Halloween Moon Stick Pin

Design Team Member Cynthia Gougian recently shared this fun Halloween Moon stick pin made with Makin's Clay®.  

Happy Halloween from Makin's Clay®!

Adult Coloring with Makin's Clay® - Butterfly Wing

ADULT COLORING WITH MAKIN'S CLAY® by Cynthia Gougian 

It’s October, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook are filled marvelous Halloween creations!

Unfortunately, here in Georgia, my outdoor thermometer was telling me it was still summer!   My original intent was to design some Halloween dragon fly wings.  But, my muse and the weather took me in another direction.  And, I am so glad that happened!  I stumbled on an adult coloring technique using Makin’s Clay®  and Prismacolor® pencils!  I am just so excited to share it! 

Materials:

·     Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

·     Makin’s Clay®  15 g in black (1/4 of a 60 gram package)

·     Christi Friesen’s Flutter Wings ©2015 texture sheet, deep texture sheet of your choice.

·     An acrylic roller

·     Prismacolor® colored pencils, or soft colored pencils of your choice

·     Small embroidery scissors

·     A craft knife

·     Cornstarch, or powder

·     Grumbacher® Matte Final Fixative

·     1.5 mm Wire ferrule (Sometimes labeled for 16 AWG wire)

·     4 mm and 6 mm jump rings, or jump rings in sizes of your choice

·     Necklace cord of your choice

Instructions:

Step 1:  I used scissors to cut off about a ¼ block of 60 gram Makin’s® black clay. 

Step 2:  I wrapped the remaining clay in the plastic packaging, then immediately put it in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel.  I removed the excess air from the bag and sealed it tightly.  Makin’s® clay will remain fresh for quite sometime if you store it carefully.

Step 3:  I dusted the mold with some cornstarch.  You can dip a soft artist brush into some cornstarch, then brush it on the mold.  But, I use an old trick from my cake decorating days.  I place a clean, knee -high stocking into another knee-high stocking. I then fill the stockings with corn starch, and knot the top.  This makes a corn starch pounce.   I just pat the mold with the pounce to apply the cornstarch.  It’s less messy!

Step 4:  I rolled the black Makin’s® clay through the thickest setting of the Makin’s Ultimate Clay Machine®.  Then I placed the clay over the mold, and rolled over it with an acrylic roller. 

Step 5:  After rolling, I pressed the clay into the mold with my fingers.  I wanted to make sure I got all the details! 

Step 6:  Once I demolded the wings, I cut of most of the excess clay with embroidery scissors. I didn’t try to cut too close to the wings at this point.  

Step 7:  I stored the excess clay away so that I could use it again. 

Step 8:  I used the 1.5 mm wire ferrule to cut holes at the top of the wings.  Then I let the wings dry for 24 hours. 

Step 9:  Once the clay was thoroughly dry, it was easy to cut out the wings with embroidery scissors. 

Step 10:  Here’s a close up of the wing completely trimmed.  

Step 11:  I used Prismacolor® Apple green to color some of the cells of the wing. I found it was best to use gentle pressure on the pencil. I also found that small circular strokes worked best to obtain full coverage.  Long strokes left the colored areas looking streaky. 

Step 12:  I used Prismacolor® Lilac to color the remaining cells.  

Step 13:  Once the wing was fully colored, I added Prismacolor® Parrot Green to just the inside corner of the green cells. 

Step 14:  Then I added Prismacolor® Violet to just the inside corner of the lilac cells. 

Step 15:  Then, I used a Prismacolor® Colourless Pencil to blend the darker colors into the lighter colors.  If you don’t have a Prismacolor® Colourless pencil, you can use a white pencil, or a very light grey pencil to blend.   

Step 16:  Once or twice, I had slipped with my colored pencils.  I had gotten some color where I wanted the only the black clay to show. But, I was able to touch up the black areas with a Prismacolor® Black pencil.    

Step 17:  When I had finished coloring the wing, I applied two coats of Grumbacher® Matte Final Fixative, allowing the wing to dry thoroughly between coats. 

I was very happy with how well the Prismacolor® Pencils laid down on the Makin’s Clay®! Even though I used black clay, I got great coverage.  Dry Makin’s Clay® has a nice “tooth” (slightly rough texture). This makes it easy to add layers of beautiful color with the Prismacolor® Pencils.  I am looking forward to exploring this technique further and sharing more adult coloring projects!

When the fixative was dry, I used a jump ring to attach the wing to a necklace cord. 

Autumn Leaves Photo Frame

Materials:

• Makin's Clay® white 
• Makin's Professional® cutting mat
• Mini leaves cutters
• Roller
• Chalk pastels in fall colours
• White glue
• Soft paint brushes
• A blade
• Plastic bag or foil

Instructions:

This project was born really fast as I had a great helper, my daughter Liza.  I actually,find Makin's Clay® one of the best clays to work with when working with - there are tons of possibilities and it is easy to use.  

1.  Take a piece of white clay out of a package and roll it to a thin layer  (the rest of the clay should be kept in a zip lock with a w et wipe inside.)

2   Add some chalk dust in autumn shades right on the white sheet. 

3.  We used a blade to make the dust.  

4.  Use a soft brush to spread the chalk powder over the clay.  

5.  Blow the rest.  Keep a sheet so that you collect the colourful dust. 

6.  Put the colouful dust you collected on the other side of the clay sheet. Repeat  steps 4 and 5.

 

7.  Use mini leaves cutters to cut as many leaves as you wish.

8.  Some leaves will separate well, and some will not, so leave the sheet for 30-50 minutes and then use regular scissors to cut them out. The chalks help the clay dry faster. Let the leaves dry completely for about 20-24 hours.

9.  Meanwhile, let us prepare the picture and the paper frame – I have coloured it with gold acrylic and left some fingerprints, to add some texture. I use double side tape to adhere the pic and the frame.

10. Prepare the cardboard, I glued “knitted” scrap paper on it, and some embellishments.  The main embellishments are the leaves.  For them to be a bit glossy I have used white glue.  Just take each leaf and brush some white glue over from both sides.  Leave to dry for about 30 minutes. (NB! This was my biggest discovery in this project, as I had no clue what to use to make the leaves glossier and had no special mediums).  Attach the leaves chaotically with tacky glue.  

You may use this frame as a frame, or make a page in a scrapbooking album, or make a magnet out of it.  It is up to you! Go and create!!!

Feather Card

Feather Card by Nancy Nickel

Materials Used:

Makin's Clay® - Blue Clay

Feathers Mold  

Carta Bella  Wildflower Paper

Recollections - Cardstock

Enamel Accents - White

White Seam Binding

Instructions:

1.   Start with making the three clay feathers. Press the blue clay into the feather mold. Allow to air dry in mold, or remove from mold.

2.   When feathers are dry, dab with white Enamel Accents, to bring out all the details.

3.   Adhere decorative paper to card base.

4.   Adhere feathers in place, on the decorative paper. Position them in the center towards the top.

5.   Tie the seam binding into a bow, and adhere in place over the clay feathers.

Makin's Clay® is so much fun to work with, and it offers endless creative possibilities!

Witches Hat Earrings

With Halloween approaching, I wanted to make something fun to go with my Halloween Costume… and what better way to add to a costume than jewellery! Makin's Clay® is lightweight and durable to make fun themed earrings and jewellery pieces. Any guesses to what I am dressing up as? 

Materials:

Makin’s Clay®- Black, Plum Wine and Yellow

Makin's Clay® Roller or Clay Machine 

Makin’s Professional® Cutting Mat 

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder®

Makin's® Texture Sheet Set C - Weave

Makin's® Clay Tool Set - Chisel

Clay Blade

Circle cutter 3cm diameter

Triangle cutters (optional) 

2 Micro square cutters, one approx. 1cm and 0.8cm 

Micro Circle cutter approx. 1cm

Tacky glue 

Black coated jump ring 1.2cm

Surgical steel earring posts 0.5cm

Pin Vice Drill

Jewellery pliers 

Instructions:

Roll out your Makin's Clay® black to the thickest setting on your clay machine, then cut two, 3cm circles. Smooth edges of the circle with your fingers. Lay aside and cut two triangles to fit each circle. I used a diamond cutter and then used the same circle cutter to do a curved cut in the middle of the diamond, then trimmed it to fit the circle. 

Lay the triangles on top the circle bases, use a touch of water or tacky glue to attach them.

Extrude Makin’s Clay® - Plum wine with the help of Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder® and the single circle extruder disk, to make the witches hat ribbon. 

Place the strip of clay around the base of the point hat tip with water or tacky flue. Smooth the edges down slightly.

To make the witches hat buckle, roll out your Makin's Clay® Yellow to the 3rd thickest setting on your clay machine. Cut a little square using the larger of the 2 square cutters, then in the centre of that square place the smaller square cutter and cut out the square, leaving a square outline use as a buckle.

  

Place the put line square onto the hat ribbon using tacky glue or water, I placed them a little off-centre to add interest. 

Roll out your Makin's Clay® Plum Wine to the thickest setting on your clay machine, then cut a 1cm circle, using a micro circle cutter. Smooth edges of the circle with your fingers. At this point, you can put a hole towards the bottom of the circle and towards the top of the Witches hat point, for later on jump ring attachment. or I used a pin vice drill, later on, once dry to put the holes in.

Set aside the Hats and circles to dry for 24 hours. 

This next step is optional.

Roll out your Makin's Clay® Plum Wine to 3rd thinnest setting on your clay machine, then Lightly dust, dusting powder (cornstarch) over the clay. Place the Makin's Clay® Texture Sheet Set C - Weave on top of the clay, using your fingers press and roll over the texture sheet, pressing the impression into the clay. Does not have to be a perfect impression right around, it is to give an organic feel.

Use the same circle cutter used to cut the base of the hat, cut a circle out to place on the bottom of the hat base. Adhere it with some tacky glue. Smooth edges with your fingertips.

Allow to dry for 24 hours. 

Place holes using the pin vice drill (if already haven’t) drill holes in towards the bottom of the circle and towards the top of the witches hat point. To finish the earrings off, attach jump rings to attach the hat and circle. Then glue earring posts to the back of the circles.

Hope you have fun making and wearing these Witches Hat Earrings!

Happy Halloween!