A Collaboration with My Two-Year-Old: Air Dry Clay Necklace

My two-year-old loves to come up to my attic studio and make art.  We paint, we draw, we smooth fabric, we spray water, and most recently: we play with air dry clay.  We made some clay beads together -- which mostly means that I rolled balls of clay and he smashed them.  But after he went to bed, I fixed up some of the salvageable beads and set them aside to dry.

Once the beads had dried, I painted them -- using the same technique I share in The Artful Holiday class to make these fabulous clay ring/jewelry dishes:

As a side note, if you're on the fence about The Artful Holiday class, "because you're just not a project person," I want to emphasize how many techniques are being taught in the class.  Technique that you can take and use in whatever way you want -- like this surface painting method.  Every project in class uses multiple techniques which we hope you take and repurpose.  In fact, every Wednesday in class, I demonstrate how I'm repurposing some of those techniques!  Okay, side note over.

Once I painted the beads, it was time to string them together. 

As you can see, I mixed the clay beads with a lot of pewter findings -- including bead caps for each of the beads. 

I think the bead caps really elevate these humble clay beads and make them look quite fancy.

The earrings I'm wearing are actually miniature versions of the dishes I shared above.

I'm having a lot of fun playing with air dry clay -- just remember to seal it and it will last!

Thanks for stopping by!