For the earlier 12 months or so, my Instagram feed has been inundated with of us and DIY influencers taking up air dry clay and making lovely home decor gadgets with it, along with a fulfilling train with associates, family or their companions. So when the DAS air hardening modelling clay bought right here up on Amazon as one among many top-selling and trending merchandise, I took it as a sign to lastly give it a go myself.
Who doesn’t love a little bit of arts and crafts session or a simple DIY mission? I sure do. Significantly since I’ve been coming all through some wonderful (and viral) air dry clay craft ideas – whether or not or not it’s the ghost-shaped tea gentle covers from @sibster (and totally different craft influencers) or the flower frog by @woodlark. So I decided to aim to recreate them myselfy, along with a few totally different ideas.
The clay is offered in a 500g pack, selling for £4.75 however it certainly’s moreover obtainable in a 1kg pack in case you might have greater group crafting. Nonetheless the 500g was tons for the two of us and each of us managed to make numerous objects – so a little bit of goes a long way. I opted for the white finish nonetheless when you want to replicate the additional typical ceramics look, you can go for the terracotta or the ‘stone’ colourway which is further grey.
DAS Air Hardening Modelling Clay 500g
What you’ll need
- DAS air hardening modelling clay at Amazon
- Modelling devices – you don’t primarily need pottery devices, I merely occurred to have them. You merely need a knife and one factor to make holes with, a straw is sweet.
- A piece of string for decreasing off massive chunks of the clay (nonetheless it’s possible you’ll as properly use a knife)
- Just a bit pot of water to dip your fingers in
- A rolling pin
- Tin foil
- Constructive sandpaper – I used 60 grit
- Acrylic paints and a small paint brush – that’s non-compulsory and applies solely when you want to paint your gadgets
- Varnish similar to the Sculpd Varnish for Air Dry Clay Pottery at Amazon – that’s moreover non-compulsory nonetheless a varnish will defend your gadgets from grime and water. I used clear nail polish on thought-about one among my gadgets which labored okay nonetheless a varnish would have created a further even finish.
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
What you wish to know
The clay makes for a very easy craft mission, you don’t need to have any artistic talents to have fulfilling with this. I consider it’d make for an superior train or associates or for a hen do. Even youngsters can get entangled nonetheless the mannequin recommends this only for youngsters which might be 12 years earlier or older.
You want a little bit of pot full of water by your facet at all times in an effort to dip your fingers or doubtlessly even a brush that can allow you to mould your gadgets. Water will help you maintain the clay easy to work with with out drying out and/or cracking. You don’t want that.
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
The one draw again of the product is the drying time. Whereas the product states that it should take between 12 and 24 hours for the gadgets to totally dry, 24 hours later, our gadgets had been nonetheless barely moist and tender in certain areas. So regardless that that’s meant to be a non-bake system, I ended up having to position the gadgets throughout the oven for 10 minutes or so on the underside heat to rush up the drying course of.
This drying delay could also be all the way in which all the way down to the reality that it’s pretty a moist and humid time of the 12 months, regardless that I’ve my most interesting dehumidifier going for a giant portion of the day in an effort to battle the humid conditions.
For certain, that’s an train that may take up the overwhelming majority of a weekend. I wish to suggest starting as early as doable on Saturday and ending with painting and varnishing on Sunday night time so that the clay has adequate time to dry.
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
What I made
Ghost tea gentle cowl
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
Since Halloween is solely throughout the nook, I wanted to strive the ghost tea gentle cowl I’ve been seeing everywhere, very similar to the DIY ghost candles. And it was, truly, one among many greatest gadgets I made.
All you wish to do is roll out a little bit of the clay, lay a small bowl on prime and decrease spherical its diameter. Then drape the cut-out circle on prime of 1 factor like a shot glass (or one factor equally sized) and a ball of tin foil on prime. Then decrease out the eyes – a straw is good for this. And as quickly because it dried, I sanded it down for a wonderfully clear finish. Throughout the title of safety, it’s most interesting to solely use electrical tea lights or fairy lights with this cowl.
Flower frog
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
A flower frog on the bottom of a vase or truly any vessel is the important thing hack of every florist’s good preparations. Nonetheless nowadays, there’s been a model new iteration of the hack going spherical made with air dry clay, one that you just positioned on prime of the vase opening, reasonably than on the underside. Nonetheless equivalent to the traditional flower frog, it ensures that your flower stems don’t fall to the facet, nonetheless in its place, maintain in place exactly the place you place them.
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
To make it, I as soon as extra rolled out a little bit of the clay and positioned my vase the fallacious manner up on prime of it to cut throughout the diameter. Then I used 5 little balls of tin foil to place beneath and create a barely ruffled affect – nonetheless this step is completely non-compulsory and decorative better than one thing, it’s possible you’ll as properly merely maintain your flower frog flat.
Then I made a few holes for the stems to endure for which you can as soon as extra use a straw. As quickly as dry, I as soon as extra sanded down the ground and likewise utilized clear nail polish to create a glaze-like finish. Nonetheless a specialised varnish would have been larger, in my opinion. Nonetheless it does the job each means.
Incense holder
(Image credit score rating: Future PLC/Sara Hesikova)
For my incense holder, I was impressed by this Etsy clay incense holder which appears to be very similar to a ribbon with a pure little wave to it. So I decided to recreate it. I started by modelling a little bit of the clay proper right into a ‘noodle’-like kind sooner than rolling it out. Then I decrease out a protracted rectangular kind which I then fashioned into that wavy silhouette with my fingers, supporting each of the peaks with a little bit of ball of tin foil. I made a little bit of hole for the incense to go and let it dry.
As quickly as dry, I sanded any ‘imperfect’ areas and painted the sides like in my inspiration image.
For those who’ll do that one, I undoubtedly counsel varnishing the holder. I noticed this the arduous means as a result of the fallout from the incense stick actually ended up staining the naturally white coloration of the clay. Oh properly.
I made better than these three points since we had a great deal of clay to go spherical. Nonetheless these are the standout gadgets in my ideas. What are you excited to make?