Clay Mickey Hanging

Coming to you from day 8 of my quarantine, I started thinking about all of the crafts I’ve been wanting to do with no time to do them. Well, it looks like I got some time on my hands!! Right? Well…there’s a little problem. All of the craft stores are closed, and Amazon shipping is crazy far out. If I have an idea, I need my craft stuff NOW, or else I will forget about it and lose that craft drive. So, here we go with a new idea…Make your crafts with whatever you have at home!! What? Mind blown. Haha! Okay, so here goes. Like those cooking shows where they give you random ingredients and you have to make something edible.

Chill boho beach style has always been the vibe I love but how do I incorporate my love of Disney into that? Well, I think this craft has done it!

I had purchased some clay for this idea a while ago, so that part was set. However, I did not have any tools. I tried to work with clay before and knew that it literally picks up and clings to any and every tiny dust and lint particle. Even if you think your work surface is clean, it will find dust! So, into my dungeon (the garage) I went to search for something that would help. I seriously had the luckiest break ever. I used to take cake decorating classes and found a brand new sealed Wilton fondant class kit. It had everything I needed!

Now I have an idea, materials, tools, and I’m in the zone. Time to work!

MATERIALS:

• Oven safe clay. Not plasteline or never dry clay.
• Tools (rolling pin and cookie cutters I found in the Wilton Kit)
• Parchment, wax, or freezer paper
• Jewelry jump rings (I found from an old Dollar Tree jewelry repair kit)
• Yarn (Because I have all of this random yarn even though I don’t knit)

1. Roll your clay in between 2 sheets of your paper of choice to 1/4 inch thickness
2. Cut out your shapes and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. You can roll the leftovers and cut new shapes until you run out of clay.
3. Add holes for your yarn or metal rings to hook on to. I used a piping tip for this, but a simple toothpick will do.
4. Bake your clay according to the instructions on your package. For me it was 15 minutes at 275 degrees.
5. Once cooled, I made my tassels.
6. I began configuring the shapes until I had my desired position. Begin attaching them together with the jump rings.
7. Attach your tassels and remember to add a hoop and yarn to the top to hang your masterpiece.

NOTE: Your clay will remain soft when cured. I was actually surprised with that and was expecting something hard and porcelain like. It actually feels like rubber cement. If you’re old enough to know about that. Like me…I’m old.