Have you ever thought about a time machine?
Let’s pretend for a second that we had a time machine. Would you consider going back in time? (I know, I know some of you nerds already want to debate with me about the nitty gritty of this time travel concept. But no, thank-you. We’ll find a separate tea-party to discuss it!)
Picture this scenario. You’re going about your merry life hopping and skipping along. It’s a perfectly beautiful day. The sun is shining bright. You have on your best outfit. You’re humming along lost in thought. And then bam, you step in a puddle of goop (You can get creative and decide what goop you stepped on).
Yikes. Now your shoes and outfit are all messed up. You snap back from your happy thoughts and are no longer humming. You’re scrunching your face instead and wishing it didn’t happen. If you owned a time machine then you’d probably want to use it right about now.
Well we don’t have a time machine in real life (atleast not as far as I know. Ooo if you have one I wanna see it! Send me a picture please).
But what if I said you could time travel in art! (insert astonished expression here)
Many forms of art are just like a time machine. You can always go back very easily if you mess it up! No stress or anxiety at all. Tadaaaaa…. Confused?
The following steps will clearly explain what I’m talking about:
1) So I got out the box of sculpey clay that was probably catching dust for over half a decade. I know, right! About time to bake that thing!
2) I got my fancy pants gloves on (no they’re just regular old boring cleaning gloves). You don’t need gloves. But I had some, so I figured I’d use them.
3) I laid out a perfectly fresh baking sheet. Ya, I know I am hungry too. But today’s post is strictly NOT edible. The baking sheet just prevents the surface from getting dirty and since it is waxy the clay does not stick to it either. So it’s perfect for a base!
4) And then the herculean task of kneading the clay started. I kneaded that thing like my life depended on it! If kneading was a workout I would’ve lost 20 pounds right there! Well, the clay was almost like a rock, (in the clay’s defense it was sitting for 5 years) so I had to knead it till it became soft and malleable. My recommendation would be to buy a fresh pack. By the way, the more you knead, the better it holds up. It’s just like kneading pizza dough. Oh man, I’m getting hungry again. Funny the amount of food talk that happens in an art blog…..
5) I already knew I wanted to sculpt a beautiful hand designed photo frame out of the clay. Imagine putting your favorite memory in your special one of a kind picture frame. Priceless! (Insert dreamy face here)
6) Once the ginormous task of kneading was done the actual fun part began. The clay was soft at this point and I used a few tools and started to etch on it.
I used the back of a brush and a palette knife as my tools. You can use any tools that you have at home for sculpting. Like a screw driver or a fork or a spoon…. Get creative!
I began sculpting and realized half-way that I didn’t like the way it was turning up. So guess what I did? I simply kneaded the dough back into a ball and voila – clean slate again. No stress. (Just like going back in a time machine and undoing the mess.)
If you’re the type of person that worries about messing up, then clay is the perfect tool for you!!! You cannot go wrong with clay and it is extremely forgiving.
Because if you don’t like what you do, you just knead it back into a ball and start over. Now it cannot get any more easier than that!
7) When I was happy with my sculpting I put it in the oven to bake it (275 F for approx 20 min) and set it in stone for posterity.
8) I ate some chocolate while I watched it bake (this is the most important step and should absolutely NOT be skipped).
9) The sculpey clay requires around 15 min to bake for every quarter inch (just read the instructions on the package if you’re using a different kind of clay). It’s very important to watch and ensure that you don’t burn your house down during this step.
10) Once it’s baked take it out and let it cool. (I know you’re super excited and want to hold your masterpiece, admire it and play with it. But trust me, just wait till it cools down!) It hardens after baking.
11) Once it’s cooled down feel free to color it. I left mine white because I love the off-white look of it. It kinda looks like marble. (By the way you can also use colored clay for this project if you’d like.)
12) And then the MOST important step (other than step 8 offcourse) – Put your most treasured picture in the frame and hang it where the world can see it!
So what do you guys think? Easy, peasy right.
Your turn now. I want to hear from you , right now!!! Yes, this very moment. Comment below and let me know if you liked this post and what art challenges are you still facing in your life?
Can’t wait to hear back.
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Until next time,
Hey, this looks so pretty! What does the back of the frame look like? Wanted to see how the pictures stay put in the frame.
Thanks so much Divya! 🙂 That’s a great question! Well, I cut the image to dimensions smaller than the frame and simply used tape to attach the picture to the frame. So it’s very convenient to change pictures anytime. The only drawback is that it doesn’t look very pretty. The other option was to tuck it into the circular groove that I had created, but I’d need a bigger picture for that. When you are making the piece you can put slits/grooves that you can later use to slip the picture in. Hope this helps.