Alphabet Soup Bowl

Hello Makers!

Remember eating alphabet soup as a kid. I always saw it as an educational and interactive kind of meal. You get to spell out words as you’re eating. Of course, by time you’re done eating and spelling, you soup was cold. So nice to be a kid. So today I pay homage to the old fashioned alphabet soup, with an alphabet soup bowl made out Makin’s Clay® alphabet cutters and white clay. So you can’t eat this, but you will have fun making it. So I hope you give a try. 

Materials:

• Makin's Clay®– White  
• Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat
• Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine 
• Makin's Clay®– Alphabet Cutters
• Deco Arts Americana – Warm White, Baby Blue, Prussian Blue
• Sculpey Gloss Clay Sealer
• Bowl
• Corn Starch
• Aleene’s Clear Glue

Instructions:

Determine desired bowl shape and size. For this project I used a square bowl that measures 4.4 x 4.4 inches.

Using the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®, roll out a sheet of white to the second thickest setting. (Setting #2)

Fold a small sheet of clay in half. This will be thickness of the letters. You’ll want at a minimum ¼ inch thick letters, in order to have enough surface to glue the letters together.

Dip or brush the cutters with corn starch, ensuring to get inside the cutters. This will keep the cutters from sticking to the clay. 

Cut the letters out with cutters. Wipe of cornstarch with a soft brush.

As your’re cutting out the letters, glue the letters together inside the bowl. This is good to do while the clay is fresh; the clay is pliable, can be shaped and sticks better. Do two or three letters at time. Condition a new sheet and repeat the process. Don’t do a lot of letters at time, the clay begins to dry/cure when taken out of the package. 

Here all letters are glued to each other. Let the bowl cure for 24 hours. 

After 24 hours, turn the bowl upside down, and place the clay bowl on top of the real bowl. Let it cure for another 24 hours. Because the clay bowl is a little thick, and it’s inside a solid surface, the bottom does not get enough air to completely cure. So turning it over helps.

Place a little water and glue in a small container and brush the glue all over the clay bowl. Let it dry. Then turn the clay bowl upside down and brush on glue to the other side. This helps to strengthen the bowl.

Paint two coats of Deco Arts Americana Warm White paint on both sides. Allow the paint to dry.

Paint one coat of the Deco Arts Americana Baby on both sides. Allow the paint to dry.

Paint one coat of Deco Arts Americana Prussian Blue, focusing on the crevices. Then wipe off the paint with a baby wipe, leaving the paint in the crevices. Do this to both sides. As you are doing this you will notice that you will push globs of paint through crevices to the other side. Once you are done with one side, take a look at the opposite and wipe of the globs of paint. Let the paint dry completely.

Using a make up sponge, gently paint Deco Arts Americana Baby Blue, ensuring to paint the raised areas, while avoiding the creavices. Do this to both sides. This helps to make it neat and even.

Well this is it for me. I hope you like my alphabet soup bowl and will give it a try!