Adding Dimension to a painting with Creative Paperclay®

I wanted to paint a face with raised areas so after sketching in the face with a pencil, I started adding in Creative Paperclay® to the features of the face.

SUPPLIES
Creative Paperclay®
Panel
Acrylic paint
Cookie cutter
Mark making tools

After the paper clay dried the next step was to block in the face with paint. Because my paintings are like doing a puzzle, I started placing objects for size and to see if they would add to the story.

I rolled out some clay on a sheet of plastic and used the cookie cutter to create the shape. Use different mark making tools and stamps, I added the design in the clay. Last, I took a wet paint brush to smooth out the edges. Normally, I use my fingers but because of the detail I used the brush.

This is how I work when I paint. A little here and a little there.

Dream in color!

Darlene Olivia McElroy

Tori's Tip - Cookie Decorating Fun for Kids of All Ages

For my tip this month I'm reminding you that Delight™ Air Dry Modeling Compound retains color well when mixed with acrylic paint, it is very light weight, and can be easily rolled out and cut with cookie cutters!

For a fun way to make ornaments,  mix up a batch of gingerbread or cookie dough colored clay, cut out shapes with cookie cutters and allow the pieces to dry.  When the clay pieces are dry, decorate them with puffy "shiny"fabric paints to create the look of icing.

This will be my last post of the year, so I'll wish all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR! - looking forward to the new year ahead and creating more projects with Creative Paperclay® and Delight™

Thanks for joining me here again!  As always, play, experiment, and have fun!

Tori

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Inspiration Mobile - my plans for 2015

Hi fellow crafters, I'm Tori West.  I'm excited to be a part of this blog, to share projects, and learn from other members!  I have already been inspired by this blog - the project I'm sharing today involves a technique I came up with after seeing one of Gloriann Irizarry's tips on creating clay cutters from paper maché forms.

I was thinking about New Year's Resolutions back in December, seeing or hearing about other people's resolutions, and considering how often people break their resolutions (myself included!) it all seems kind of silly, but I think most of us do spend at least a little time pondering changes for the coming year.  I decided that rather than make resolutions, I'd make a list of the things I hoped to do more of in 2015.  I love word art inspiration, so this list turned in to a project - a mobile of words to hang in my studio and remind me of what my "to do" list was for the year.

It's a large mobile - 33"long by 24" wide

 

Materials & Supplies:

Creative Paperclay® modeling material

craft knife & cutting mat

masking tape

1/8" corrugated cardboard

thin cardboard - a recycled cereal box, gift box, or similar type of material

brass fishing swivels

fishing line/monofilament

.020 brass rod (I used K&S #8159, available in hardware and hobby stores)

"needle nose" pliers or wire bending tool

wire nippers

white glue

ruler

rolling pin

baby powder/talcum powder

aluminum foil (optional, if desired for making tiles edges curl up) 

permanent markers

gesso

acrylic paints of your choice (I used Delta Ceramcoat leaf green, dark forest green, white, 14K gold, and faux finish glaze base, along with US Art Quest mica colors)

toothbrush, if you choose to spatter paint your pieces

wood strip for suspending tiles - at least 3/16" square by 24" long

drill and small (1/16" or smaller) drill bit.
(If you don't have a bit this small simply tie the monofilament to the wood strip)

decorative beads (one for each string of tiles and larger than your drill bit in diameter - these hold the monofilament strings in place, and one fancy end bead for each line)

Directions:

Plan your mobile - I started with a list of words, then counted them and divided by two. Came up with an odd number, so I crossed some out, added some, and eventually came up with 17 pairs I wanted to use.  I made a rough sketch of the shapes I'd like to use, decided on the approximate size of each, and drew some possibilities for hanging and layout.  I decided to use the Fibonacci sequence, placing five "tiles" in the middle section.

Create patterns for the tiles, and further define the layout.

tile patterns
I created a larger one for the center piece

Scale layout with two hanging options
(only half of each shown)

As I mentioned, I was inspired by Gloriann's cookie cutter tip - I'd never thought of using plain cardboard as a cookie cutter, but after seeing what she did with paper maché forms, I thought "why not just make my own cookie cutters?".

Once I had the shapes for my tiles, I glued them onto 1/8" corrugated cardboard and cut them out.  I drew a line to the inside of each, leaving about a 1/2" margin, and cut out the center.  Next I cut 1/2" strips from thin cardboard.

Before gluing the strips to the edge of the cardboard, cut small strips of masking tape to hold the thin cardboard in place while the glue dries.  My method for doing this is to place a strip of tape along the edge of the cutting mat, leaving a small bit of it hanging off, which then allows me to cut the strips and be able to peel them off and use them one by one quite easily (don't forget to place something under the cutting mat when cutting past the edge).

Glue the 1/2" thin cardboard strips all the way around the tile shapes, keeping them straight along the edge.  Work a little bit at a time.

(I didn't make a cookie cutter for the larger center piece.  Since there is only one of them I cut the paper pattern out and traced around that)

Once the glue on the cookie cutters dries, roll out the clay to about a 1/8" or less thickness.

Spread a little baby powder on a shallow dish or on your table, dip the cookie cutter edge in to the powder and then press in to clay.  Cut out the desired number of shapes.  If clay starts to stick to the cookie cutter, dip the cutter into the baby powder again.

Cut two clay pieces for each tile in your mobile.

  

Mark the center of each cookie cutter and, using that as a guide, cut and bend a length of brass rod so that you have an eyelet at the top and bottom of each.

Make one rod for each tile in your mobile.

 The next step is to place a rod in the center of your clay piece, press it in slightly.  Wet the top of the clay and add the second piece on top, sandwiching the rod in between.

Once you have all the tiles made, set them aside to dry.  I set mine aside to dry, then thought it might be nice if they curled up a bit into different shapes while drying, so I decided to put small pieces of foil under corners here and there and in the middle of a few.

After all the tiles are dry, sand as desired, paint with a layer of gesso and allow that to dry.  I painted my tiles with a mixture of greens around the edges.  I then put them in a box all together so I could spatter paint on them and have them match.

My spatter palette consisted of mica green watercolor mixed with glaze base, and gold, with enough water added to make various size droplets on my tiles. Here's a close up view of how the spatter painting looks with gold and green.

Once the paint dries, draw the words on with permanent marker.

Lay tiles out to verify spacing and placement.  In my case, I changed the spacing of my original plan to fit the 24" long piece of wood I had on hand.

Paint wood strip to match the tiles

Now it's time to add the swivels, monofilament, and beads.  I removed the safety snaps from mine, but you can leave them on if you like (it takes pulling them apart with pliers to remove them, in most cases).

After marking out the placement for the tile strings, drill a corresponding hole in the wood strip.  Cut a length of monofilament about 4 inches long.  Thread one end through top of brass swivel, then thread both ends up through hole in wood strip, and through the holes in your bead.  Separate the ends, thread each side over the edge of the bead and back up through the bottom, pull the arrangement up to the wood strip, and knot monofilament several times to hold in place.  Dab knots with a bit of white glue and allow to dry.  when the glue is dry, snip off the ends of the monofilament.

(It's easier to do than it is to explain :) )

For the tiles, add a swivel to the bottom of each one except for the end pieces - those get a decorative bead!  Tie monofilament to the top of each tile, longer than you'll need, so you can make adjustments as you go.  Tie in place on the bottom swivel of the tile before it in the string.

Thank you for joining me on my first post here, 

I hope your plans for 2015 are progressing splendidly!

Tori

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Creating Clay Cutters from Paper mache forms By Gloriann Irizarry

Creating Clay Cutters from Paper mache forms 

Hello my dear  friends. This is Gloriann's June Creative Paperclay Tip

I will show you a neat trick to make oversize clay sheet form cutter.

Paper Mache forms come in many forms, sizes, styles and shapes so feel free to choose your
favorite and let me show you how to used it over and over for many projects to come . 

I start by using my favorite roller and rolling a clay sheet to the desire thickness.

I will not roller thinner than 1/4 so it will stay strong when it dries.

I choose a cute peace sign of paper mache I found at my local craft store.

They do come solid so a little cutting is required only on the once side of the letter. 

Be careful to cut it has even has possible and use a sharp blade or saw. 

This is how it will look once the entire side is cut off

Now put the shape on top of the clay sheet to like an oversize cookie cutter and use your roller 

to make sure the pressure is even distributed and the clay will cut nicely

Remove the paper mache for to reveal the amazing oversize print sheet ready for you to create anything you will like to used it for.

carefully remove any excess and let it dry completely before using it.

At this stage you can sculpt, stamp or imprint any detail to your letter then let it dry.

I like to place my shapes to dry on cookie cooling trays because the air flows better than laying on the table.

 

Now this technique can be apply in just about anyt paper mache form 

making the possibilities endless for you to create.

Now you will never see the Paper Mache Craft Store section the same way on your next visit.

Feel free to comment , explore or make any question and has always have fun creating. 

Many Blessing and Happy Crafting !

Sincerely Gloriann Irizarry

Think outside the ... cookie? A Creative Paperclay® Inspired Cookie Tree

Hi Everyone and Merry Christmas to you!

I hope you are all ready for the holidays.  Most of us are busy shopping, cleaning, doing last minute decorating, and of course, making cookies.  At this time of year, I always reminisce a little about my dear, sweet Grandmother who has long since pasted.  As a child, I would help my Grandmother make tons of holiday cookies.  Rolling out dough and using cookie cutters was my favorite.  This tutorial is just that, but with Creative Paperclay® instead.  It was really fun and there are so many variations to it.  I hope that you create some wonderful memories with your kids / grandchildren and try it out.  I will be making a Creative Paperclay® inspired cookie tree.  Are you ready?!!

I am sure some of you have see this item before.  It has various sized star cookie cutters in it and you can stack up your cookies to make a Christmas tree.  I bought this set some time ago, thinking that I would make cookies and do this, but alas, it sat unused for a few years.  So, this year I brought it out and thought what about paperclay?  

Why not give it a try?  So let's get started!   Here are the supplies you need, however, you can always omit some and use others.  The world is YOUR laboratory ... venture out and modify if you want.  

Various sized cookie cutter stars

Creative Paperclay®

Rolling Pin

Various Decorative Stamps

Baby Powder

Baking sheet, tin foil and toothpick

Rubber Scrubbers / Sand Paper

Paint 

Gel Stain / towel

Matte Varnish

Paint Brushes

Modge Podge

Glitter

Distress Ink / Cotton balls

Spray Adhesive

Christmas Paper & 2' block of wood

Wire

E6000 Glue

Let's start by prepping out our work space.  You can see that I have my silicone mat out and have sprinkled it with some baby powder.  Baby powder works like flour would to cookie dough.  It really works great on Creative Paperclay®!  Sprinkle a little on your counter and roll out your paperclay.

Looking good so far!!  Keep rolling!  I rolled my clay out to about 1/4" thick.

Next, find a cute stamp and stamp your clay.  This one has all sorts of holiday words on it.

IMPORTANT:  Since the cookie cutter set has 6 different sizes.  I needed to figure out how many of each size I was going to cut out for the tree.  This is what I came up with.

#1 --- Star on top of tree (smallest star) --- Cut out 2 - (no stamp imprint)
#2 --- Next size up --- Cut out 2   (Stamp both with same stamp imprint)
#3 --- Next size up again --- cut out 3 (stamp two with one stamp imprint and one with a different one)
#4 --- Next size up again --- cut out 3 (stamp two with one stamp imprint and one with a different one)
#5 --- Next to largest --- cut out 3 (stamp two with one stamp imprint and one with a different one)
#6 --- Largest size --- cut out 4 (stamp two with one stamp imprint and the other two with a different one)

This is the largest cookie cutter in the set.  Cut out four of these guys.  I used two different stamps on this size.  I did, two stars with the holiday word stamp and two stars with a polka dot stamp below.

Here's a tip ... If you wet your finger and go around the outside of the star smoothing down the rough edges before they are dry, sanding will be a whole lot easier.  Once you cut out your stars, place them on a cookie sheet lined with foil.

Here are my largest stars.  Two with polka dots and two with holiday words stamped on them.  Let's put these babies in the oven at 250 degrees for about an hour or until they are completely dry.  Make sure after 15 minutes, you flip them over.  They will want to curl up.  Turn them over every 15 minutes to keep them as flat as possible.

If you don't want to make a cookie tree and want to make ornaments, now is the time to poke some holes in the tops of your stars. I think these would look great as ornaments - just string a ribbon through them.  If you have letter stamps - stamps your family's names into the clay.  So easy and the kids will have so much fun trying out all your cookie cutters shapes!

Here you can see the rest of the stars in various sizes.  I tried to vary the pattern stamped on the stars.  Since we will be layering the stars, I wanted each layer to look different.  

You will notice that two stars in the upper left hand corner, have holes in them.  You will want to do this too.  These are the stars that are the next size down from the smallest star.  Poke a hole right in the middle of each one -- there should be two.  Make sure the hole goes all the way through.  These two stars will hold the top star of the tree.  Let's make that now.

To make the star on top of the tree, cut out two of the tiniest stars and glue them together with water.  Use the water to smooth out the seam line.

Next get a toothpick and poke a hole in the bottom.  Keep the toothpick in while baking the star.  Wouldn't these make cute magic wands.  Hmmm ... something else to try!

Bake these stars again at 250 degrees until completely dry.  Don't forget to turn them over every 15 minutes to avoid curling up.

Once the stars are dry and have cooled down.  Now, it's time to sand them.  The star on the left is sanded, the star on the right is not.  There is a big difference as to the rough edges vs smooth.  Sanding just gives your piece a clean, professional look.  Plus, I love to sand!

I use these little sanding pads called Rubber Scrubbers.  They are heaven!!  No harsh sand paper on my skin!  Love these!  I spoke of these in my last tip on this blog.  Check it out!  See how nice they bend to conform to what I am sanding on.  Sand the edges and underside.  Lightly sand the tops because you would hate to lose your pretty stamping.

Here the stars are sanded and ready to paint!  Let's get going!

I am using a medium green paint.  However, you can paint your stars whatever color you like!

Next, I am going to dry-brush in some lighter green to give these stars some highlights.  Looking good!  When all the stars are painted and dry, I will stain them. 

Don't forget to paint your top star.  I've decided to paint mine in a barn red.  I have removed the toothpick and will replace it with a piece of wire later.

Here I am using a gel stain to give these stars some texture.  The stain will sink into the nooks and crannies of  the stamping and really show it off.  Wear gloves to do this.  Apply the stain and then rub it off with a scrap piece of towel.  When all the stars are stained, let this dry completely.  The gel stain will be a little sticky when it is dry, but we will fix that later. 

Next, let's make the base for this tree.  Here is a 2" block of wood that I will be using.  The paper under it is what I will use to decorate the block with.

Turn your paper over and outline the size of the block.  You will need to do this six times as the block has that many sides.  Then cut them out.

Use spray adhesive to attach your paper to your block.  Spray the backside of your paper and stick it to the block's surface.

Once the spray adhesive has dried, get out your stamp pad ink and darken the edges of your block.  I am using a cotton ball to dab into the ink and rub on the corners of the block.  This hides the paper edges and looks really cool.  I am using Distress Ink - the color is vintage photo.  When your ink has dried completely, use some modge podge in matte and give the entire block a good coat of it to seal the paper.  Let dry.

Now that the gel stain is dry on all the stars, it is time to seal the them with matte varnish and add a little glitz to them. In the picture above I am holding a tiny jar of pearl-ex powder in the color interference green.  These powders, when added to varnish, give your piece an iridescent look and shimmer.

But before we add the varnish, now it is time to kinda get a feel for how our tree will be stacked.  Before you varnish the stars, do a trial run on stacking.  I want to stack each star with a different stamp pattern.  For example, you have four large stars with two different patterns.  Vary the patterns when stacking.   I also do not want to glitter each star, so I want to vary that too.  I will varnish a star with plain matte varnish and then the next star to sit on top of it, varnish adding pearl-ex and glitter to it.

I am applying a mixture of matte varnish and pearl-ex powder to every other star as I am doing my trial run to stacking.  The stars with pearl-ex in them will be glittered.  When the varnish and pearl-ex is wet on the star, sprinkle with a little glitter and let dry.

We are almost done!  Let's start stacking.  I am using E6000 glue to adhere everything together.  Put some glue on the top of your block.

Start stacking and staggering your stars.  Just add a dab of glue in the center of each star and press down the next star into in.  You can see how pretty the color variations are some stars with pearl-ex & glitter and some without.  The patterns are beautiful!

Make sure when stacking that you are center over your block.  Your tree might start leaning.  Straighten it out and keep staggering the stars.  In the above picture, I am at the top where the two stars with the hole in them will go.  Put some glue into the hole and add a small piece of wire in the first star.  Put some glue around the wire and then string your second star through the wire and press firmly down to secure.

Lastly, place the sweet star on top.  Put some glue in the hole of the star and press the star down on the wire.  YAY!!  We're done!

So darling!  You could even add tiny beads to it to give it more bling or maybe add some snow texturing.  Hope you had fun!  

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the Best in 2014!  If you have some time, please stop by my blog at www.charmedconfections.com and say hello.  If you have any questions about this tutorial, please feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you.  Thanks again and have the happiest of holidays!  LeeAnn