Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Ralphie's Treat Jar with Makin’s Clay®

 

 
 

 
 
 
 
This is Ralphie.  He’s a big boy and he loves treats.

  
 
 
 
 
 
Pounce® Moist treats are his favorite.  He will sit and speak to get a treat.

  
 

I’m really big on recycling and upcycling so I thought I would give the empty treat jar a fun makeover.   Because the treat jar is plastic and not oven-safe, baking polymer clay on it was not an option.  I have been having fun creating with Makin’s Clay® so I thought I would check out what I could do with their air-dry clay. 

 

 

Back side of jar.
I simply rolled out 1mm thick sheets of the clay in all of the Earth Tone colors long enough to go around the jar and let them dry flat.  Because Makin’s® is so flexible, I was able to use scissors to cut the strips into different widths and glue them around the jar.  I used Beacon’s® Tacky Glue.  My new fave glue!  Love it!  Once it is applied, there is still time to fiddle with what is being glued but then it dries quickly so you can move on with the project.

Once the strips were secure around the jar, a strip of clay was glued down the back of the jar to cover the seams.  Then another one was glued down the front of the jar.  I used the pointed mixing wand from Makin’s® Clay Mixing Ruler™ to texture the edges.  I cut out the letters to spell “TREATS” using alphabet cutters and glued them down the front.  I cut a circle out and glued it on top.


This mold is from Best Flexible Molds by Penni Jo Couch.  I love her molds.  They are so easy to use.  The clay is pressed in the mold, the back trimmed, and then the molded item pops right out.  This mold is purr-fect for this project!!!  The cats are so cute. 
 


I molded the cats, fish, and paws then glued them around and on top of the jar. 
 
I glued two cats back to back for the knob on top of the jar.

 

 
 
 
 
 
After the clay was dry, I antiqued the whole thing with Reeves™ Raw Sienna oil paint by rubbing the paint all over the clay, making sure to get it down in the crevices, then immediately rubbing it off leaving it in the crevices so the detail would stand out.  Don’t forget to wear rubber gloves.

 

Done!  Nice, new treat jar for Ralphie!  When I showed it to him he said, “MEOW!” which I’m sure means, “THANKS, I love it!”

6 comments:

  1. Lisa,
    We love this darling treat box!! Thank you so much for your encouraging comments. You are a very clever designer and artist.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I really enjoyed using the mold.

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  2. Lisa, this is beautiful!

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  3. what a great project! I am so excited to see your work in this way :-)

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