polymer clay marquetry

A year or more ago I signed up to a newsletter from a local polymer clay group, but never found the courage to go along and join a session.  Then a couple of months ago the newsletter stated that there would be a workshop with Cara Jane for a bargain price.  When she was still blogging, I always read her blog and think she's a real master at polymer clay, so I got mum to agree to come along too!

The class was in polymer clay faux marquetry.  You can see Cara Jane's pieces here.

We had 9 different colours to mix.  Maple, Oak and Mahogany, each coming in light, medium and dark.  We were using Kato Clay which I've never used before and it took some working to mix the colours!  We were split into groups of three, so only had to do three colours each, sharing the blends that we made.  We then layered then up within the three groups to make a striped block, as above.

Apologies for the background of the photos, we had to take along a glass board to work on and I use this old kitchen chopping board which is pretty garish!  We cut our slabs into this shape so that they could be put together to make...

These two canes.  The placement is different in each one.  We then got to work compressing and stretching the canes to make longer, thinner canes.

That was quite some reduction!

The idea is to cut thin slices of the cane and lay them out to make faux marquetry patterns.  Alas, I didn't have time to do it in the session as we moved on to a different technique and to be honest, I'd completely forgotten about it until I saw these photos and started to write this post!  I will add it to my UFO list (seriously contemplating making one...) and try to feature it in a "finishing up" post soon!

The photo above shows very thin slices of the oak and mahogany, laid together and then ran through the pasta machine to make these pieces which look like wood grain. This was the second technique we explored.  We were to make a covered box, or maybe some pendants.  

I failed to finish anything at all and it still looks just like this!  I made the round motif for the box top, The smaller motif on the left was my first attempt, using a diamond cutter I had.  I soon realised that the pieces didn't fit together nicely though as the corners were curved.  That's when I started using the template you can see in the background to cut diamonds.  Again, this is not finished!

I either need to get on with this, or go to a clay day at the local group and get it finished!  Regardless of what I came away with, I had a fantastic time and was amazed at what could be achieved with a bit of polymer clay.  The group are really friendly and lovely and I'm sure I'll go back soon.

playing with fimo

Following the craft class, I wanted to try some more polymer clay techniques I'd had my eye on.  The first is an imprint technique from the book Patterns in Polymer by Julie Picarello 

I created a layered stack and then used various items to imprint it.  I didn't have many items I could use, I need to keep a good eye out and maybe visit B&Q.   Above I mainly used cutters, but the crosses are a screwdriver, the circles at the top are from a spool and the wavy lines are a cutter.

This really terrible shot is of the layers.  I can't get a decent in-progress shot of some crafts, like polymer clay, as I do them downstairs in the dining room which has a special film on the window so people can't see in.  It means that the light is also blocked.  Working on a garish cutting board doesn't help either!

The idea is to cut thin slices.  I didn't succeed with that!  Most of mine were wedges or about 10mm thick!  Here's a couple of the slices.

Don't you think this one looks like a frog!

I cut a couple of decent areas out with cutters and I'll turn them into brooches.  The failure of this made me want to try again, but this time I started at the beginning with something a bit more basic from the same book.

Not so bad!  But they're also very thick.  I wish I hadn't cut the large one out so asymmetrically.

I then pulled out The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques by Donna Kato.  The striped cane was fine.  What I did with it... not so much!

OK, so back to an old technique that I know is a success.  I've made these before, but not in blue.  I am going to make them into necklaces, the small round ones are beads which have been pieced through the sides.

Still managed to make a mess of this though!  So the marks?

craft class fimo

Guess you can't guess where I went to a craft class?  Yep, The Bead Shop Nottingham.  This was was using foils with polymer clay.  I can't remember what the foils were called but they were thin sheets which you could rub onto the clay before it is baked.

The photos aren't brilliant as I really struggled to capture the shine from the foils.  I used pale blue and dark blue clay and different colours and patterns of the foils.  As you can see, the foil didn't transfer completely.  I found it really hard to get the foil to transfer.

I do like the cracked and crackle effect that you get with these foils. 

Of course, I also played with the blue foils.  One was solid blue, the other a very garish holographic effect which was too much as a sheet but works well on these small shapes. 

I cut the hearts using heart cutters and poked a hole in each one as I'd like to make a dangly necklace.

The tutor also showed us how to do rolled beads.  The blue ones aren't that great, I'm not keen on the colour of the clay.  I rolled over the foil after it was applied with an acrylic roller.  That flattened the clay a bit and so broke up the foil.  I do like that effect.

I much prefer the black ones though.

I struggled to get a good photo of these too, but I think this one isn't that bad!

skinner blend + randoms

I'm afraid there's more polymer clay today.  I've been really into it recently and my sewing mojo still hasn't properly returned, so polymer clay it is!  There's also some basic jewellery making at the end of the post if you're interested.
  
I've seen Skinner Blends around and I wanted a go, they seem to be an integral part of polymer clay and I wanted to master it.  my first attempt didn't work at all!

My second attempt using pinks and reds also didn't work, but I did make these pretty little flowers.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with them.

And then I found a tutorial.  It worked!  You can find the tutorial here.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo, but I think you can see the effect on the green flower shape below:

The little bunnies are made with one of the moulds I made.

37. Clay + Pebeo paint on the humungous list was perhaps a bit of an enigmatic entry.  I wanted to make use of some of the Fantasy Paint I have, but the metal blanks to use with it are so expensive.  I was eager to see if I could build bezels with polymer clay.

The bezel was duly built and cured and it looks fine so far (despite the lack of a bail or any other way of connecting it to a piece of jewellery!) and the paint was applied...

Oh dear, see those splodges?  That's where the paint escaped out the bottom.  That'll be a big fat failure again, must try this again.

I'd made these flowers from knitted wire tube a long time ago and wanted to make some of them into necklaces.  I finally got the first one done.

I showed you these components last week.  I added some jump rings to join them together and a brooch back so I can wear it.  It looks a bit odd, it's because it was sitting on a piece of paper.

I treated myself to this Swarovski heart a few weeks ago and now was the time to string it.  2 jump rings and a ribbon necklace, easy, but effective.

I took these photos on Sunday morning, the sun was so bright I could barely see what I was taking photos of!

extruding

I know my polymer clay posts aren't very popular, but even if no one reads, I'd like to have a record for myself.  Feel free to skip ladies, I don't mind.  BUT, before you do, please note this is #42. Extruding clay on the ginormous list.  I'd also like to thank you for your comments on my post on Saturday, it's nice to know you're not all going to hate me if I don't get back to your comments!  I hope I didn't come across as self-pitying, that wasn't my intention, I just wanted to explain.

I found the most amazing tutorial on The Crafty Network for using an extruder and I had to put it to the test.  If you play with clay at all, go and check it out.

You start by extruding the canes, here's what mine look like.  This was actually all one cane, but it looks different everywhere you slice it.  Layer them up on some scrap clay, roll over to neaten and smooth the edges, cover with cling film and cut out with a biscuit cutter and...

Ta-dah!  How amazing is that! (if I do say so myself...).  This one was made with just red, orange and white.  It was time for a rainbow.

Here are my rainbow canes, looks like the two on the left show the ends of the cane where I cut it, so no difference there, but look at the differences you get!

This time I squidged some clay into one of my moulds (made by casting a glass heart necklace I have but didn't make), then added the slices.  The effect is not quite so good... I've since bought some heart shaped cutters.

I'd only used half the rainbow of clay colours I'd conditioned and rolled, so I put them together again, this time in chunks of three colours.

I made another flower shape.  These were destined to become brooches, and no, they're not on my procrastinating pile, I've actually glued the brooch backs on already! 

A not-quite square one. There's a name for this shape... is it a parallelogram?  You can see I've used bits of all three sets of canes in this one, and I didn't smooth down much so it has a "stepped" texture on the front.

9 assorted slices added to a square of grey, this one became a bead and has a hole through the top corner so it will hang as a diamond.

Another heart, this time with the mixed canes.  I had a lot of the red/orange one left!

Next I made a black, white and silver extruded cane and used a sunburst shaped cutter and a teardrop shaped cutter.  The sun has one hole front to back at the top, and three at the bottom, each teardrop has a hole at the top so I can join them together to make either a pendent or a brooch.  This IS still on my procrastination pile!

I experimented with running the millefiori sheet through the pasta machine and got these stretched-looking shapes.  I made holes in them all so I can decide which to use later on.

I LOVED this technique and will be doing some more of it, next weekend probably!

I'm linking up to Fiona's New to Me challenge.

polymer clay - craft book challenge

I really did intend to join in Ange's craft book challenge last month, but I didn't get time to make a project from a book.  This month, I have!  In fact, I already have two in the bag - I'll write a separate post about the other project.

Over the long bank holiday weekend (in England we get Good Friday and Easter Monday as holiday) I did a lot of experimenting.  The first thing to come out of the craft box was my polymer clay.  

I own a couple of books by Donna Kato and I tell you, I could just sit and read them like books, well I have, they're full of gorgeous pictures and she explains things so well.  This project comes from The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques by Donna Kato.  Before we go any further, I'd just like to point out that any failure is on my behalf, not Donna's!

It all started with a few canes and a heart shaped cabochon.  I made a mould for the heart shape using some packaging that some brads came in.  I've completely forgotten to take a photo of either the mould or the packaging, but if you want to know what I mean when I say I made a mould, see my previous posts here.

I also managed to forget to take photos of the canes I used, other than this pretty cool zipper cane.
  

The heart itself is a bit of a mess, it was too big really, but the smaller heart mould I made just wouldn't have been big enough.  It is approximately 4" high.

There is so much I don't like about this.  The purple and black leopard skin-like pattern is supposed to be dots but my cane was a disaster.  Likewise the stripy leaves...  You can also see the joins in the zipper.

But, not to be put off, I decided to try my own thing on the smaller heart mould (approx 2" high) which I cast from a glass necklace I have.

The top one is a heart of scrap clay covered with the stripy cane I'd made and used part of for the zip.  The zip isn't pressed into the heart so it stands proud.  The little flower is made from extruded tubes which I sliced.  The bottom heart started with a heart moulded from scrap play, but I loved that pattern at the top left so incorporated it.  The zip is pressed in to the heart on this one so the only raised piece is the flower which is made from tiny balls of clay.  These two will become brooches with a brooch back glued on.

So, one failure, but two successes!

I'm linking up to the Craft Book Challenge on Ange's blog 

more mould making

Good morning!  I had intended to get a post up yesterday, but I didn't get home in time on Sunday night to write one.  We went down South for my nephew's first birthday party.  He's full of cold so it was a snotty one, but wonderful to see him.

I wrote about a mould making class I did a few weeks ago, and promised a follow up post to show you the items I'd made in the class and the moulding compound itself.  I can't seem to get this photo to load, but maybe you can see it?

If you can, that's moulding compound.  If you can't, it's a pot of blue and a pot of white putty like substance.  You take equal measures of each (by eye, scales not necessary) and mix them together.  You then have about 5 minutes to cast something before it sets.  When it's set it's still flexible, making it easy to pop the item out.

These are the two moulds I made in the class.  Below each mould (the blue thing) is the polymer clay version and below that is the resin version.  Clearly the blue button on the left looks like a blob, but it does have the pattern in it.  I much prefer the effect of the polymer clay though.

I had a good old dig in my button jar and made some more moulds, it's a bit addictive looking to see what you can cast!  Here is each mould next to it's buttony friend.  I haven't got round to moulding anything using these ones yet, for some reason I got sidetracked trying to make a skinner blend (unsuccessfully...)

I discovered that the wooden shapes I have cast very well and was able to make these two clay bunnies.  You can see on the mould where I pushed it in too far and didn't shape the sides, that involved a bit of trimming when I got the clay out of the mould.  I need to finish these bunnies off!


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mould making class