The Art of Oven-Baked Clay: A Beginner's Journey

As I stood in front of my workbench, I couldn't help but feel a sense of trepidation. I had never worked with oven-baked clay before, and the thought of attempting to create something beautiful with it filled me with anxiety. But, as I looked around at the various tools and materials laid out before me, I knew that this was going to be an adventure.

I began by rolling out my oven-baked clay, using a combination of force and finesse to shape it into a usable form. As I worked, I couldn't help but feel like I was in gym class all over again - the physical labor required to shape the clay seemed to take me back to those grueling days on the athletic field. But, determined to push through my initial struggles, I pressed on.

As I continued to work with the clay, I realized that it was far more challenging than I had anticipated. The oven-baked variety was not as forgiving as some of the other types of clay I had worked with in the past, and it seemed to have a mind of its own. Despite my best efforts, the clay refused to cooperate, and I found myself struggling to manipulate it into the desired shape.

Feeling frustrated and defeated, I decided to take a step back and reassess my approach. With the help of some steel water containers and trusty tools, I was able to coax the clay into submission, eventually managing to roll out a usable sheet. But, as I looked around at the template provided by the Crafty Lumberjacks, I realized that it might not be enough - the amount of clay available seemed woefully inadequate for the project.

In a moment of creative crisis, I decided to take matters into my own hands and head to the art store in search of additional supplies. To my surprise, they were out of white clay, but they did have a multicolor pack that caught my eye. With a sense of trepidation, I decided to go ahead and use this new material, hoping that it would somehow magically transform into something beautiful.

As I began to work with the multicolor clay, I was pleased to find that it was far more manageable than the oven-baked variety. The colors seemed to blend together in a way that created a unique, patchwork effect - and as I cut out the pieces of our house, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement at the possibilities.

With the roof and base in place, I moved on to the next step, using a combination of print and metal cutter to shape the door. It was at this point that things started to go awry - my attempt at creating bell-bottom jeans with windows resulted in something truly bizarre, and I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

As I moved on to score the roof and build the chimney, I began to feel a sense of trepidation. The clay seemed to be coming apart, and I knew that if I wasn't careful, the entire structure could collapse. With a sense of determination, I pressed on, using every trick in the book to reinforce the sides of the house.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, our little cabin was ready to go into the oven. As I lit the candle and watched as the flame danced and crackled, I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride - despite all the setbacks and challenges, we had managed to create something truly beautiful.

And then, in a moment that I will never forget, the oven beeped, signaling that our cabin was ready. As I carefully removed it from the oven and placed it on a nearby surface, I couldn't help but feel a sense of awe at what we had created. It was like nothing I had ever seen before - a perfect little mushroom-shaped house, complete with intricate details and a charmingly rustic texture.

As I looked around at the finished product, I felt a sense of pride and accomplishment wash over me. Despite all the setbacks and challenges along the way, we had managed to create something truly beautiful - and it was all thanks to the power of oven-baked clay.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enMaybe it's timefor the next step.Hello, everyone.I'm Gunnarolla, andI have something verypersonal to share with you.I've never shownthis to anyone else.This is the firstand last time I everworked with oven-baked clay.You know, I'd like tobelieve that art hasmany interpretations, butthe only interpretationI can offer here isthat I was tryingnot to fail my art class.Over-baked clay, not my medium.I am not a crafter.But that makes methe perfect personto test out handmade projects.Do they really work?Are they as effortless aseveryone makes them look?On today's show, weare going to attemptto create a cute and cozyincense cabin as originallyand expertly created bythe Crafty Lumberjacks.Let's hope it turnsout better than this.Let's get testing.So we're going tostart by rollingout our oven-baked clay.We're using oven-baked clayfor this because safety first.Baking should be completedby an adult. Oh no.Did this dry already?So if you've beenfollowing along,I've actually been doingpretty OK with these projects,except for the trash pumpkin.I don't know about this.I've just never been verygood at arts and crafts,and I don't know if it's becauseI didn't have a good teacheror if it's just not my talent.This seems veryhard to manipulate.I'm going to break my wrist.All right, welcometo HGTV Handmade.Today I'm going toshow you how to doublethe size of your forearms.Ow.What the heck?What am I doing wrong?Maybe it's timefor the next step.So I'm going to use my trustysteel water container here.I've used this before invideos for our clay projects.All right, got our verysophisticated tool here.Let's try to roll this baby out.Oh my goodness.Something's wrong here.This is a workout.Working up a sweat.Crafting is gym class, anotherreason why I didn't like it.This can't be right.All right, so theCrafty Lumberjacksprovided us with a template.But looking at this, this isnot going to be enough clay.So I'm going to have tohead to the art store.I will be right back.So as it turns out, the artstore was out of white clay.They only had thismulticolor pack.So I'm going to have tomake an executive decision,and it's that this is goingto be a multicolor cabin.I knew this looked way too easy.I'm just going to placeit right on top of my clayhere and then start cuttingout the pieces of our house.Pretty good.Nice, clean cut.Feels like two slices of cheese.Looks like two sides of a house.And now the roofand the base, whichwill be a different color.Yeah, this is actuallymuch easier to deal with,and it's staining my hand.We have a red roof.This cabin is going tolook like a Pizza Hut.Luckily the kit comes witha little bit more white.So if I combinethem, it should beenough to create a thick base.Oh no, I'm staining it red.All right, we gota pink marble base.This is now a luxury cabin.Let's take a lookat the next step.I'm just going todo a little imprinthere in the center with a woodendowel and push out that clay.And then I'm going touse my little metalcutter here to kind of cutout the rest of the door.And there we have it, a pair ofbell-bottom jeans with windows.Help me.This is a little copper pipewe found at the hardware store.So cute.So perfect.And I'm going to kindof just shape this,and then I'm going tokind of just wigglethe chimney right in there.OK, we're going toscore the roof a bit.And then we're going totake this copper pipeand make our chimney.Maybe I should take offthe price tag first.That looks like it'sgoing to fall out.Let's build a house.So I'm just takinga pin, and I'mdoing just some cross scores.And I'm going to do itto both of the edgesthat I'm seaming together.All right, so we went fromgym class to art classto sewing class.So we're just goingto score the side.All right, now I'm just goingto take a little bit of clay,dip it into alittle bit of water,and just rub myfingers right over it.Take a little bitof water and clay.The clay isn't doing anything.Neither is the water.Is this even oven-baked clay,or did I buy plasticine?I'm just going to have toimprovise and smudge this.So the clay-and-water techniqueis not working for me,so I'm just goingto find another wayto reinforce thesides of this houseand hope that theydon't come apart.I do not have a goodfeeling about this.And there we have it.This is what we call in theHGTV world a fixer upper.We are going to fix it upby putting it in the ovenand hoping for the best.Hello, everybody.I'm Gunnarolla, and welcomeback to Food Network.We've just put ourcabin in the oven.We've had an entireeducation today.We started in phys ed.We went to an artclass, a sewing class,and now a cooking class.There was a bit ofphysics involved.Let's see whatgrade I got today.And boom.It looks like amushroom, but who hasn'twanted to live in a mushroom?And I don't know if you've takena look at the housing marketright now, but it isnot a time to be picky.Surprisingly, it did notcrack, but there's still time.If we wanted to makea more elegant house,we could definitely sanddown some of these edges.I'm just going togo ahead and test itout because I'm done with this.Light our candle here.All right, we've got anice flame going here.We're going to leaveit for a bit to justgenerate some more smoke.I think that's good.Let's put thishere, and it works.Oh.I've got to say, I'mpretty impressed.I definitely thoughtthere would besmoke coming outfrom every corner,but it's coming out the chimney.In the comments below,let me know how I didand what other projectswe should test out.Don't forget to givethis video a thumbs upand subscribe to the channel.We'll see you next time.Stay crafty.\n"