Clay Play

Looks can be deceiving!  My blog has not truly proven the fruits of my creative labors this week.  However, now it is about to do so.  I also gave my blog itself a slight facelift for its 1st birthday, going back to 2 columns to be a little more roomy.  There is something about back to school and the beginning of fall that just seems to power up my creativity.  As you see above, one of my endeavors was playing with clay.  I haven't done that since my kids were in elementary school! 

I tried my hand at combining stamping, painting and clay all together.  I googled several tutorials on painting/inking and using stamps with clay so that I would not wind up ruining my stamps.  I like the turn out of my pink heart the best of the three, with the dragonfly a close second.  The framed heart cracked a bit around the holes I made but I think it was mostly due to the fact that I forgot to make the holes before first sticking it in the oven and it had baked for two or three minutes before I realized it!  Then, of course, I had to pull it out and it took me about 10 minutes to get the holes made (clay gets REALLY hot REALLY fast!).  Then, back in the oven and time adjusted.  If you have used baking clay, you know that it is pertinent that you follow the baking time precisely.....now I know partly why......cracking. Of course, the fact that I was baking clay at Midnight could also have something to do with the errors.