How to create 3D items using clay and other craft materials
In this blog article and video tutorial, I will show you:
Introduction to the different types of plastic and silicone molds and mats - including a detailed video demo (scroll down to watch)
Which materials you can use in each mold type
Video tutorial of the 3 most popular brands or air dry clay, where you’ll learn the differences in use, drying time and look of the finished pieces
How to personalise your items: how to color, weather proof and add an easy sparkle finish
Creating dimensional objects is such a fun activity and one of those things that requires next to no skills at all if you have the right tools at your disposal. If like me you remember your first attempts at pottery when you were a kid in school producing unrecognisable trinkets that only your mother could love, trust me when I say you can create beautiful objects now, and very easily too.
The key thing is understanding how the different types of material work and what specific tools you can use to achieve consistently good results from your very first attempt.
I cover these in the videos below where I show you the tools and different types of clay in action. If you’d like some inspiration on which items to buy, scroll down for some product ideas covered in each section.
SILICONE MOLDS AND IMPRESSION MATS + PLASTIC MOLDS
Of course if you are good at free form modelling, all these clay options will work great with that too but if that idea fills you with dread, you need to know is that there are a variety of inexpensive molds on the market that make the process easy peasy. Regardless of how bad you think you are with your hands at drawing, shaping, etc, you can use these molds time and again and always get consistent end results - it’s particularly good if you need to make more than one of the same design and need them all to look the same. I cover all the different types of molds in this video and I’ve linked to only a few of my favorites, but once you understand the different categories of molds, it’s really just a matter of personal preference on the designs you’re most attracted to and that will fit in better with your craft style and DIY projects.
TYPES OF CLAY
If you are not ready yet to venture into hot glue, resin, baking clay or other raw materials for shaping, you cannot go wrong with air dry clay. In this next video I cover 3 of the most popular and readily available brands of this type of clay: DAS Air dry clay; Hearty paper clay; and Prima Marketing modelling material. You’ll be able to understand the differences between each type and decide which one is the best one for your needs. I’ve also included a link below to my favorite brand of craft cement, which is super easy to use and achieves great results each time.
You can use any of these to create 3D embelishments for the home or your other craft projects, jewellery pieces and home decor items from little trinket dishes like the one I show you on the video to more substancial handmade home decor items like water resistant flower plants, which you can do using cement. Further down I will also explain how you can make any of your clay ceations water resistant.
END RESULTS
There are significant differences in the results you get from each type of clay, even when used with the exact same mould. Both in terms of weight and shrinkage between the final dried piece when compared to the initial size of the mould.
Das air dry clay: This is the heaviest finished piece at 8-9 grams for this particular piece and it’s also the one with the least shrinkage factor, almost identical to the initial mould size. You will need to allow it at least 24 hours of drying time but the final piece will be a very solid an sturdy stone-like texture.
Hearty paper clay: This finished piece is by far the lightest of the three, weighing less than 1 gram, making it ideal to apply to any items that will be posted helping to keep shipping costs down. Although it won’t bend or be squashed easily, paper clay objects can be damaged if in contact with liquids so bear this in mind when picking a coloring medium and they wouldn’t be suitable to make little plant pots for example as the water and moisture would make it disintegrate, but it’s perfect to create embelishments. It’s the easiest of the 3 options to knead and it will dry in a matter of a few hours.
Prima modelling material: This option is a bit less heavy than the Das, weighing circa 5-6 grams when fully dired (this will take at least 24h). It is undoubtedly the material that shrinks the most but similarly to the Das, it takes a solid ceramic type of consistency. This material is more prone to developing cracks as it dries, particularly in bigger pieces but this can easily be avoided by covering it with a towel whilst it dries to help retain some moisture and make the drying process slower. In small pieces like this one I didn’t have to take any such precautions and there weren’t any cracks.
COLORING AND FINISHING TOUCHES
One of the great things of creating with clay is the ability to color your embelishments in any shade you want to exactly match your craft projects. You can use a variety of coloring mediums, from acrylic paints to inkpads, just be careful if using very watery mediums on the Hearty clay pieces. A fail proof method is to use your favorite alcohol markers. I’ve got two more expensive sets from different brands I got years ago but these days you can get great deals on bigger unbranded sets so I have linked to one such set below - you will be very well served with these, at a fraction of the cost.
To add an extra special touch, my top tip is to use a sparkle brush pen - the Kuretake Wink of Stella pen is the original product and a perfect companion for alcohol markers. Another great thing with this is that it will help smooth and blend the tone of your coloring so even if your initial coverage wasn’t perfect, no one will ever know once you’ve applied an extra layer of sparkly, glittery beauty. You can opt for clear sparkle, or gold or silver tones.
Finally, whether you are creating small embelishments or bigger home decor pieces, like vases and pots, remember that air dry clay will not be water or weather proof until you use a couple of varnish finishing layers, once the item is fully dry and after you’ve applied any coloring of your choosing (you can of course skip the coloring stage and leave it in its natural tone, just protected with the varnish layer).
