| Clay-Covered Picture Frames |
From "DIY Crafts"
episode DIC-114 |
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Polymer-clay expert and designer Donna Kato takes a simple clear-acrylic picture frame and turns it into a work of art by covering it with clay and adding molded clay seashells.
Materials:
Equal portions of tan and peach Sculpey IIIB. clay
Pasta machine or rolling pin (Note: After a pasta machine has been used to condition clay, it cannot be used in food preparation.)
Acrylic picture frame
Single-edged razor blade or scalpel
Needle or dental tool
One 12" ceramic-tile square
Tongue depressor
Small circular clay pattern cutter
White acrylic craft paint
- Condition the clay by softening it in your hands, then running it through a pasta machine. Mix the tan and peach clay pieces together. If you don't have a pasta machine, use a rolling pin.
- Set the pasta machine on the number 1 setting, and run the clay through, forming a 1/8"-thick sheet. Place the sheet on a 12" ceramic-tile square.
- Place the acrylic frame face down on the clay. Using a single-edged razor blade or scalpel, cut around the edges of the frame. Remove excess clay (figure A).
- Decide on the size of the frame border width you want--we used 3/4" wide -- and measure all the way around the frame. Using a needle or dental tool, cut out the center piece of clay, leaving a 3/4" clay border all the way around. You could cut a cardboard template if you plan to make several frames of the same size (figure B).
- Roll a clay snake 1/2" in diameter, and flatten it out so it measures 3/4" wide (figure C).
- Place the snake on top of the border clay, and cut each corner, mitering them on all four sides (figure D).
- Smooth the edges to join the clay snake with the border base. Use your fingers to blend the clay together, then use a wooden tongue depressor or flat-sided handle to smooth down the clay (figure E).
- To make shell accents, roll a sheet of clay 1/8" thick (or run it through a pasta machine). Use the pattern cutter to cut out circular shapes. If you don't have a pattern cutter, roll small balls of clay, and flatten them into circles with your fingers. Circles made with a pattern cutter will be of uniform size (figure F).
- Notch out two small half-circles on one side of the circle to form the bottom of the shell (figure G).
- Crimp the clay edges a bit with your fingers to slope them, as a shell would be shaped (figure H).
- Roll a needle or a dental tool in the clay to create the shell's indentations. Make eight shells. Place one at each corner of the frame and in the center of each side piece. The clay sticks to the frame, so no glue is necessary (figure I).
- Form small accent balls and press them onto the clay frame between the shells. Bake the frame in an oven at 275 degrees for about 45 minutes. You can leave the frame on the ceramic tile during the baking process to minimize any distortion that might occur when you move it. Baking will cure the frame and make it completely hard (Figure J).
- Dilute white acrylic craft paint, and apply it to the surface of the frame after it's baked (figure K).
- Use a silicone-based glue or epoxy glue to attach the hardened clay to the acrylic frame.
RESOURCES :
Kato, Donna
Sculpey III
Polyform Products Inc.
Website: www.sculpey.com
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