creating with jules- air dry clay rainbow ornaments

I’ve been going a little Christmas ornament crazy over here, and whilst I could skip the whole busyness of the whole season, I could certainly make Christmas ornaments all year round! They are so fun and there are so many possibilities. I’ve been noticing lots of rainbows in Alisa’s blog & instagram lately, so I thought I’d create a tutorial that compliments all the modern rainbows I’m seeing lately 🙂

You will need:

-air dry clay

-acrylic paints

-acrylic gloss sealer

-thin string (I used kitchen twine)

-alphabet stamps

Start out by rolling some 1/2” diameter logs of clay. Start with a 4 1/2” log and bend into a ‘U’ shape and then layer a couple more longer logs around this one. 3 or 4 logs work well.

On the back, score and blend edges together with a clay tool. Some air dry clays work better than others for smoothing joins! Play around until you find a brand that you like.

Stamp a word onto the right hand side of the rainbow. You can copy the words I’ve stamped, or personalize. Named ornaments make great gifts! Poke a hole through the top where the string will thread through. Let dry.

Once dry, paint each stripe a different pastel color. Let dry, then coat the whole rainbow with a layer of acrylic gloss.

When the gloss was dry I used some burnt umber (dark brown) and painted the whole rainbow. You then use a well-wrung damp rag to rub back the brown paint to your liking. Leave to dry.