Holiday Shoebox: Switchplates, Cigar Box Purse

Connie went on to mention that the one thing it is important to remember is that the metal plates are covered with an almost invisible plastic cover. You may not be able to see it, but be sure to peel it off before applying any clay.

Generally Connie starts by covering the plate with what will be the background clay and bakes that according to manufacturer’s directions. When that has baked and cooled, then she goes to work adding the decorations--a decorated Christmas tree, a wreath, a gingerbread man, etc.--and then bakes the piece again. The one exception was the one with the snowman--that she did all at one time and baked it. With the others, she was able to sand the background and buff it to get the sheen she wanted before adding the extras and baking them.

Another add-on that Connie adds on is glitter. She sometimes uses clay with glitter in the clay itself, but in other cases she adds the glitter to the clay. A case in point was the Christmas tree to which she added green embossing glitter to give the tree extra sparkle. Very appropriate.