Continuing in my adventures into air dry clay, I wanted to play with adding some color to wet clay. I tried both mica powder and alcohol ink. I like the results of both. The video using the mica powder was too much editing for my skill level and patience LOL, but I did manage to video the red alcohol ink project, so I’m excited to share that.
It is a time consuming process and unlike my usual jewelry endeavors, I have to wait between steps for everything to dry. The video is short, and you can find it on my YouTube Channel. The complete steps are below.
I started with a nice ball of clay that I had rolled in my hands for a few minutes. Then I rolled it out slightly and added the alcohol ink. I chose red, but that was just what I felt like at the time. After squishing the clay to fully distribute the color, I rolled it back into a ball. I wore gloves because it is very messy!
Then, I rolled it out to five playing cards thick and used small cookie cutters to cut the shapes. I just kept cutting and rolling and cutting more until I didn’t have enough left to use. To minimize sanding, I tried to smooth the edges with a little water, but I did end up sanding quite a bit anyway.
I didn’t video the sanding, but I did that after the pieces were fully dry. I actually left them a week before sanding. After sanding, I wiped them down with a very slightly damp paper towel and sealed. I tried two different types of varnish. The first, I bought from the same company that I purchased all natural paint from, Natural Earth Paint. It is plant based and biodegradable, and it cleans up easily with alcohol. I found it darkened the pieces and really brought out the colors of the mica powder. It is not super shiny, and actually took several coats to get it to a level of glaze that I wanted. Link here:
The other sealant I used is DecoArt Triple Thick. It is water based and has a high shine after only one coat. It does not darken the pieces the same way that the Natural Earth varnish does, so the colors of the mica powder is not as prominent, but I still really liked how it shines. DecoArt Triple Thick is water based and non-toxic, and it easily cleans up with regular soap and water.
I’m having a lot of fun with this and hoping to improve my skill level as well so I can feel confident enough to get into metal clay!