Layl's Silly Milly Art

Make a Fancy Frame

How to make a Fabulous Frame

Make a beautiful frame with your Silly Milies.

You can use any size frame. It is always a good idea to test your frame in the oven before you start adding clay to it. Some frames might have materials in or on them that doesn't hold up in 275 degrees. I also recommend using a frame from a thrift store, that way if it does have a melting problem you won't have wasted a lot of money. You should be safe if the frame is all wood. Though if it is raw untreated wood you would want to bake it for 30 minutues at 275 to get the sap out. Also untreated wood will need somekind of finish to get the clay to stick to it- you could paint it or cover it with white glue.

Supplies:

Wooden Frame (if unfinished wood cover with something like Elmer's glue to seal the wood)

Chunk of scrap clay (any brand of Polymer Clay will work)

6 to 12 Silly Millies depending on the size of the frame.

Roller

Slicing Blade

Step One:

Slice off 1/8 inch thick slices from your scrap clay to cover the frame.

Step Two:

Wrap the scrap clay around to the back. It doesn't have to cover all the way around but enough to hook it on to the frame.

Step three:

Wrap entire frame. This gives you a sturdy surface and a background to stick your Silly Milly slices to. You can use a roller to smooth it out if you plan on having part of it show.

Step four:

Pinch your round and square canes to make them more triangle or leaf shaped. If the cane is hard warm it in your hands by rolling it gently. Then pinch all along one edge to make it the desired shape.

Step five:

Slice your canes about 1/8 or thinner. If you have a limited amount of a certain design you may want to slice it all up to see how many slices you have. Then when you press them to frame start on the outside and make it symetrical on all sides. On this frame I started on the corners.

Step six:

Keep adding on slices until you have filled an entire row around.

Step seven:

Add on the following rows. It's your choice how much you want to overlap. You may fit in two rows, three rows or more.

Finished Frame

Here's my finished frame. As you can see I made sort of a center piece in the top by overlapping even more slices in the center.

Bake at 275 degrees for 30 minutes. An oven thermometer is highly recommended.