Falling in love with clay crafts

After deciding to create my own Christmas Nativity for my self in clay, which I made and completed quite quickly (I think it took about a week on and off!) I suddenly realised the world was my oyster (I actually hate oysters they’re like giant snots………..like my garlic king prawns or my huge pile of Portuguese Sardines or well you get my point…..! ) I realised if I could design it I could probably make it!

So after throughly enjoying making the nativity set, I decided to make more things out of clay. I made a little pumpkin tea light holder (will make more more for autumn) and then some cute Christmas decorations with my daughter which will be made into a jinglely star Garland which may go by there fire place! My daughter now absolutely loves playing with my clay and loves to sit at my current desk and be like mummy! So adorable! The concentration was so cute! Any way I got distracted……..

We made some decorations and I definitely will get more cookies cutters to make more Christmas decoration, letters are definitely a great Christmas decorations which can be made festive so thats next on my list but I just used what cutters I had! They are good to make into tags on presents too as well as tree or Garland decoration! I think my jingle star Garland maybe one I can sell in my store (Made by me though-I’m not putt P onto the production line just yet! Lol!)

this was just a fun family activity but I plan on creating some beautiful decorations which I love in stores but redesign them to be extra cute or fun! Phoebe was pleased with her efforts though!

This led me to think about that age old question of what do you get my father in law, who has everything but loves handmade items only! It suddenly dawned on me that a chess set would be fun themed around woodland animal we all have a slight fondness for woodland animals! I’d played chess when we’d visited before and I thought this would be great fun and very special! I totally forgot how many pieces there are for each set! So I’m aiming for Christmas now!

So far I’ve made all the mice which are the pawns, the King bear, the Queen squirrel and two Bishops badgers! (And a partridge in a pear treeeeeeeeee- actually I’m going circle back to that idea later so remind me!)

I’m still undecided about the castle design and the knight. The castle is a tricky one as I want it to feel like it’s part of the woods! I think it will be a few tree stumps stacked up which will look like some logs to give it the idea of a castle maybe a little Robin sat on top. I’m enjoying designing this chess set as it’s so personalised but I’m not sure it’s my big money maker unless it’s a commissioned piece in future for My Christmas Emporium! (Soooo time consuming-a year!) So after all of that……..….I made my knights, I absolutely love them they are foxes with little sheilds and tiny sword and a helmet! I love this design and I think it’s in keeping with the theme. They are hand built so they are not identical but siblings I suppose you might say! I had to bulk my bishops up too to make them more even!

Now the castle is a different story I didn’t like either of the final results the first looked like a stack of circular cheese and the second was way too big and not a good construction as it was so thin in places it was too heavy and tall so I need to remake it! I think the clay was too dry by this point, so it also kept cracking and it didn’t really look how I envisioned it at all (blood pressure slightly elevated by this point!)

I did make it more complicated because I wanted it to light up (this might be too ambitious but it would be good if I could make it work!) I think I’ve over complicated it! Any way back to the drawing board with this! This is the only piece I’ve not been happy with so far! Not my finest piece!

but...... here is the better version

I forgot to say that this set will be made out of two different clays a stone based clay which gives it’s darker grey look and they normal white clay! I think I prefer the white clay, for me a bit easier to work with! So with out paint the set they will be distinctively two sides!

Any way…….

So why do I love using clay? I love it’s versatility with just so many options you can do to create new project. I like sculpting shapes from it, into something beautiful or fun! You can change pieces your not happy with so easily but the most important thing I’ve noticed it really brings my blood preassure down because I’m relaxed (bar my castle debacle!) and I enjoying the process! My process is (you may laugh but hey this is how I roll-haha clay joke) I make my self a cup of tea in a Christmas mug to get me into the mood put on my hubby’s amazing headphones that have noise canceling technology and pick a Christmas playlist probably Kelly Clarksons Christmas album or more likely the Pentatonix Christmas albums and start creating-yes even in the middle of the year! It helps me to get into my Christmasy spirit and focus on the project! (Not sorry one little bit. I’ve decided to embrace my love of Christmas full on, no matter what people may think and because of that I have created my own little Christmas shop that one day might be a big Christmas shop in a beautiful vintage arcade of shops!)

Any way…….I digress again……….I’ve always loved clay but I never felt I had the time to really explore what I could make (silver linings of a global pandemic!)! With this current project I’m learning new tricks and ways to manipulate the clay.

When this chess set is complete it will be immense! I’m so excited to create new Christmas decorations and seasonal ones too, once my log cabin is up (not long now 7 days exactly) I can go full Hogwarts Express ahead!

I remembered I had my old note books with clay project ideas in, so I may revisit some old ideas too! I think this really has sparked joy and passion again and my nativity scene has given me the confidence to go forward (I have received some lovely comments from my Wonderful Festive Friends in my Christmas group) which has helped me a lot and I really can’t wait to start making more items! I want to create beautiful items but also some funny/quirky items-watch this space! I’ve looked at trends and a lot of people have multiple trees now, family have kids trees and trees for different rooms so the scope for more fun decorations rather than classic beautiful ones has definitely give me room to play with different styles and themes, plus my own home town is definitely quirky so scope there too!

Right I’m off,

Byeeeee Festive FriendsXx