Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Rag doll tutorial




Recently the Detroit News wrote a little article about me and my clay. Here's a link...




I thought you might like to try out the tutorial yourself..have fun!


Polymer Clay Rag Doll

Level: Beginner

Estimated time: 1 hour

Tools: Scissors, wire cutters, black Sharpie pen, wax paper, cookie sheet

Supplies: 2-ounce packages of Sculpey Polymer Clay in white, beige and blue; 1/8 yard of fabric, colorful yarn, 18-gauge wire; acrylic paint in white, red and black; two toothpicks

Instructions

1. Tear fabric into 5 strips, measuring 3 inches x 1/2 inch. Cut 5 pieces of wire into 11/4-inch lengths. Wrap a piece of wire around center of one strip, twisting to tighten around fabric. Repeat with all strips.

2. Now, cut yarn into 3 inches x 1/2-inch lengths. Gather 5 at a time and wrap wire around center, twisting a few times.

3. Roll out a 11/2-inch circle of white clay. Form into tear drop and stand upright for body.

4. Roll out two tubes of beige clay, about 2 inches long. Attach each tube to base of white clay, applying pressure. These are the legs. Turn up edges to form feet.

5. Roll out a 2-inch ball of blue clay and flatten to form circle for dress. Lay over body and legs. Gently form clay around them, making sure back is covered.

6. Roll out two 11/2-inch tubes of blue. Attach one to each upper side of body on dress for arms.

7. Make two 5 mm balls of beige clay. Attach one to bottom of each arm for hands. Insert toothpick straight down body.

8. Make a 1-inch ball of beige and push onto toothpick to attach body. Gently insert a wired yarn piece to side of head, then another. Continue inserting yarn, then fabric, all over head.

9. Preheat oven to exactly 260 degrees. When fully heated, bake doll on cookie sheet 20 minutes. Turn oven off. Let cool completely before applying face paint.

10. Pour a little black, red and white acrylic paint on wax paper. Dip wood tip of paint brush into white paint and apply eyes. Let dry. Next, dip tip into black paint. Apply small dot of black paint over the white. Use toothpick to paint triangle nose, then Sharpie to draw smile and eyelashes.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Monkey Cake Toppers and more



I am on such a monkey kick.

I've been making monkey cake toppers.



Monkey Christmas Ornaments....





Baby Monkeys





Monkey Valentines........


Even Monkey
tags!



There is something so sweet and silly about monkeys that I just can't resist.

Stay tuned to see what other clay babies I'll be creating!


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Pete the Popcorn

Thought I would mention my very good friends, Joe and Nick, and their new book that they have been working on, called Pete the Popcorn!

It is a wonderfully written child's picture book and it will be available soon on Amazon. Nick has started a blog to keep us all updated on Pete's story and the actual day that the book goes on sale. Here is a link to his blog.

I've had some sneak peeks and it's such a cute story, I can't wait to get my own copy and read it to my grand-kids.

I am so excited for my friends and wish them all kinds of success. They have such great ideas. I don't know if they know how much they inspire me! All of this book business has made me dust off some old manuscripts from my past and see if there's something I can do.

I'm so busy with my clay I doubt that I'll ever get around to doing that, but it's thrilling to see Nick and Joe go after their dream. They've even started another story! Great!

Go check out Pete's blog and watch for the date that Pete will be available. I want to be the first to buy a copy..Guess I'll camp out by the computer that day!

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