Air-dry clay can be used with push molds just like polymer clay. Today's tutorial from Polymer Clay Express shows you how to customize a Polyform (Sculpey) face mold to create a Santa face. The completed face can be used for an ornament, package topper or a Santa doll. Tutorial: Customizing "Grandpa" to make a Santa ornament Even though the tutorial was written for polymer clay, the steps are essentially the same with air-dry clay...just don't bake and let it air dry instead. You can leave the clay in the mold while drying, if desired.
The tutorial doesn't make it clear that flesh colored clay must have been used to start with (it looks white in photos) because it skips the step to paint the flesh color and goes right into antiquing. For air-dry clay users, you can tint the raw clay in advance or paint with acrylics after it cures. I prefer multiple THIN layers of paint for the skin tones.
Only the very soft air-dry clays are available pre-colored and other brands must be pre-tinted or painted. Some soft clays may work OK in the push molds but many soft brands do not hold detail well. It will look OK at first, but as it dries it sorta 'puffs-up' and detail gets lost. Clay brands such as Creative Paperclay, Delight and LaDoll may work better. Those clays also allow more customizing because re-shaping and blending of seams is easier. Please leave comment if you have any questions!
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