Copper Autumn Mums Earrings

Copper Autumn Mums Earrings by Cindi McGee

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - White (or any scrap colors) 

Makin’s Professional® Professional Clay Tools - Sphere tool 

Makin’s® Clay Tool Set 

Makin’s® Clay Roller 

Makin’® Circle Clay Cutter Set 

Beacon Mixed-Media Glue®

DecoArt® Dazzling Metallics® - Copper 

Fine paintbrush 

Bronze/Copper French earring wires, jump rings, eye pins

Copper toned crystal beads 

Jewelry pliers 

Instructions:

I save “extra” Makin’s Clay® from my projects for use in future projects. As long as you store it in an airtight container, such as a zipper bag, with a damp paper towel or moist towelette, the clay will remain fresh for later use. For this project, I actually used some of that scrap clay - I have one bag that is small bits of assorted colors - so please disregard the fact that the clay I used appears “dirty.” The finished earrings are painted so it does not really matter what color your base clay is.  The flexible and lightweight nature of Makin’s Clay® when it is dry makes it ideal for delicate projects like this, as the petals will bend a bit rather than be fragile and break off easily. 

Roll clay into two balls about 3/4”, flatten the balls. It is okay if they are irregular. 

Roll a strand of clay about 1/8” in diameter (Optional: Use the Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder®  and single hole disc #2 or #3 to extrude a strand for this step.) 

Use tool to cut pieces about 1/4” from the strand. Take your fingertip and gently roll the pieces to a point on one end to create petals.

Place the flat edge of the tool onto the petals to create an indentation from the point to the end. 

Place the first row of petals onto the disc, using the sphere tool to gently push the ends against the disc.  

Repeat with a second layer, alterating placement of the petals. Then, repeat with additional layers as desired, using less petals each time, bringing them in closer and closer toward the center as you go until your mum is fully formed. 

Let dry 24 hours. 

Roll clay to about 1/8”.  Use circle cutter large enough to cover the base area of each mum. 

Assemble French earring wires, adding a crystal on an eye pin, and then a small jump ring to each. Trim 2 more eye pins to about 1/2”.  Attach the earring wires. Place the pins against the back of each earring. Add a touch of Mixed-Media Glue and place the cut circles over the pins, pressing into place to adhere and secure the pins. 

Let dry 24 hours. 

Paint each mum with Dazzling Metallics copper paint. 

Framed Steampunk Monogram

Framed Steampunk Monogram by Cindi McGee

I save almost all of my "leftovers" when creating projects with Makin's Clay®.  This Steampunk monogram was created for my good friend Patricia Krauchune.  She is the queen of Steampunk and I wanted to make her something special for her studio.  It is made up entirely of "scraps" of textured and stamped clay from other projects.  Below are the materials you would need to recreate the same variety of textures and images. 

Materials:

Makin's Clay® - Black, Natural, Brown

Makin's® Texture Sheet Sets - A, F, G, and H 

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Makin's Professional® Professional Clay Tools 

Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat 

Clock face rubber stamp, other varied Steampunk style rubber stamps 

DecoArt® Metallic Lustre™ - Copper Kettle, Gold Rush, Black Shimmer, Silver Spark, Burnished Brass 

DecoArt® Americana™ Decor® Creme Wax - Golden Brown

Scissors 

Craft knife 

Ruler

Frame with mat board insert 

Silver and black acrylic paints 

Black Staz-On ink pad

Beacon® Tacky Glue

Beacon® 527 Adhesive 

Instructions:

Roll sheets of black, brown clay, and natural Makin's Clay®. I used the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® and rolled to setting #2. Use a variety of the texture sheets to texture the black and brown clay sheets. I also used rubber stamps to add texture to some pieces.  

Use stamps inked with permanent black ink to stamp onto natural clay sheets.  Let all sheets dry 24 hours. 

To "age" the natural sheets, apply brown creme wax and then immediately wipe off excess.  This will stain the natural clay and give it the desired effect. 

Use the assorted DecoArt® Metallic Lustres™ to highlight the textures on the brown and black textured sheets of clay. 

Now you are ready to begin assembling your letter. 

For the base of the monogram, roll black Makin's Clay® with Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® to setting #3. 

Using the mat board, determine size of letter you wish to create.  Use craft knife to cut the rolled clay sheets to the appropriate sizes to create the letter.  If desired, trace a letter as a template. 

 

Use scissors to cut squares, rectangles, and strips from the textured and stamped sheets of dry clay. 

Begin to assemble them in a random fashion, alternating patterns and colors of metallic finish, to fill in the entire area of the base letter. The goal at this point is to create your desired pattern, NOT to permanently mount the pieces to the base letter.   

Once you have them arranged to your liking, add tacky glue to the back of each piece and reassemble. 

Roll an additional sheet of black clay to setting #3 on the Ultimate Clay Machine®.  Place onto cutting mat, use ruler and cutting wheel to cut strips of clay the same width to place between the seams of all the individual tiles.  Apply Black Shimmer Metallic Lustre™ to each strip. Cut them to the required size to create the outlines for the tiles, add tacky glue and mount. 

I created the rivets/screws for the corners of each tile by using a tool to cut small circles from a sheet of black clay. You could also create small balls of clay and flatten them. Each circle was given a "x" on the surface to mimic a screw head. Add Black Shimmer Metallic Lustre to each screw. Use tacky glue to mount them to the corners of each tile. Let dry 24 hours. 

Paint the mat board with metallic copper paint and let dry.  Paint the frame with silver metallic paint and let dry. Use a damp paper towel to apply a light amount of black acrylic paint over the silver frame.  Then use dry paper towel to rub off excess, leaving an aged effect. 

Place the mat board into the frame. Use Beacon 527 or similar strong adhesive to mount the clay letter, centered. Let dry. Add hanging hardware to back of frame. 

Honeycomb & Bee Pendant

HONEYCOMB & BEE PENDANT by Cindi McGee

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® 60g Persimmon, Black

Makin’s Professional®

• Cutting Mat
• Ultimate Clay Machine®
• Ultimate Clay Extruder® - Slot Disc 11

Makin’s® Texture Sheet Set -  C -  Honeycomb 

Clay blade

JudiKins™ Big Bee rubber stamp 

Staz-on Jet Black permanent ink pad

Black cording

Beacon® Tacky Glue 

Instructions:

Roll Persimmon clay to setting #1 on clay machine. Place texture sheet over clay and roll both through machine again on setting #1. 

Place onto cutting mat. Determine approximate finished size of piece based upon the stamp you are using.  

Use the guidelines on the mat to cut a square (mine was 6 cm x 6 cm). Then use the guideilnes to cut the corners to make a hexagon. Since my square was 6 cm, I cut in 2 cm on each side to make the slant cuts. 

Ink stamp with permanent black ink. Carefully impress tamp into clay to transfer ink and pattern into clay. 

Roll remaining clay to setting #1 on clay machine. Place texture sheet over clay and roll both through machine again on setting #1. 

Use the first hexagon as a template to cut another.  Add tacky glue to the back and mount the two pieces together so the honeycomb is on both sides. Make a hole at the top fo cording. Use something to weigh down and ensure it dries flat - I used the stamp with the glue bottle - it was just heavy enough to ensure it remained flat yet not heavy enough to effect the texture. Let dry 24 hours. 

Extrude black clay strand.  Add tacky glue to edge of honeycomb and then add black strand around outer edge. Trim to fit as needed.  Let dry 24 hours. 

Add black cording. 

Black & Gold Paisley Bangle Bracelet

Black & Gold Paisley Bangle Bracelet by Cindi McGee

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - Black

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder® - 3 hole disc 

Makin’s Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®

Wooden bangle 

JudiKins™ Diamond Glaze 

Gold microbeads 

DecoArt® Americana® Multi-Surface Satin™ - Gold 

CreateAlong.com Peacock Borders Silkscreen by Cindi McGee Designs

Paintbrush 

Scissors 

Squeegee 

Beacon™ 527 Adhesive 

Instructions:

Often when I am working on a project and have “leftover” clay I will roll it into thin sheets and allow it to dry. Then I have sheets ready to die cut or craft punch, etc. when I’m ready to create. To create the sheets I simply roll black Makin’s Clay® beginning on setting #1 of the Ultimate Clay Machine®, the moving up one setting at a time and in this case ending at a setting #6. 

Place silkscreen orange side down over the clay sheet. Apply gold metallic paint to squeegee.  While holding the silkscreen in place, carefully use the squeegee to apply the paint over the silkscreen, transferring the image to the clay sheet. Immediately wash the silkscreen and squeegee, and let paint dry on clay sheet. Then repeat to make a second border. 

 

When silkscreening is dry, use scissors to trim around the borders and create two rectangular strips of equal size. I purposely made mine about 1/4” narrower than the width of the bangle as I wanted to add a row of gold microbeads. 

Paint inside of wooden bangle with gold paint. Let dry.

 

Apply 527 Adhesive to back of first strip of clay.  Wrap around bangle. Trim second strip to fill in any remaining space, being careful to match pattern as best as possible. Glue in place. Let glue dry. 

 Use Ultimate Clay Extruder® and 3 hole disc to extrude black clay. Twist three strands. Add adhesive to top edge of bangle, wrap twisted clay around the top edge, trim to fit. Repeat on opposite side of bangle. Let dry 24 hours.

Apply Diamond Glaze to area between silkscreened clay and the twisted border piece. Add gold microbeads.  Repeat all around the bangle, on top and bottom edges. Let dry.