Clay time!

So I need to broaden my horizons a little and go back to basics. Good old fashioned do it yourself. A lot of times there are beads/findings that I am looking for and can never find, so I thought... right I'm going to make it. I was bloody surprised at the end product and the fact that I had made it with my bare hands...nice.

I haven't worked with clay for a long time.. but it's not brain science right? The stuff that I used was Sculpey Oven-Bake Clay in Vanilla. I've tried using air dry clays but they can get crumbly and dry. The Clay was a little tough to begin with but became more pliably when it was worked.

I used an Exacto Knife to cut and a toothpick to make the holes for the jump rings. I also used some random stuff to make an impression (print) on some of the beads. The rest I did freehand. I knew I wanted a few hearts and from there I just went with the flow.

The flower was actually really simple. Just smalls balls of clay, flattened and then wrapped and arranged around each other. There is no wrong or right way to do it. My fav is the heart with the flowers on it :)

So... a few hours and a few cups of tea later I had about 20 piece. Now it was time to stick them in the oven! The instructions said 15 mins for every 6mm of thickness. I ended up leaving them in a little longer because they were still a bit soft.

They turned out really well and I would use this clay again, it didn't crack or loose any of it's original appearance.. I like :)

The next step will be to finish them off, I'm thinking some writing, Patina, Gold Leaf and maybe some texture. It's playtime!