How to make with clay

Searching for how to make with clay?  We are excited to share a how to make with clay project with you today. 

I am curious, how much do you know about blogging?  Before I started this one, I read many, many blogs.  I still do read and follow along, but what I knew about everything that goes into blogging? 

Wow!  What do they say, hindsight is 20/20, because I was not as smart as I thought I was.  Honestly, they are a lot of work.  Always coming up with new ideas, working on crafts to share, changing up decor for every season, and then the writing, and IT stuff, and all of the other stuff that goes into my little slice of heaven...  whew!  I was not prepared for all of that!

If you have been with me since the beginning, then you know my blog used to look a lot differently.  I created what you saw myself.  I was very proud of it since I knew zero, zilch, nada about coding, and where to put code when you finally figured out the code you needed... it goes on and on... I will not bore you with the details.

BUT... I found my blog was outdated and needed work.  I decided the second time around, I was getting help which brings us to the current look you see when you visit our blog now.

I also decided education and knowledge are empowerment and decided to sign up for a class to help me better understand this whole thing called blogging.  

I am so far behind in coursework (like a year), but I try to keep plugging along, working my full time job, crafting, writing, taking pics, social media, taking the class, and whatever else life seems to throw at us.

In case you ever wonder why some of the titles of my posts do not make the most amount of sense, there is a thing called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.  It is what folks look for online.  I decided I would share a small part of it with you today since the title of this post made me laugh a bit.  

Rather than you think I am off my rocker, I thought I would share the reasoning behind it.  So when folks search for a topic online it is noted with the good folks at Google, Bing, etc... which helps bloggers like myself get found so folks like you can read our blogs when they search key words.  

I have to say, I have learned so much in the class I have been taking, along with trial and error.  Of course I have made mistakes... me, being the student of life has no issue making mistakes, that is for sure. That is where the learning part comes in, you learn from your mistakes too, just like anything else in life.  

Now that I feel like I have explained (you know me, the long route in everything I do), I feel like we can get on with the project.  Yeah for us! As I am sure you are rolling your eyes and saying Cara, we really did not need that explanation, we already know you are a bit nutty.  Yes, well thanks for staying with me this long.    

Clay!  Yes, I purchased some a while back, and it kept sitting in my crafting basket untouched.  I decided this past weekend I would remedy that.  What a better way to use clay than to make a  clay bowl?  It was not as hard as I had imagined... the waiting for it to dry was the hard part for me.    

Here is a list of materials you will need:

1. Air drying clay
2. Rolling pin
3. Large bowl
4. Smaller bowl
5. Knife to cut clay
6. Craft paint of your choice
7. Iridescent Paint 
8. Paint Brush
9. Gloss Mod Podge
10. Paint Pen

Here are the directions in how we made our bowl:

• I sectioned off a piece of clay and began warming it up by rolling it between my hands (the longer you mold it, the easier it is to work with)
• I rolled out the clay until I had a large enough piece for the size of bowl I wanted to make
• Placed large bowl upside down on the clay and traced around the bowl top with my knife (just a kitchen knife, I know, so high tech here) 
• Removed the bowl, and began pulling away the excess clay
• Rounded out the edges  with a little bit of water before I picked up the clay from my work area
• Picked up clay round, and placed over bowl leaving a scalloped edge around the bowl (pick a bowl with no embossing on the bottom, it will show on your clay, yep, learning here too!)
• Let dry 48 hours (I have read 24 hours, but mine was not dry)
• Remove clay bowl from bowl form
• Paint exterior your desired color, you can paint both the inside and outside the same color, or you can choose 2 different colors as we did
• Let dry, I painted 2 coats on each side, dry again
• Once fully dry, paint on iridescent paint, let dry
• Paint edge of bowl with paint pen by tracing along the edge, I used gold for the edge
• Once bowl is completely dry, then paint on Gloss Mod Podge
• Let dry

See, the drying... who knew there would be so much of it!  I was getting pretty impatient.  LOL.  Finally, you will have your custom bowl.  

I know some of you prefer not hearing this, but Christmas is right around the corner, you could make these for the family member who already has everything.

One year, I made all of the presents I gave out.  Everyone loved them, which really made me so happy because I was unsure if they would. 

We are to a point in our lives where we just need big home items, and my mother and sister are not going to pick those items up for us.  My sister is in the same boat, so why spend money on items that will just collect more dust, sitting around the house.  I mean come on, I do not need any more help with that, I have enough around the cottage already collecting dust!

Anyway, just a thought... I do love a good handmade item given to me, something from the heart that I will always cherish.  For those of you who wait until Christmas Eve, this will not be a good gift due to all of the drying.

If you are anything like me though, Christmas has been on your mind since December 31, of last year!  This year being the exception, I usually have all of my Christmas presents purchased by now.  They are usually all wrapped in October... noticing a common theme? 

I hate to put Christmas off!  One, I love the season and I like to enjoy myself and everything about Christmas, and two, that would cause me major anxiety to wait until a few days before Christmas! 

This was quite a fun project, I am thinking of other projects now to try with the clay we have left.  Wonder what we will come up with next?  You can see our inspiration bowl below.  Now ours is very different, but you can see where we pulled our color choices from.  😉 

The bowl we made will be a gift for a family member.  We decided it could be used to keep your keys in, small decorative soaps in the bathroom, your jewelry, a candle, spare change, as a candy dish... the possibilities are endless.  

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!