Air Dry Clay

Studio Vlog: A Relaxing Compilation of Studio Work

July 8, 2024 Leave a Comment

Happy Monday everyone! I have a new studio vlog for you where I piece together a few different days footage that I have been collecting on my phone.

You may remember me mentioning that I am still trying to get the hang of studio vlogging. I will record but then often the footage just sits on my phone because I usually decide it’s not that interesting. However, since I love watching studio vlogs I really wanted to work to share some with you so I went through my recent footage from last week and a little older footage from early spring and compiled it here for you.

This past week was really exciting as I was FINALLY able to get my cutting machine to work for making stickers. I have had the worst time trying to make sticker sheets and have tried over and over for years with various degrees of success. I really want to start offering sticker sheets when I re-launch my shop so I gave it another try and was SO happy that it worked! I was very grateful to my fellow artist and business owners over on Insta that helped me out.

In this video you will see me going for a walk and some shots of the flowers that are currently blooming in my garden as well as in front of my studio space. I do some work in my creative corner at home and then venture over to the studio for some writing time and my first attempt at making clay pins. I hope to share the results of those with you next week.

How about you? How is your summer going?

Until next time,

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Free Music for Videos 👉 Music by ThinkChill – orquidea – https://thmatc.co/?l=F1952452

Tea, Playing with Clay & Still Moving

August 30, 2021 Leave a Comment

I hope your week is starting off magical. I am sitting here with a lovely cup of tea and a pretty quiet house finishing up this week’s challenge. Do you have any creative plans for this week? I find that I do best when I have a list of projects I would like to work on in lots of different mediums. Those are the weeks I feel I have the most creative time and most importantly the most fun with my creative time.

This week I am still finalizing the move from our old bedroom into the new. I was very tired this weekend so I didn’t get it all done as I had hoped however I did make lots of headway last week. I am still hopeful we can have the room cleared out this week and I can start painting. We made some changes on the paint color and are going to use the same color we used in our new room. It’s a soft yellow and I love that it’s neutral enough to go with pretty much any color bedding we decide to put in there. Since my daughter will be starting out in a pink toddler bed I think this is a great color choice and will give her a really bright and happy room.

I am currently waiting for my weekly challenge to finish cooking in the oven. If you remember last week’s challenge was to finish a project that’s been on your table for a while. I have been making a magical dream tree for months now. It’s from a tutorial I found on Jennibellie’s YouTube channel where she made a wishing tree I think she called it. I made the basic mold for this last year sometime and then it sat on my desk. I finally started covering the armature with paper clay this year and I really enjoyed the process. It’s taken a while as I would do bit by bit and let it sit as I thought about the colors I would paint it. Once it was all covered with clay I gave it a few coats of paint and really loved how it turned out. I noticed it could still use a touch up here and there but I just love all the texture and warmth it has.

With the tree completed I wanted to add stars to it that I could write my magical dreams on and hang from the tree and that’s where I was having trouble.

I had made a few using air dry clay but they didn’t come out the best and as I was painting them I was liking them less and less. Today I decided to give my polymer clay a shot and I cut out about 15 stars using silver polymer clay, added a hole in the top for string and baked them in the oven. Even after baking they were still a little flimsy so I covered them with 2 coats of triple thick. To add the string (once they were dry) I used a needle threader and added some white embroidery floss. A few of them tore in the process of me re-punching the holes from where the Triple Thick gathered and I wasn’t too hopeful with them. However once I wrote my dream and hung them on the tree I was really happy with how they had turned out.

On a side note my son had made a clay monster probably the beginning of the year that I hadn’t baked yet. At the time I figured we would be making more polymer clay creations that week and sadly his little monster just sat collecting dust. So into the oven he went with the stars (after a good cleaning). I have to say, I really love the little orange monster. I asked if I could share a photo with you but my son said not yet. If he changes his mind I will be sure to add it.

Don’t forget if you took part in last week’s challenge to share your your link on last week’s blog post here. If the link party has already closed out when you go over please do comment below with a link and share your completed project. I would love to see what you finished!

For next week I thought I would continue with a little broader of a theme and challenge you to use something you already have but hardly ever use. It could be a stamp set you purchased (or stamps in general if you don’t use them much in your crafting) or any medium. It could be a color you have but just never paint with or a set of markers or pens. The challenge isn’t to buy something new but to use something you have but either haven’t used yet or hardly ever use. I cannot wait to see what you come up with!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Hermione, Journal Making, Moving Rooms and What I’m Working on Wednesday

August 25, 2021 Leave a Comment

Welcome to another WIWOW! I have really been enjoying this series. It’s nice to look back and be reminded of some of the projects I am working on.

You may remember my little felt Harry Potter doll I made for my daughter’s friend. Well, I had an idea on how to improve him a bit so I thought I would make a second doll for the gift. In the end we all decided the original was the best one and so he is still going off to his new home this weekend. The second Harry went to my son who had been admiring it. He was quite happy when I offered it to him.

I also started Hermione and finished her up today. she really came out cute and I am so happy I was able to get her all done and I have Mr. Ron Weasel all cut out waiting to be stitched. So these 3 cuties will be off to their new home soon and I will definitely be making another set one of these days for my own collection. And I imagine for my kids as well.

I finished the anniversary journal for my husband’s parents that I mentioned in an earlier post. I am really happy with how the cover turned out and I did something different with the inside. I covered 2 pieces of cardboard in coordinating fabric to match the spine and then adhered them on the inside. I love how it looks and it adds some nice weight to the book. I also tried out a new binding technique I found on The Paper Outpost’s channel. It worked great and I think it’s going to be my new go-to binding technique.

If you remember we decided that instead of filling the album with photos from the last 50 years we are going to make it a bit of a challenge journal. My husband came up with the idea inspired by my daughter’s love for her Wreck this Journal by Kerri Smith. His idea was to add challenges for his parents to complete such as taking a photo in front of a mountain or a photo with a stranger.

I love the idea since any of the photos we would be adding to the album they already have and have seen a million times. We are going to include some photos of them and the family but only about 6 or so and then let them enjoy filling it up. They love to travel so I think it will be fun for them. Plus I thought we could have all the guests at their anniversary party add a photo prompt for them. So now it’s a photo album but also a memory book.

Another project I am working on is a cardinal sculpture. I have made it out of Paper Clay and I love the shape and the color but I am not as in love with the eyes. I am may try some dimensional eyes instead of painting them on to give it a bit more interest. I was able to sculpt some feet and I decided I really wanted him to be whimsical like my Self-Care doll so I added some decoupaged old book pages. I am also on the hunt for some fallen branch that I can use to attach him to. I am enjoying sculptures specifically whimsical mixed media type pieces and they give me a lot of joy when I see them in my home.

Last week I finished painting our bedroom and we moved in over the weekend. We have quite a bit of stuff moved in (my creative corner is almost completely set up and I am already using it) but still have some things to move down or decide to let go of completely. I like how contained everything feels now and I am finding having my creative space on the first floor is working so well. I can come in and work for little snippets of time throughout the day. It’s also turned into everyone’s favorite hangout which makes getting in some creative time that much easier. With any luck we will be completely moved out of the old room and ready to paint it for my youngest daughter next week.

I did have a play on Monday with my acrylic inks-the first project I worked on in my new creative corner. It was for last week’s challenge (you can see it here) and I had so much fun! Initially I didn’t think much of the piece-just something fun I made that had a nice childlike quality but the more I see it the more I really like it and I think I will be working more with black and white inks.

The last little item on my desk is a mixed media piece I started Thursday during my Artist Date in My Mobile Art Studio. I have been doing and re-doing this piece a lot over the past week and a half. I just can’t seem to get the face right and I am thinking of leaving it off completely. I originally was thinking of her as a bit of a self-portrait so I made her blonde but I decided today to change her hair color and it seems to work better. For now I’m going to call her done and make her the first piece for my new cardboard journal.

If you are interested in learning more about My Mobile Art Studio and my cardboard journal I am going to be blogging about them over on my other site The Creative Spiritualist. That site is also going to hold all my art journaling, journal making and energy art so if you are interested please stop by and say hello.

Well that’s about everything I have going on now. I hope this post finds you well and able to get in some creative time. I will see you all again on Monday with our weekly challenge. Are you taking part? You can join in all the challenge fun here.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Resource Section

The Paper Outpost: This is where I learned the hidden spine binding technique for the journal.

Baul de la Malinka: This is the Etsy shop where I purchased my Harry Potter felt doll patterns. There is a 3 pack that includes Harry, Ron & Hermione that I opted for.

*Note: All of the items listed above are being shared for your convenience. I purchased any and all materials with my own money and have not be paid or sponsored in any way for sharing these items. I share them because I like them and I love supporting small business. I hope you find them useful!

The Making of a Mobile Art Studio & Weekly Challenge #4

August 16, 2021 Leave a Comment

I am sitting in my writing spot on a gorgeous Sunday. If I am being honest, I should be making dinner but instead I am enjoying some crafting time and catching up on my blog writing.

It feels so good to me when I make time for my creativity. It can be 10 minutes or 2 hours but carving out time each day to do something, make something, paint something or sketch something makes all the difference in not only my well-being but in the way I perceive and interact with the world. It’s always wonderful to be reminded that the better I take care of myself the more love and light I can share with those around me.

This week I got back into my weekly Artist Dates. If you are unfamiliar with the concept it comes from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist Way where she talks about going out on your own to refill your creative well with something that you love or inspires you. For me it’s usually a drive, maybe a visit to a local garden center, or my latest creation-my Mobile Art Studio. I am just working on editing together some videos and sharing my weekly adventures but if you are interested you may want to check out my new site The Creative Spiritualist where I will be share the whole adventure. (Don’t worry I am still keeping this site going!).

One of the things I have been having a lot of fun with this week is playing with clay. I shared my Self-Care Doll in this post (and every time I look at her through out the day I smile so she really is a bit of magic) and I am delving more and more into the world of Paperclay. If you haven’t tried it you may want to as it is so much fun. You can also use Air Dry Clay which I used for completing last week’s challenge.

You may remember I let my oldest daughter pick our challenge for last week and she chose cupcakes. I knew right away that I wanted to make something out of clay so I pulled out the air dry clay and had some fun. I was inspired by this video where she made a cupcake trinket box. Her box was large and required a few days to dry and as I waited until the weekend for this challenge I didn’t have the time. Instead I made a mini version and I couldn’t be happier with them!

Sure they are wonky and lopsided but to be honest that is something I love out of clay pieces. I don’t know if it makes me feel like a kid again but when I see whimsical, bumpy, lopsided clay pieces I just always smile-and these little guys really made me grin!

I painted the bases in different colors-each one is one of my kids favorite colors and then for sprinkles I used all 3 colors to give it a bit of uniform look and have it feel more like a set. It was a lot of fun and because of their size the clay dried overnight and the paint dried almost immediately so I was able to go through and paint all 3 in about an hour. I finished them all off with a gloss varnish. I did notice when I was taking photos a few spots that need touch up that I will take care of but otherwise they are done and super cute!

Their mini size makes me think of storing something really magical inside. My daughter suggested glitter but I am almost thinking a secret treasure of some kind. I even have some mini crystals that would be perfect for inside.

I hope you had fun with last week’s challenge. For this week we are leaving the food theme behind and going to something a little more cuddly.

This week’s challenge is: Cats.

I cannot wait to see what you make!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Air Dry Clay

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