Clay Hearts

Hi everyone.

I made these hearts a few weeks ago, but have been tweaking them ever since. Now that I'm finally happy with them, I thought I would share.

I bought a big bucket of Crayola Air-Dry Clay (Michael's 40% off coupon). At first, I thought I would make ornaments for the Christmas tree. Then I changed my mind and decided on New Year's Day ornaments. Then I changed my mind again. Anyone else do this, or am I the only crazy one?

I rolled out the dough and tried out a few cookie cutters and settled on the plain heart. I pushed a pencil through a corner of the heart, to add a ribbon for hanging. Then I pulled out some letter stamps and stamped the word "happy" in each one. Super simple!

Then you just have to be patient and wait for them to air dry. It takes about 2 or 3 days. I am not patient though. So I tried to microwave them. I doesn't work. Don't even bother to try. They just bubbled and baked uneven and fell apart. Then I let the rest air dry. See, I can learn from my mistakes.

Then I painted them.

With acrylic paint. But I wasn't crazy about the colors.

Then I added a layer of gesso.

Then I painted again with watercolor crayons. Better.

Then I got wild and finger painted the backs and sides with india ink. Oh. This is liked.

So then I added a layer of india ink to the front, and used a paper towel to blot some of the ink off. This left them different shades of pinks and purples with a hint of shininess. Now I'm really happy.

So, today's lesson is to try something new. I never use my india inks. But I'm really glad that I gave them a try. And I like the way they look finger painted.

Kinda perfectly imperfect.

Just my style.

Have a great day.