EASY ART STUFF

I liked to draw pictures when I was a kid, mostly of princesses and houses with a sun shining on the top left corner and green grass across the bottom.  As I got older, I added clouds and birds and a little light blue in the sky.  But the princesses I draw today still look like they did when I was like, five?

I also liked to play with Playdoh, but that looks a little silly when you're my age.  So now I use this stuff called Sculpey III clay.  It comes in different colors, and it isn't as soft as playdoh.  You can use different things to get the detail you want.  I use porcupine quills.  They work awesome, but you can also poke a pretty nasty hole in your finger if you aren't careful. 

I also like to use seashells, little gemstones, and old jewelry to decorate the clay scenes.  In the wizard shown, I used a lion from a charm bracelet to top off the staff I fashioned by covering a twig from the yard with clay.  At the base of the wizard, you will see a piece of shell someone brought back from Costa Rica. 

You can be very resourceful if you have a vivid imagination using this type of clay.  I have used guitar strings spray-painted black and cut into little pieces for whiskers on animals.  I have made decorations for dollhouses.  I have made elephants, pigs, rabbits, and manatees.  You can get ideas from looking at other things people have made and putting your own twist on it.

I usually use a piece of Mexican tile to hold the pieces I am working on, and I also bake the piece right on the same tile.  The package says to bake it at 275 degree for ten or fifteen minutes (I forget which), but I find that the white clay gets burned that way.  A safer bet, and one I swear by, is to preheat the oven to 275, put the tile in with the piece on it, and then shut the oven off.  Leave the piece in overnight.  The next day, coat it with Sculpey glaze.  Otherwise it will fall apart.  I can't tell you how many awesome pieces I had to throw away because they got broken before I discovered they had such a thing.

I love going to ceramics with my daughter.  We go sometimes because it is relaxing and inexpensive.  This is only a sampling of the many pieces done.