Sacred lotus seedpod, clay sculpture

Here are my excuses for not blogging as often as usual: I've been taking art classes! This clay sculpture is one of my first projects. It's a dried seedpod of the sacred lotus.

Homemade flying saucer Hanukkah Menorah

This year's Hanukkah Menorah (Hanukiah) — a flying saucer (UFO). Every year we're trying to come up with a new idea for homemade Hanukkah Menorah. Last year it was the Hanukiah with houses, the year before — Hanukiah with jugs, and so on.

Turquoise clay hamsa with a template

Paper quilling isn't my only passion. I also like making Hamsa wall hangings (Chamsa, Chamsah). Here's a brand new one. I wrote about making these decorations in a number of posts, for example here is a short tutorial.

Floral clay hamsa with ladybugs

Here's a new addition to my pearl clay Hamsas that I like very much (the Hamsa with a butterfly and Hamsa with a flower). This Hamsa is decorated with beads, flowers, leaves and ladybugs, too, although the design is little different. The hanger is made of macramé. It's quite easy to make a Hamsa like this, I've already written a short tutorial.

Fun decorating ideas for summer

Summer is already here, and I thought it would be nice to share some ideas that may help to keep your little ones busy. These are probably my favorites. Moreover, I used them to decorate my children's bedrooms. And believe me, there's nothing for kids like decorating their living space with their own hands.

Handmade clay hamsa with flowers and berries

I would like to show you my new clay Hamsa. Hamsa is a charm in the shape of hand that is said to protect against the "evil eye". In Arabic hamsa means five. For this Hamsa I used Keramikal material, as always. I made it using the method I described in my previous post about Hamsa. It's decorated with flowers, leaves and bugs, too, although the design is different. For some reason I like the bunches of brightly red berries on it :) The hanger is made of macramé. You can read more about Hamsa in Wikipedia.

Handmade hamsa with flowers and ladybugs

I had been planing to make a new hamsa for a long time, and eventually made this one for my mother-in-law's birthday. In my opinion, a hand-made hamsa makes a perfect gift. It's pretty easy to make a hamsa of this type, and I'm going to tell about this in detail.

Homemade clay Hanukiah with houses

I already suggested some ideas for making a Hanukkah Menorah. Those all were old ones, but this hanukiah with houses was made this year. To be honest, we had lots of new wonderful hanukiah ideas, but most of them have been rejected because of technical difficulties: we just didn't know how to make them :( As a result, they remained on paper in the form of notes and sketches, and we ended up building one we had enough skills for. Nevertheless, it turned out quite cute, and we're really satisfied with it.

Make a clay Hanukkah Menorah with bugs and flowers

I've decided to post this for those parents who are probably looking for an idea for children's Hanukkah Menorah. We made this one for our older daughter a couple of years ago.

Baked salt dough owl wall hanging

This time we tried a home-made modelling dough. How to make such an owl — on SolNEt.ee (in Russian, but with step-by-step pictures). You can also find lots of modelling dough recipes on the Web, for example here or here. We use the following one:

• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Mix flour and salt in a bowl, add oil and mix well, then add water and mix thoroughly to form a dough. The dough can be stored in a fridge in an air-tight bag for a couple of weeks.

After shaping the owl we let it dry in the sun for one day, then baked at 80 C (175 F) for two hours and at 150 C (300 F) for 30 minutes. For eyes we used allspice (Jamaica pepper/pimento/newspice).

I would recommend coating your owl with a varnish, but remember not to use water-based varnishes since they dissolve the dough. You can also paint on salt dough models.

Other things we made of the dough: aircraft, snail, hedgehog, snowman etc.

Make a cookie wall hanging

Actually, it's not a mobile and not made of cookies. We had a lot of fun while making this very simple hanging decoration. Now two such "mobiles" are hanging on the wall above the children's beds. Maybe some day we'll arrange the shapes into something more complex, but the main idea remains the same. We used our favourite "Keramikal", but any other modelling material will do.

Handmade owl salt and pepper shakers

This is our recent creation with the "Keramikal" material — owl salt and pepper shakers. I wrote about this material in other posts, for instance in "Hanukkiyah". Here the material is used in its two natural colours. Put a cloth on the surface you're going to work on and let's start.

Handmade hamsa wall hangings

Making hamsas (see also here) can be real fun for you and your kids. You might also give a home-made hamsa as a gift.

First, we prepare a sketch of how the hamsa will look like, then we draw and cut out a paper template. The template is used then to cut out the clay base. Any other modelling material works as well, of course. The process is described in my Hanukkiyah post. Usually we decorate using beads and decoration stones, or just paint.

Easy clay animals

Children love animals. Probably the easiest animal craft to make is using a modeling material. This can be a paper pulp papier-mache, salt dough, clay, or polymer clay. No special tools are needed, a wooden toothpick or twig will be enough. Start with an animal that is easy to mold. Choose simple, clear shapes and avoid creating protruding parts. Actually, lying animals like the turtle and mouse on the photo are good to start with. You may be using just natural colors of the material, like the earthly, ocher colors of the turtle and mouse above; or coloring the sculpture, like this cute mouse below.

First, try showing the kids how you make different elements — the body, ears, paws, etc., put them together, and decorate them. Then let your little ones help you by rolling the material, or molding large parts of the sculpture. After they got the idea, let them do their own projects.

Peacock Hanukkah Menorah

One of our favourite modeling materials is "Keramikal". It’s pretty soft, nice and can be fired in a regular kitchen oven. We used it to make our Hanukiyot (Hanukkah Menorah's) this year. How? First, cut out a paper template. Then roll out the material on a flat surface covered with fabric, approximately the size of the template. After that, trace the template around, cut out the base and mark the centers of the holes. Use a bottle cap of a suitable size to cut the holes and utilize the cuttings as the base for candle holders.

When done with the modeling, press in metal holders into the clay and decorate the lamp with beads. Finally, gently bent up its back and prop it against a vertical surface, a box, for example. Leave to dry for a couple of days. When the Hanukkah Menorah is dry, fire it and decorate using a paint of any type.