Monstera Trinket Dish I Clay Sculpting

1. Welcome!: Hello, and a very warm welcome to my Skillshare class. I Am Mona joining you from India. For those who know my work, you know, I simply love to work with a dry clay. It's so amazing to see what you can create with it. There is something truly magical about taking a lump of clay and shaping it into something beautiful and functional, wouldn't you agree? For those who are joining me for the first time, I'm absolutely thrilled to share my love for this versatile medium with you. In this course, we are embarking on a creative journey to craft a charming monstera trinket dish. The lush tropical beauty of monstera leaf has always inspired me and I can't wait to guide you through the process of bringing its iconic shape to life in clay. But this course is more than just making a pretty dish. We will also be diving into some fundamental techniques that will empower your future clay creations. You will learn how to create your own DIV stencil, fantastic skill for all sorts of projets we'll explore the best way to work with air dry clay from understanding its properties to mastering basic shaping techniques. We'll also cover exciting way to add texture and dimension to your piece, ensuring it's truly unique. And finally, we will discuss essential finishing touch and how to protect your delicate creation so you can enjoy it for years to come. Whether you are a complete beginner, eager to explore the world of clay or an experience maker looking to expand your skills, I have designed this course for you. Grab your clay, get comfortable, and let's get started on creating your own beautiful stunning monstera dish. 2. Let's Check Materials : So we are checking the materials. First, we need air dry clay. I have taken cold porcelain air dry clay in which we can premix the colors. You can take any clay you like. If you are taking another type of clay, then you will have to apply the colors on top of it. After this, to make the stencil, we need paper. You can take any type of upa pencil, scale, scissors, and for rolling the clay, a plastic sheet, roller, and a knife. After this for coloring, you will need light cream and soap cream. And for the golden paint, you can also take it in powder form. If you do, you will need to use a medium with it, or you can use ready to use golden paste. For varnish, I am using little buddy decor varnish. It will protect our bog and give it a glossy look. You will need a dish or ball so that the clay dish we are going to make can be given a carved shape. So let's start 3. Making a Stencil : I have taken a paper, and from this, I am cutting 12 by 14 centimeter rectangle. This is 12 centimeter in breadth and 14 centimeter in length. We will fold this in half, and then we will draw our leaf on top of it. So let's start drawing. Follow the way I'm drawing it. By folding it this way and then drawing and cutting, the leaf shape will be perfectly symmetrical. Let's cut it now. This will be your temporary one time use stencil. To make one for further use, place this paper stencil on an OHB sheet, plastic sheet, trace it, and then cut it out. This way, you can use it multiple time. A Now, open it, see stencil is ready. You can make it in the same size or in a bigger or smaller size if you want. 4. Mixing Colors in Clay : Now I am going to mix colors into the clay. I have taken 200 grams of cold porcelain clay. You can make oil or acrylic paints in this clay to make a desired color. I have taken light green and sap green colors. I need to add a good amount of light green color. And a little bit of sap green color. If you have any other clay in which colors can't be premixed, you can skip this part. In that case, you can apply the same color on top after the clay work has dried. The clay needs to be kneaded well for five to 6 minutes until the colors are mixed in. During this time, the consistency of the clay become quite loose, but not to worry, keep kneading M Now, the colors has mixed well into the clay. The colored clay is now ready. So I'm putting it in a ziplock pouch and going to clean my sheet and hands so that we can move to the next step. 5. Rolling and Cutting the Leaf: Hello again with my clean hand sheet and roller ready, we will now begin working with the clay. Here is our stencil. I am just conditioning the clay to make it nice and pliable. Now, I will form it into a ball, then create a drop shape and flatten it by gently pressing it in my palm. Next, we will roll it out flat. To ensure an even thickness, I'm placing two pencils on either side and rolling the clay between them. The size is looking fine. Now, carefully place the stencil on the clay and begin cutting Take your time with this step. Patience is key, so work slowly and carefully. This process will take a little while. As I am cutting the leaf, you can see how I am carefully falling the stencils outline. It's important to be precise here to get a clean shape. Now, I am going to scoop out the clay from between the cut lines of the leaf. This require a delicate touch to remove the excess without disturbing the leaf's outline. H. Keep the excess cut clay in a polybg for use in another project later. The trickiest part is scooping out the clay within the lease cut edges as you need to carefully remove it. Now gently lift and remove paper stencil. And wow look at that. Now we will do some finishing touches, so join me in the next video for that. 6. Let's Do Some Detailing : After cutting in this step, we will use a knife to remove any extra rough clay from the ses of the leaf to smooth them. Gently run the knife along the *** so that the rough clay is removed and the cut becomes perfectly clean. Take your time with this step. Ensuring a nice grip is all the way around. A clean cut here will really enhance the final look of our leaf. Following this procedure, take a little bit of body lotion to make it smooth and gently rub it along the ***. This will make the ses of our leaf perfectly clean and smooth. Now, you can see how smooth the s have become. After this, we will create the veins on the leaf. For this, I have taken a toothpake. First, to make the central vein, we are making two parallel lines. We will create veins on both sides in this manner. Now, to create holes in the leaf, take a pencil and make four to five holes in it. You can make them circular or oval, whichever you prefer. Now Lu, our leaf is ready. For the next step, I will see you in the next video. 7. Giving Shape : Right now, as you can see, this leaf is completely flat. Our goal is to give it a gentle curve, and to achieve this, we are going to carefully place this leaf inside a bowl. First, very gently peel up with a plastic sheet. Look at the backside. Now carefully position it inside the bowl, adjust the shape and the polition so it has the curve you desire. And if needed, do some finishing touches on the edges. Mm. We'll then leave it in this position to dry, which will help it hold its new cu shape. To dry it properly, place it in a spot where there is no direct sunlight or strong wind. We want it to dry very slowly. The drying time really depends on the weather condition and the thickness of your day work. After it's fully dry, we'll move on to the exciting part, adding the golden color. So meet you in the next video. 8. Adding Gold to our Dish: The leaf is now completely dry and has taken on a beautiful curve. Now, we are going to add a touch of gold. For this, I have taken golden powder. And with this metallic golden powder, you will need a medium. Add a little bit of the medium and mix it well. You can also use golden paint in a base form if you prefer. Now, we'll carefully apply the golden paint little by little along the edges of the leaf. The margin space between the cards is quite small. So this part might be a little tricky for these tight spots. Try bringing your brush from the backside and applying the paint in the gap. Take your time with this step. After doing the edges, we will add gold to the veins, the impression we created earlier. First, let's focus on the central vein. Then move to the side veins. And finally, we'll add a touch of gold around the holes. After this first coating is dry for an extra touch of finish, let's apply one more coating to two ss. And look at that how beautiful it looks so elegant. Now for the final step, I'll meet you in the next video. 9. Varnish : Okay, everyone, we are at the last step. We are going to apply varnish on the top. This will protect it from the weather. It will also help your work stay nice for many years and will make it shiny. I'm using little buttery deck or varnish. And don't worry applying this is very easy. All you need is a simple brush. Just gently coat the entire surface. Apply an even and thin layer. Now, time to let it dry completely. This will take about 20 to 25 minutes. After it's dry, it will look shiny. If you want it to be even shinier, you can put on another layer after the first one is dry. 10. Final Thoughts : And there you have it. Our beautiful Mastera Trinkuet dish is finally complete. Look at the lovely details and how this design brings a touch of nature indoor. I hope you have enjoyed the entire process. Now it's your turn. I would love to see your version of the dish, your color choice, how you have made it your own. Please do share your finished project here on the Skillshare and please don't forget to leave a review on other students works to sharing feedback and encouragement is what makes this community wonderful. If you would like to see more of my work, you can find me on my social media platforms. I am on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as Mon Aarti. I often share new videos, process videos and other creative adventures. Come and say hello. Thank you so much for joining me on this creative journey. I hope you have learned some new skills, keep making, keep experimenting and most importantly, have fun. Happy crafting.