Crafting with Clay

Over the last day and a half, I was stuck on the interstate, broken down on the side of the road, and traveled about 900 miles to get back home to animals that think holding a grudge will make me stay home in the future, so I hope that you will forgive me for not getting the Monday post up in a timely manner.


I want to thank my guest blogger, Alyssa of Complex Beauty, for the great posts last week (Wednesday-Friday), and hope that she has a wonderful time on her vacation [in Texas] this week! I also hope that I can talk her into coming back and posting once in a while, as I really enjoyed her writing, and hope that you all did too! 


So let me back up and provide you all with a project, and then I will get some much needed sleep and try a more interesting subject tomorrow!


For a quick and easy craft project, one that will provide you with a few different finishing opportunities, try purchasing some modeling clay to make various animal decorations. Make sure to get the kind of clay that you bake to finish. You can find the white clay at a very reasonable price, in your local walley world, but if you want/need any colored blocks, you will need to shop your local hobby stores, but expect to pay a tad more, for a whole lot smaller block of clay.   


Try making a cute little sheep. It is easy and oh so adorable! To begin with, break off a small amount of the white and knead it until it is fairly pliable. Press it out until you have a nice oval shape for a body. Add a head, ears, nose and four legs in much the same way. Then make many small (very tiny works best) balls and press them into the body to create some "wool".  Before you bake it, make sure to decide how you want to finish the piece off. You can put a hole in it to allow for hanging (ornaments with an "ewes special" tag are always cute!) or you can glue  a magnet strip on the back for a fridge magnet. Then bake according to the package directions and finish by painting appropriately.

How about a cute pig? Use a toothpick to sort of give the hooves that cloven look.

Or a cow? This one's details are easily painted                  after its baked. I used white for all of these, and just painted the various colors needed. This made them less expensive to create and very easy to get the designs as I wanted.

So get busy creating, just let your imagination be your guide. You can create the whole barnyard if you want!