Miniature Teddy Bear

This video demo from sugarcraft artist Aine shows us how to make a tiny miniature teddy bear.   This demo is using gumpaste to create figure, but the process is exactly the same for air-dry clay.   Just use regular glue where she calls for edible glue.    This is a kid-friendly project and suitable for just about any clay, including the softer air-dry clays like Model Magic and Cloud Clay.

How to Make a Miniature Milkshake

Cute Tanpopo shows us an easy way to make a pretty darn realistic miniature milkshake.  You can use just about any air-dry clay to make this tiny milkshake, but demo is using cold porcelain.   She made her milkshakes as charms but this looks to be about the right size for a 1:12 scale miniature soda shop too!

How to add detailed stitches to clay figure

The following video demo from a guy in Sweden called Guldies shows us how to add whimsical stitches to a sculpt.  Detailed, dimensional and authentic looking.  The sculpture he creates in this video is quite wild, whimsical and colorful!

For very small stiches, you can use one of those marking wheels used for transferring sewing patterns or use the Cutter/Embosser tool shown here made by Wilton for creating stitch marks on cake fondant.  It's an inexpensive plastic tool with three detachable wheels for cutting and embossing 3 different patterns (wheels store in the handle).   I have one and it works great!

How to Make Clay Carnations

Here's another step-by-step tutorial for creating clay Carnations.   This tutorial by Priya Nanthakumar uses air-dry clay to create the flowers.   About a year ago, we posted a Carnation tutorial which adapted a sugarcraft tutorial to air-dry clay.   The methods used are slightly different in each tutorial but both result in a quite realistic Carnation.

Here's a few tips when following this tutorial:
Author recommends oil paints to pre-tint the clay but acrylic paints may also be used.   Artists quality oils and acrylics will give you stronger reds and dark colors than craft paints.   If you want pastel pinks or yellows, craft acrylics could be used instead of the tube paints.

Sculpting a ball-jointed hand for BJD

Pat Lillich has written a tutorial for sculpting jointed hands for a large doll (BJD). She's using Paperclay and Polystyrene tubes to create the hollow finger units (and add strength).

Part 1.  Fingers
http://www.shadows.4oni.com/blog/?page_id=121

Part 2.  Palm & Stringing
http://www.shadows.4oni.com/blog/?page_id=149