Transcripts
1. Introduction: Hello, I'm Stephanie [inaudible]. I have been sculpting professionally for the last ten years. In today's class, I'm going to share with you a very fun project that is very suitable to work with your kids all by yourself. We are going to make cookie jars from your old glass jars. For that you're going to need any kind of glass shatter that is a little bit bigger so you can actually store cookies in them. Although of course you can store whatever you want in them. Nobody ever said that you cannot store rice, pasta, or even lentils in a jar that looks like a cookie. I'm going to show you how to create different cookies variation for your glass jars. You have a variety to choose from. It is a very easy and fun class. It is easily wrapped up in maybe one or two hours. The specific skills are needed for this class. If you have never sculpted it, you can absolutely achieve this. I really hope you are going to take this class, but most importantly that you are going to have lots of fun with it.
2. Materials: For this class, you are going to need some glass jars with metallic lids, some basic sculpting tools and brushes, some polymer clay. I am using the brand's fimo and cernit. You will need some white och-re and chocolate and some colors for the candy. Some dry pastels in och-re and it's in brown. I am using the brand schmink. Some good quality acrylic paints, resin based varnish, and optionally universal glue. If you have never used polymer clay before, I would highly suggest that you watch my polymer clay basics class first. You can find it on skill share. I left a link in the description box below and if you'd like to use colors that are different from mine, I have a class about colors in skill share as well.
3. Chocolate Chip Cookie: So for my cookie jar, I am using a glass jar with some pickle square, so it's a very big one, so I figured it was good to use. You can, of course, use any other kind of jar. If you want to make it a cookie jar, I would suggest you take a bigger one. But you can easily find some for almost nothing when you are thrift shopping or simply reuse really big glass jars where you buy actual food in stores. Maybe even consider buying a huge jar of whatever food you love in stores and then use it for your cookie jar. So we are going to sculpt on the lid, but, first, I'm going to cover it with this resin-based varnish. Because this varnish, it really helps to glue the clay onto metal. I've used it several times on my tin can sculptures, and so I'm using it for here. Alternatively, you can brush on top some glue. You can even let it dry before adding the polymer clay. Alternatively, you can simply sculpt your cookie on top of the lid and if it starts to wear off, you add some glue underneath and then it's going to be fine. Then just wait for the varnish to dry. We're going to mix a beige-colored clay. For that, I used some sahara and some ocher that is here. With FIMO, I always mix half of it with some translucent clay because it looks more natural. Other brands don't need the other translucent. Sonnet, for instance, you can use the colors straight away. But with FIMO, you really want to add some translucent to your color mixes so your food is going to look more natural and not as plasticy. We're going to cover the lid with the beige-colored clay. So what you want to make sure is that there are no air bubbles trapped in. We're going to cover it completely so it looks like a giant cookie. We're simply cutting out the excesses. If you see some air bubbles trapped, like here, just remove the air by cutting in the clay. We're going to smooth out the sides here as well. What we're going to do is to draw lines with the tool in it. So we are going to loosely draw half circles around the cookie. Because when cookies bake, usually they flatten out. So you will have those circles that appear and then you're going to have cracks. You also want to texture the sides. You can use whatever tool you have, a toothpick will do the job as well. If you feel some air bubbles, here's an air bubble, again, just cut and let the air out. Don't worry too much about how your cookie you looks as we are going to texture it massively. Now use a toothbrush to give it some texture. You can also use sandpaper. Here is still an air bubble. Now what you want to do is to texture all the cracks and lines that you've previously drawn. I like to just go over the edges with the toothbrush. You can always add more lines if you feel like that's not quite enough. You can also create a line by simply stitching with the needle tool inside the clay. It's always good to have the reference pictures when you are making realistic sculptures like this cookie so you know what you are doing. You can also pick the cookie that you like best and just replicate its shape. Now, for the chocolate chips, since this is a sculpture, we can make them pretty and not absolutely realistic. I really like the chocolate chips that look a bit like drops. So for that, it's very simple. We are going to start with a tiny ball of clay. You simply roll it between your thumb and forefinger, and then you pinch one side, and then you just roll around to have this drop. Then, you can flatten the button a little bit and just move your fingers on top so it doesn't leave any fingerprints to just smooth all the trips. You want to make a couple. Depending on the size of them, I would say maybe ten small ones or if you're making bigger ones, maybe a few less. In order for the chocolate chips to stick nicely to the cookie, what we are going to do is to make a bit of an indent where we want them to be, and then add some liquid clay, and then simply and the chocolate chip on top. Then, simply repeat wherever you want to add some chocolate chips. So I'm making an indent so they look a little bit more like they belong to the cookie and they're not just put on top. I brush with liquid clay and then I simply place the chocolate chip, and then repeat until you're happy with that result. If you see some fingerprints on the chocolate chip, simply brush your finger on top. Once you're happy with the amount of chocolate chip, we are going to give the cookie the baked look. For that, I am using some dry pastel and more specifically, I'm using ocher and this dark brown, and then I'm using a brush and I am starting to color the cookie. So cookies usually are browner on the edges, so you are starting with the edge first. Bear in mind that when you are using brushes like this on raw polymer clay, it's going to damage the brushes, so you don't want to use your best brushes for this exercise. If you do not have any dry pastels, you can also simply paint with acrylic paint after. But I always think that with baked goods, it's a lot easier to achieve that baked look with some dry pastel because the coloring is a lot lighter. You can always add more texture here and there if you feel like it's a bit too flat. The dry pastel really picks up the texture when coloring, so it's important to have a very textury cookie for this technique to work best. Once you're happy with the coloring, you can bake. Now after baking and cooling off, if you're not completely happy with the color of the cookie, you can always add some acrylic paint on top, so I'm adding a mixture of ocher and sienna just to make it look a little bit more golden. I am using a dry brush that I dipped in the acrylic paint to ensure that I don't have too much paint. Once the paint is dry, varnish the cookie generously as cookies are usually a little bit shiny because of the grease they contain. The varnish will also protect the acrylic paint. Polymer clay itself doesn't need any kind of sealing. Acrylic paint, however, does. If you don't have a varnish and don't really bother about wanting something that is shiny. Another option is to cover your cookie with some liquid polymer clay and bake it again just to ensure you seal properly the acrylic paints. The varnish I am using is the same that I used in the beginning to put on the lid and it is really one of the varnish I like the best.
4. Chocolate Cookie with Candy: Now for the second cookie sculpture I decided to show you how to make a chocolate cookie with rainbow colored candies. It starts like the chocolate chip cookie. You need to prepare the lid first by covering it with the resin based varnish or some universal glue. Then we are making the candies. I picked five different colors, but it's really up to you what colors you'd like to pick. First, start with a ball of clay that you will then flatten down. Be sure to brush over with your fingers to remove any fingerprints. I personally don't think fingerprints are something dramatic. But if you want to avoid them at all costs, another option is to wear latex gloves. Once you have enough candies, bake them. I am using a candle oven, that is very practical for prebaking small pieces. This candle oven is normally meant for enamel curing, but works really well for polymer clay. I explained it in more details in my video about polymer clay basics. Now we are going to cover the lid with some dark brown polymer clay. If you are using Fimo, be sure to mix your dark brown clay with the same amount of translucent clay for a more realistic look. If you are using Cernit, you don't need to do that. As Cernit has already some translucency. Be sure to avoid air bubbles and cover the lid on all sides cutting out excesses. I am also adding more clay to the center of the cookie. So it's slightly domed. Smooth the clay down on all sides with your fingers. Now it's time to place your candies onto the cookie. Brush each candy with some liquid polymer clay, and then place on your cookie. Adjust the composition of the candies to your liking. Once you are happy, you can press them firmly into the clay. Now we are going to texture the cookie itself. Again, it's always easier to have some reference pictures of what you are replicating, so you can always check if the result works fine. Using a metallic embossing tool, push down the clay all around each candy. Also start to draw cracks around the candies and the cookie. Alternatively, use a toothpick for that. Then simulate some half circles like we did on the previous cookie with the chocolate chips. Texture with the toothbrush, really pushing it down into the clay. Now using a toothpick add some tiny holes and textures all over the cookie, especially in the cracks. After baking and cooling off, you might have to cut off some polymer clay under the lid. Cut the excess until you can easily put the lid on top of your jar. To finish the cookie off, simply varnish it.
5. Linzer Cookie: Now let's do a sugary Lenser cookie led, like the previous ones. You need to prepare the lid with varnish first. This time we are adding some common red clay first, this is going to be the strawberry jelly. For cookie itself, prepares on light aqua clay. You can either use the femur color Sahara or Champagne. You mix with translucent clay. I'll mix a light-colored to do, using white and a bit of okra and of course translucent, roll out you light-colored clay, and then draw heart with a scalpel and cut it out. Place the cookie dough on top of the strawberry jelly, making sure the heart centered. Smooth down the clay around the lid, making sure no air bubbles are trapped. Now, we are going to draw a decorative pattern onto the cookie. I am simply using a toothpick and dividing the circle into half every time I am adding a tiny line on the outskirts of the cookie. Now, it's time to create some tiny holes. Simply push the toothpick into the clay to create holes next to the previously drawn lines and around the heart. Be careful to create even spaces between the holes. Now, we are going to texture the cookie with some sandpaper. Fold the sandpaper into and push into all their lines to texture each indent. Use a toothbrush to add texture on the inside of the heart. To create the illusion of a sandwich cookie, place the lid on its side and onto sandpaper and draw a straight line all around the lid using a blade. You might want to redraw some of the lines if they got squished. To add a baked look, we are going to use ocher and [inaudible] brown dry pastels. Simply, brush the pastels onto the cookie, add more coloring on the outside of the cookie. If needed, reform the decorative holes with a toothpick. Once you're happy with your results, bake. After baking and cooling off. We are going to cover the cookie with a light brush of white acrylic paint. Be sure to use a dry brush and very little paint, so you're not going to add too much at once. This will represent the dusted sugar. Finally, varnish your whole cookie, making sure you do a few high gloss coats for the heart to replicate the jelly. For the cookie itself varnish it in Matt. The varnish I can recommend is directly ultra Matt from [inaudible] , and you're done.
6. Final Words: Thank you so much for taking this class. I hope you loved it and let you learned lots from it. I would love to see what you came up with your own cookie jars. So please share your project with the class. Well that it's pretty easy, just look beneath this video and create a project for this class so you can share the pictures of your own cookie jars. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask in the community tab below, and if you'd like to share what you've did on social media, please don't forget to tag me. I go by the moniker @petitplat on all social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Thank you so much for taking this class and I really hope to see you in my next one. Bye.
Stephanie Kilgast, Contemporary artist.
