Delight Air Dry Eggs with my 5th graders

It is getting close to Easter and my classroom is in full holiday swing mixed with April recycling projects!  My 5th graders have been working on recycled magazine basket weaving.  Of course, students work at different paces and a few have already completed their baskets.  What next??  Why eggs, of course.

I have an enormous box of plastic eggs that were donated a couple of years ago ("Could you use a bag of plastic eggs?  I have been weeding out"...my surprise?  the "bag" was a lawn bag FILLED with eggs!!).  I pulled out the box of eggs and let each choose one.  We added some glass beads to the inside to turn the eggs into shaker/maraca eggs.  Then came the clay...

I pulled out the Delight clay and gave each student a piece (about 1/8th of the package).  I demoed how color can be added with washable markers by dabbing the marker onto the clay.  Kneading the color into the clay will turn the normally white clay into the color chosen.  Many students chose to marbleize the color by partially mixing the color into the clay.  Others decided to cover the egg before coloring with markers or acrylic paint.  Soon snakes and coils, polka dots and pancakes of clay took over the tables.  As you can imagine, no 2 were alike!

 

I have a ton of Tandy leather stamping tools that I use with my clay students for texture as well as texture sheets and rollers.  I put everything out for the students to use to embellish their eggs. 

 

Once complete, we placed the eggs in (what else??) an egg carton to dry.  (NOTE: I used a Styrofoam  egg carton to keep the clay from sticking to the sides)

 

Super easy project!  Great for all ages and abilities.  Don't have plastic eggs??  The Delight Air Dry could also go around paper mache' eggs or ceramic eggs or create a free form egg shape from foil!

Kid's Project: Easter Egg Necklace

This is an easy-peasy project for kids of all ages. With a little help from the grown-up, even the youngest artists can create a OOAK Easter egg necklace.

Chloe and I used Creative Paperclay® to make several small eggs. Try to get them as smooth as possible when forming them in your hands, but don't be too concerned with small surface imperfections. They will magically disappear later in the process :)

After the eggs were formed, I inserted an eye hook in the narrow end of the clay egg.

Egg and eye hook

Inserting eye hook

Egg with eye hook inserted

Next, the eggs were set aside to dry. As the eggs dry, they may shrink a bit and the eye hook might loosen. If this happen, just use liquid adhesive to hold it in place and reinsert it. Allow the adhesive to dry thoroughly.

Now, to take care of those surface blemishes. We painted the eggs with slip to achieve a smooth, finished surface. Allow the slip to dry, then paint your eggs. We didn't even have to sand the eggs. The slip left a magically smooth surface.

The last step is to add the eggs to a chain, and enjoy!!

Finished Easter egg necklace

Carole	Chloe
Table Cell	Table Cell

Bunnies are Everywhere!

Good Morning!

 The stores seem to have Easter items out already. It's still a little early for my decorations to be put up at my house. To keep me happy until I start decorating, I created this cute bunny display out of Creative Paperclay®.

Look at all the eggs she has gathered to color. She looks so cute resting on a comfy pillow in her half egg shell chair ready to munch on a carrot.

Supplies

 Creative Paperclay®
Americana multi-surface paint
Makins USA® scalloped clay cutter
 Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive®
Large paper mache' egg
Foil
Wire (20 gauge)
Recycled ribbon spool
Micro buttons
Wood Bees
Miniature doll house basket of eggs
Easter grass
Scalloped charger
Chocolate speckled eggs

Let's get started

The Egg Chair

1. Cut a large paper mache' egg in half.
2. Smooth  paperclay around one half of the egg.
3. Take your scalloped clay cutter and  trim around the open edge of the egg.
4. Let air dry or bake per manufacturers instructions.
5. When dry remove from the paper mache' form.
6. Paint your shell the color of your choice.

The Base

1. Take an empty ribbon spool and remove the cardboard from one side.
2. Paint to match your egg color.
3.Glue the painted base to the shell.

The Bunny

1. Take a piece of foil and form it into an egg shape forthe bunnies body.
2. Use foil to form an smaller egg shape for the head.
3. Cover both with paperclay and smooth.
4. Roll out a clay rope.
5. Wrap the clay rope around the bottom of the head.
6. Attach the head to the body smoothing the clay to form it into 1 piece.
7. Take two pieces of clay and attach to the head for ears.
8. Make 3 small balls 1 for the nose and 2 for the bunny cheek jowls and attach to head.
9. Cute 4 small pieces of 20 gauge wire and  insert them into the cheek jowls.

The Pillow and the Carrot

1. Take a piece of foil and shape it into a rectangle.
2. Smooth paperclay over the top and sides.
3. Let dry and paint.
4. Attach buttons to all 4 corners.
5. Turn the Pillow over and glue Easter grass to the bottom edges of the pillow.
6. Take a small ball of clay and form it into the shape of a carrot. Let dry and paint.
7. Glue the pillow into the shell, glue the bunny on and then the carrot.
8. Add any other miniatures you would like. I added the basket and the bees.

 I created an Easter scene using a scalloped edge charger, Easter grass, little fuzzy chicks, and speckled chocolate eggs.

Thanks so much for checking out my tutorial. I hope it inspires you to create a new decoration for the Easter holiday.

Shari

I have been creating art for as long as I can remember. I studied graphic design in Portland, Oregon before moving to Denton, Texas and putting all my focus on creating mixed media art. In addition to being on the Creative Paperclay design team, I am a contributor for the Robin's Nest Design Team, an article writer for Mixed Media Art, and a blogger for DecoArt.

I strongly believe in giving back. I volunteer at Scrap Denton Creative Reuse Center where I teach workshops, art camps, and perform art demos. I am very passionate about mixed media art and enjoy helping and watching others discover their creativity.

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A Family Friendly Easter Project

Grab the kiddos for this fun and quick project to bump your Easter egg decorating to the next level. I designed this project to be quick, easy, and all ages friendly. In this sample, we’re turning our egg into a bunny. You could also try a chick, dogs, cats, pretty much anything with feet and ears.

Supply List:

• Creative Paperclay Modeling Material
• Eggs (I used paper mache eggs. Boiled eggs or wood eggs would work just as well)
• Hot Glue (grown-ups only please!)
• Any decorating supplies you have on hand

Start with the base of your animal on the wide end of the egg. In the case of Mr. Bunny, I made three balls of clay, two for the feet and one for the tail. I massaged the feet ball around until they had a rough foot shape with three toes and squished the tail around to look fluffy. Once the feet and tail have their basic shapes, press them against the egg to make sure they bend at the right places to be a perfect fit. When you’re happy with the shape and fit, set them aside to dry. 

Next, repeat the process for the ears and any face embellishments you want. I made Mr. Bunny two ears, two cheeks, and a nose. You may want just a nose or no 3D shapes at all. After you have fit your nose and face to the egg, set them aside to dry as well.

While the clay is drying, decorate your egg. (If you don’t want to wait for the full natural drying time, try the oven!) The sky is the limit here! If you’re using real eggs you could dye them as you normally would. Paint, crayons, stickers, and glitter glue are all options. I went with a classic spring paint job on my paper mache egg. 

Now that the pieces are dry and the egg is painted, I’m going to attach the feet, tail, ears, and face with small dots of hot glue...

... then paint them.  Painting them before you attach them is absolutely an option; however, I find that little hands work better when they have more to hold on to. Give it a try both ways!

These eggs come together so fast, you and your little ones could literally make 100s (OK, maybe 10s) for Easter Egg Hunts, Easter Baskets, table decorations, work gifts, or teacher gifts.

Thanks so much for checking out this project! Be sure to browse around this site for more projects and visit me, Susan, at TheBoredZombie.com for even MORE projects. As always, you if you make this, I want to see it! Send photos/blog posts/etc to susandowenby@gmail.com