Air Dry Clay Snowman Tags

Marc gave me two packs of white air drying clay quite a while ago, but after being inspired by tags I have seen on Pinterest I thought it was about time I got a pack out and played.I am so chuffed with the results and could kick myself for not “playing” earlier!

The clay didn’t seem to need much working, unlike Fimo. I simply took a small piece, worked it just a little into a smooth shape,  flattened it over the snowman image on my Sledding with Snowman Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and rolled over it with a small rolling pin.

When happy with the impression I trimmed the sides down smoothing them over with a damp finger and then added a hole for a thread/string tie.

The packet said that the clay should dry in approximately 24 hours, but my tags took little longer, this was because I kept them for a little while under a couple of books to make sure they didn’t warp as they dried, but I was also mindful that the image didn’t flatten too.

When completely dry, I began to have a conundrum about what to do with them, my intention, when I started the project, was to just add a tie/hanging thread, and keep everything very simple, clean and natural.

But then I wondered if possibly they needed something else, perhaps a little colour, so I accentuated the eyes, nose and arms with pencil, (the clay absorbed almost all the ink from any fine pen nib I tried). I wasn’t sure about the result, for some reason, doing this seemed to make them need more, if you know what I mean……..?????

They seemed to demand glitter, which I really didn’t want to do ……. but I felt I had to just try it on one ……..

……. but where to put the glitter, in the background …….

……. or on the snowman?

During all this experimenting, a small star managed to find it’s way onto an awaiting tag …… I quite liked the look of that, but I seemed to be getting further and further away from my original idea.

The only thing that really didn’t work, I don’t think, was colouring in the background to give a blue sky, adding stars and then a light covering of Ranger Glossy Accents for good measure!! 

It was all very confusing!

In the end, I think that the plain and simple unadorned version worked best, clay is what it is …… it becomes something else when “over” embellished.  So I am just putting red or blue butchers twine on all but six of the ones I have made. The remaining six will then have the coloured features, glittery white background and star treatment, as a limited extra option should I have a stall at a Christmas Fare this year, as Marc is always telling me not to always make things to my own taste because it may not be what other people want, which makes sense …… but what a palaver this endeavour was!!!