Pinch pots are one of the oldest forms of pottery. They’re a very easy project for children or beginners, and chances are, if you’ve ever taken a pottery class, you’ve probably made a pinch pot.
Despite their primitive origins, pinch pots can make a simple and elegant statement in your home decor.
In today's lesson, I’ll show you how I made these faux porcelain pinch pots using Creative Paperclay.
Starting with a ball of clay, open up the center of the clay with your thumb. Work your way around the inside until the walls are an even thickness and you’ve reached your desired shape.
Allow the clay to dry completely, and give the pots a light sanding to remove any rough edges. I like to preserve some of the handmade character of the pots, so a light sanding is all that’s needed.
Brush on a thin coat of gesso, followed by a coat of acrylic paint in your chosen color.
I used gold liquid leaf for the inside of my pots. I think the white and gold is an elegant combination.
I touched up the edges where the two colors met.
When everything was dry, I sealed the pots with a coat of varnish.
About Kerrie
I am a mixed media sculptor working primary in clay. Though clay is my passion, at the core, I'm simply a maker, a builder, a creator. Making things makes me happy. I make videos about making things and post them on my channel KerrieLeeArt on YouTube and on my website KerrieLee.com.
Years ago I saw a wonderful show by glass artist, William Morris. He
does monumental glass work but he also had a 30' x 8' wall of small
glass pieces. I fell in love with them and they have remained with me.
Last week while gallery hopping, I came across a wall of ceramic faces
that struck me the same way. One is interesting, two hold our interest
longer but a whole wall is incredible. You can be endlessly lost in all
the unique shapes. Plus there is the organizational beauty of a grid
with the variety of the shapes. The world is full of eye candy and
inspiration.
Here on the Design Team we usually show a project using either Creative Paperclay®, or Delight™ air dry modeling compound, but did you know you can mix them together? You can use varying amounts to take advantage of the different properties of each clay (for example, mixing some Delight compound into the clay to make is somewhat lighter) Or, you can create some great marble looks by mixing them just a little bit -
Roll out some of each type of clay and lay them side by side as shown, vary the thickness and placement.
Squish them together and then flatten the clay. Fold over and repeat as desired until you get the marbleing you want. To maintain the marble effect, avoid kneading the clay, just bend or twist slightly, then flatten.
Now the extra fun comes in when a layer of watercolor or acrylic wash is added - because of the different absorption properties of each type of clay, adding color really shows off the effect.
This is the clay piece shown above after a medium green wash has been added
This piece was folded and mixed more than the other one, and a tan/green wash added
Thanks for joining me here again! As always, play, experiment, and have fun!
I'd love for you to join me for more projects & art adventures on my personal blog
When I take out my Creative Paperclay to play with I try and use up every bit, and it's great to have some embellishments on hand later. I already had some leaf embellishments ready to play with when I created my wall hanging, sometimes that can mean a lot. Afterwards I took the left over pieces one step further and painted all of them up while I was decorating the ones for the art piece. I figured why not even make it easier to use later on? I can always change the colors later on if I need to.
I also never miss a chance to make more embellishments too, and this time I added some faces to my supplies. I didn't paint these because they needed to dry first but the next time I need a face I'll have several on hand to experiment with.
I store each group in separate baggies so they are easy to find and easy to store.
Little things like that make art time even more fun!
I am a self-identified salt snob. I love salt. I have, on average, at any one time five to eight different pots of salt on my kitchen counter food prep area. Sometimes I only need a pinch of salt; sometimes more. For those sometimes more occassions, I used Creative Paperclay® to make little scoops and spoons to brighten up the salt pots.
I started with a ball of clay about 1" in diameter.
Next, I did some preliminary shaping, forming the handle of the scoop.
To form the bowl of the spoon, I held the preliminary shape in the palm of my hand, and pressed the knuckles of my index finger into the ball on the end of the handle. Here you see the scoop after I've formed the bowl.
So the spoons and scoops would maintain their shape, I supported them in condiment cups while they dried.
I wanted a rustic, primitive look so I did minimal sanding. I painted them with acrylic paints in a variety of vivid colors and added some easy designs. These little scoops and spoons definitely brighten my salt counter.
I had an old art panel with paint on it and wanted to try creating a raised fresco look on it.
So out came the stencils, masking tape and Creative Paperclay® slurry.
Slurry is a porridge like substance made from bits of Creative
Paperclay® and water mixed together well.
SUPPLIES
Creative Paperclay®
Stencils
Masking Tape
Sand paper
Acrylic Paints
Art panel
I
layered the stenciled slurry. Letting each stencil dry to the touch
before layering another one. When all had dried thoroughly, I sanded it
back to smooth out the edges. Then started adding more stencils, paint
and collage elements.
Transferring a pattern to dry Paperclay is easy using a watercolor pencil and a little water. Start with dry Paperclay.
Using a watercolor pencil, draw or trace your design onto a plain sheet of paper.
Spray your dried piece with a light mist of water.
Spread the water to an even layer.
Place your design into the Paperclay and rub gently until the paper becomes translucent.
Lift the paper carefully.
Your design is transferred!
How do you transfer your designs?
--- About Kerrie Dreamer. Dabbler. Noodler. I am a mixed media sculptor working primarily in clay. Though clay is my passion, at the core, I'm simply a maker, a builder, a creator. Making things makes me happy. I make videos about making things and post them on my channel Kerrie Lee:Dream Up on YouTube and on my website KerrieLee.com.
The weather has been so nice in Tucson that I couldn't help but do another garden project this month - I might just keep doing them until December! This flower is a kinetic sculpture, the inner flower petals move one way when the wind blows, and the outer petals move the other.
The materials needed to create the flower are:
Delight™ Air Dry Modeling Compound
tape
pencil
paper
tracing paper
compass
protractor
scissors
craft knife
bowl - the one I used is about 4" across the top
acrylic paints
wooden toy wheels (available in hobby stores)
- the ones used for this project are 3/4" diameter, by 3/16" thick, with a 3/16" hole.
wooden beads - the ones used for this project are 1/2" round, with a 3/16" hole
brass rod in the diameter that most closely matches the hole dimensions of the beads.
plastic wrap
rolling pin Paverpol
Start by cutting a strip of paper, holding it in place inside the bowl, and marking the edges to get the inside dimension of the bowl. Measure the length of the marks, then draw a circle with the same dimensions (or, cut the paper to the marks, fold it in half, and set your compass to match that distance :) )
Divide the circle into five sections (72 degrees on the protractor). Trace the circle and divisions and set this aside for later use on the inside flower pattern. Cut out one of the sections, fold it in half, and draw a petal shape onto it as shown. Cut out the petal shape and trace the design onto the remaining four sections. Tape the original petal back in place, then cut out the remaining sections on the paper to create the entire flower pattern.
Mix the desired color of paint with enough modeling compound (clay) to make a 1/8" thick circle large enough for your flower pattern. Roll the clay into a ball, place between plastic wrap, then roll it out to 1/8" thickness.
Place the pattern gently onto the clay and poke a hole in the center, marking it into the clay.
Line up the center mark on the clay with the center of the wheel and press the wheel into the clay. Work the clay around the wheel until the wood is covered, and clear the clay from the center of the wood. Again lay the pattern onto the clay, align the centers, the cut the clay out to the pattern shape (don't press the pattern into the clay or it will stick - another method is to place plastic wrap over the top of the clay, align the pattern, then trace around it gently with a toothpick to transfer the pattern to the clay, remove the plastic wrap, then cut out the design from the clay)
Once you have the clay cut out, cut out the petal sections of your paper pattern, fold each in half and place a small piece of plastic wrap over each folded petal. Use these petal shapes to prop up your clay flower petals, lining them up so that the fold of the petal is half-way underneath the clay petal as shown. Make sure you put them all facing the same way around the flower. Set aside to dry.
For the inner section of the flower, start by drawing a second circle, 1/4" less in diameter, over the tracing you made from the first circle, then create the pattern the same way you did for the first one (cut out one section, draw petal shape, etc.) Mix clay to desired color, and complete the steps for rolling out the clay and inserting the wooden wheel as you did for the first set of petals. Line the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and place the flower inside.
Cut the petal shapes from the pattern, fold each petal in half and cover with a small piece of plastic wrap. Place the petals under the petals of the flower as you did for the first set, but this time put the folds going in the opposite direction. Set aside to dry.
While the petals are drying, paint wooden beads to use as spacers between the petals, and, if desired, cover another wheel with clay and sculpt the center of the flower. I was originally planning on using a bead for the center, but then decided to sculpt a larger center piece.
You'll need three or four beads, or three beads and a wheel.
When all the pieces are dry, sand any rough edges, and, if desired add additional paint accents - I brushed on some ColourArte Twinkling H2O's watercolors to add some extra sparkle.
Cover both flower sections and all remaining pieces except brass rod with Paverpol and allow to dry.
Test assemble the piece on the rod as shown; bead, outer petals, bead, inner petals, bead, end cap or bead. Make sure the petals turn freely. If not, remove them from the rod and clear the hole with the tip of your knife or a tiny bit of rolled up sandpaper. Once the flower sections can move freely when everything is assembled, mark the rod where the first support bead will sit (behind the outer petals) then remove all the pieces. Bend the rod if desired - the whirligig will also work well if the flower is left upright. Attach the support bead to the rod with Paverpol and allow it to dry. Re-assemble the remainder of the sections, then attach the end cap/bead with Paverpol. Allow everything to dry before placing it in the wind. Enjoy the breeze!
Unfortunately, every time I tried to get a video of the whirligig outside, all I got was gusts of wind which didn't show how the petals turned. So I made a quick vid. using the blow dryer - which made it spin too fast for you to see the different directions...so then I tried to slow it down a bit and back the dryer off - well anyhow, here is a 13 second video so you can at least see that the petals do actually turn quite well :) I hope you will make your own flower(s) and enjoy them moving in the garden.
I'd love for you to join me for more projects & art adventures on my personal blog
My project today is a wall hanging using Creative Paperclay ivy leaves and word tiles glued onto a corrugated substrate.
The first thing I did was to cut out around the grass and butterfly images and remove the top layer of cardboard paper revealing the corrugated ripples underneath. Then I made some ivy leaves from a punch mold, painted them with a mixture of ColourArte Primary Elements and DecoArt's Decou-Page and adhered them to the card board with a dimensional glue.
The dimensional glue really sinks down into the ripples to gives your paperclay accent pieces durability.
Next, I used a metal ruler to slice some layers from a chunk of Creative Paperclay and then cut the layers up into tiles. I used rubber letter stamps to press the words into the Paperclay while it was still moist and set the tiles in my oven to harden. ( I like to set mine in the oven while it is cold, then turn it on to 275, as soon as the preheat buzzer goes off I turn the oven off and leave it in there overnight. )
The next day, after they are hardened I trimmed any ragged edges with my scissors and used an emery board to smooth down any rough edges.
After painting the tiles I adhered them with the same dimensional glue to the corrugation.
I love how the Creative Paperclayreally shows all the small details so well.
I have a lot of stamps..... I especially love a stamp that can be used in different ways, such as this stamp! Today's post is all about using stamps with the Creative Paperclay product - so grab your favorite stamps, flattened product - and get started with this video!!!
There are a lot of different things you can create - using this technique, and just in time for Mothers Day and Fathers Day!!! I have a fewidea's sketched out, and will have another video in a couple of weeks using this technique!
**Tip - make sure to clean your space before you start to use the product! I keep a wet wash cloth and a dry wash cloth to clean up before I lay the product down, and after I am done using the product!**
Use the hashtag #CreativePaperclay on all your social networks.
When using Facebook, be sure the your posts and images using the #Creative Paperclay hashtag are set to public, otherwise we won't be able to find you.
