November is almost over, how time flies without any warning. I am miserable when the year is ending as I will be a year older (maybe wiser too) in a month to come, but…. what makes me happy about this season is that it is holiday crafting time!!! As the first dose of the holiday craft of this year, please welcome Pavel the clay snowman charm, made from extra-lightweight air-dried clay.
Pavel is a happy snowman, he loves Christmas and icy cold winter. He dances when he is in joy, rocking and twisting his body as much as he possibly can. You may get the archive of previous years holiday / seasonal crafts, here.
I love playing with play-dough with my kids but the only drawback that it can’t last long in our climate. Recently, I have found out about this non-bake air-dried clay, it is surprisingly light in weight. Without a second thought, I bought it immediately, now we can make something that can last long and decorative.
Clay craft is fun, you get to knead, roll, press, pinch, pierce the clay dough into almost infinite figurines you want. A slight dissimilar in the shaping will give you a totally different look of the completed project, hence each piece of your clay figurine creation is unique and special. Moreover, it doesn’t take up too much of your time to make a simple project, thus it is great as a small gift for friends.
Clay Snowman Charm
Materials and Tools:
1. Extra lightweight air-dry clay, white, black, orange, yellow, brown and green
2. Black beads, 3mm, 2 pcs.
3. Eye pin, key-chain ring and jewelry pliers (if you want to make it as a key-chain charm)
4. Toothpick
5. Pen cover or drinking straw
Note: If your clay doesn’t stick well, you may glue them with PVC craft glue / Mod Podge
Prepare the materials and tools as listed above. Since the clay is air-drying type, keep them in sealed in plastic bags or containers. You may also wrap them in cling film too.
Knead the clay to soften and smoothen the texture if needed.
Divide the white clay into 4 parts, 1 small, 2 medium and 1 large. Roll them into the shape of a ball, as shown in the picture.
Stack the white clay balls to build the snowman. You can stack them in straight or in zig-zag as what I did.
a. Press the beads into the face of the snowman to make the eyes.
b. Shape a tiny bit of orange clay to become an elongated tear-drop shape, this is the nose.
c. Gently press it on the face without bending the tip of the nose.
d. Impress a smiling mouth by using the pen cover or drinking straw.
Impress the eyebrows by using the tip of the toothpick.
a. Roll 2 tiny balls from green clay and 1 from brown clay. Press them flat with thumbs.
b. Place them onto the snowman body, poke 2 holes deep into the snowman body to make a button look.
c. To make the arm of the snowman to look like a tree stick, roll 2 long sticks and 2 short sticks. Adhere the short stick to the long stick and press lightly so they hold well.
d. Poke a hole at the “shoulder” area, big enough to let the arm to go in. Repeat the same on the other side.
Insert the arm into the hole. Repeat the same to the other arm.
a. To make the hat of the snowman, roll 1 small and 1 bigger ball from black clay.
b. Press the bigger ball flat and shape the smaller ball into a short cylinder.
c. Press the short cylinder to the flat piece to assemble the hat.
d. Press the bottom of the hat with the pen cover to make a curvature dent to accommodate the rounded head of the snowman.
Press the hat down lightly onto the head to affix them together.
a. Roll the yellow clay to form a long rounded scarf.
b. Wrap the scarf around the neck of the snowman.
c. Pierce the scarf with a toothpick to give some texture look. Roll 2 tiny balls and stick them to the hat as decoration.
d. Insert eye pin into the snowman if you wish to make it into a key-chain charm.
Leave the snowman to dry at room temperature for at least 24 hours. Attach the key-ring to complete the clay snowman key-chain charm.
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