Clay-mas 2025 started earlier than December. During our annual Arts & Crafts weekend in the fall, I tried air-dried clay for the first time - and it stuck with me. By the time December arrived, that initial experiment had turned into evenings of shaping, painting, glazing, cleaning up and waiting for things to dry. This post is a short recap of that clay-filled month.
Trembling First Steps #
Here’s the first little creation I made. Kind of rough and edgy, as one’s firsts (and forevers?) should be. The visual details were added using acrylic paint.
Escalating Details #
Once back home again, I started experimenting more and more. I quickly realized that the level of details I was over wasn’t going to be achieved using pencil and acrylics, so I tried out using Posca pens instead. Posca pens are great for so many things, one of my personal favorites as they are both very good and versatile.
In Search of That Perfect Shine #
After a while I started thinking that it would be nice if they were more shiny, so I started investigating what options I have. I started out using regular Mod Podge, which worked fine but didn’t quite give that “thick” shiny layer I was after. I found out that the same brand have another product, Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, which turned out to be a real success as it offered both shine and thickness!
UV to the Rescue… Sometimes #
The only problem was the drying time. While it only takes about two hours (per side) for these little creations to dry, even this can sometimes be frustrating when I find myself immersed and wanting to work faster than that. I went only to do more research and discovered that people use resin to harden their shiny top layers. I have not yet invested in a strong-enough UV lamp that can harden resin, but it does look promising, especially when working with non-flat projects (as the Mod Podge would float around while drying).
The Magic of Air-Dried Clay #
Don’t be fooled by my previous images - you can create bigger and more advanced things - it will only take longer time to dry. Here’s a candle holder I made. It’s painted using acrylics. In the first picture, it is not yet coated with any shiny top coat. In the second, it’s hardened using UV + resin.
Wrapping Up #
All in all, Clay-mas 2025 turned into a reminder of how refreshing it can be to work in 3D. Air-dried clay is both forgiving and demanding. Trying out new materials does expand the creativity, and as always, results in one, two or many purchases as one discovers crafts tools one does not yet own, but so desperately need now. Highly recommend giving clay a try 2026.
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