Friday, November 21, 2008

Small Santa

Finished another small Santa for an order and wanted to share something else with you regarding paper mache clays. HopHopJingleBoo's, Debra Schoch, sent me a note telling me to add a few drops of liquid soap to my clay mix to help with the clays texture and with my hand's getting so dry. I passed that information on to another celluclay artists and she didn't notice much difference in the texture or how the clay sticks to your hands. Yesterday I mixed a new batch of clay and added not a few drops, but a full teaspoon of dish soap to my measured clay water, stirred the soap gently into the water, poured the water over the powdered paper mache material and got the most wonderful clay mix. The clay wasn't as sticky, it tooled beautifully and my hands don't feel like I worked in cement. Thank you Debra for sharing that information with me, and to my other clay buddy, give it another try with a more generous addition of dish soap. It really does work and I will never mix another batch without it.

Have a great day and happy creating!
Laurie

4 comments:

Sandra Caldwell said...

Oh how sweet...he looks great...so far. IJust why I am giving you a award...drop by and pick it up...
Babycakes Cornbread Kid Swap Blog
Congrats Sandra

softinthehead said...

I really admire it when talented artists like yourself share tips with others...So many feel they have to guard everything like it is a prized key to some hidden tomb. Your work thrills me to no end and someday I hope to be able to have an ounce of the kind of talent you have!Pam

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

Thanks Sandra and Pam!! Glad to pass on a tip. I know in the celluclay directions they give you that tip regarding detergent when working with children so it isn't as sticky...guess that makes me a big child!!! (My mother wouldn't argue with that.)
Laurie

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tip, that will be a big help for me! :)