Experimenting.

I have had a lovely time this morning playing with air dry clay.  I've never used it before but wondered if I could make my own trims and embellishments with it.  I need some tiny flower shapes for something I am working on - you can just see them at the top of this photo, and found some little metal cutters (meant for cake icing I think) among my bits and pieces.  I also found wooden printing blocks quite good too.

The ivy leaves here are made with another cake icing tool which came in a set of three different sizes.

This is one of my favourite molding mats.  I apoligise for not having everything on a better background to give a clearer view, but the clay takes 24 hours to dry and everything was still very soft so I didn't dare to move it.   I did remember to poke tiny holes in each piece so that I could attach them with a couple of stitches to whatever I want to add them.

These are just a few 'tools of the trade'.   I liked the results from a thinner layer of clay but I suppose those will be more brittle.  It wouldn't really matter too much if some of the items were broken as I love trying to make pieces look aged and the odd bit snapped off would add to the effect. 

I am keen to make more pieces but must rein myself in and wait to see whether these are successful.  I shall now prowl round the flat to see what else I can press into clay, for my next session!