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. 

Contemporary Brooches

Design Team member Cynthia Gougian recently shared these fantastic contemporary brooches. She created the modern textures with Makin's® Clay Texture Sheets. I used "Coils" and "Connectors" from the Clay Texture Sheets- Set H. Cynthia really enjoys using the textures in this set! She loves the dramatic, stylish effects they create!

"Stripes" Necklace

STRIPES Necklace by Leila Bidler

Materials:

Makin's Clay® White 60g, Black 60g

Makin's® Clay Roller

Any shape of clay cutter you like

Makin's Professional® Cutting Mat (big or small)

Makin's® Clay Basic Tool Set

Jump rings

Necklace base or cord

Instructions:

Divide your clay into half and roll out 2 logs of white and  2 logs of black of equal size.

Twist these logs together.

Roll this twisted log to thin it and fold it in half and roll again to create a marbled look.

Using your clay roller, flatten your marbled log, fold in half, roll out again. 

Repeat the last step several times until you get the desired mix, roll out a flat sheet/veneer. Do not over mix as the colors will blend after a while.

Use whatever shape of clay cutter you desire to cut out shapes from this marbled/striped veneer.

Use your Basic Tool Set tools to adjust the shapes as desired and needed and the needle tool to poke holes in the forms - let dry completely.

Add jump rings after the shapes have completely dried and string onto a cord or necklace base to complete your summer necklace!

Tip: try different colors to make color variations and create many different necklaces!