Air Dry ClayMushrooms

I made mushroom ornaments to decorate my Christmas tree. These came out a lot better than I expected. I think the trick to making them look realistic is to use paint colors that are a little more muted, rather than bright colors.

Air Dry Clay (I used Crayola Model Magic)

Knife (optional, to cut clay or you can free form shapes)

24 Gauge Wire (thin paperclips can work too)

Paint Brush (10 flat synthetic, any brush will do)

Palette Knife

Hot Glue Gun

Screw Eyes (3mm X 5mm)

Acrylic Paint (Black, White, Transparent Burnt Sienna, Phthalo Blue, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue)

Twine

Roll out a portion of clay into thin snake shapes- I made mine about 2-3" long and about 1/4" in diameter. Carefully work a piece of wire down the length of the stem, leave about 1/4" of wire sticking out of one end. These will be the stems of your mushrooms.

Take the remaining clay and roll into spheres. Flatten one side of the sphere and begin to pull the clay down around the flat side. You can also cut the clay into circles if you want a thinner cap.

Gently push the wire end of the snake into the center underside of cap.

On the top side of the cap, insert the screw eye.

Let everything dry at least 24 hours to cure. The clay will remain slightly soft and flexible even after it's fully dried.

Carefully, using the hot glue gun, apply a thick line of glue where the stem meets the underside of the cap. Continue to add glue partway down the stem. Then, using the palette knife, pull and flatten the glue against the stem. Leaving a lip at the bottom will resemble a skirt. If your screw eyes came loose, now is a good time to add a small dot of glue over the hole and re-insert the screw. Let everything cool.

Apply paint in various shades to your mushroom. You can look up pictures of mushrooms to give you ideas of color combinations and to make them look realistic . I added some white and black paint splatter to the caps to add some interest. Let everything dry and reapply more paint if you wish.

Thread the twine through the screw eye and hang up your finished mushroom. Step back and enjoy what you've just created!