your door...or cut it out free hand!

I used a rolling playdough tool, that easily and smoothly cut out my shape.

(Shown in the next picture.)

4.  Because I wanted mine to be a wooden door, I used my rolling tool to create faux planks of wood.

Just be sure to keep your touch light or you will slice your door!!

5.  After it is dry, seal your door. I used gesso b/c that is what I had on hand.

6. Paint your door using acrylic paints.

Think about where your fairy is going to live. Do you want the door to stand out, or blend in with the colors of your home?

7.  I used several browns and caramel colors to create this look of real wood grain!

8.  Now...add a door knocker, a door handle, and any other special touches.

Maybe a few sweet treats will entice a fairy or two to visit your house!

I used Removable Glue Dots © for my door knocker. B/c I think my fairy is going to want to change her door decorations!

Thanks so much for fluttering by today!

Please come back early  in July for a tutorial on those fairy garden stones!  

Dawn Mercedes, of Sunnyside Up

"Delight"ful Tip For Coloring Clay

Did you know that color can be mixed into the Delight Airdry Clay before creating??  The results can be subtle or bold, depending upon how much color you mix in.  Dab a bit of color onto a ball of Delight clay and mix in by kneading the clay.  Additional dabs of marker can be added and mixed until the desired color is achieved.  Once the clay is colored, design away!

Now for the REAL tip:  Using water color markers rather than permanent will make clean-up much less stressful...take it from someone who had multi-colored hands for a day :-/ 

Barbara's Tips and Techniques for June

Hey there, Creative Paperclay® fans!  Welcome back to the blog.  I am so glad you decided to stop by today.  I have a really cool technique I want to share with you.  It is a continuation of my last post, which you can view by clicking here.  As I said earlier, I love ancient artifacts, and I am really enamored with ancient Egypt.  I knew I wanted to add a label of some sort to my ancient jar, so I dug out (no pun intended) one of my Egyptian hieroglyph rubber stamps.

Supplies Used:

Creative Paperclay®

FolkArt acrylic paint - Seamist, Solid Bronze Metallic

Egyptian Hieroglyph rubber stamp - Judikins

Two 1/4" brown eyelets

Natural twine

I rolled out a small piece of Creative Paperclay®, and then I placed that piece on top of my rubber stamp, choosing a section I thought would be interesting.

Very important tip:  Roll your brayer or clay roller over the clay only once, using steady, even pressure.  Do not try to go back and forth.  The clay tends to move, or stretch, as you roll it, giving unclear images.  However, if you do not get a clear image, just knead the clay again, and start over.

Pick a section of images that you like, and use an oval clay cutter to cut out your label.

Simply smooth any rough edges with your fingers, or sand it after it has dried.

Insert 1/4" eyelets on both sides of your label.  Your eyelet color does not matter.  You will be painting over them.  (If your eyelets fall out, simply glue them in.)

Use an awl to remove the clay still inside the eyelets.

Allow label to dry thoroughly.  You can carefully use a heat gun to speed up the process.  Paint the label with bronze paint.  Use a scrubbing motion to get the paint down into all the crevices.  Allow to dry.

Use a dry brush technique to add highlights the with Seamist acrylic paint.

Run twine through hole on one side of eyelet, around the jar, and back through the eyelet on the opposite side.  Tie off.

Now your jar is labeled.  How fun is that?  And since I cannot read hieroglyphs, I can put anything I want to in this jar.  I really do like how this turned out.  I think the label adds just a bit more excitement to the piece.

Thanks again for joining me on my journey into Ancient Egypt.  I hope you have been motivated to make something fun that really inspires you.  Maybe your preference is Asian, or Greek, or something from the good ole' USofA.  Whatever your pleasure, Creative Paperclay® can help you make it all come true.

So until next month, have fun, and be sure to visit the Creative Paperclay® blog for more inspiration and tips from the rest of the wonderful design team.

Barbara

Stamping on Clay

Hi there, I'm Diana with my handy dandy tip for you today!

Don't be afraid to stamp on air dry clay! It's easy. The best way to do it, is when the clay is still soft. If you want, you can LIGHTLY dab a little bit of pigment ink, or even a bit of olive oil, to make sure your stamped image makes a clear impression and the stamp won't have any bits of clay in it.
And that's my tip for today! Craft on!


Diana Gonzalez

School Project Tip by Rachel Whetzel

Beautiful Day, Creatives! Rachel Whetzel here with a tip for you! When it comes to Creative Paperclay® modeling material, the SKY is the limit!! My kiddos and I most recently used it for a school project! We rolled the clay out, and cut pieces to make the wheels and the body of my youngest son's pioneer wagon. He was so happy with the results, and his teacher liked it too.

Jess B's Steampunk Salt n Pepper Shakers

Hello Everyone

I went to a beautiful wedding reception

this past weekend in an art museum

full of beautiful antiques and amazing metal architectures

  

 

 This could be the perfect venue for anyone who loves steampunk

Gears turning in my brain!

  What a wonderful addition to a reception table

Steampunk

Salt n Pepper Shakers

I took out a pair of salt and pepper shakers from my wedding

Rolled out some Creative Paperclay® and mold it around the shakers

 Bought this awesome Textured Tread Graphic Gears from Ranger

Baked and sprayed Tsukineko Antiquing Solution Terra Cotta

Rubbed Folkart Metallic Gold Acrylic paint

INGREDIENTS

Creative Paperclay® 

Salt n Pepper Shakers

Tsukineko Antiquing Solution Terra Cotta

Folkart Gold Acrylic Paint

Ranger Melt Art Texture Treads Graphic Gears

Be Inspired!

Follow me on...
instagram.com/thatzuneek
thatzuneek.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by

Lynda's Tips for June

I am all for cheap and recycled, and today's idea is all about THAT!  I have found that I like to keep things in one place when it comes to my clay.  I don't like to have to go here and there and everywhere just to make something.  I like to have it handy!  My husband and I had went to Jack in the Box and purchased a salad one night...and recycle it I did!  
I started to add all my little things in that I needed for my clay - so when I went someplace, I could work on something while I was waiting.  Everything is in one place instead of all over the place!  And the container was free, with plenty of room for me to put my clay, a few baggies, my tools, and my molds.  Each container holds enough of the things I need to work on - and as I eat more salads, I get to use up the container!   Great way to keep everything in one place, dust free - and easily taken with me if I am going to an appointment!  
Using things like this is a lot more economical than purchasing a bunch of containers you can't use as well.  Then you can spend more money on clay!!!  

     Lynda Jeffs

Memories in Tyme

 

 

Dawnmercedes' June Tip...

Let's talk a bit about adhesive/glue.  

Nothing is worse than creating a piece of art work out of Creative Paperclay ®, and when you go to glue it to something else/onto another piece of dry Paperclay, your piece doesn't stick or is damaged!

Recently, I used adhesive on two Creative Paperclay ® products.

I found that a hot glue gun and glue dots did not work to secure this shell sculpture.

The hot glue peeled off and tore off some of the paint/modge podge finish.  

(Luckily, it is on the underside...Shhhh.)  Glue dots were not strong enough.

I made some thin embellishments for paper crafting that I needed to 

secure on a card base.

For both of these projects, I found that two liquid glues worked well for my needs.

Helmar's 450 Quick Dry Adhesive

and

UHU's Twist & Glue

Both dry fairly quickly, but you still have some wiggle room time to set

your Creative Paperclay ® pieces at just the right place.  I really like how both of these products

adhere different combinations of materials together.

While a glue gun might seem quick, take the time to play around with other adhesives to see what works best for your designs.  You may also want to practice on pieces that are not intended for a work of art! 

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! 

Hope your day is enjoyable!!

Dawn Mercedes, of Sunnyside Up

Tea Party or sTEAm party? by Rachel Whetzel

Rachel Whetzel here! While I was making my Mad Hatter doll recently, I had the idea to create something in a Mad Hatter THEME, with a Hat sitting on a tea cup using Creative Paperclay® modeling material.

 WHAT YOU WILL NEED

• Creative Paperclay® modeling material
• Acrylic Craft paints (I used Folk Art) 
• Tea Cup
• Amazing Clear Cast Resin
• Brown Alumilite Dye
• Screw
• News Paper or Foil
• Masking Tape
• Sandpaper

To start, I mixed Amazing Clear Cast Resin with brown dye, to make a "tea" in the cup I planned to use.  Be very careful!! A little bit of dye goes a VERY long way as you can see! I've nearly got COFFEE here! (It's not as dark as it looks in this picture in real life. I had a hard time getting a realistic shot.)

 Once the resin was set, I screwed a long screw into the resin as an anchor for my top hat.

Then I used the same technique I have shown in my Gnome and Egg projects, and wrapped a base for my hat around the screw with News Paper and masking tape.
Once the base was ready, I added Creative Paperclay® to the outside of the form to create a hat shape.

I let this dry, and then started adding layers to the piece to create the brim of the hat. This takes a few layers, with time for drying between each one. Once the hat was created, I sanded the piece, and painted it! Then I topped off my resin with one last layer.

I haven't decided if I'm going to add more to the hat or not... I really love the way it looks just like this, and now that I've got it this far, I'm debating on whether or not to add to the Mad Hatter theme, or to create a Steampunk look with it! I'm really thinking I'd like to take a Steam Punk angle... What do you think? Leave me a comment, and let me know what you think!! I would love for you to visit me at my "house" too!! Thank you so much for reading!!  ~rachel

Ancient Artifact with Creative Paperclay®

 

Hi there, Paperclay® fans.  I'm so glad you stopped by.  I love working with Creative Paperclay®, and today, I did a little experimenting.  I love ancient artifacts, and I wanted to try to achieve that look.  So,  I decided to combine Creative Paperclay® and Delight™ together, and see what happens.  I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised.  By combining the two products, I was able to achieve these really cool cracks in the finish without having to do anything further.  Here is my finished piece.

Here is a close up of some of the cracks made in the finish.  Unfortunately, the camera does not do it justice, but it is really a cool effect.

Supplies Used:

Creative Paperclay®

Delight™ Modeling Material

FolkArt acrylic paint - Seamist

Baroque Gilder's Paste - Antique Gold
Spellbinders Texture Plate - Grate Works Two
Wilton silicon cake mold - Jewelry Designs, Global Designs

Directions:

Start with an inexpensive glass candle holder.  I got this one at Michael's for 99¢.  Clean glass with alcohol or glass cleaner.

Knead together Creative Paperclay® and Delight™.  I have no real recipe, but I started out with approximately a 3:1 ratio, respectively.  Then I added more Delight™ until I liked it.

Roll out a piece of the clay mixture long enough to wrap around your candle holder.  

Wrap clay around candleholder, and use your clay roller to adhere it really well to the glass.

Smooth the edge where the clay mixture joins, and trim off the excess clay from the top and bottom.

Add texture by pressing the Spellbinders texture plate into the clay on each side.  I did not worry if my impressions were not perfect.  Remember, this is supposed to look like an ancient artifact, thousands of years old and recently unearthed.  (Sounds like my studio).  

Mold two rows of border in the Global Designs cake mold.  

Remove from mold and adhere around top edge of candle holder.  I wet the border before adhering it.  This makes it stick better to the clay sides.

I made a small amount of slip to adhere this border because part of it touches the exposed glass on the very top, and I wanted to make sure it adhered really well.  Slip is made by adding water to a small amount of  Creative Paperclay® until it is spreadable, like white glue, as in the picture below.

I made two rows of a smaller border from the Jewelry Designs cake mold and adhered it along top edges, mitering the corners as I went along.  

I simply used my fingers to finish off the edges, using more slip, as needed, to make it look seamless.

I allowed the piece to dry overnight.  Then, I painted the entire piece with Seamist acrylic paint and allowed it to dry.  

I used my fingers to hit the high spots with the Antique Gold gilder's paste.  I used a Q-tip to apply some of the gilder's paste into the tighter spots.

Voila!  My ancient artifact is finished, and I am ready to put it to modern use, i.e., it makes the perfect holder for my mini misters.  

What will you use your ancient artifact for?

I hope you enjoyed my project today, and that you will give Creative Paperclay® and Delight™ modeling material a try.   Hey, after all, it is so easy and fun to use, with great results every time.  It is amazingly mistake-proof, and you are limited only by your imagination.  So, check out the blog for more inspiration, tips, and techniques on how to use these wonderful products.  I would also love for you to check out my blog for more ways to play with  Creative Paperclay®.

Thanks for stopping by today, and in the meantime, have a wonderful, crafty week!

Barbara