Altered Kitchen Memo Board

Altered Kitchen Memo board

Lately we remodeled our kitchen and the old Memo board didn't fit any longer. I knew I had to make something better, while at the thrift store I found this rather plain magnetic board and I taught I gonna turn into my new Kitchen Memo board

Supplies

Makin's Clay® about 120 g, also leftovers in any color.

Acrylic Paint in the color of your choice. I had one plain in lime green and one metallic in a more teal tint.

Gesso

A frame or Memo board

Silicon Mold by Prima from Iron Orchid Design Collection

Makin's Clay® Floral Push Mold SKU 39005

So out with some Makin's Clay®. I didn't care about the color, as I knew I gonna paint everything. 

The first step was to sand down the paint and add a light coat of Gesso. This helps to have the Makin's Clay® and the paint stick better to the frame.

I did use up some leftovers clay and some red clay, but the color really doesn't matter. I did fill up the Silicone mold

I did carefully pull out the molded patterns by bending rather the silicone then the Makin's Clay®

While the clay is still fresh I did bend the embellishments around the frame. That is one thing I love about Makin's Clay® you don't need to bake it. The frame is quite large and certainly doesn't fit into an oven. 

The focal embellishment at the top I did double up, first the large embellishment again bending around the frame and then adding the angel. I did press them carefully together and have added just a tiny drop of water before layering. 

Image 6

Here I have placed all the elements from the Prima Silicone form, now I'm ready for the Makin's Clay® Floral Push Mold.

I did fill in the 3 different sizes of Roses and a leave shape 

as you can see it needs quite a bit of them as the frame is about 18 x 22 “ (or 46 x 5 cm). I did add the flowers and leaves step by step, just to make sure that the clay is still fresh when I want to bend it around the frame. Then I did let it dry overnight. I came the next morning and did check which pieces needed some additional glue (I did use Tacky Glue) but a big portion just sticked by themselves to the frame.

Next I went over with a heavier coat of Gesso, I did even paint the fabric inside the frame this time

Now it is time to apply the paint, I didn't cover up completely the Gesso, in fact in some places I even wiped back some of the paint with a wet towel.

Again I had to let it try completely before I could add some Rub on wax in gold. I simply applied it with the finger to the raised area of the embellishments, I also did add some to the frame itself.

The Nutcracker

Design Team member Carole Monahan recently shared this fantastic "upcycled" polymer clay Nutcracker.  She used the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® and Ultimate Clay Extruder® in the creation of this holiday piece.

ROBOTOID Backpack Charm by Patricia Krauchune

ROBOTOID Backpack Charm
Designed by Patricia Krauchune

I have always been fascinated with robots and I love to up cycle old bits and pieces of found objects. This is my version of a backpack charm fashioned from a mint tin, gears and an old fuse.

Supply List:

Altoids® Smalls® Tin	Various sizes of gears	Krylon® Silver Leafing Pen
4-5/8" Eye Screws	Beacons™ Tacky Glue	Americana® Triple Thick Gloss Glaze™
4-1/2" Eye Screws	Beacon™ Power-Tac	Decoart® Metallic Lustre™ in Silver Spark / Polished Coral / Elegant Emerald
Sandpaper	Loctite® Epoxy Instant Mix™	Makin's Clay®  Black / Light Adobe
Small piece of copper wire	Gorilla® Super Glue	Dremel® Power Tool
Old watch case	Americana® Primary Yellow	3/64" Drill Bit
Clip	Decoart™ Patio Paint™ Foxglove Pink	Craft Knife
5-Jump Rings	Faber-Castell Black Artist Pen	Decoart® Silver Paint

Recommended Makin’s® Tools:

Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder® Discs Set C #17	Makin's® Texture Sheet Diamond Tread B
Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®
Makin's Clay ® Cutting Mat

Remove the cover from the tin and bend the hinge tabs in. Set the top tin cover aside for another project. Sand the back of the tin bottom to give it some "tooth".

Using the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine® roll out some black clay on the # 1. setting.  Cover the bottom of the tin's back side with Beacons™ Tacky Glue then place the rolled out clay over the back.  Immediately texture the clay using the Makin's® Texture Sheet with the Diamond Tread B pattern.  When the clay is dry, drill holes to accommodate the arms and legs of the robot and insert the 5/8" larger eye screws with epoxy to hold them in place.  Let the epoxy cure overnight.  I used a Dremel® Tool with a 3/64" drill bit to make the holes.

Using the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Extruder® with the Discs Set C #17 disc in place, extrude some Light Adobe clay.  This will be used for the arms and legs.  Let dry completely. When the extruded clay is dry, cut (2) arms 11/8" each and (2) legs each 11/2" long.  Use some epoxy to glue the smaller 1/2" eye screws into the ends of the arms and legs.

Next you will paint the arms and legs with the Americana® Primary Yellow paint.  Using your craft knife trim the ends of the arms to look like a sharpened pencil. Then paint the "lead" of the pencil with the black marker.

The legs will be the other end of a pencil, so trim the end to look like an eraser and paint the end with the Foxglove Pink paint and the silver paint to give the look of the metal band on a pencil top.

At this point I attached the extremities with the jump rings and also added the clip to the top. I drilled another couple of holes where the head: (the watch case) will go, and made a loop from some copper wire to attach to the loop on the watch case bottom. Then I epoxyed the "head" in place. Here is where you make the robot your own. I used the Beacon™ Power-Tac on the metal watch case and tin body then pushed black clay into the watch case and the "body" of the robot.  Gears were added to the face and various metal parts where pushed and glued into the clay for the body parts.

I chose to use three different colors of the Decoart® Metallic Lustre™, Silver Spark, Polished Coral and Elegant Emerald to color the body.

Lastly I topped off the face and body with Americana® Triple Thick Gloss Glaze™.  Now your robot is ready to attach to your backpack...enjoy!