The New Clay News

Why Air Dry Clay Instead of Play-Doh?

2012-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Are you a teacher of young children, a parent or a grandparent? You might want to read this article that I came across at PaperWorksOutlet. The author points out some interesting benefits of using air-dry clay over PlayDoh when crafting with the kids. The writer says: "The best thing about the clay however, is

what you can do with it. It is very malleable and you can make absolutely anything with it. It also dries hard and the children can permanently keep any of the items they make with the clay."

Crayola Air-Dry Clay is also available in large 'classroom-size' packages. A 25-lb box costs between $30 and $40, depending on where you're purchasing. The manufacturer's description says it's...."Easy-to-use, nontoxic white clay. The clay makes solid, durable forms without need for baking in an oven or firing in a kiln. Smoother, finer and less sticky than traditional clay. Softens easily with water. Quickly cleans from hands and surfaces. Paint with tempera, acrylic or watercolors when dry."

Don't confuse Crayola Air-Dry Clay with Model Magic or Model Magic FUSION, which are also made by Crayola. The Model Magic clays are very different in texture (and cost). Both Model Magic and Fusion are available in colors and are softer and squishier than Crayola Air-Dry Clay.

Personally, I like Crayola Air-Dry Clay and Model Magic for some adult crafts too. The Crayola ADC is especially useful for making rocks and stucco for dollhouse embellishment because the texture (when cured) is slightly rough. Model Magic has a similar consistency to cold porcelain, so it works great for modeling simple and cute figures. Model Magic FUSION I find too sticky for my own projects. Also, when cured, FUSION remains a bit soft and will dent easy.

Tuesday Tutorials

2012-01-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

Sculpting a OOAK doll head with air-dry-clay

Easy Snowmen to Make With the Kids

Beer Bottle Doll

Skinny Doll with Pink Dress

Larger than Life Papier Mache

2012-01-08T17:44:00.000-08:00

Most of the time air-dry clay is used to create miniatures or dolls, but it's also great for making lifesize or larger-than-life clay sculptures such as the 4 foot tall teapot shown above! Often the best product to use for such large sculptures is good old-fashioned papier mache. Sometimes the basic form will be made with papier mache and a product like Celluclay (an instant papier mache) or a low cost air dry clay

will be used for the finish coat. Those products will give a slightly smoother finish than traditional papier mache.

Visit Enormity Bandwagon to read about making the extra large teapot shown above.

At Craftster.org, they made a life-size self portrait from papier mache . I think it's pretty darn cool!

But, if you're into smaller things, you can create a teapot diorama or roombox from papier mache and/or air-dry clay!

Instructions for making the teapot mouse house can be found here.

Hope you found some inspiration here today!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

Wishing you a happy, healthy and creative new year!

(print out picture for kids to color!)

Tool Tips

2011-12-26T13:10:00.000-08:00

In the following videos, craft artist PJHornberger shares her tool tips for working with Creative Paperclay and other air-dry clays.

Part 1

Part 2...

Paperclay Dolls by Anna Zueva

2011-12-18T18:15:00.000-08:00

Today I'd like to share with you the works of Anna Zueva . Anna is a professional doll artist from Russia. She has been a doll maker since 1990. Her sculpted paperclay art dolls are highly rated in the artistic world by doll art professionals and her customers. I'm attracted to her unique simplicity in design combined with detailed decoration.

Anna Zueva makes 6-10 art dolls a year. The dolls are three-dimensional and shaped in fine detail. Size: 8 to 24 inches (20 cm to 60 cm) from top to bottom. Materials: Paperclay, acrylic, textiles, etc. No pre-fabricated parts, handmade clothes tailored individually for each doll. As a rule, Anna Zueva makes her dolls in a single copy as unique collectibles.

A is for Armature

2011-12-16T18:49:00.000-08:00

This doll was made by author using Creative Paperclay and
following instructions in book "Sculpting Dolls in Paperclay"

I'm often asked, "Which is the best armature to use for dolls?" The answer is....there isn't one easy answer! Which type of armature might work best for your project depends on many things, including whether you're making a doll or a figure, how big will it be, which clay are you using and how detailed do you want to make it.

For the purpose of this conversation, I will define "doll" as a figure with movable, posable parts, while a "figure" or "figurine" is modeled in a fixed-position. Many of the armature styles used for figures are also used for some dolls.

Susanna Oroyan

The first part of the planning and design process is deciding what type of doll you will be making and what material will be used. To paraphrase Susanna Oroyan in her great book Fantastic Figures**, the 4 basic doll types are the play doll (no armature), the flexible figure (has armature but usually not meant to be moved after the figure is completed), the fully jointed posable doll also known as BJD (hollow, ball-jointed doll), and the solid figurine (which is sculpted over a pre-positioned wire armature).

**I highly recommend Fantastic Figures: Ideas and Techniques Using the New Clays by Susanna Oroyan for anyone interested in sculpting dolls using air-dry clay. Master dollmaker Oroyan is well-known for her other books on dollmaking but in this book she concentrates on dolls made from polymer and air-dry clays. She provides lengthy and detailed information on the clays themselves; on sculpting the head, hands, feet, and legs; on finishing and painting methods; and on constructing the body, clothes, hair, accessories, and more.

The size of the doll must also be considered when deciding what type of armature to use. For example, the head for larger dolls will often be sculpted over a Styrofoam ball as armature. For small dolls, a wadded-up ball of aluminum foil is often used (particularly for polymer clay figures). Various gauge wire, depending on size of doll, is typically used to form the "skeleton" of the doll. Each artist has their own favorite shape for torso area of armature. Ready-made flexible plastic armatures are also available. Many doll artists who create larger dolls (over 12") prefer a stuffed fabric body with clay head, arms & legs.

Maureen Carlson

Maureen Carlson, in her book, How to Make Clay Characters, doesn't use any kind of armature for her smaller figures (under 5" or so) other than a toothpick where needed for added strength. For those slightly larger figures she uses armature wire padded with aluminum foil around the torso.

Using foil and other materials to fill in the torso not only saves on clay, it allows for better curing of the thinner layers (too thick clay can cause uneven curing). I used this foil method when making Fetcher from air-dry Hearty Clay (see Fetcher WIP photos). For Fetcher, I wrapped everything in floral tape before adding clay.

Lilika

Styrofoam balls and sculpted foam is used as armature for the simple, folk-art style cold porcelain and air-dry clay figures such as this Strawberry Shortcake figure by Lilika. A foam ball for the head plus 1 or 2 foam balls for body. Some artists will also carve the entire shape from foam. These cold porcelain figures are often modeled quite large. Sizes vary as proportions are based on size of foam ball used for head, but I've seen many figures that are easily 2 feet tall.

Both the type of figure created by Maureen Carlson and the cold porcelain figures created by Lilika are pre-positioned and not flexible.

The doll shown at the top of the page is one I made following instructions in Robert McKinley's book Sculpting Dolls in Paperclay, another highly recommended and much sought-after book on dollmaking. In this out-of-print book, McKinley demonstrates 2 dolls from start to finish using Creative Paperclay. If you find this "collectible" book at a reasonable price, grab it!

The technique used by McKinley calls for a modified Styrofoam ball for head armature with a simple wire-armature inside a sewn fabric torso. The fabric torso is tightly packed with batting and is quite firm. Separate armatures are made for arms and legs from a combination of cardboard and papier-mache pulp (Celluclay or similar instant mache). Creative Paperclay is applied over the cured papier-mache pulp for a finished surface and the finished pieces are glued to torso. The McKinley dolls are flexible figures but not meant to be moved once the figure is completed. His pattern results in a doll about 15" tall and the Creative Paperclay gives a very fine, silky smooth finish to the doll.

The technique used by Hannie Sarris in her book Fairy Fantasy Dollmaking also uses a modified Styrofoam ball as head armature. A complicated twisted wire armature is created from one long wire (2 3/4 yards for a doll about 17" tall). Aluminum foil, compressed, fills in the torso area. The foil is coated in a thin layer of clay, which is let dry before proceeding with additional layers. Wire armatures are also used for her slim hands and fingers. Sarris uses LaDoll clay for her detailed and delicate fixed-position figures.

The Fairy Fantasy book is another must have for anyone interested in detailed air-dry clay figures. Hannie sadly passed away in 2010 and her book is sold out, but her website says another one may be published soon.

We've previously featured a few articles about creating and stringing a fully poseable BJD from air-dry clay...just select BJD from the Labels & Keywords in the sidebar to locate topics.

I hope this rather lengthy post answers your armature questions. It's not a "how-to" tutorial for actually creating an armature....we'll post some of those soon. In the meantime, look for some of the books I've mentioned, you'll find lots and lots of how-to information in them.

A word of caution....Styrofoam makes a great armature for air-dry clay figures but should NOT be heated in an oven (possible toxic fumes) and therefore is NOT recommended when baking polymer clay.

Make a Cute Reindeer

2011-12-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today we have a video demo showing you how to create a cute little reindeer with polymer clay. But this blog is suppose to be about air-dry clay, right? It is. This demo is a good one to use as an example of how to modify a polymer clay tutorial when using air dry clay. The types of air-dry clays that work best for this sort of project are the soft, pre-colored clays such as Makin's Clay, Hearty Clay,

Cloud Clay, Model Magic or homemade cold porcelain. Most of the other 'new' air-dry clays are available as 'white' only but could be used if pre-tinted in the colors needed.

Here's what I'd do differently than what's shown in the following video:

When working with air-dry clay, make the various parts the same way as shown for polymer clay, but let them dry (cure) a little before attaching or assembling. Some white or tacky glue may be needed to securely attach. I'd let pieces dry overnight.

For example, create the antlers as shown and set them aside to dry before attaching to head. It'll make the antlers much easier to handle and they won't get damaged or deformed when pressing them into the head (use glue to attach).

The head itself can be worked with when soft or cured, that's your own preference. If you want to let the head dry a while before attaching antlers, first poke a hole in the head where the antlers will go. You can always drill a hole afterwards too. Poke in the eyes before drying.

Create the legs in the same way. Shape them as shown in the video but let them dry a while before attaching to body. It will give them strength so weight of body won't cause his knees to buckle! ;-) It's also a good idea to insert a toothpick partway in legs (and partway in body) for added strength. A little bit of glue will help too.

Any questions? Just leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as I can.

Tips for Working with Creative Paperclay

2011-11-21T09:12:00.000-08:00

Creative Paperclay is a unique air hardening modeling material that requires no firing in a kiln or baking in an oven. It is clean, odorless and easy to use. It feels similar to an earthen clay; however, it contains no clay in it at all!

A page full of tips for working with Creative Paperclay from the people that make Paperclay can be found at paperclay.com

How to Use Amazing Mold Putty

2011-11-17T13:13:00.000-08:00

A few different videos demonstrating Amazing Mold Putty with some tips for getting better detail and making a 2-part mold.

The first demo is from the manufacturer and shows us a few tricks of the trade.

The next video is from Polymer Clay TV and shows us some practical tips.

The third is also from the manufacturer, showing us how to make a 2-part mold with Amazing Mold Putty and also demonstrates Amazing Cast Resin

Fast Drying Tip

2011-11-15T10:48:00.000-08:00

Chicken Lips (David Everett) is in the business of making cute and clever characters with Creative Paperclay and needs to speed up production time....so here's his tip for getting your Paperclay to dry a bit faster.

Note: Drying TOO fast (such as oven) is NOT recommended for most ADC creations. Air dry clay needs to dry evenly inside & out. Also, Styrofoam is often used for armature with air-dry clays and heating Styrofoam in oven can create toxic fumes! Not good !

Today's chuckle!

2011-11-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

Make a Tool Caddy

2011-11-07T18:43:00.000-08:00

Do you need something in your workspace to hold all your sculpting tools, paint brushes, markers, etc? This tool caddy was originally designed for keeping colored pencils organized but could be modified to store any number of things! I especially like the stair-step levels that keep the back row accessible! The following video shows, step-by-step, how to make your own "storage station".

You gotta try this....

2011-10-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

Halloween Spiders

2011-10-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

You can call off the search party....I'm not lost!!! LOL I'm here and still trying to get caught up with my email and projects. It's been a month since my last post and I have to say I'm sorry I'm having such a hard time getting back into the old blogging routine since my surgery! Some new tutorials have been posted at my Air-Dry-Clay Tutorial Directory and the Cold Porcelain Tutorial Directory....so please check those sites.

I've been thinking about doing more articles about all the air-dry clay artists, along with more reviews about the different self-hardening clays and other materials. This could be a new focus for the New Clay News but there will still be lots of tutorials on my other blogs (with latest tutorials listed in sidebar here). If you have any ideas or suggestions for the New Clay News, all comments are welcome!

For today I wanted to tell you about this Halloween spider project from "Simple As That". This Spooky Stone Spiders tutorial describes making the spooky critters using some scraps of wire, rocks and a few other things (see above photo). These are really creepy and simple to make with stones found around the yard....but we're clay crafters, right? Let's try making some of these using air-dry clay for the body. Quick and easy!! Kids will love 'em!!

Make Some Clay for the Kids

2011-09-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

This homemade play dough "clay" recipe from The Wyrd Sisters is super easy and includes a special twist....it's scented dough. Take a break from your usual routine and make some with the kids/grandkids.

See the recipe and instructions for "Smelly Rainbow Dough" here.

New Tutorials This Week

2011-08-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

The newest tutorials posted this week over at my Air-Dry-Clay.com tutorial directory are:

A bowl made with Creative Paperclay This is big! Not a simple round bowl!

A cute little bookmark mouse Cute, easy and quick. Makes a great little gift!

Monster face keychain charms Funny faces with a steampunk attitude! Also good magnet!

Make a rainstick with Paperclay Listen to the sound of rain in the middle of Summer heat!

How to make a Rainbow Clay Mouse

2011-08-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

Rainbow Clay is a new air dry modelling sculpture medium. Described as paper based modelling medium, non toxic, odourless & safe. Air drys. Lightweight, soft & easy to use. Distributed by Rainbow Clay Australia. The following video demonstrates a cute and easy mouse. Kid-friendly and a good beginners project!

(note: There's a Rainbow Clay available at Amazon.com but I'm not certain it's the same product. Packaging looks different. If anybody has the answer to this, please leave a comment!)

If you're a distributor of Rainbow Clay in the USA (or other countries), please let us know! Our Air-Dry Clay Yahoo Group has members from every continent! (Well, except Antartica maybe...LOL)

Things have been quiet around here!

2011-08-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

...but Mary will be back soon!

Like it? Create your own at GoAnimate.com. It's free, easy and fun!

Clay Animation

2011-07-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

This could also be titled "What to do with your leftover scrap clay!"....LOL

London-based artist and animator Nicos Livesey creates these mind-exploding animations using intricately built loafs of plasticine clay. The colorful clay is formed into morphing and shifting geometric patterns that are revealed as he slices and photographs the cross-sections at painstaking 2mm intervals.

Make a Decorative Apple Tree

2011-06-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

This looks like a fun project. Create this decorative "Apple Tree" with Creative Paperclay and an apple-shaped gourd. Click here for instructions written by Barbara at Creative Paperclay. If you don't have a gourd like the one used by Barbara, there's inexpensive foam apples that look very real and can be purchased in various colors or you can shape your own from Paperclay.

Types of Modeling Clays Explained

2011-06-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Figures made with air-dry clay (paperclay) by Tine Kamerbeek

There are a few different types of clays popular with today's hobbyist that don't require a kiln or any special equipment. The 3 basic types are oil-based, wax-based and water-based.* We can also categorize them as heat-cured, self-hardening, air-dry or non-hardening.

*Note: There are also ceramic and stone-based clays, but these usually require a kiln to be cured and aren't included in our discussion.

The most popular heat-cured clays are the polymer clays. Polymer clays are oil-based and must be heated to cure, however, a home oven can be used and a kiln is not required. Polymer clays are available in many brands and many colors. Most are very stiff when first removed from package and must be kneaded before using. Polymer clay will be plastic like, waterproof and very durable if cured properly.

Wallace and Gromit
are made of plasticine
on metal armatures

Wax-based clays are the plasticine clays. This type of clay stays flexible and never hardens. If heated, it will melt. Plasticine is what's generally referred to as "modeling clay". It's also known as "Plastilena", which is a brand name. Plasticine is often used to create clay animations because the flexible clay allows the figure to be re-positioned over and over. Air-dry and polymer clays are sometimes used for non-moving body parts.

The air-dry clays are mostly water based formulas, both commercial brands and homemade clays (cold porcelain and papier mache). Because the water content evaporates as it cures, projects created with air-dry clay will shrink a certain amount. There are hundreds of brands all with different characteristics and the shrinkage rate varies. The finer quality brands of air-dry-clay harden to a matte, smooth, durable finish but must be top-coated and sealed because air-dry clay is not waterproof (with a couple of exceptions).

The New Clay News is all about this last type of clay. If it's no-bake, air-dry or self-hardening...we'll talk about it and search out artists and tutorials! Many new brands and new formulas of air-dry clays have recently become available and this "new clay" is increasing in popularity every day. There are also a few new polymer-based air-dry clays sometimes referred to as "resin clay". Two-part epoxy clays are included because they are also self-hardening.

So, you can see there is a lot to learn about air-dry clays. If you are used to working with polymer clay and want to try air-dry clay, it will take some practice and some experimenting before you find the one that's just right for you. Air-dry clays are not all the same and which brand would work best for you depends a lot on what you want to make with it. The best way to learn is to join our Air-Dry-Clay Yahoo Group, where we have many generous members willing to share their expertise and experience.

The clay artisans in the Air-Dry-Clay Yahoo Group use and discuss all the commercial brands of no-bake, air-dry, self-hardening clays plus homemade clay recipes such as cold porcelain and papier mache. This includes brands such as Creative Paperclay**, Delight, Makin's Clay, LaDoll, Hearty Clay, Deco ClayCraft, DAS Pronto, Apoxie Sculpt, Lyra, Artista, Angel, Aves, FormoFit, Darwi, Flumo, Lumina, Celluclay, Sculptamold, Cold Porcelain, Crayola Model Magic, Crayola Air Dry Clay, Sculpt It, Paverpol and many more brands.

How to Make This Cute Scarecrow

2011-06-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

air-dry-clay demo

This video tutorial from Linda Peterson shows us how to use several different colors of Cloud Clay to make an autumn scarecrow. By changing the face (to look less like a scarecrow), this could be a cute figure for many other occasions..or maybe a clown!

How to Personalize Ornaments and Charms

2011-06-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

In the following video, Glenn & Debi from Deb & Co show you how to personalize Christmas ornaments with simple, easy to learn techniques to give your ornaments a professional look. The lettering techniques are demonstrated on cured polymer clay ornaments, however, personalizing air-dry-clay ornaments and charms would be done the same way.

They also show a few ways to correct errors when working with permanent inks. I haven't tested these correction methods with air-dry clay, so I recommend doing a test on a cured sample of your own favorite brand. The various types/brands of air-dry clay may react differently. You also might try top-coating & sealing the ornament first, then write your personalization ....and then seal again!

Make a Clay Poppy

2011-06-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

Make some of these colorful Poppies with air-dry clay. Step by step instructions, with photos, are provided by SifBeth. Although this demonstration shows how to make flowers using gumpaste, the techniques are very similar for air-dry clay and cold porcelain flowers. One difference is, if tutorial calls for edible glue, you can use regular glue with air-dry clay flowers. Gumpaste and cold porcelain are both used to create cake toppers....one is edible, one isn't!

If you don't have the proper petal cutter for this tutorial, you can make your own. See some previous posts for Making Your Own Cutters and a video with Free Cutting Tool Ideas.