Crafters Corner : Different Ideas to use Collage Clay !

Hi crafters,Dr Sonia here sharing a few projects with Collage Clay the latest craze to hit the Indian Craft scene
I am sure you have already seen numerous projects, videos and tutorials on Collage Clay which is the latest new craze to hit the Indian Craft scene and has been introduced to India exclusively by Crafters Corner. COLLAGE CLAY ART is so gorgeous and irresistible that stocks of Collage Clay are hot selling and crafters in various fields have embraced it!
Since you can use collage clay on a huge range of surfaces such as metal, glass, plastic, ceramic, wood etc etc and you can embed a wide variety of objects in it there are so many possibilities with collage clay but sharing a few project ideas

Decorate Plastic Storage boxes

Cabochons

I wanted to convert my plastic box into a "cupcake" so cut corrugated paper to cover the lower part and attached it with red tacky tape

And here is the faux Cupcake - cute as well as functional !

Here is another plastic box we decorated with collage clay

The collage clay is recommended for use above 8 yrs and I think the main reason is because younger children would find it difficult to squeeze the collage clay out of the piping bags. Though my daughter is 9 she is a gentle child and try as she might she couldnt get the collage piping bags to work but she did enjoy decorating the "iced" objects with cabochons Shalini sent us from Crafters Corner!

The cabochons and other elements such as beads etc need to be added while the collage clay is still wet [ no need to rush here as the clay takes 1- 5 days to dry!!]

You can add lots of elements onto your collage clay such as beads, rhinestones, etc.The pink heart you see in the collage clay decorated box above is actually a sticker!

Decorate Glass Jars

This example of Collage clay has already been shown in the previous posts. Such jars would not only look cool in your home but would make awesome gifts

Decorate Pen-stands and Stationary

You can never have enough pen-stands isnt it ...well at least that is the scenario at our home !

I wanted to see what all elements the collage clay could hold and so in this project I added crystal flowers , home made resin leaves and broken jewelry bits

So if you have a piece of broken jewelry that is too sentimental or pretty to throw away save it for just such a project!

Decorate Photoframes

rotating photoframe

Collage clay make decorating photo-frames super easy...and not only the regular shaped ones but unusual ones like the rotating cylindrical photo-frame shown above!

You can even make your own cute embellishments to add to your collage clay crafts like the pink clay doughnut and the strawberry [ a bit off colour for a strawberry!] on my rotating photoframe!

Decorate Phone cases

So many cute projects already shared on this blog and on the collage clay group on facebook

Make Jewelry

Make Pendants

I iced collage clay onto a blank pendant and added a glass tortoise to make this pendant.
We have a loads of variety of these empty pendants in store.

The glass tortoise had such an odd shape that it would have looked odd on its own on the pendant but adding the collage clay base made this is a super easy pendant to make.

When you experiment with collage clay for the first time your piping may not look too good.Its literally impossible to put the squeezed out collage clay back into your piping bag.In such cases you can scoop it onto a pendant/ring base and add a large embellishment on it like the blue resin rose in my pendant !

Make matching Accessories

There are so many themed cabochons available at Crafters Corner and my kiddo just adored the Frozen character one which she used to make a pendant and a matching ring .

Make Rings

You can use not only ready made cabochons but also create your own fun elements to add to collage clay crafts.

The tiny fruits are my very amateurish attempts with clay sculpting!

Use with Stencils as a Texturing Paste

If you have iced a cake with a piping bag working with collage clay is going to be super easy for you ...if not you might end up with not so perfect piped peaks the first few attempts. In such a case no need to throw away the collage clay...use it as a texturing paste over a stencil or even smear it on a surface using a spoon/ knife or even fingers.
Neha and Jaya have already shared projects using Collage clay as a paste for texturing

Make Hair Accessories

Arjita has already shared some cute hair clips made with collage clay.

Use with ordinary air drying clay or polymer clay to get the icing / cream effect!

You can use collage clay with ordinary air drying clay or baked polymer clay projects to easily get icing or cream effects. I made the swiss roll above with ordinary air drying clay [ sponge cake texture effect achieved using a toothbrush] and iced it with collage clay and added tiny glitter balls atop!

Made the tiny pink macaroons with air drying clay and sandwiched together with collage clay cream!

More Tips with Collage Clay

Its not a craft meant for young children as piping the collage clay will be difficult for them but yes they can join in adding the embellishments such as cabochons!
If you feel a surface is especially smooth you can sand it with a sandpaper so that the collage clay has a better grip on it
Collage clay dries spongy
You can color collage clay - if you are going to apply it on a stencil or smear it on a surface you can mix color into it and apply
You can paint over collage clay - I saw a demo of spray painting on collage clay and it looked awesome.

Additional Elements you can use in Collage Clay crafts

Cabochons - huge variety
Modpodge Drizzle Paint
Crafters Corner Ice cream toppings
Mod Podge Mod Melts
Mod podge Molds to create your own embellishments
Polymer Clay to create your own embellishments

Further Resources

Collage Clay Art tips Facebook Group - If you are on facebook you can join this group and learn more tips and tricks about collage clay as well as share your own collage clay creations