Week 117: Crafts and Clay
- elenalilamartin
- Mar 29, 2025
- 3 min read
Week 117: March 22nd-29th, 2025
This week I really dove into the DIY and craft world with a bag of Sculpd air dry clay. I have been wanting a trinket/catch-all dish for jewelry or keys and figured I should use this clay I had sitting around.
I made this funky, wiggly-sided rectangle tray and waited 48 hours for it to dry. Working with the clay was pretty easy as long as I kept it damp enough to avoid cracking. I think I could do a better job with more practice, but it was a fun place to start. After it dried, I sanded it a bit to smooth the rough parts and put a base layer of white acrylic paint on it as primer. I wasn't sure what direction to go in with color, so I chose a nice pink and turquoise.
As the layers of paint dried, I also made a trip to Michael's to get some clay making tools and a small rolling pin. I was going to get some type of sealant or UV-resin, but the one I wanted was out of stock, so I ordered it online.
I made a couple more pieces with the rolling pin and got a much flatter and more even surface to work with. I made another wiggly-sided dish and some flat pieces with holes that could be ornaments or decoration around the house after painting them.
I still have about half of the Sculpd clay bag remaining, so I will definitely be making more little pieces soon. This little clay adventure also led me to the idea to host a "clay-date" for my birthday party in May. It feels like it could be a wholesome and fun event where my friends will be able to make air dry clay creations to take home. Since it will take up to 48 hours for their pieces to dry, I also plan to provide pre-made pieces for painting during my birthday celebration as well. I already have a list of supplies going, cause once I have a clear idea or direction, I love to plan ahead!
On the other end of the craft spectrum, I printed out a TON of free sewing patterns online, mostly from the MOOD Fabric site. I used my apartment complex's "business center," which is just a very large printer and some desktop computers to print over 150 black-and-white pages of patterns for free! It took me a few hours to tape them all together and cut them all out, but I didn't mind. I have a soft spot for MOOD Fabrics because of my love for Project Runway and Tim Gunn. I hope the patterns themselves work out when I do eventually sew them. For now, I'm a bit pattern-ed out. I desperately want a craft room because right now, I'm storing all these pieces of paper by folding them and stuffing them in Ziploc bags under my bed.
I have a plan to upcycle a lot of my old clothes. I love to shop, but I want to be more intentional about my clothes and my consumption. I have so many clothes I have either worn only once, or not at all, and I should actually use a lot of the leftover fabric I have in my craft boxes. I have a decent amount of sewing knowledge (shoutout to Marianne and Sew Much Fun camp back home!) and should my skills to use. My current sewing machine is a very, very, very basic Singer, so I won't be able to do any heavy-duty projects, (I already faced a challenge with a small heart-shaped denim purse), so I hope to upgrade my machine eventually. When I have a project going, I have to use the dining room table. This makes the house a bit messy and chaotic. When I finish a project, or when I have to use the dining table for other things like actually eating dinner, everything is stored under my bed. A designated craft room would make all of this a lot easier! I dream of organized peg board walls, pattern and craft storage, and a permanent home for a more capable sewing machine.
Bonus: My friend's birthday gathering was really nice and I got to catch up with a lot of people from college who I hadn't seen in years. We had a ton of Mediterranean food catered and an assortment of desserts.
See you next week.
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