What you will need
- Two or three wooden/maché hat boxes. Make sure the bottom is the largest.
(Mine were from Hobbycraft)
- Acrylic paint
- Sculpey or Fimo Oven bake clay
- Craft knife
- Cute cabochons/beads/rhinestones/Old beaded necklace/ accessories of your choice
- White Silicone (can be purchased pretty cheap in home/bathroom stores like Wilkinsons or on ebay. If you want other colours search silicone glue or "pink silicone" for example into ebay)
- Icing tip
- Character stickers (Rilakkuma, Hello Kitty, Little twin stars, Spongebob, anyone you like!)
- Hot glue gun
- Two mini bows
- 3D textile liners
- Approximately 2 metres of lace trim of any colour
Step one *If you have two hat boxes that are already decorated and you like the design/colour then you can skip this step.*
However, if you dislike their appearance cover your box in newspaper and stick with watered-down PVA glue or you can purchase Maché boxes from stores such as: Hobbycraft, QD's, Factory shop etc.
Use your acrylic paint to cover them. If you want to use a secondary colour - such as purple, green, orange, pink - then I would recommend buying an pre-mixed tube of paint rather than making the colour yourself from primary colours. This will ensure you have an even coat all over the boxes :)
Step two *This part is optional, if you have ready-made cabochons and do not wish to make your own charms then also skip this step*
While the boxes are drying get your oven bake clay (I would recommend Sculpey since it provides cute pastel colours and is very soft to use.)
Marshamallows:
The easiest shape to create are marshmallows; since they are simple and quick.
Roll your clay into a sausage shape - make sure it isn't rolled too thin and too long. You want a thick short piece to press your finger on the end of each side like the image above. I made about 17 marshmallows in lavender, pastel pink and white. Keep pressing until you have the desired shape you want.
Next, put the pieces in the oven just lower than gas mark one and leave for 30 minutes on an oven tray. I recommend using baking paper as well, sometimes they stick to the tray.
Once they go hard, pull them out of the oven and leave to cool for ten minutes.
And there you have it! Clay Marshmallows!
Clay ice creams:
Roll your clay into a ball, I only used a small amount since the amount of coloured clay brands like Sculpey and Fimo etc. do not provide a lot of clay per pack.
Next roll a little piece piece of tin foil into a ball and roll over your clay to create the ice cream texture like so :)
Once it is completely covered you want to flatten the edges of your clay ball. In order to achieve this use something of a cylinder shape that is slightly smaller.
Objects like lids and large rings will do. In my case the only thing I could find was the tube of cling film XD.
Press your cylinder down - not too flat though, you still want a fairly thick edge.
Lastly, roll your tin foil around the edge again for a more realistic texture.
I should have created a rougher edge around my ice cream, but hey ho. (I didn't even use this on my box in the end (╥﹏╥) but I thought I'd show you how to make one anyway ;D.)
Again, bake just lower than gas mark one for 30 minutes on an oven tray :)
Marshmallow Flumps:
Not much clay is needed for a flump. The amount in the image depicted on the right is just enough.
Choose your two/three colours and begin rolling them out like a sausage. Again, like the regular Marshmallow example above, do not roll it too long and thick.
This is what the clay pieces should look like once you have rolled them both out. Smooth any imperfections out if you can and place them together like so and begin to twist from the bottom.
Keep twisting all the way to the top. Once you have the shape you want, get your craft knife to cut of the ends then cut again through the middle to make two smaller pieces.
The craft knife will give your Flumps a flat edge.
And finally, bake in the oven on a baking tray for 30 minutes :)
Before I move onto the next step I want to explain the serious importance of purchasing and making coloured silicone u.u.
Now, coloured silicone can be made yourself with paint if you really want to use any colour other than white.
~HOWEVER~
It is incredibly messy and to get all the silicone you want you have to use A LOT of paint. Sometimes it is difficult to mix it all entirely and rid all the white. It is easy to make when only using a tiny amount (e.g. for a ring or small mirror). Unfortunately we are covering a large surface area. Therefore, you can purchase ready made coloured silicone online! :)
You just have to be willing to pay a higher price for a smaller amount. Here are some from links the UK which you can purchase:
The last link does not show what type of packaging the silicone comes in and it is not specifically for deco like the two previous links. It is a sealant which is what I am using and I feel that sealant works just as fine. However, I have never bought from that brand before, contact the seller for more details.
Anywhoooo, my way of dealing with this problem since I was trying to save money was to use clay again!
I purchased a whipped cream mould...made of silicone xD. It pretty much looks like the image on the left.
It is simple and easy to use. Just roll a small ball of clay and place inside the mould, leave some clay pointing out from the mould like the image on the right. This will act like a handle when you pull the clay from the mould. Since the clay is still very soft - pulling it out while maintaining its shape is tricky. I suggest placing this in the fridge for approximately five minutes just to harden the clay slightly.
(To achieve two colours mixed together like this simply roll the two desired colours together. Its like being back in playschool ^◡^)
Once you have pulled out your clay it should look something like this (IT MAJESTICALLY CHANGED COLOUR ¬◡¬).
Since it will still have the "handle" attached, use your craft knife to cut the bottom away. Since it is a small piece be careful of your widdle fingers :c
I don't want any sliced fingers now!
-Again, bake this once done-
I made about 30 of these little whipped creams. It was more than enough.
FINALLY Step three - "Silicone-ing"?:
By this time your box would have completely dried (if you skipped the clay making then the Acrylic should only take about five minutes to dry. If necessary add another coat.)
It is now time to start silicone-ing your larger box. I personally felt it was best to silicone the edge of the top of the lid like so:
I left the smaller box on top of the larger one in order to measure the space left between the silicone.
Since I like to save money (duh, who doesn't?) I like to buy Silicone from bathroom stores or from Wilkinsons. It costs around £3.95-£4.50. Make sure you pick up white and not transparent...I did that before
In order to get the desired "icing effect" I use a cheap icing tip kit from ebay (bought it for £1, bargain!). To squeeze out the silicone I use a good ol' silicone gun since I'm too awkward with piping bags (plus its a huge mess trying to transfer it from the tube) ⊙︹⊙In order to make sure the icing tip stays on the end I use my hot glue gun to hold it in place. (Don't worry! If you want to change your icing tip you can easily pull it off since hot glue doesn't stick as well to plastic as it does to wood.)
Once it is all in place squirt away ;)
The gaps are left for the clay whipped cream pieces which will be glued :). Fill the silicone all around the edge of the box and place beads, pom poms, buttons etc. into your whippy cream :)!
Who likes dribbles? :3 No not baby dribbles, I mean sauces! Like chocolate and strawberry on cream *-*. To create the lavender dribbles pictured above I used 3D textile liners "touch textile" by pébéo. I have four colours: Silver glitter, sky blue, lavender and pastel pink. These can be purchased in Hobbycraft, although they are discontinuing soon :'c however this ebay store seems to stock them:
They also have brown which would be perfect for chocolate sauce!
The title "textile liners" give away the fact they are used for fabrics, but they work well one silicone, however they take about 12 hours to dry so be careful not to touch it once it has been applied.
Step four: Get your glue gun and wait for it to heat up and grab your old beaded necklace and mini bows and cut about 10cm from the beads. They will hang between the two bows, so glue from the bottom.
Next, glue your bows onto the front of your box like so~
For a cute touch I added Korilakkuma heads to create a bow tie :3 If you want to jazz up the bows a little bit more, why not add rhinestones or some lace?
Next we will be using the lace trim to glue around the edges. If your box is a similar theme to mine try to find very floral and "princess-y" lace like in the image below. Also, make sure the trim isn't too thin as we want it to cover the edges of the box :3
Do this to the top and bottom box like so:
Step five - Cabochons and placement:
Grab all the pieces you want to use for the top of your box. Here are a few pieces I collected and bought from all different ebay stores which I shall link at the bottom of this EXTREMELY LONG tutorial. I also use large roses and a pretend cake I made last year out of boredom using a bathroom sponge which acted as the cake base :P.
I customised the piece below (originally the white Rilakkuma doughnut in the image above) by cutting it in half with a craft knife and adding strawberry sauce with textile liners. I then glued on the bow. I prefer this look than the previous one.
Add more stickers to the top of you box if you wish, I also added a ribbon which I had left over.
The next stage is about trying out different placements with your charms.
Try to keep bigger pieces to the back area of the box. I realised my placement in the image below was too over-crowded and messy (plus I made way too made clay charms D;) but I was pleased to find that the marshmallows fit along the top of the larger box :D
Testing placement...me no likey.
Step six, glue,glue,glue!:
Once you are satisfied with your placement, the next step is just to glue everything in its place and add more stickers if you think it is necessary.
Here is my finished product!
Sides~
Top~
I placed my initials along the top and the back
Fly wing wing
This shop is based in Hong Kong - prepare for a wait between 3-4 weeks before these charms arrive.
IT IS 4AM AND I AM SHATTERED
THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT
