Diya or Candle Holder: Tutorial using Air Dry Clay

Last year, around the same time students at Art Hours, were involved in activities related to Diwali crafts. I was digging up through the archives in my laptop, when I found a few pictures. Thought I should share it today with you all...and if it could be of any help...so you can make your own candle holders using air dry clay. Not a very difficult process either...can be tried by anyone and you don't need to be an expert in clay modeling to try out this one.

Air Dry Clay Candle Holders for Diwali

Materials required: 

Air dry clay, toothpick, clay modeling tools like a knife, some plastic or metal moulds for making the designs, poster colors or acrylic colors.

Procedure:

Take about 3" diameter ball of air dry clay (size of the clay ball depends upon the size of the candle holder you wish to make or actually the size of your palms) and roll it flat with the help of a roller. Let the thickness not be less than 1.0 cm since the clay will shrink by a few mm once it dries. So let's say we have rolled out a flat slab of 1.0 cm thick. Thereafter, trace the outline of your hand with a toothpick or any sharp instrument. And then cut out the hand shape. The kids used a plastic knife that comes with the kid's clay modeling tools to cut out the hand shape and it worked out just fine.

The kids used a combination of clay moulds, sketch pen lids, and even toothpicks to inscribe some design on the hand surface before leaving it to dry.

Thereafter, we took a bowl and left the hand-shaped clay cut-out on the bowl to dry. Let the clay models dry naturally for at least 48 hours before you apply any paint for further decoration. 

Leave the clay candle holders to dry out naturally

After 48 hours, we applied colors on the candle holder and they were ready to use. The finishes will depend upon the paint you have used. If you desire a glossy finish use acrylic colors, otherwise poster colors also will do.

Candle holders by Art Hours

Lef Inset: Candle Holder with application of Poster Colors
Right Inset: Candle Holder with application of Acrylic Colors

Try this activity with your kids or students. Art Hours clay modeling students simply loved making this one.

Made your Diwali a memorable one...Have a great festive week ahead!

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