The first time I tried a napkin transfer on air dry clay, I ruined two napkins before I even got to the clay, pulling the layers apart too roughly, printing side shredding before it ever touched the bowl. Once I slowed down and actually understood what the technique needs, it turned out to be one…
My bathroom counter used to be a mix of plastic bottles and whatever tray I’d grabbed on a Target run, functional, but not exactly something I enjoyed looking at every morning. A handful of small clay pieces changed that more than I expected, a soap dish here, a little ring tray there, and suddenly the…
I’m not usually someone who does elaborate nail art at home, I’m fine with a single coat of color and calling it done most months of the year. But this one earned a permanent spot in my October rotation the first time I tried it. It’s a simple four-look combination, solid matte black, a jack-o’-lantern…
I made my first clay ghost almost on a whim one October afternoon, mostly just wanting a small, non-scary Halloween decoration that didn’t involve a trip to the craft store. It turned out to be one of the simplest shapes I’ve ever sculpted, a draped sheet, two little eye holes, and it dries into something…
I used to think looking put-together cost real money, that the difference between an outfit that looked expensive and one that looked ordinary was the price tag on the clothes themselves. Then I started paying attention to what actually changes how an outfit reads, and it almost never comes down to the clothes. It’s the…
I made my first crochet cup cozy because I wanted something small enough to finish in one sitting. After spending hours on larger projects, there was something really satisfying about making a useful little piece without needing a complicated pattern or a huge amount of yarn. This crochet coffee cup cozy is worked as a…
There’s a particular kind of corner in almost every home that just feels a little flat. The light is fine, the furniture is where it should be, but the space doesn’t have any life in it. Almost every time I’ve fixed a corner like that, the answer was a plant, not a new lamp or…
I still remember standing in the craft store aisle the first time I decided to try clay, staring at two nearly identical-looking packages and having absolutely no idea which one I actually needed. One said air dry, the other said oven bake, and nothing on either package explained what that actually meant for someone who’d…
There’s something about a tiny clay strawberry or a slice of watermelon no bigger than a coin that makes people stop and pick it up off the fridge. I’ve made a lot of clay magnets over the years, but the fruit ones are consistently the ones people ask about, they’re colorful, a little nostalgic, and…
Someone messaged me a few months back after I posted my leaf imprint jewelry dish, asking, almost apologetically, if it was “silly” to wonder whether she could actually sell something like that. It wasn’t silly at all. I get some version of that question more than almost anything else I get asked, right up there…