A Creative Weekend Hobby: Playing with Air Dry Clay

 

And so the fascination with clay continues. Aside from my hand building pottery experience with Kibo Studio, I also initiated my own little clay session by myself with air dry clay.

While waiting to receive my fired works from Kibo Studio, I came across @sstudio.305 's instagram post on the clay art she made, and I was very curious. I messaged her directly to inquire, and I remember my innocent question was, does it need to be fired in a kiln? True to its name, it dries by itself, so I thought this might be a nice hobby to keep myself occupied while I wait for my fired works. 

Air dry clay is great for simple accessory trays or mini planters. I personally think they are more for display, and not something you can use to pour your coffee into or to eat your hot steaming rice with. Even so! Seeing these clay works around in my room has done wonders to my mood. Every time my eyes wander towards them, I am reminded that I am a creative human bean, who is capable of going through both the good and bad days. 

I leveraged the learnings I gained from the online class with Kibo Studio, and applied the same techniques for air dry clay. I am no expert at this; I am merely experimenting, expanding, and exploring creative outlets, but the main things to remember would be to--

• Play! Slap the clay, roll it with a rolling pin (if you have), knead it, and eventually mold it into the shape you want. You will know that it's ready once you see there are no signs of dryness, it's not cracking in between, and if it feels soft enough.

• Use water, just enough to get rid of the cracks. 

• If you are making a planter for example, start with the base. You would need a good foundation before you start adding the body. 

• Whenever you have to connect two separate pieces, create slits in between both of the pieces you will be attaching. This would help them stick together better. 

• For drying, waiting time ranges from 24-28 hours. You would be able to tell once the clay has turned a solid color. The clay can come in different colors, and from what I know, there are gray and terracotta colors available. 

• Once it dries, sand them off with sand paper, just to get rid of the excess layers or smoothen out any rough edges. 

• Then it's time to paint! This was something I wasn't able to do with my Kibo Studio pieces. I used my acrylic and gouache paints for this. I realized I have so much art materials that I haven't been using, so I might as well use them now before they dry out entirely. 

• Finally, apply a coat of varnish to seal the paint.

Pepito Jr's new home 

I've had a lot of fun with the painting part. I haven't been painting at all, to be honest. I've been pouring out my attention towards my oil pastels, so painting these ones felt much like returning to the arms of an old love.

Here's the others I made: a quirky egg coaster and dreamy cloud tray :")

I bought my clay through Shopee, here is the link if you are interested to add another creative hobby into your life. I suggest buying more than one piece, since I think one would not be enough if you would like to make bigger projects. On my first purchase, I bought four. :)

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Have you tried playing with air dry clay before? I guess my favorite part is being able to paint it, and to think of creative designs. 

I hope you've been well, dear reader. Stay safe, and take good care. : - ) 

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