The Time in my World

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			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Apothecary Chest (mini find of the century!)with stain addedscrapbooking paper added to bookplatesbookplates and screws painted burnished coppershown with suitcase, globe and jugthis will be part of the Steampunk Roombox for my Pullip EOS			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Pink, Orange and Bergundy Floral Skirt Modelled by DalSeraphine was borrowed specifically for modelling the skirts.			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Pink and Bergundy Floral Skirt Modelled by DalSeraphine was borrowed specifically for modelling the skirts.			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Angell Studio Momo Head on Island Doll body. Original Face Up by Clockwork Angel. Nose sanded down slightly. Another owner added eyebrows to Faceup.I adopted her on 18 May 2012Mimi Mon Minou			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Blue Floral Skirt Modelled by DalSeraphine was borrowed specifically for modelling the skirts.			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	$1 copper/brass jug from the Salvation Army Op Shop!this will be part of the Steampunk Roombox for my Pullip EOS			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Multicolour Skirt Modelled by DalSeraphine was borrowed specifically for modelling the skirts.			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Brown Tree Skirt Modelled by DalSeraphine was borrowed specifically for modelling the skirts.			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Angell Studio Momo Head on Island Doll body. Original Face Up by Clockwork Angel. Nose sanded down slightly. Another owner added eyebrows to Faceup.I adopted her on 18 May 2012Mimi Mon Minou			Qski McGrewski posted a photo:	Angell Studio Momo Head on Island Doll body. Original Face Up by Clockwork Angel. Nose sanded down slightly. Another owner added eyebrows to Faceup.I adopted her on 18 May 2012Mimi Mon Minou

Random Pretties…

The Bride Sweet Spot Schnibble Miss Perkins Bella's Bubbles The Safest Place Post Gloss Polymer Clay Rabbit and Strawberry  The Brothers Polymer Clay and Bead Swirly Pink Pendant

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Category: Dolls

Mini Steampunk Camera – Commencing my Roombox

mini-steampunk-camera-commencing-my-roombox

I’m not sure I mentioned, but I am going to attempt to make a roombox in 1:6th (aka: 1/6th, Playscale) scale for each of my Pullip dolls.  My Eos doll – Violetta, will have a steampunk themed room, I have so many ideas that I am not sure what is actually going to get into the room and what will need to be culled for the sake of the 37.5 X 37.5cm (15 X 15 inches) floor space.

Pullip EOS - Photo from Pullip Style

Pullip EOS - Photo from Pullip Style

What happens when Q gets an idea in her head is that I get totally obssessed reading everything I can on the topic and I end up doing almost nothing… procrastination is not the same as inspiration… but that is what I do, what about you?

Anyway, I thought if I maybe started with something tiny (and by tiny you know I mean that will take a small amount of time, since by virtue of the scale thing… everything will technically be tiny!) that would help me move things along a little…

So I grabbed all my polymer clay out of ‘hiding’ set up my pasta machine, conditioned some clay and looked at a couple of “how to make a digital camera out of polymer clay” videos on yoohootube.  None of them were exactly what I was thinking of, but they helped.  I went to the Canon camera website got the dimensions of the Canon EOS and converted it to 1:6 Scale.  I drew this on a piece of paper and handed it to Violetta to check size.  We decided maybe a bit bigger than the ‘true’ 1:6th scale.  I bought some steampunk watch gears from Ebay – if you get some pay attention to the weight you are getting for the price, some ads photos are quite misleading showing far more items than you actually get.

I used this image of a hand made steampunk (actually working camera!) made by Howard Boys - see article here

Functioning 1:1 Steampunk Camera made by Howard Boys
Functioning 1:1 Steampunk Camera made by Howard Boys

Isn’t that cool? And this image of the Canon EOS 5d Mark III as inspiration for my camera.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III Front
Canon EOS 5D Mark III Front

So… after fuffing about for a while (and still unbaked as we speak) this is my 1:6th scale steampunk EOS HB – get it… EOS for Pullip Name and Canon Name and HB for Howard Boys Homage – Oh I am so creative ;)

1:6th (aka 1/6th, Playscale) Steampunk Camera - EOS HB ~1inch wide
1:6th (aka 1/6th, Playscale) Steampunk Camera – EOS HB ~1inch wide

And here is the slightly more wonky rear view.

1:6th (aka 1/6th, Playscale) Steampunk Camera - EOS HB ~1inch wide
1:6th (aka 1/6th, Playscale) Steampunk Camera – EOS HB ~1inch wide

Erm… Have some stitching going on tonight for my March Block Swap Adventure and more Playscale playing over the weekend.

 
Good Night,
where ever you are!
Category: Polymer Clay

Polymer Clay Fairy waiting for her Wings

polymer-clay-fairy-waiting-for-her-wings

After reading Maureen Carlson‘s Book – Fairies Gnomes and Trolls, I had to try to make a Fairy.

Fairies Gnomes and Trolls by Maureen Carlson

Fairies Gnomes and Trolls by Maureen Carlson

A couple of weeks ago I actually decided to have a go at trying to make the little one described in the book, but we had a bit of an issue with our Gas Supply and it got turned off. It’s a long story, and I am going to tell you about it anyway. We moved into our home in December 2008, the house was brand new and nobody had lived in it previously (we are renting). Anyway I rang up to get the gas connected as you do and signed up for a good deal including both gas and electricity with a guaranteed minimum of 25% green power and got a bonus 2yr subscription to Marie Claire magazine. Very exciting since its a magazine I actually think is worth reading! A few months later the magazine stopped coming and I rang our provider to query it and was told that they tried to connect my gas, but it didn’t work. Our gas was on, there was no problem with it, so I just sort of shrugged it off.  At some point our landlord sent us a gas bill that was sent to him, I let him know I had signed up already and he shouldn’t receive any more and we paid that one. Never received another account.   At one point we received an electricity account, thought it was a bit exorbitant and checked the metre and they had read our next door neighbours metre and we had our bill adjusted.  The gas kept working and we kept not getting billed so I just forgot about it.

2 weeks ago my brother called from home because there was a tradesman at the house disconnecting the gas. He had looked up online and it’s illegal to disconnect gas without notice. I called again and was told by my provider that they tried a couple of times more to connect us but again got rejected, and I should call other providers to find out who has the account. So I called probably the biggest gas provider and low and behold they had an account linked to our metre number, it had not been paid after several notices had been sent and the line was disconnected. I couldn’t find out anything about the account because it was not in my name; I couldn’t connect the gas because this account existed and it was disconnected because that person hadn’t paid the account.  So what had actually happened was that when we moved in, our neighbours did too. And they must have rang up to get connected before we did, didn’t quote their metre number just the street address, muts have given our address and got the gas signed up, so every time I and my provider tried to connect it it kept getting rejected because there was already an existing account holder who did not request a disconnection. Then my neighbours moved out and decided to not pay their last few bills, the notices were getting sent to them and our gas got disconnected. This happened on a Thursday I spoke to someone on Thursday they again tried to get my gas connected, because now it was disconnected but again got a rejection, this time the rejection was due to the account not being paid and being with their credit department. So… after the entire weekend without gas and a 2 hour phone call on Monday we finally got our gas reconnected and I had to do it with the provider I didn’t want because they had stuffed it up in the first place and it would have been too difficult to sort it out with my own provider.

Polymer Clay Fairy Waiting for her Wings

Polymer Clay Fairy Waiting for her Wings

Anyway, how is this related to fairies and polymer clay? Well, because the gas was off we had no hot water and no stove top, and well I thought I would need to partial bake the clay while working on the fairy so I couldn’t use the oven and didn’t start it… Days later I found out that our oven is electric anyway, its only the stove top that is gas, so I could have worked on it anyway!?! Doh!Polymer Clay Fairy Waiting for her Wings It took me a couple of weeks to look at the book again and decide to play, so here is my Polymer Clay Fairy. She has been baked and Glazed and is just waiting on her wings.  I have decided that instead of getting clay wings I will give her wire beaded wings – totally impractical for flying I know, but I am sure it will look good. Anyway, surely the flying is magic related right? so maybe the wings don’t need to be aerodynamic at all, maybe they just need to be wings?

She is made out yellow Mont Marte Make and Bake Clay, Black Mont Marte Make and Bake Clay, Sculpey III – White (3 parts) Mixed with Violet ( 1 part) and has a Sculpey Studio satin glaze.
Category: Polymer Clay

My first Turtle ala Friesen

my-first-turtle-ala-friesen
Polymer Clay Turtle Baked Ala Christi Friesen

Polymer Clay Turtle Baked Ala Christi Friesen

So here she is, my first Polymer Clay Turtle! She is made out of Mont Marte Make and Bake Clay and some Sculpey III and I brushed on a teeny amount of Pearlex Turquoise. Yesterday after work, I went to Selonj Beads for the first time, after viewing their stock online a few times. They have all of Christi Friesen‘s books and have also hosted workshops of hers, so they had a copy of the book I wanted and it was signed!!! yay! I also grabbed some micro beads (teeny teeny beads smaller than seed beads with no stringing hole, used for eyes in little figurines); 3 containers of Pearlex Mica Pigment Paints (Antique Silver, Turquoise and Antique Copper).  Selonj beads was clean and well layed out and I will definitely go there again!  They also had their latest newsletter on the counter and are expecting Christi to visit Adelaide and host a workshop in September next year (2011), hopefully I am not Friesen-ed out by then, it would be so awesome to meet and learn from her in person. Though, if you have read any other stuff about Christi I am sure you know her books and tutorials feel very personal anyway.  She is highly entertaining in prose.

Christi Friesen Under the Sea Sculpture Series 3

Christi Friesen Under the Sea Sculpture Series 3

So I bought a copy of Under The Sea you can purchase signed copies direct from Christi and she also has a deal if you purchase all of the series in one go.  I peaked inside a few times on the way home (at red lights ok?!) and read it cover to cover when I got home.  The book is sized between an A5 and A4 and has 47 pages, it feels a bit like a good magazine quality wise, but its not about what the book looks like in this case, it’s about what’s inside it. [Well actually most good books are!]

I made my first turtle today.  Her name is “Christi Turtlington” what do you think?

Polymer Clay Turtle UnBaked  Ala Christi Friesen

Polymer Clay Turtle UnBaked Ala Christi Friesen

Polymer Clay Turtle Baked Ala Christi Friesen

Polymer Clay Turtle Baked Ala Christi Friesen

“Christi Turtlington”  is about 2 inches (5cm) from nose to end of her rear flippers. She has two rows of seed beads on her shell and blue wooden beads for eyes.  She was a lot of fun to make and I am looking forward to making lots of friends for her to hang out with!
She still has to have patina added but for some reason (well ok I know the reason) I can’t find my paints…. Reason – I have been living here for 18 months and still have not unpacked properly :(

Category: Polymer Clay

Polymer Clay Warring State Beads First Try!

polymer-clay-warring-state-beads-first-try
Polymer Clay Warring State Beads Before baking

Polymer Clay Warring State Beads Before baking

I’m not sure I am doing myself any favours putting photos in here at this scale!

Anyway, I have never done lampworking, but have always thought that warring state beads were pretty cool.  What the? you say? Well I didn’t realise what they were called either! but if you want to know why here is a WikiPedia Article on them .  I thought it would talk about something metaphorical relating the colours on the ‘horns’ to states or something, but they are just basically named that because of the name of the era they started being produced in… Cool name though.  They are also referred to as eye beads, so maybe the term ‘horn’ used to refer to the concentric circle thingamabobs is a misnomer? Should we be calling them eye stems?

Any hoo, so I found a tutorial at Kalmbach Publishers for purchase written by Lura Hatcher for purchase for $3.95 and well I wanted to know how to make warring state beads in polymer clay instead of using lampwork, so I got it. It’s a well written easy to follow tutorial, but from looking at the bead and figuring out how you would go about it, that is pretty much it, so if you want to guess at it, go ahead. Otherwise get the tutorial, or email me and I can give you a breakdown on how they are done…

They are quite pleasing when they start coming together and for someone with hints of OCD (especially in relation to symmetry) they are quite therapeutic even, if you don’t like production style work that takes a while and requires patience before you can see the final product then it’s not for you.

Things to watch for:

  • Polymer Clay Warring State Beads Before Baking

    Polymer Clay Warring State Beads Before Baking

    A few of my circles cracked even though I considered the clay quite conditioned, so not sure how I would have remedied that.

  • while I may be a little OCD (literally to anyone taking offense to me using the term, I am sure I have signed paper from a psych somewhere with it written on!) some of my circles were not always the same sizes, I didn’t mind it, I like that they are like that and I don’t really think you can be very accurate with lampwork anyway, so no need to with clay right?
  • I am not quite adept at making perfect spheres ( no bead rollers here baby! – well yet ) and also not quite adept at making perfectly aligned straight through holes through said beads, so if you are like me in that aspect, you will have to use artistic license for the placement of your circles in their quadrants because while they may be symmetrical in amount and placement they will probably not be in relation to your slightly mishappen spheres and slightly mishappen holes :)
  • When glazing, it’s tough to do the dip thing to glaze them if your beads don’t fit through the neck of your glaze bottle… LOL – I ended up pouring the glaze into a shot glass and using it that way.
  • I lost patience whilst glazing so not all are done yet, will update with additional photos when I have them.

Materials I used:

  • 1 pack of Sculpey III Black (56g)
  • about 1/2 a stick of 3 colours of Mont Marte Make and Bake Clay (they look like the size of crayons) ~ about 6g per colour
  • 3/4 of a pack of translucent Sculpey III
  • for each colour I mixed 2 parts Sculpey III Translucent with 1 part Colour (about a quarter of the 56g block for each colour – I used 3 and had left over colours)

What I ended up with:

  • 14 Large circle beads with 4 Large Horns (4 circles each), 8 Smaller Horns (3 circles each) and 16 spots (yellow in photos above)
  • 11 Medium disc beads with 4 horns (3 circles each)
  • 9 Small circle Beads with 8 spots and 16 horns (2 circles)

I continued with this post here if you are interested :)

Category: Polymer Clay

Completed Peacock Pizazz Project

completed-peacock-pizazz-project
Polymer Clay  Peacock Necklace Project Completed

Polymer Clay Peacock Necklace Project Completed

I completed the Peacock Necklace Project this evening so results have to be posted.

The tutorial for this project was designed by Christi Friesen, you can view her website and the free projects she has for download there by clicking here. Christi also sells her work has a gallery of previous works and has books and additional projects and online classes you can purchase. I definitely intend participating in one of the online classes, because I adore her style and the way she writes her tutorials so know I will really enjoy learning what’s on offer in the classes.

The tutorial for this peacock polymer clay and bead single stranded necklace is available on The Firemountain Gems website for free. It was featured on the cover of one of their catalogues.  I have played around with clay for a couple of weeks now and this was one of the first things I attempted, so it is easy enough for a complete beginner to follow and as you can see from the result is very satisfying in it’s entirety. Christi has an easy going voice in her tutorials and is funny without being patronising a quality which is probably one of the reasons why she is such a popular teacher in her field of polymer clay and mixed media art.

I did not want to spend oodles of cash on the project because I am still not at a point where I know for sure that I am going to love (ok maybe I am now, but I wasn’t before) playing with polymer clay. So I decided to use what I had on hand and therefore I had to improvise in relation to bead choices and reccomendations and some materials.  There are definitely a few things I would (woulda shoulda) recommend doing that I did not.

Peacock Polymer Clay Necklace Project Close Up

Peacock Polymer Clay Necklace Project Close Up

  • I used beading wire (26 guage) to string the entire project.  It does give good strength but it is not as flowy as Christi’s is because she used flex wire (also for beading but thinner and covered in plastic)
  • I don’t own a crimping pliers (well I did, but &^$%&$@ knows what I did with it) so I have been crimping the crimp beads with flat nose or round nose when I can’t get close enough with the flat nose pliers, this means while the beads are crushed, they are not actually crimped so the finished product is not as strong, and also if you miss or press the wrong way, adjacent beads usually get smashed in the process.
  • I also don’t have any crimp covers, they would have helped to add a better finish to the project.
  • I don’t have a pasta machine or a clay conditioning machine yet (next on the list!) so while conditioning clay my hands do get quite sore to the point  of finding it a little painful to start conditioning again the next day.

Overall though it is extremely exciting being able to follow along on a project that looks immensely complex and stunning and be able to produce something as a complete novice that approximates the project photo.  If it weren’t for the well worded and thoughtful project including hints and tips along the way where newbies could fall in a heap, it would not be achievable and potentially put some potential clayers back in their box for good.

I have a tendency to want to not start at the beginning but to be able to pick something up and learn right away how to do it and do it properly and perfectly and have been disillusioned many a time. It is very refreshing to find something that does not fall into the same category. Now that I finished the project I have a lot of appreciation for the time and effort that I will need to put in to take my level of work and turn into something better.

Category: Polymer Clay

First Play with a Clay Extruder

first-play-with-a-clay-extruder
Makins Clay Extruder

Makins Clay Extruder

So… I have been doing a lot of research, yesterday I was going to buy a cheap pasta maker from Big W ( a large discount department store in Australia, not sure what the equivalent would be elsewhere). There’s go for around $25AUD ( a good price here!).  I went and they had sold out and the display model didn’t have a handle. Then I thought I would go to Spotlight ( a large craft, curtain and home decor store) as they were having a 20% off sale. They do not stock a lot of clay or modelling supplies (Sculpey III, some Sculpey Kits and moulds and a Renoir Extruder ~$30AUD) I played with lots of beads in the chuckouts, but ended up walking out of the store with nothing.

Then I went to a store near me that stocks Clay Supplies called Adelaide Moulding and Casting Supplies, I would see what they had a buy a few things. There website has a good range and decent prices (though going into the store does cost slightly more than buying online and getting things delivered).  I saw the Makins Ultimate Extruder out of my price range got some Mini Geo Cutters and a very cheap plastic extruder ($13AUD). Now I had read about not getting a plastic extruder, the pressure you need is too great, if you really want yada yada yada… Check out Eugenia’s good comments Here where she describes that she bought a plastic one and the first time she used it, it broke. I thought hey, it’s $13 I’ll get one have a play if I like it I can save up for a metal one yeah?

I got home, started reading tutorials on what to do with them. Noticed lots of photos of people adding all sorts of contraptions to their makins ultimate extruder (not the one I got!) so that it would be easier to extrude, but forged ahead full of eager eyed optimism. I started out chosing a colour pallete I liked, mixing my clays and making sliced stacks so that I could try the Retro Cane, which though simple is kinda cute and effective. With a lot of effort and straining and grunting, that I am not sure would have sounded at all pleasant to anyone who heard it I did manage to get most of a barrel extruded. I tried following a pillow bead tutorial with it, without much success and then I smooshed the pillow beads up thinking maybe I would try Balinese Filigree instead, that is really pretty. So I refilled the barrel (well not all the way, I’m not a complete masochist) this time I grabbed some foam handles from wrist exercisers and used them to help me push the plunger down and BINGO… one of the wings snapped. LOL!  See proof in photo above.

So if I decide I would really like to do retro canes or filigree or anything else I come across that requires a clay extruder, I will save up and get a good one, as they say (yes over and over and over) and I didn’t listen, don’t get a plastic one!

Shortcut to Links in This Post:
BIG W
Spotlight
Adelaide Moulding and Casting Supplies
Eugenia’s Polymer Clay Tutorials
Polka Dot Cottage’s Retro Cane Beads (I love them by the way!)
Polymer Clay Express’s Mini Lesson on Filigree

Category: Polymer Clay

More Clay Stuff, First Attempts Continued…

more-clay-stuff-first-attempts-continued

Well… I am kind of disappointed with the final outcomes of some of my first experiments.  I mean, why don’t they look as awesome as the professionals’ look?! Hmm! When will mine look that good?!

So far (well just as an aside I need to tell you that my 11 month old niece plays on my keyboard a lot and at the moment I can’t use the “v” key so every time you see it I have had to paste it and well since the shortcut key is to paste is also ctrl+”v” that is proving slightly difficult… I wouldn’t change it for the world but if you notice missing letters in any kind of pattern, that is probably why!) I have made a few things.  Most of them have been photographed and you can see them in the gallery in this post – I just figured out how to add that plugin to my post so look at it :)

Item 1 The Polymer Clay Owl
I put up a photo of him in a previous entry.  He was made out of Mont Marte Make and Bake Clay.  I took about 10 days to bake him so he has lost some of his little embellishments and his wing cracked a bit. I used 2 black seed beads for his eyes and he was made using a  Free Tutorial available on Christi Friesen’s Web Site.

Item 2 The Polymer Clay Lily

Polymer Clay Lily

Polymer Clay Lily


I made the lily using Sculpey III polymer clay mostly white mixed with a little violet. I used the detailed photographed and well written tutorial by Pedro Ramirez available on his blog here.  I did not do the painting steps and did not use the colour suggested, I used a wire instead of a needle tool and because of the macro function [insert appropriate cuss word here] you can see in detail how I messed it up. Tee hee.

But considering the flower measures less than an inch at its widest point I think I did ok. It looks better from a distance… ha ha. Pedro’s looks brilliant from any distance.  I didn’t get a chance to bake the lily because one of the petals snapped off after standing for a few days.  So that gives me an excuse to make a new one then.

Item 3  The Swirly Dooflicky Thing
Polymer Clay and Bead Swirly Pink Pendant So I had some of this pretty lilac-ey pink  clay left after attempting the lily and I wanted to play some more. So you know fancying myself to be the world’s next Christi Friesen (sorry Christi…)

I started to make some swirlies and dots and poked seed beads in them and this is what happened. I still have a few thousand to make before I make anything decent, but for now this was quite ok for a mess around.

Item 4 The Peacock Necklace

Polymer Clay Peacock Necklace using Tutorial from Christi Friesen

Polymer Clay Peacock Necklace

I think I may be starting to use Christi‘s name in vain, but I really got very inspired to start playing with polymer clay after I visited her website and the sites of those who were working on her workshops or tutorials or doing Christi Friesen inspired work.

As well as the projects, workshops, books and tutorials available for free (and to purchase) on Christi’s site, there is this free tutorial to make an awesomely designed Polymer Clay and Bead Mixed Media art jewellery necklace at the Firemountain Gems site.  [I also found some for sale at the Kalmbach Bookstore site, they publish Bead and Button, Art Jewelry(sic) and Bead Style and Christi has been featured in them]. I wanted to do this with what I had on hand and discovered that a lot of my beads are plastic, I wasn’t sure if they would melt when I baked the clay, so I tried to use all glass beads.  I didn’t have the same or similar ones to what Christi used in the tutorial so I improvised. I also chose lighter colours in the clay (especially the brown and now not so sure I like it). I used some glass cats eye gems, rose quartz and amethyst chips, some glass leaves and flowers.  The wire dangly bits will have things strung onto them when completing the project so that is why they are there.

One thing I found fabulous about this project, I am not an accomplished wire worker and you get to cover up stuff ups with the clay.  What I learned:

  • pale brown ‘branches’ do not look good
  • if you concentrate too hard on making one bit of a bead like you want, you have inadvertently squished something you concentrated on earlier
  • Wires, pliers and frustration do not play nicely with fingers
  • when Christi says “Be very careful not to put any pressure on the bead or it will crack” … be very careful not to put pressure on the bead or it will crack!
  • If there are bubbles in the glaze when you paint it on, it will stay there not magically vanish when it dries

The photo here is after baking and glazing and the one in the gallery below is of the raw clay.

Other Items

Polymer Clay Rabbit and Strawberry Charm after Baking and Glazing

Polymer Clay Rabbit and Strawberry Charm after Baking and Glazing

In addition to the above, I made  a Polymer Clay Rose, using the Fry Rose Tutorial by Sukaiburu Chan on Deviant Art, photo in gallery below. I made a little dolly, she is also in the gallery and is what I am going to be concentrating on making with less dirt and fingerprints and all that in the clay. I made a little rabbit from another Deviant Art Tutorial by Shiritsu, and also a little strawberry… all by myself for a change.

Short Cut to Links Used in this Post:

Christi Friesen’s Web Site
Pedro Ramirez’s Polymer Clay Creations – How to Make a Polymer Clay Flower Lily
Peacock Pizzazz Free Tutorial from Firemountain Gems, designed by Christi Friesen
Kalmbach Bookstore
Tutorial for making a Polymer Clay Rose by Sukaiburu Chan
Little Polymer Clay Rabbit Tutorial by Shiritsu

Category: Polymer Clay

More About me Starting to play with Clay!

more-about-me-starting-to-play-with-clay

I did get some cheap clay – Mont Marte make and bake comes in a pack of 125g with 12 different colours. I found them at a discount art supply store in Harbour Town in Adelaide called Art to Art for $6.95.

Free Christi Friesen Polymer Clay Owl Tutorial

Free Christi Friesen Polymer Clay Owl Tutorial

Instead of splurging and buying every Christi Friesen tutorial I could find, I downloaded her Free Owl Tutorial from her site (I also sent a gushy groupie email that I am a bit ashamed of but hey like I said, very obsessed).

So anyway, I am now going to regale with my tale of clay way too hard to condition and how I dealt with it and what I ended up with. The day after my brother’s beautiful wedding I jetted to Harbour Town, picked up the cheap clay and the cheap wooden sculpting tools and sped home in anticipation of playing. Naturally I picked up the white clay and started attempting to condition by hand. 2 Hours later (YES, 2 hours!!) I was still trying. Anyone who knows me understands that patience is not a word that anyone would be able to use in relation to or even sometimes near me, so please understand my pain here… The piece of clay I was trying to work with would have been no more than 10g (I think that is less than 0.5oz). By now the balls on the palm of my hand under my fingers (do they have a name?) felt bruised and just holding the ball of clay in it hurt let alone attempting to roll it.

I looked for tips on conditioning clay and attempted the following (most of them were listed at the glass attic)

-          Using any body lotion and rubbing it into the clay (body shop sample I got in a gift), the glycerin in the lotion can be used as a solvent, this had little to no effect.

-          Wrapping the clay in cling wrap and dropping it into a bowl of boiling hot water for a few minutes – this made it easyish to bend but still almost impossible to knead.

-          Using mineral or vegetable oils (good old canola from the pantry), may have aided a little but not noticeable at this point

-          Wrapping the clay and hiding it in your warm bits (no not there!) – some suggested their bra worked, some put it in pockets and sat on it

Still had hard to work with unconditioned clay and no exciting playing in sight.

Eventually I read about how different clays take different times to condition some up to a minute (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!), and saw other hints about stomping on it and hitting it with a rubber mallet. When I was playing with jewellery making my dad bought home (on request) a disc of very heavy tooled and polished steel that I could use as a teeny anvil, so I used this. I know I have (had) a rubber hammer that I also used for jewellery making but I couldn’t find it so I got an ergonomic heavy screw driver with a heavy rubberized grip and whacked it with that. After lots of whacking I finally started to make progress and then followed up with the previously attempted canola oil trick and eventually the clay was conditioned.

I attempted Christi Friesen’s tutorial – unfortunately with only 1 colour and not quite an owl-ie one at that and this was my result.

My first attempt at working with Polymer Clay

My first attempt at working with Polymer Clay

That is the very first thing I made with polymer clay, I loved making it, even with my saw paws… And so am still obsessed. Ok… so please don’t laugh at my little dood ok? His wing broke off as he is not baked yet, and you can see all my foibles and things while making him. I still think he looks ok for a first go and I am looking forward to playing much more!

Shortcut to Links in this Post:
Mont Marte Art Supply Company
Harbour Town in Adelaide South Australia
Art to Art – Art Supply Store
Christi Friesen’s Web Site
Christi Friesen’s Downloadable Projects
Tips on Conditioning Hard to Condition Polymer Clay

Category: Generic Ramblings

Starting up Again… Yeee ha!

starting-up-again-yeee-ha

I have all these ideas right now and while I am very excited I am totally overwhelmed about where to start and what to start with.

Firstly having a blog (again) is new, and while writing I have installed it but am not actually writing in it yet.  This is going to be a here’s-something-I-prepared-earlier entry.  Now that I type it though I remember that most won’t let you backdate, so maybe I will keep this to a minimum.

I consider myself quite creative and I do move from obsession to obsession. Over the last few years they have been based around graphic design, digital scrapbooking, jewellery making and then quilting. I’ve dabbled with painting (acrylics) and mosaics a bit before that. I also like writing and play with my and other peoples’ cameras reasonably often.

Most of the new ideas though are revolving around an art I have only recently started researching and so far attempted 3 times. That is sculpting with polymer clay.  I came across some tutorials while trying to find information to help me make the jewellery set I needed to accompany an outfit I was wearing to my brother’s wedding last week.

It got to a point where I could not concentrate at work because I need to find more eye-candy to gawk at! There is plenty out there. One I got hooked on almost immediately and that led me to start plotting how to get into the craft was Christi Friesen’s website.

Turtle Focal Bead by Christi Friesen

Josephina - Turtle Focal Bead by Christi Friesen

Her work is fantastic and I have been drooling over it ever since.

So the big picture plan was to be all restrained about it and try to get some cheap clay to play with to see if I liked doing this and if I could be any good at it and if it would then be worth investing more time, effort or money into it.  I cheered myself up with the realization that I could use my long untouched bead stash, my wire working tools and jigs, my acrylic paints that have not dried up and play around with what I guess is mixed media, and then I could digitally scrap my work, or make embellishments for hybrid scrapping. I’d have to take photos of what I was doing and of course I would have to blog about it. I haven’t quite worked my quilting tools or skills into this just yet but I’m sure I could given a few more hours of obsessive daydreaming about what I could be doing.

Shortcuts to Links in this Post:
Christi Friesen’s Website – Polymer Clay Artist Extroadinaire, With Classes, Tutorials and lots of Eye Candy