Happy dance I was featured on etsy front page thank you Supersock

Thank you very much, first time in 3 years.

Free tutorial on how to make a clay cover mixed media collage for an art journal or smash book DIY art project

This

is a free tutorial on how I make air dried clay covers for some of my art or travel journals. I will post the pictures with the explanations below. Start with some air dry clay that you can get at Michael’s or Joann’s in the children’s art sections. Measure the cover of your journal and roll out the clay on wax paper and cut it just a little smaller than the cover measurements

Here I have cut the clay and added 2 rolls in a swirling pattern and stamped some impressions on the clay.

Here are four different clay shapes that I made at this time. It is easier to make several different shapes and clean up afterwards. The one I am going to use in this project is the one on the far left.

The painting is down after I have let the clay dry for one day. I use metallic paints; teal and sapphire blue to make the base of the collage.

Here are some of the supplies that I use to make the collage vary in color and textures. The glass beads paste is spread around and then the micro beads are sprinkled on top so they will dry embedded in the paste. The Golden gold paint is used sparingly to highlight the different levels on the clay.

Here I have glued on Tim Holtz’s metal gears, and clock face and hand to the top of the swirls. I then glued on Swarovski crystals to make the collage sparkle. Here I am trying it on the top of the journal that I will be covering to see how it fits.

This is the finished journal. I have covered the journal with matching card stock and glued the clay collage on top. I have added a ribbon loop and a brad to make the closure. The cover is done. Inside the journal I continued the theme of Steampunk purple with designer papers and envelops and tags that I made to hold journal ling and photographs inside for future use. Here are some photos of the inside of this art journal.

This art journal can be purchased in my etsy store here; https://www.etsy.com/listing/187198164/steampunk-dream-handmade-travel-journal?ref=shop_home_active_24 Here are 2 more covers I made with that batch of four plain clay covers;