I am so lucky to have a daughter that loves to create! She has loves to create and she loves good products to create with. She has been the best cheerleader during all the work leading up to the product launch. She has been so excited to get the chance to create with my products! Her favorite, the Dear Ruby stamp which features notes written in her great-grandmother Ruby’s autograph book.
We decided that it would be fun to use the stamp to create small air dry clay bowls and ornaments as Christmas gifts for members of our family. Emma also wanted to create one for me to display at CHA. It was so exciting for her to get to see her work on display at the show too!
We thought you might enjoy seeing how easy it is to create stamped clay projects so we photographed the process to create a tutorial. Emma is pretty excited that it is her first official turn on my blog as the creator. <3
Many air dry clays will come in a large block. Pinch off or cut a chunk of clay from the block. Check the package directions to see if it suggests kneading the clay to soften it before rolling it out. We used Sculpey/Polyform’s Model Air Clay. Emma was able to roll the clay out with her polymer clay rolling-pin without kneading the clay first.
Roll the clay out with a rolling-pin until it is about 1/4″ thick.
We used several different small bowls as molds. Place the mold/bowl rim side down onto the clay.
Use a clay knife or blade to cut around the edge of the bowl/mold.
To add a design to the clay simply press a rubber stamp into the clay. Red rubber stamps make great impressions since the designs are deeply etched into the rubber.
We used my Dear Ruby stamp without a stamp block. We left it on the storage sheet, pressed it into the clay, and rubbed over the back of the storage sheet to transfer the design.
(We also made ornaments using my embossing folders… we’ll share those later this week.)
Lift the stamp off of the clay and wash clean with a water and stamp scrubber or scrub brush (like the one you was dishes with).
Gently lift the clay piece and place it into the bowl/mold. Carefully press the clay piece into the bowl. Smooth any rough edges as needed with your fingers or with the smooth edge of a clay tool.
Air dry clay takes about 24 hours to dry. Time can vary depending on humidity and thickness. I placed our pieces near or dehumidifier, although I am not sure it sped the drying up any! After about 12 hours I was able to remove the clay bowls from the molds. I moved them to baking racks to improve the air circulation.
Sand any rough edges with fine sandpaper.
Paint with any acrylic paint.
When the main paint color is dry, use a paint brush to work an accent color into the grooves of the stamped image.
Wrap a clean dry cloth over your finger. Mist the towel over your finger lightly with water.
Buff over the raised areas to remove the accent color from the raised area, leaving it only in the recessed areas. If you rub too hard, you may remove some of your base color also. I liked the look and didn’t try to fix it when it happened to us.
As an alternate and simple way to paint the design, paint the piece with the light accent color. When the accent color is dry, use an ink blending tool with a clean foam to apply the main color. If you hold the tool level, you can skim the flat surface of the blending tool over the raised areas without getting paint into the recessed areas.
The big tip to remember is that you don’t want a ton of paint on your sponge, less is more and apply the paint in thin light layers. A lot of paint in the sponge will make it squishy and more likely to get in the grooves.
When all the paint is dry brush on a sealer. We used Sculpey’s Glaze.
Let the pieces air dry until no longer tacky to the touch.
One of our bowls didn’t have a flat bottom so it didn’t set well. We solved the problem by piercing small holes through the bowl. We placed headpins through the holes. We added bead caps to the headpins on the underneath side of the bowl. We used needle-nose pliers to coil up the extra length of the head pins and hold the bead caps in place. (Headpins and bead caps are all from Vintaj.)
The Sculpey Satin Glaze will dry with a very subtle shine. This pink bowl ended up being my favorite! We painted the bowl first with Spun Sugar Distress Paint. We sponged on a layer of Antique Linen Distress Paint over the pink to help tone it down. We dabbed in some Gathered Twigs into the grooves and then buffed it to remove the excess brown. The last step was to seal it with glaze. I love the way the finished piece looks like a piece of glazed painted pottery! You pick it up expecting it to be heavy like pottery but it is feather light!
The best part of this project? It was easy? It turned out cool? Nope, it was spending a day creating with my girl, making gifts from our hearts to give to others. #priceless
Priceless, indeed! Thanks for sharing
Oh my word, what a fabulous job you did Emma! and what Grandparent (or Parent) wouldn’t LOVE this!!! Wonder if my gal would make me one?!
Definitely has her Momma’s talent gene!
lovely work, Emma. What a fun and charming project and special time together with your mom, too! How wonderful.. Thank you for sharing your talents with us and have a wonderful week.
Tamara <3
Awesome!
A Star is born! So enjoyed seeing Emma with you at CHA. Darling girl you have as well as talented! Great project and tutorial. Thank you!!
O wow Emma these are gorgeous, you are already an artist…but not really surprising having such a talented Mum. What wonderful gifts you made and how cool to see one at CHA. I love that dear Ruby stamp,…it’s going on my wish list. xx
Thanks Emma for a great idea for all of us to try! Your bowl is gorgeous and can’t wait to try making one and teach some friends of mine to do it too! You Gals ROCK!!
This is just awesome! A family heirloom with your daughter, memories of her G Grandmother and precious memories of times that two of your created together!!! May she look at one of these bowls 20 yrs from now with a smile on her face! Go Emma!
Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing.
What a great project! I’m certain my grandchildren will love doing this with me!
Love these little bowls & I can’t wait to get my hands on that stamp!
What a treasure…crafting with your daughter. I had my times like that…but now I am crafting and doing art with my granddaughters, which is almost sweeter yet!! Have fun and enjoy, which I can tell you are! 😉
Thank you for the Tutorial, Emma! This looks fun, easy and has great results ~the problem? I’m not as lucky as your mom to have a crafter like you to enjoy the process with : P
Looking forward to seeing the embossing folder ornaments made with your Mom’s beautiful new designs!
Fantastic! Cant wait to see the ornies!
What a wonderful design Tammy. Love the handwriting from Grandma Ruby to add to the bowl. It certainly makes it even more special. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing a great project idea! I’ll be visiting my two grandsons in April and these little bowls will make sweet little dresser top bowls for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Mommy can use it for her jewelry and Daddy can use it for all those pennies he keeps saving!
I love this project! What a wonderful job and such a talented young lady you are Emma. Is this stamp custom made? I’m extremely curious.
Great job! Jann
No, it is from my new product line with Spellbinders. It will be available in April. Check your local or favorite online store. You can also order online on Spellbinders website after April.
This is so beautiful!
Later Girl
LLL
I love everything about this! Emma is absolutely darling…and very creative! (Great job Emma!) The “Dear Ruby” stamp…from her great grandmother’s autograph book…that makes my heart sing! What treasures! Instructions are very good, finished projects are awesome. My fave is the pink too! Thank you for this…it’s wondeful! Precious and priceless!
What a wonderful project to make, specially when it can make such a useful and beautiful gift. Great work Emma!
So wonderful! Love the pretty bowls and how you incorporated Grandma Ruby’s handwriting stamp into the design! Crafting with your dear daughter is of course the best part and a wonderful memory!!!!
Thank you for sharing Emma, this is so great to be able to spend crafty time with your Mom! My sister, her daughter & I get together and craft and it is great fun times, happy memories and you create great gifts! Thank You for sharing your technique! GREAT JOB!
This project is really something that I would love to try, however, I need that glaze stuff. I have seen so many lovely things made with this air dry clay and paperclay, that it’s a must to try. 🙂 Loved your Valentine hearts too! 🙂
Thanks for sharing Tammy and Emma. Good job!