Comparing Polymer Clay and Cold Porcelain

DottedKitten has created a video showing us the differences she found between polymer clay and no-bake cold porcelain.   This question comes up often, so I hope you enjoy the video.   Thanks DottedKitten!

Tutorial: Clay Rose with Color Gradient

Hi, Sorry I haven't been posting every day like I used to.  I got involved in some local projects around town which have been taking a lot of my time.  More than I expected...you know how that goes!   Because I missed featuring a tutorial on Tuesday... let's have one today!

In this video, the well-known South American clay artist Jorge Rubicce shows us his methods for creating realistic roses using cold porcelain. If you don't understand the language, just mute the video and follow along visually as he demonstrates each step for building the flowers and creating his gradient color effect.  Any of the soft air-dry clays would work as well for this project.

How to Make This Cute Scarecrow

air-dry-clay demo

This video tutorial from Linda Peterson shows us how to use several different colors of Cloud Clay to make an autumn scarecrow.   By changing the face (to look less like a scarecrow), this could be a cute figure for many other occasions..or maybe a clown!

How to Create Craft Porcelain Clay Roses

Clay Roses by Linda Peterson

As featured on Livin' the Creative Life, Linda Peterson shares how to create delicate roses from the air-dry clay called "Craft Porcelain"  (from Amaco).    This product is said to be similar to the homemade cold porcelain paste we've often mentioned .... but I'm told by those who've used both products that the

Polar Bear Tutorial

Cute polar bear charm made with air-dry clay.  Video demo by CuteTanpopo.

Tutorial: Make Some Funny Bunnies

Video demo from TatyanaBel  doesn't say what kind of clay she's using but this would be a good project for the pre-colored air-dry clays such as Cloud Clay, Makin's Clay, Hearty Clay and Model Magic. Cold porcelain should work well for these bunnies also.  Bunnies are colorful and the simple shapes make it kid-friendly.  TatyanaBel says: "This is just to show how easy to create something that can bring an instant smile on your friend's face or someone's you care about. I've created few dozens during Easter and placed them in the kitchen at work. Easter Bunnies had their new friends very quickly!"

How to Make Clay Roses

Today we have a video slideshow from Lydia, demonstrating her method for creating cold porcelain roses.   The  instructional text in the video is written in 4 languages.   You may have to use the PAUSE button in the video player to stop slideshow long enough to read text.

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 a Strand of Clay Flowers

This is a 2-part video from msedcolor (Simply Chic Lily) demonstrating how to make simple flowers and then connect them into a strand of flowers.

How to Make a 'Smile' Tool

How to make your own tool to impress a mouth shape into clay.

Tutorial: Clay Flower, Orchid

Video demo by zikomah  showing us how to create a clay orchid.

How to Make Clay Peony

 

This 4-part video demo from Mayen from Way Beyond Cakes shows us how to make a very realistic Peony flower.   She describes this as a "beginners" flower and demonstrates every step in the process in detail.   Mayen is crafting with gumpaste in this demo, but the process is the same for air-dry clay (just use white glue instead of edible glue).    The softer brands of air-dry clay or cold porcelain are usually the best choice for clay flowers.

How to create this puppy with Cloud Clay

Isn't that a cute face?    In this video demo, Linda Peterson shows us how to create this little dog with Cloud Clay, a soft air dry clay. This would be a good cold porcelain project too, and a good beginners project!

For more information about Cloud Clay visit http://amaco.com

How to Properly Wrap a Foam Cone with Clay

In our last post, we featured a video which demonstrates the proper way to wrap a Styrofoam ball with cold porcelain. The foam ball is the most common armature used when making cute air-dry clay figures but the Styrofoam CONE is also used often.  In the following video, Haydee Miranda demonstrates the proper way to wrap a Styrofoam cone with cold porcelain clay so you don't end up with cracks or trapped air. Note that the ball of clay she starts with is about equal to the circumference of the shape.

Spanish is the language spoken in this demo but I think you can easily follow what's she's doing even if you don't understand what she's saying!

How to Wrap a Styrofoam Ball with Clay

Many air-dry clay projects call for Styrofoam shapes as armatures for figure modeling.   Quite a few people have mentioned they are having trouble covering the foam with clay without getting cracks or trapped air.   In the following video, Haydee Miranda demonstrates the proper way to wrap a Styrofoam ball with cold porcelain.

Spanish is the language spoken in this tutorial but I think you can follow along even if you don't understand what she's saying!

Create This Pair of Lovebirds

In the following video, Haydee Miranda shows us how to make a dove with cold porcelain.  Make 2 and add  a heart and you have a pair of lovebirds!   Perfect for Valentine's Day gift or decoration!  

This is a simple, beginners project and is suitable for just about any type of air-dry clay, purchased or homemade!.  Spanish is the language spoken in this tutorial but each step is clearly shown and I think you can follow along even if you don't understand what she's saying!

Make Valentine Candy Jewelry with Clay

Giselle uses cold porcelain clay to form Valentine's Day chocolate candy earrings and pendants.  See video demo at Valentine Craft - Mold Chocolate Clay Jewelry

Make Miniature Calla Lily and Dandelion

I know that many fans of air-dry clay are also fans of dollhouse miniatures...so today we'll show you how to make some miniature flowers with air-dry clay.   Pedro Ramirez says the Dandelion and Calla Lily are two of the easiest flowers to make out of clay. He shows us how to make the miniature flowers in this video demo. I think he's using polymer clay for the Lily, but he also mentions creating the flowers