Okay, I finally have this post up. I'm sorry for the delay! The "enter" button on my laptop stopped functioning for some reason and I couldn't finish this post (I blame some sort of saboteur poltergeist) . But it's all fixed now, so enjoy!
Today's project is a really easy way to make good luck charms that you can take with you to class so you will ace all of your tests! Whether you are superstitious or not, I think there's something about having a good luck charm that makes you more confident, whether it's in academics, sports, or anything else you may be facing.
I actually got the idea for this project from a kids' craft book. It kind of looks arts and crafts-y, but also very cute and quirky.
Materials:
To make the "clay" we are using, all you need is three cups of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and water.
You will also need acrylic paints, nail polish (not shown-whoops!) paintbrushes, paper clips, pliers with a wire cutter, round skewers, elastic cord, and various beads and baubles.
Step 1: Make Your "Clay"
In a mixing bowl, combine your flour and salt. (this recipe makes a huge batch of clay, so you might want to half the measurements)
Mix them together, then add 7 ounces of water:
Knead this mixture, into a smooth dough, adding water as necessary. (I ended up using about 12 ounces)
When it's all kneaded, it should look like this:
Put it in a plastic bag and refrigerate for half an hour:
Step 2: Sculpting Fun!
When you take your dough out of the fridge it should be workable and ready to sculpt with. Here are a few ideas for little charms and things you can make:
To make an evil eye charm, work a small piece of dough into an almond shape and squish a smaller round piece on it:
Using your wire cutters, cut a loop from a paper clip like so:
Stick it into the top of your evil eye, and you have a loop!
To make a little kitten charm, shape a piece of dough into a circle:
Then add ears by sticking on little triangles:
Do the same thing as you did with the evil eye to put a loop on it.
You know me, I had to do a unicorn horn! To make one, roll two pieces of clay so that they taper at the ends:
Twist the pieces around each other, and there you have it!
Again, you can add a loop the same way.
To make little skull shaped beads, roll a piece of dough into a ball and then slide it onto a skewer:
Shape the pieces so that they are wider at the top:
Use the end of a paintbrush to make little indentations where the eyes will go:
To make smaller beads, form little round pieces of dough around a skewer:
If you are making smaller beads like this, I would recommend making more than you will need. The smaller the piece is, the more likely it is to crack during baking.
Preheat your oven to 340 degrees farenheit:
When the oven is preheated, put your magical creations in:
Bake for about half an hour for smaller pieces like these beads and little charms, or about 40 minutes for thicker pieces.
When they are done, let them cool and then slide the beads off of the skewers.
This is what they will look like:
They do puff up a little bit, but not extremely.
The skull beads cracked a little, but I kind of like how they look.
For the evil eye, the unicorn horn, and the skull beads, start with a base coat of white paint:
Paint the faces on the skulls with a fine tip detail brush:
I added an iridescent nail polish topcoat over the white on the unicorn horn:
And for the evil eye, I used a royal blue nail polish and black paint with a fine tip brush:
I painted the cat charm with black nail polish and added details with the fine tip brush:
I painted the beads with blue nail polish and put little evil eyes on some of them:
Here's what they look like all painted:
(I also did a smiley face and some little fox beads)
I made a bracelet out of the smaller beads:
I used some elastic cord I had lying around:
I glued a magnet to the back of the bigger evil eye I made so I can put it in my locker:
Since I have scoliosis, I have to use super supportive and very boring backpacks, so I decided to use my new charms to spruce my backpack up!
So that's my back to school DIY series! I wish you all the best of luck this year if you are in school (or if you aren't!). Hopefully these charms will help! And again, if you try any of these projects or you just want to say hi, please leave a comment below.
And I want to see pictures!!
Thank you so much for checking out my blog this week!! More coming on Monday. School starts for me on Tuesday, but I will talk a little more about that later.
Also, you should all check out mu friend Emily's new blog!
She is a wonderful writer! Her blog is about miscellaneous life stuff and I bet you will like it.
ALSO also, guess what? Yesterday I broke 1,000 total all-time pageviews on this here blog! It was very exciting for me! So thank you so much for reading and viewing, and I hope you stick around because it's going to be good!
