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Saturday, February 27, 2010

Santa Ornament - recycled pull tab tin top from a peanut can






My second paper clay ornament is done. Yeah, I know it's not the right time of year to make Christmas things, but it just turned out that way.

As you can see in the photo, I turned down the corner of the peanut can lid.
The gray blob is the peanut tin top covered, except of the tab, with air dry clay.

Then I started to sculpt... something. I molded a face from a store bought mold, and tweaked it just a bit with a toothpick. Then, I grabbed a pair of hands I had cast in plaster months ago and popped them on the blob of gray clay. I didn't know he'd be a santa until I put the collar on his coat, and cuffs on his sleeves in order to cover the wrists.

Suddenly, he started to appear. After some more sculpting, he dried over night and I painted him today. He needs a few clear coats of acrylic to seal him properly for years of enjoyment.

Now, unto the next thing...

Friday, February 26, 2010

Go Nuts... you heard me... go nuts!



Just this once, ignore proper eating habits and eat some nuts in the name of art.

I have recently repurposed the pull off tab from a can of peanuts in order to attempt a new project. The way I saw it, the tab would act as a built-in hanger.

The project began by turning the edges of the lide inward, as shown in the photo. Then I covered the front and back of the tin with a thin layer of air dry clay. I used a face mold to start the face shape, and tweaked it to make it more to my liking. I mounted the face on the lid, so that the head would cover most of the tab, and used a toothpick to blend the sections of clay. I made hearts with cookie cutters, used an old piece of jewelry to emboss the center of each heart, and mounted them onto the piece.

The whole thing was allowed to dry overnight. Then the paints came out, as did the glitter. The clay was still a bit moist when I started painting which worked out well for me. That way, I could use the toothpick I was painting with to scrape areas that were a bit more textured than I wanted them to be. After I scraped an area, I blew it off gently and painted over it. After all the paint dried, I glued the areas I wanted to glitter. Sprinkle, sprinkle... glitter added zing to the whole thing.

My first ornament was created!!! She turned out alright (although I'll probably jazz her up a little more later), and onto the next item I can recycle!