DIY Gold Air Cry Clay Stars
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Gold Air Dry Clay Stars.
I can't believe Christmas is only 33 days away (thank you yourchristmascountdown.com). For some reason, Christmas always seems to sneak up on me. I'm afraid I'm a terrible last-minute Christmas shopper.
This year I'm trying to be more organised so the other day I decided to sort through all my Christmas decorations to try and see what I do and don't have.
I was halfway through when I came across the embossed clay star decorations I made last year. I'd forgotten how much I liked them and I'm glad to say they've all survived and are still in one piece.
You all know how much I love making things with air dry clay so I decided to add to my Christmas decoration collection by making some more clay stars, this time covering them in sparkly gold gilding flakes.
Supplies:
Star Cookie Cutters
Parchment/Greaseproof Paper
Straw
Fine Sandpaper
A Sponge
Acrylic Rolling Pin
Yarn or Ribbon to hang.
1. Start by taking some of your air dry clay and working it into a ball until soft and pliable.
2. Roll your clay out to around 5 mm. If you're worried about the clay sticking to your work surface you can roll it out onto some parchment paper like I did. This makes it easier to lift your clay shapes away without stretching and distorting your stars.
3. Use your cookie cutter to cut out your star shapes and use a straw to punch out a hole for the wool or ribbon to thread through.
4. Leave to dry. Mine took around 48 hours. Remember, the thicker the clay the longer it will take to dry.
5. When dry, sand away any rough edges.
6. Using a sponge apply a thin layer of the gilding flake adhesive. Leave to dry, until it begins to go tacky.
7. Cover your star in a generous layer of gilding flakes. I know some people empty their gilding flakes into a larger container and then press the object they want to gild into them but I found it worked better when I patted the flakes down onto the adhesive.
8. Gently rub away any excess flakes using a Rubit Scrubit pad.
9. Thread with wool or ribbon and hang.
Tips for using gilding flakes.
They're messy. The flakes are extremely light and get everywhere so make sure you have any windows closed and air conditioning off. Put some scrap paper under anything you're gilding, this way you can catch any excess and use it again.
When applying the adhesive try not to use too much, a thin layer is all you need. If you apply too much or don't let it dry enough you'll find that when it comes to burnishing (buffing away the excess flakes) all you'll do is clump the flakes and glue together and leave you with a patchy finish.
If you do end up with any flake free patches you can go back in and apply a second layer but make sure the first has totally dries first otherwise you'll end up rubbing this layer away as well.
I read somewhere that you can always seal the flakes with a top coat of glue but so far I haven't felt like I needed to. Has anyone else used these gilding flakes? If you've got any more tips or tricks please share them in the comments below.
You can find more diy/crafts over on my Pinterest board.
