Serbian Folk Candleholder by Andrijana Katavic

 SERBIAN FOLK CANDLEHOLDER 

Designed By Andrijana Katavic 

Hello everyone! I am Andrijana Katavić, a polymer clay artist and instructor from Serbia, and owner of Studio Artesania. This is my first project as a Makin's Clay® Design Team member. At the same time, this is my very first project made with Makin's Clay® ever.

In my country we celebrated Mother's Day earlier than in the US (we celebrate it in beginning of March), but since I will always find an excuse to cheer my Mom, I decided to make something for her. She loves candleholders, and have a large collection of them, but I promised her long ago to make one especially for her. So, I decided to experiment with Makin's Clay® and finally make my promise true. Guided by the logic that if something goes wrong Mom will not be mad, and if my candleholder turns out great she will be very proud on me, I indulged in my first adventure with Makin's Clay® ever. By the way, the patterns and colors on the candleholder were inspired by Serbian folk costumes. I had so much fun making this candleholder, and love the final result. Mom is very, very proud of me, just so you know. So, here it is step by step tutorial.

MATERIALS:

Makin's Clay® Red 60g, White 60g, Orange 60g, Black 60g 

Makin’s Clay® Mixing Ruler™
Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin’s® 3 Teardrop Paisley Cutters

Cardboard candleholder
Beacon’s™ Premium Tacky Glue

Glass or ceramic tile

White acrylic paint

Silver acrylic paint
Red acrylic paint
Sandpapers
Wide hard painting brush

Thin soft painting brush

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1.

Cardboard candleholders in various sizes can be found in every craft store. Search for it in the decoupage or/and scrapbook section. Measure the candleholder in order to know how long the Makin's Clay® tiles will need to be later. Each side of my candleholder is 5.5 cm wide and 6 cm high. After the measuring, calculate an additional 2 to 3 millimeters since the clay will shrink after drying. I needed a 22 cm long Makin's Clay® tile, plus additional 1.2 cm for drying. This means that I need Makin's Clay® tiles about 23.2 cm. Later , I’ll cut a Makin's Clay® strip 25 cm long. You’ll find out why I do this soon.

STEP 2.

Place glass or ceramic tile on your work table. Open the white acrylic paint and squeeze greater amount on one corner of a glass/ceramic tile. Take hard painting brush and dip it in the paint. The brush must be dry and it should not be soaked in the water. Moving the brush always in the same direction - vertically, apply the first coat of white acrylic paint on cardboard candleholder. Let it dry for about 15 minutes, and apply second coat of acrylic paint, again with vertical strokes. Leave again to dry for about 15 minutes, and in the same way – with vertical strokes - apply a third coat. Allow to dry for about one hour. In the meantime, clean brush and work surface.

STEP 3.

Open silver acrylic paint and squeeze smaller amount on one corner of a glass/ceramic tile. Take the same hard brush and dip just the tip

in the paint. Brush must be dry and it should not be soaked in the water. Moving the brush always in the same direction – this time horizontally, apply one coat of silver acrylic paint on cardboard candleholder. Let it dry for 30 minutes. Use that time to clean brush and work surface.

NOTE: Painted in this manner (with dry brush and stokes in same directions) the surface of the candleholder will be textured and will look like it is covered with fabric.

STEP 4.

Open white and black Makin’s Clay®. Make larger ball of black Makin’s Clay® and put it in the I hole of the Makin’s Clay® Mixing Ruler™. Cut the excess with cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set. Use large ball tool which is included in a Mixing Ruler™ set to push clay out. Repeat the process with black clay two more times. This way you’ll get precisely measured amount of black Makin’s Clay®. Then on same way measure the white clay. You’ll need two balls of white clay measured in I, and one in H hole. Then measure one ball of red Makin’s Clay® in I, one white in G, and one orange in C hole. Use smaller ball tool from set to push clay out of C hole.

STEP 5.

Mix black (3xI) and white (2xI+1xH) clay to get dark grey clay, and red (1xI), white (1xG) and orange (1xC) clay to get bright red clay. Roll separately both colors of clay on # 4 setting on a

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®. You need two long strips of clay. Width of the strips is not essential, but it is important that they are broad enough to cover most of the candleholder. Using the Mixing Ruler™ and cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool Set cut a straight line on one edge of the clay strips. That will be at the bottom of candleholder. With Mixing Ruler™ measure the length of the stripe, and use cutter to cut side edges. Remember, it is necessary that clay strips are longer than what you need. As you see on Step 1, I needed tiles about 23.2 cm long, but I cut strips 25 cm long.

STEP 6.

With Makin’s® Paisley Cutters create a wavy edge on that side of clay strips which remained uneven. In the package are cutters in three different sizes, so use all of them to get the edge with unusual waves. During cutting make sure that the clay tiles are lower from one another, and that the gray clay stripe is lower than the candlesticks (in my case less than 6 cm). If necessary, repair the appearance of waves by cutting clay with scissors.

STEP 7.

Turn dark grey clay tile and apply on it thick coat of Beacon’s™ Premium Tacky Glue. Place clay tile

(side with glue) on candleholder such way that you will start from one corner and with a gentle finger pressure wrap clay around. Make sure that on bottom of the candleholder you have a few extra millimeters which will shrink after drying. Also, be sure that the both side ends have at least a centimeter of excess clay. Press both ends of clay with fingers trailing edge of candleholder. Cut excess clay with scissors, making sure to leave at least a few millimeters for drying. Repeat the process with light red clay.

Texture both clay with wavy cutter from Makin’s® Roller & Cutters Tool. Do not press hard, because you only need to stamp waves, and you don’t want to cut the clay. Let your project a side to dry for at least 24 hours.

STEP 8.

After drying, with thin soft painting brush apply silver acrylic paint in textured wave on red clay.

Clean brush, and then apply red acrylic paint in textured waves on grey clay. Do not worry if you paint outside of waves.

STEP 9.

Allow to dry for about one hour.

STEP 10.

Use dry sandpapers to remove excess paint which is outside of the wavy texture. Varnish Makin’s Clay® and leave to dry according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

STEP 11.
Put silver or red tea candle in the hole and enjoy your new

candleholder.

http://www.studioartesania.com/2017/12/15-diy-projects-makins-polymer-clay.html