Painting techniques for royal crafts
See how to make and paint crowns, and celebrate the Coronation with a commemorative craft project! Watch Heather Robertson's helpful techniques to colour embellishments made with two of our most patriotic products, the Crowns Silicone Mould and the Union Jack Alphabet & Numbers Silicone Mould Set. Heather uses acrylic paints, gilding waxes, polishes and marker pens to bring out the majestic detail of these moulds and ensure your craft projects are fit for a King!
April's Mould of the Month
Get 10% OFF the Crowns Silicone Mould! Plus save even more when you buy the Crowns and Union Jack Alphabet Moulds Bundle for a limited time only.
Watch Heather's techniques for colouring crowns:
Watch how to colour Union Jack letters and numbers:
*Originally filmed for the Queen's Jubilee in 2022
SAVE when you buy these moulds as a bundle:
Follow Heather's step-by-step instructions
Crowns Mould Colouring
Step 1: Moulding your crowns
Lightly dust the Crowns Mould with cornflour and tap out the excess. Press a small amount of Hearty Air Drying Clay into the mould using your fingers and/or a dresden/modelling tool. Using slightly drier clay works best for this. Pull the clay away from the edge of the mould, and wipe away any excess with the side of your thumb. Twist and wriggle the mould gently to release a crown, and leave to dry on a piece of paper towel, on a flat surface. Leave to dry completely before painting
Step 2: Painting crowns with watercolour and acrylic paint
Once your crowns are completely dry, flood the recesses of each crown with watercolour paint and leave aside to dry. Heather has used a dusky green for the small crown, and red and blue for the larger crown. Using gold acrylic paint, paint the raised edges and the base of the small crown. And place to one side to dry.
Using a damp cloth or tissue, wipe away some of the blue paint on the base of the large crown so that the paint is lifted from the raised surfaces to highlight the texture. The paint will remain in the recessed areas while being lifted off the raised areas. Using gold and silver acrylic paint, paint the raised areas and crown embellishments and details and then leave to dry. Add a little extra water colour paint if needed.
Step 3: Decorate crowns with inkpads and sponges
If you’re looking for a really simple way to decorate your crowns, why not use your inkpads and a cosmetic sponge (or ink applicators if you have them).
Make sure that your clay pieces are completely dry to retain the texture and detail of each crown.
Press your cosmetic sponge or ink applicator onto your ink pad and then gently press or rub the ink-stained sponge over your crowns, slowly building up the intensity of colour. Heather has used a light green and black ink pad on dried white and red crowns.
Step 4: Using gilding waxes and polishes
This is definitely a favourite method for decorating the crowns, as there are so many ways in which the waxes and polishes can be used, they dry quickly, and it works well whatever colour clay is used.
You can try a gold oil-based gilding wax as well as water based gilding polishes in gold, silver and teal.
Silver gilding polish on dark grey clay: Using the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, gently wipe or press the applicator sponge onto the crown to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a lovely pewter or platinum effect.
Gold gilding polish on black clay: Using the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, gently wipe or press the applicator onto the crown to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a lovely rich gold effect.
Gold Gilding wax on black clay: Using your finger pick up a little gilding wax and gently rub this in a circular motion onto the raised areas of the crowns. This gives a muted antiqued gold effect
Two tone gilding polish on coloured clay – applicator and paint brush: Using the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, gently wipe or press the applicator onto the crown to highlight the raised areas and texture, and then using a paint brush, paint the details in another colour. Thin the water-based polish with a little water if too thick. This is a lovely, rich and opulent effect.
Gilding wax on white clay: Using the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, in the colour of your choice gently wipe or press the applicator onto the crown to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a softer and brighter effect. Leave to dry.
Gilding wax on white clay: Using the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, in the colour of your choice gently wipe or press the applicator onto the crown to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a softer and brighter effect. Leave to dry.
Step 5: Placement
These quick and easy decorating techniques will give you a treasure hoard of crowns to choose from, so you will always have the perfect pieces for any project you have in mind.
Union Jack Alphabet & Numbers Moulds Colouring
Step 1: Moulding your letters
Use white Hearty Soft Air Drying Clay and white mixed with red, blue and black Heart Clay. Lightly dust the Union Jack Alphabet & Numbers Moulds with cornflour and tap out the excess. Press a small amount of Hearty Air Drying Clay into the mould using your fingers and /or a Dresden/modelling tool. Using slightly drier clay works best for this. Pull the clay away from the edge of the mould, and wipe away any excess with the side of your thumb. Twist and wriggle the mould gently to release a crown, and leave to dry on a piece of paper towel, on a flat surface. Leave to dry completely before painting.
Step 2: Painting letters using the dry brush technique
Make sure that your letters and numbers are completely dry so that you don’t lose any detail from the letters when painting. You can try a gold and silver water based gilding polish, but acrylic paint works just as well. Load your paintbrush with silver or gold paint /polish, and then wipe away the excess paint on a piece of paper towel or an old rag, creating a “dry brush” then gently brush over the raised areas of your letters to pick up the raised detail and texture of each piece. Place to one side to dry.
Step 3: Using gilding waxes and polishes: Try a gold oil-based gilding wax as well as water based gilding polishes in gold and silver.
Gold Gilding wax on black clay: Using your finger pick up a little gilding wax and gently rub this in a circular motion onto the raised areas of the letters. This gives a muted antiqued gold effect.
Gold gilding polish on black clay: Using your finger or the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, gently wipe or press the applicator onto each letter to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a lovely rich gold effect.
Silver gilding polish on grey clay: Using your finger or the applicator sponge with the gilding polish, gently wipe or press the applicator onto each letter to highlight the raised areas and texture. This gives a lovely pewter or platinum effect.
Marker pens on white clay: Use red, blue and black marker pens on white clay. Using a red marker pen draw in all the red areas of the flag on each letter and number, then repeat the process using the blue marker pen. All the sections to colour are raised so it’s easy to see where each colour needs to go. Once dry draw around the outside edge of each letter using the side of a black marker pen. The outer edge is raised higher than the rest of the piece, so it’s an easy line to follow. This gives us a vibrant and colourful alphabet.
Step 5 - Placement
When attaching your letters and numbers to your project, use the edge of a ruler or thick piece of card as a placement guide to keep them straight.
Let us see what you make!
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