Barbara's Creative Paperclay® August Tips and Techniques

Hi everyone. Barbara here with my monthly tips and techniques to share with you. Today's tip is also a bit of a technique, and I actually made this discovery while trying to fix a boo boo. Funny, but I think a lot of ideas come from the need to fix something that did not quite work out. Reminds me of that old saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention".

 So, here is what happened. I was teaching a group of ladies how to use Creative Paperclay®, and we were using all different sorts of things, like molds, texture sheets, stamps, or our own creative imaginations. I opened a brand new package of Creative Paperclay®, which was very moist. We were rolling out bits of Paperclay® onto various texture sheets and removing the clay to air dry. Some of the texture sheets were finer than others, such as this honeycomb texture plate. Needless to say, one person got overly anxious and did not wait until the clay had time to dry out a bit before removing it from the mold. What happened next? Well, she pulled up the clay and left the design in the texture plate.

 Here is where necessity took over, in my mind. The way I saw it, I had two choices: 1) take the texture plate and a stiff brush to the sink and, under running water, scrub away the clay; or 2) roll another piece of clay over the same area and see if it will stick to the clay already "stuck" in the texture plate. I chose to try number 2. Because the clay was so moist, it worked. (If the clay was a bit more dried out, then I would have added, or spritzed, a bit of water between the two layers to get the same effect. Remember, water is like glue to Creative Paperclay®.)  Well, much to my surprise, it worked!!!

However, I made yet another discovery during this process. As I said, I left the clay to dry in the mold and, where I had not covered the "stuck" clay, some of the open design from the texture plate pulled off, too. Here is the result, shown in a couple of close-ups.  I was so amazed to see that even the open parts of the clay came up, too.

 Now, guess what I want to do next? I want to see if I can get an open honeycomb design by spreading a thin layer even with the surface of the texture plate. After allowing it to dry thoroughly on the plate, I want to see if I can remove it without breaking it into a million pieces.  You can see in the photo below that it is thinner in some spots than in others, but you can see the texture of the plate coming through.  I knew it was not going to be completely open, but it is all about experimenting.

Oh my goodness!  It worked again.  You can see in the photo below where I was able to get more open design area from a much thinner application.  And much to my surprise, it is very durable, and even more exciting, it is extremely flexible, unlike my piece above, where I spread it about 1/4" thick.  After all, it is paper in clay form.  How cool is that?

Well, you can imagine the ideas running through my head with my new discovery.  I know, some of you more experienced Paperclay® artists may already know this, but, just in case, I had to pass it on.  I am so excited to share this with anyone out there who does not know this.  I can see so many possibilities and cannot wait to see what else I can discover about this wonderful product.

So, please stay tuned to see what I have in mind for all these honeycomb pieces.  It should "bee" a real treat.  In the meantime, I hope you will visit the Creative Paperclay® online store and blog for products, updates, and more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.  I also hope you will take a moment to visit me at my blog at Black Hole Art Studio.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful end of Summer!

Barbara Rankin
Creative Paperclay® Design Team Member