Shari's Creative PaperclayTip of the Month - January 2017

Hi!

Welcome to my Creative Paperclay® tip of the month for January. Can you believe it's 2017 already?!?

When finishing my paperclay pieces, I absolutely love my Sandits® tools. They are great for getting into those places that sandpaper just cant touch. They come in a several shapes and grit. They are one of my "go to" tools for paperclay.

Recently I was sanding a piece and came to an area that I could not reach with any of my tools. Nothing would get to the area I needed to have finished. Then I thought of a great idea. I got out my fingernail files. It worked!

Fingernail files come in several different grits, you can cut them to any shape you need, they bend easily to get into those hard to reach spots, and they are very inexpensive.

I hope this little tip might help the next time you are working with Creative Paperclay®.

Happy Creating!

Shari

Shari's Tip of the Month for December- Finding Paperclay Tools

Good morning!

The Holidays have arrived!
 I have my tree up and decorated, the family visits have begun, and holiday goodies are baking in the oven.

So much time last week was spent in the baking isle at my local craft and hobby store. They have the best baking tools. There are so many fun candy and fondant molds too.  The cutting tools alone will help you make some decorating magic.

Come to think of it, working with fondant is similar to working with clay.

Because they had buy one get one half off on all baking items at the craft store, I bought one set of tools for baking and one for clay. Brilliant!

 Hope this tip helped inspire you to look outside the box when creating with clay.

Happy Creating,
Shari

Shari's tip of the month for November- Unexpected Paperclay Molds

Good Morning!

I was recently shopping for some new mixed media elements. I was ready to recycle the plastic form trays that they come in when I realized they were an  exact mold of the original. 

I found another to make keys. I started thinking even more outside the box and found a plastic mold off of my cupcake papers that will work too!

 I would suggest that you lightly spray the mold with cooking spray before adding your paperclay. Let the clay dry partially before removing it from the mold. 


I was really excited to share this tip with you. I am now looking at everything I purchase to see if I can use it as a mold. I love the fact that I not only have great molds but I reused something that would have normally been tossed or recycled.

I would love to hear what interesting items you have used to make a mold.

Happy creating,
Shari

Shari's October tip of the month- Filling the Gaps

Hi!

My tip of the month is short, sweet, and saved the day. I happened across it when I was creating a project last weekend.

Late Friday night I was just about done with a mixed media piece. I have been struggling on this piece and so I was down to the wire.

The last piece, a dowel rod, need to have the dowel cap on it. No problem! I had the dowel cap.... or did I? The cap I had purchased was too large for the dowel. The project was due in the morning before any of the craft stores opened.  Panic!

I started looking around my studio and when I opened my paperclay drawer an idea popped into my head. I took a small piece of  Delight® (white) air dry modeling compound and kneaded in a small amount of Tacky glue. I filled the cap with the compound, inserted the dowel,(the compound will ooze out over the edges),and wiped away the excess.

When dry, paint the compound the color of your cap.

 Voila! A perfect fit.   

Happy creating!
Shari

Shari's tip of the month for September - The Stash Box

Good Morning!

My tip for this month is something that you may not think of when you are creating. Its simple but can save you tons of time.

Every time I open up my paperclay and make that first piece for my project I stop and I think. Should I make another for my paperclay stash? Of course!

Need a common shape that you could use on another project? Check your paperclay stash. Are you doing multiples of a project and are short that one piece and no more clay on hand? Check your stash box. Hate waiting for pieces to dry? You could have a piece all ready to go in your stash.

Once you create one piece it's always easier to make another right away. Don't forget about those "mistakes" you make also. Don't toss them! It might be perfect for another project. Put it in your Paperclay stash box.

Here is some of my Creative Paperclay® stash. I keep it in a clear container so its easy to see what I have.

 

Hope this tip will help you when making magic with Creative Paperclay®.

Happy Creating,

Shari

https://shariwelch.blogspot.com/

Shari's Tip of the Month

Hi!,

Today I am going to share with you a tip on fixing a broken ceramic piece with Creative Paperclay®.


I found this ceramic garden art piece at my creative reuse center Scrap Denton. As you can see it is in horrible shape. The film covering it was peeling off and it had a pretty good crack that someone had tried to glue together.

Just like Charlie Brown's little Christmas tree I felt the need to bring it home and give it some tender loving care.

I don't mean to burst your bubble, but probably like myself, I was under the asumption these kind of pieces were hand painted. Apparently I was wrong. It is some kind of shrink wrap.I peeled off the film as much as I could and took a utility knife to scrap off the rest. I then sanded it down and wiped it with a damp lint free cloth.

I dampened the cracked area slightly. I added paperclay being sure to work it deep into the crack. When all the cracks are filled I will then smoothed it out with my damp fingers. Let this sit for several days before you attempt to sand the area. Once it's ready I can truly give it the hand painted finish it was meant to always have.

I hope you enjoyed my tip of the month. Sadly, this will be my last post for Creative Paperclay®. I have been asked to be a blogger and outside artist for DecoArt ®.

I have so enjoyed being on this design team with such lovely creative artists. Creative paperclay is a product that I will continue to create with. Thank you for believing in me and allowing me to join the team. I will miss you all!

I would love you all to continue to follow my creative journey at My Altered Life's blog and My Altered life on facebook.

Shari