While I was planning what to do on my boyfriend's birthday, I came across this website, Kin's Miniature, whereby one time workshop for clay crafts is available! This sounds really fun for a one time event and a couple-do-it-together activity. I was interested in the self image making at $120 per 2 pax. Kin doesn't provide a phone number so I contacted her through the contact-me form two weeks earlier. Her replies were prompt and I managed to get a timeslot on his actual birthday. To confirm my slot, I transferred the payment to her bank account.
The place is located at Chinatown, near the mrt station. But we had a difficult time reaching our destination. There isn't a clear sign of where her shop is because it is located within a Canon shop (should be Canon)! I had to call her before I know where it was. Her office is a really small and modest room. And frankly speaking, her work area is really messy! Nothing like a professional haha.
Before she started, she looked at our outfit and appearance and asked us whether we want our clay image to wear the same colours as we were then. It is a big mistake to agree to my bf clay wearing white, and good thing I changed my clay dress to pink rather than black. She gives us step by step instructions and shows us how to do it. We use air dry clay which would dry naturally without baking. This is good for people who doesn't want another oven to bake polymer clays specifically. We mixed the beige colour oil paint into the resin clay and formed the heads. Using a straw, we poked the shape of the mouths, deeply, as the clay will bounce out once dried.
The body was already pre-made by Kin, like a long oval shaped beige clay stuck on the toothpick. The shirt and pants are then wrapped around it. (After that I realized that the body clay is made of resin clay which dries harder than the soft clay used for clothing, hence it provides some hard support. Soft clay seems to stick permanent on resin clay, once touched, you won't be able to separate it.) I shouldn't have used white as his top because it is plain looking and it gets dirty easily, which it did.
One of the fun parts is the attaching of hair to the head. Bf got it worse because female hair is more troublesome. By the way, the pink dress is made from mixing pink soft clay and white soft clay. Somehow, she didn't use paint mixture for this.
After you stick the hair at the back, you need to attach strand by strand for the front and also pull the side burns down. Because the white top looks plain, I drew on it using a pen. (I don't think we should use a pen because it will smudge when you glaze it. That's why she told us not to varnish the pen parts.) The shoes are blue to add more colours! Haha. The feet look huge for the body. Kin gave us two hearts and I decided to attach it on the bodies to add some colour. She said that every couple's clay doll is unique and that I was the only one who attached the heart on the clay doll itself.
Look at my currypok hair! So nice! And you can't see the ribbon at the back. It was actually very nice but it become flattened after we knead and press during adjustments.
Kin's work on display in her workplace. To get colours so realistic, I think it is quite a challenge!
Overall, I think the workshop is great for first-timers, especially because you do not have to commit for more lessons. The self image clay making is challenging enough, let alone the food miniatures. Kin is a really friendly and patient lady too. However, I don't think the workshop is very professionally conducted so this may disappoint you. The space of the room is also quite small but sufficient for two students. The whole learning process is a little alienating because we were both focused on making our own clay. This could have been better if we were learning and making the same item. It was a memorable experience for us nevertheless :).
By the way, you can see our photos on Kin's website too hahaha.
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