Mug Makes! Polymer Clay Photo Stand

^^ That’s a 6 year old Mr. Mug. Isn’t he adorable? 

Inspired by the mini calendar stand I made at the beginning of the month, I wanted to make a small stand to use for photos, or small artwork and notes the Mini Mug makes. She’s been mastering her writing and leaves post-it notes around the house. Some of them are too adorable not to save and display.

First, you’ll roll out your white clay.

Use the craft sticks as a thickness guide, like you would when rolling out pie dough (which I’ve never done but Food Network does it, so it must be true).

The sticks will help you get an even thickness.

Now you’ll cut each piece in half, as an angle. You can use one of the sticks as a straight edge.

To join the pieces, first move them to the foil. You’ll bake on this, so not having to move the clay once its been joined and cut into final shapes will help it keep it shape.

Lay the cut sides next to each other, and with even, gentle pressure, roll them so the connect.

To cut the circles, I used the top of a dry shampoo can. The green one in the supply photo is a bit larger and came from a foam bathroom cleaner can.

Press the cap into you joined clay.

Twisting it sightly helps the circle to separate from the rest of the clay.

Peel away the excess.

You want to do this to both joined pieces of clay, so you have 2 circles.

Now you’ll cut one of your circles in half. An easy way to find the center and ensure both halves are the same size is to trace your circle cutter onto a piece of paper (I used a post-it note). Fold it in half and lay it on the circle. Gently lay a craft stick at the fold, remove the paper and cut along the stick.

You can cut through the foil so you can be sure you made a complete cut.

Look how nice and even the thickness is because of those crafts sticks.

Off to the oven they go, following the instructions on your clay package.

When you take your clay out of the oven it will still be slightly malleable for a few seconds. A good tip is to press it down with a flat, smooth (not cutouts like a fish spatula for instance), and hold it for a bit. This will really help ensure that your clay has baked and hardened as flat as can be.

Now we will glue.

I found the placement that I liked the best.

I used a toothpick to apply the super glue.

While it dried completely, I used the plug from a phone charger rest against it so it wouldn’t accidentally fall over.

Once dry, I repeated the steps for the other side. I made sure to leave a thin, even space between the 2 half circles.

Once dry, its ready to hold your notes, photos, even recipes, or mail that needs to be tended too.

^^ That’s me as baby with my sister, aka Aunt J. I’d say we gave Mr. Mug a run for his money in the cuteness department. 

 

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