I spent the weekend with my daughter and family. When I visit, I try to bring along appropriate crafts for them to try. This time I loaded up my air dry clay and all the supplies to make air fresheners. I also wanted to try painting flat rocks like a Mandala. I assumed (never assume!) that they wouldn’t have any problem with those projects. Of course, my grandkids are almost 14 and almost 9 so I wasn’t sure if they would be interested either. I did discover that they loved working with clay and painting rocks, but didn’t necessarily make what I had in mind! Such fun!
Air Dry Clay
We started with the air dry clay. I provided the clay and brought all my items to make impressions in the clay, round cookie cutters, and straws to make the holes for ribbon. I showed my granddaughter how to roll out the clay, make an impression and use the cookie cutter to make the finished circle cut out. Then I got out of the way. The hardest part for her was rolling the clay too thin. If the finished piece is too thin it will curl as it dries. So, I encouraged her to roll it thicker. She made some really cute items!
My grandson joined our project a little later and had his own ideas. He made two small pieces with impressions (one his own thumbprint) and then began working on his own idea…a skull, or head, with quite detailed facial features and hair. Quite the budding artist!
My daughter joined the party and enjoyed making some pieces also! She chose to leave two items without holes for hanging, suggesting she might put essential oil on them and slip them into a drawer.
Several things I learned, which will be added to my future instructions for the air dry clay…
…thicker pieces work better. The ones that were cut 3/8 inches to 1/2 inch thick dried fine and stayed pretty flat.
…as an alternative to hanging an essential oil freshener, you could slip a small disc with essential oil into a drawer.
…air dry clay can be fun for all ages no matter what they make!
Mandala Rock Art
The second project was to try to paint designs on some flat rocks. I purchased two kits at Barnes & Noble that had some rocks, some paint and an instruction booklet.
I thought the Mandala’s would be a good project for any age group. The rocks in the kits were not especially flat or smooth so I stopped at Michael’s and found a container of flat rocks for sale. I can’t believe I bought them…about 10 rocks ro $4.00! However, they were perfect!
I also picked up two sets of acrylic paint pens. This is what the pens looked like:
Before we started, I painted the rocks with some outdoor acrylic paint, thinking their designs would show up better on a white or dark background. I also wanted them painted ahead of time…waiting for paint to dry is tough!
Except for the three rocks painted with dots that my daughter and I tried, painting ahead of time was unnecessary. They ended up making animals or bugs, which involved painting the whole rock another color anyway.
So, what did I learn about painting on rocks?
…finding flat rocks that make good bases for paintings is tougher than I thought. Maybe I should find a better source if I’m going to do very much of this!
…the pens with acrylic paint worked very well but sometimes painting an all-over base coat works well. When the paint dried it was shiny.
…it works better to show lots of pictures of possibilities and let each person make their own design.
…I still think Mandala designs are fun. I’ll need to make more myself!
My weekend with the grandkids was fun. I wonder what I’ll try the next time?
Please leave a comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net! Enjoy!