Photobooth Prop Phrenzy with Rachel Whetzel

Happy HOLIDAYS, Creatives!! Rachel Whetzel here! I've been a busy elf this season, helping with some projects for the Christmas Party at my husband's work. One of the larger projects we're doing, is creating a photobooth area. Employees can get dressed up, and be silly while taking their pictures at the party! We've made a TON of the props, some signs, and fun festive frames, but I wanted to do more than the usual paper cut outs on a stick for a few of them. I got busy making THESE using Creative PaperClay® Modeling Material. After our party, I'll share more of the projects that weren't Creative PaperClay® related on MY BLOG.

This is my last post here on the blog for a while!! I'm taking a break from some design team commitments, and spending HUGE amounts of time at basketball games. Thank you all so much for your support, and for the love you show each of us designers here! I have enjoyed being here so much. Of course, I won't stop creating, farming and generally misbehaving, so if you'd like to keep up with me on my other interweb haunts, I would love that. (links at the end of this post) Now, ON TO BUSINESS! 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED to make your own photobooth props:

• Creative Paperclay®
• Paints and Brushes I use Folk Art acrylic craft paints and Krylon Spray paints
• Foil
• Empty and clean large can
• Headbands
• Various decorations... (holly, berries, hat band ribbon, metal pipe cleaners, bells
• Sturdy small dowels
• Drill (I use a hand drill) 
• Glue (I used E6000) 

Gather your supplies for your creations, and get cracking smooshing and shaping your foil into shapes! I created the core for my carrot nose, rudolph's nose, and Frosty's pipe. 

Wrap and twist your foil around a headband to create the core for your antlers.

Cover your pieces with Creative PaperClay®, and place them in the oven to speed up your drying time. I usually put mine in at about 190 degrees F. 

To add stability to my pieces attached to headbands, I added a layer of Creative PaperClay® to the underside of the headbands. Here they are, complete with paint. 

Once your pieces are dry, sand them, and paint them, and add your decorations! I put some holly, berries and a hat band around the hat:

Some orange spray paint, and shading using stain to bring out the "carrotness" of my carrot nose:

Some red paint and glitter to Rudolf's nose:

And some bells and pipe cleaners wound into coils to his antlers. I also painted the headband red, to imitate his halter. 

Once everything is painted and decorated, add your dowels by drilling a hole into the pieces that will need a dowel, and glue them into place. Now you're READY FOR ACTION!! 

Thanks for reading! I have loved every second of my two years here as a Designer for Creative PaperClay® and I hope to be able to return in the future!! In the mean time, if you'd like to keep up with me, and see more of what I'm up to and keep up with me, I'd also love it if you'd visit MY BLOG and Subscribe! You can also find me on FACEBOOK!

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