Hi everyone, sorry for the lack of posts. I'm nearly done with my studying and will be back with more tutorials and craft projects!
I just recently found some old photos of handmade roses that I've made in the beginning of 2013 (they look different from the ones I made now!) These roses were made from cold porcelain clay and sculpted on a toothpick. Have fun browsing!
It has been a long time for an update, I made this super adorable Pichu ornament for my friend a few weeks ago. I want to give this ornament a sweet and girly feel, the concept is a garden of pink roses with two Pichus sitting in the middle. I wasn't very confident at first because I don't make figurines often and this would only be my second time making them, it took me a while to figure out how to make and I had to study this character well in order to make it as realistic as possible. Love these cuties!
Pichu says: "hi~"
I love these shades of pink roses! So romantic!
I took photos of my work process:
Here I made two basic shapes, and then add the other features.
I painted the features on after the clay hardens after 2-3 days, I am not good with these, the facial expressions took me 3 hours to do.
I prepared a large piece of balsa wood for the base, cut into a heart shape and chose a baby pink colour and made the border.
Finally, adjust the roses and put the two adorable glazed figurines in!~ >v<
I personally think I did a good job with these, it was beyond my expectation within such a short time. I love the colour and the overall composition, it's very girly and pink! It makes me happy by just looking at them.
I am very busy with uni these days, but I will keep uploading tutorials and updates on my Facebook page and YouTube channel, make sure you follow them :D!
It's nearly Christmas, but somehow I am feeling a bit lazy to make something, these were the stuff I made during the last two weeks. I want to make more green and red objects because it's a classic colour combination for Christmas, but at the end I ended up making something I normally would make.
I also made lots of fake clay sprinkles for decoration, these took ages to make because I had to roll them individually and cut them into fine pieces. I really like the colours, it's fresh, bright and fruity.
Some pastels too.
I went shopping yesterday and found some real bargains! I was really happy to find these mini piggy spatulas, they are great to mix my cold porcelain clay mixture.I also saw these metal chocolate moulds, they are perfect for my miniatures sweets, and I can use them as tarts and even bowls.
The front and back detail of the mini spatulas, the tail is so cute.
The chocolate moulds came with a nice tin, it makes it so much easier for storage.
Each of the shape came in 3s, plenty of stuff to make with all these moulds.
Here are all the shapes, I am really happy with the variety of shapes it came with.
Some of them has a nice detail on the back. I have been using flexible moulds for a while now, so these metal ones are really new to me. I am not sure how well the object would release from the mould but it's definitely worth trying.
I will be updating more creations, and add more items to my shop!
Ever since I discovered cold porcelain clay, it has been used in a lot of my projects. The best thing about it is that you can make it yourself, it is easy and the ingredients are cheap. Cold porcelain clay is a great polymer clay alternative. I have always been avoiding polymer clay because of the expensive price and I do not want to use my oven for small things. I mainly work with air dry clay, and Hearty clay is one of them. However it is also very expensive and I need to buy them overseas, the shipping prices are very high these days. Therefore cold porcelain clay is now one of my favourites, this clay can produce very durable results and I just love the smooth matt finish. The clay is very soft to work with and can be easily coloured.
Above is a short introduction to this clay. I realised the text is hard to see for some people, so please click CC if you need captions.
Here are some of my roses I made with cold porcelain clay. The first rose on the left I made it awhile ago, and the next two I made just few days after. I am really happy with my third attempt, the result looks good but I still have many things to improve on.
So here I am just going to do a brief introduction on how I made my clay, I used the microwave instead of the stove to cook it. If you need the stove version, you can find many of them on YouTube.
*** Please scroll down to see trouble shooting and FAQ if you are having troubles making this clay***
You will need :
Important notices: * Please stick closely to these ingredients,no substitution and you must use the amount it is required. * You cannot make it in the oven. You can make this clay in a microwave, or cook it in a pot on the stove. There are some tutorials on YouTube demonstrating the stove method. 1 cup (240ml) of cornstarch/ corn flour
1 cup (240ml) of PVA glue (school grade white glue, any brand would do)
2 tablespoons of vinegar/ lemon juice/ lime juice
2 tablespoons of baby oil/ cooking oil
Lotion
First prepare a microwave save bowl and put in all the wet ingredients.
Add the corn flour.
Mix till a gooey texture.
Pop in the microwave for 15s, and do it for 3 times. Between these intervals take it out and mix it. I have a 1100W microwave, the cooking time depends on the power, so start with a short duration for the first time.
You will start to see the top turn into a matt finish, and the clay is getting hard.
This is after the third interval, the clay starts to form lumps.
Prepare a cooking wrap sheet with lotion, this will prevent the clay sticking to your hands and the working surface. Be careful, the clay is very hot!
Keep kneading till it's cooled down and forms into a shape.
Don't overcook, the clay is perfect with a peak when you pull it apart. If the clay breaks when you pull, it means you have overcooked it.
Wrap it up and store in the fridge (I normally leave it overnight).
Above is a tutorial I made with red food colouring. The amount of ingredients were different due to more water contents from the food colouring, however, the processes are the same. I know some of you were having troubles making the clay, I hope this video helps. Also, you can make all sorts of different colours by using this method! Please subscribe to my channel as well :-) !!
Troubleshooting :
I have received many questions about this clay, sorry I can't reply to everyone's questions. So here are some troubleshooting tips:
* My clay is still sticky
1. Did you use corn starch or corn flour? You can not use anything else other than those two ingredients.
2. What's the watts for your microwave? If it's under 1100W, you might need to add more intervals and cook more.
3. When you knead it, if it becomes sticky, add more corn starch or corn flour. If you are confident enough, you can always put it back in the microwave for a few seconds just to warm it up (however this is really risky, I suggest you just add more cornstarch/ corn flour)
4. If you put it in the fridge to rest and the next day it's sticky, again, mix in some dry ingredients (corn starch/ corn flour) in.
* I overcooked my clay
You can always make an under-cook batch and blend them together, it always worked for me!
* My clay cracked when dried
This is a really hard question, because it has never happened to me before. It really depends on the temperature and the humidity of your area. Avoid putting it directly under the sun, and place it in a well ventilated area in room temperature.
* My clay can't stick together when I put the pieces together
This is a tricky question, because it really depends on the consistency of your clay. My only suggestion would be blend in some PVA glue to your clay so it's 'stickier'.
FAQ :
* How long does it need to take it to dry?
It depends on the thickness and the volume of your creation. It normally takes 1-2 days to dry for a 3cm round ball, however, please keep in mind that this depends on the humidity and the weather of your place.
* Do I need to put in the fridge to rest?
Nope, you don't need to. I have experimented and put it in room temperature wrapped with cooking wrap, and it's totally fine.
* How much does this clay weighs?
It's heavier than normal paper air-dry clay, I have to say, it weighs around the same as polymer clay. (Still need to confirm)
* How durable is the clay?
The clay dries rock hard! It's very durable for jewellery making, and sculptures. However thin pieces around 2mm-3mm will break (if that's your intention to break them), but other than that, this clay is very sturdy.
* Does the clay dry matte?
Yes, it does! The clay dries to a beautiful matte finish, with a little hint of gloss. You can see the example of a dried work here, and I added a satin varnish over them.
* Is this clay water proof, do I need to glaze it?
Same as other clay, you can wipe it with a damp cloth, but do not 'soak' it in water. If you want longer durability, you can add varnish it- either matte, satin or gross. It depends on the purpose and the look you want to achieve. Eg. If you are just going to put it as a display you might want to leave it as it is, unless you want the shininess from the gross varnish.
Finally I am free!! I handed in my last assignment in today, from now on I am now going to enjoy my Christmas holiday ^_^~ While I was procrastinating from my work I made these clay pieces, I think I am addicted to these pastel colours. Since Christmas is coming up, I want to create a candy theme collection. This was my first time trying the colour mint, I wasn't sure how to mix it at first because cold porcelain dries to a darker shade when cured. However I am pleased with the result, the colour looks very refreshing.
Not sure if I should introduce another colour to this pallet, yellow... blue?
I made 20 of these little ribbons, so tired afterwards...
Pink and Purple sure goes very well together, I am very girly after all ^v^ hehehe~
Such pretty clover! Next time 4 leaves!
I am not sure which one looks better, the design on the right or left. Which one do you think looks good?
So this is the overall shot, I will make more earrings using the stuff here.
For the first post, I want to share an old work of mine, the work was inspired by the coming spring.
I have used a variety of materials for this deco piece, it includes the Japanese Hearty paper clay, Crayola Model Magic, and silicone. The silicone was harder than I thought, it got really messy and I had to wipe it off and started pipping again as the whipped cream. I was really happy with the end result even though the durability of the paper clay wasn't as strong as polymer clay, maybe that would be my next material to investigate on.
Hello! I'm Lisa, this is a blog dedicated to my love for cute stuff, food and crafts. I want to share discoveries, techniques, and inspirations of this cute world I am creating.
