Polymer Pins

This pin is called, "Good Morning World!" She's up bright and early, showers, makes her bed and throws open the curtains, welcoming another day.

Its so early, its still dark outside, but with dots and slivers of light starting to show in the sky. I'm sitting here getting the biggest kick out of myself. I am truly in my own little world.

Above is my Halloween bat wing pin. There's a green Swarovski crystal set in the center just because there has to be some kind of sparkle and the rest of the patterns are from polymer clay canes I made.

Same with the one above. A big center crystal set in the center of a cross design. The rest of the pin is composed of my polymer clay canes.

I really liked this one. A local artist (in her 50's) bought it at our Sun City West art and craft fair. Her husband wrinkled his nose and shook his head "no" when she showed it to him. She looked at him and said, "I'm getting it because I absolutely love it." He wasn't happy, but I was.

Below is "I'm Just Sad". I sculpted the face from PaperClay and the rest is textured and torn polymer clay.

The below started out to be a face for one of my vase sculptures, but ended up too big for the vase, but just right for a pin. Unlike the local artist, a woman in her late seventies bought it to wear on a cruise. She said she had been looking for just the right pin for a neck scarf and this was it. I just never would have put the two of them together. Just so interesting.

This was an attempt at a faux cement planter full of foliage and flowers. The cement planter actually ended up being too heavy and the tiny flowers made from polymer clay transparent canes were too tiny. Also, I didn't know when to quit with the foliage and textures.

The pin below was stamped and color added with colored pencils. I layered the two slices of cane and the bamboo in the corner just because I had to put my "stamp" on it. It was sealed with a light coat of matte sealant.

Writing this blog has made me think about why I jump from crocheting tiny, cute doll clothes to sculpting bizarre masks and sculptures to painting peaceful, serene landscapes and then to sculpting beads into jewelry. But it gave me a headache and I went back to creating.

Polymer Beads With My Bead Crochet

My very first bead crocheted rope, mistakes and all. It's about 10 years old, but I still remember how tickled I was with completing the rope and attaching the polymer clay beads I had made.

Truth be told, it took me 3 different classes (each one costing $), 3 different teachers over a period of 3 years to really "get it". That's embarrassing to admit, but the truth. I have crocheted forever and thought, "What's the big deal; I already know how to crochet!" But those first 3 or 4 rows were a killer. And if you don't get those first 4 rows right, I don't care what you say, it ruins the whole piece. So, if you are purchasing a bead crocheted rope from an artist, always check the ends. They should perfectly spiral into the rest of the rope and the tension should be even.

I use slices of my polymer clay canes to cover scrap clay to make the beads (or sometimes Mokume' Gane' to cover them). Speaking of polymer clay canes, I found a wonderful site called http://www.craftstew.com/ by Annette Berlin. In it she has a hyperlink for cane tutorials http://craftstew.com/polymer-clay/polymer-clay-cane-tutorials. Since I collect cane patterns, I was in heaven. I digress.

I apologize for the quality of these four photos. They are photos of photos. My previous computer crashed and I lost my entire album. I was lazy and had not backed up my work. A hard lesson learned. Still digressing.

Now back to bead crochet. I wanted to say if you are just learning bead crochet, stick with it. It will all of a sudden just click and you will be wondering why you didn't get it sooner.

Polymer Beads

Bandana Beads are so much fun to make and look great with everything.

I had some leftover transparent leaf canes I used up too.

The Studio Clay colors are so pretty.

Below are extruded cane disk beads. I mixed pearl in every color I used.

I like it, but I made the disks too large to be worn all together. So I will either use it in a display or split it up into several necklaces.

The below blue ones turned out nice. I'm thinking I want to try a transparent snowflake cane against the blue Studio Clay for the holidays.

And in closing........

simple black and white Bandana bead bracelet (notice the smaller disks....much better). So, get busy, go play.

Polymer Clay Covered Tools

Business card case as a tool? Yeah, ok, it's a stretch, but carrying and using your business cards is a tool of your trade. Networking is fun and it's a small world after all.

I bought the case at Goodwill. The cover was badly scratched (perfect for polymer clay) so it was ridiculously cheap, fifty cents, I think.

"It's All About Creating" is not a "business" business, but my life philosophy. However, because I have this blog and my portfolio on Flickr, I felt business cards were a fun way to spread the word. If it's not all about creating, then it's all about marketing. (Look who's talking....still have not posted on my Etsy site.....ouch).

Makin's Clay company manufactures many products, one of which is their texture tools. The texture tips screw into the pencil-like green holders marked "Makin's Clay" (above photo). It's a handy idea, I just got tired of constantly switching so I made little handles and covered them with my canes.

Thicker handles are easier on my hands and fingers.

This acrylic roller is old, but I love it. I form fitted the handle to fit my hand and fingers.

If you find your metal handle uncomfortable, put some of your scrap clay around it. I baked at 250 for about 45 minutes. I kept checking it because I did not want the acrylic to crack or melt.

Ventilation is important when curing polymer clay so, open a door or window or use a fan. My oven is in our garage and I always keep the overhead door open when I am curing.

I used my scrap clay, formed it to my hand, covered it with the cane, formed it again to my hand and then baked it.

Your tools will be easily recognizable when taking a class or workshop; they won't get lost on a table full of tools. Best of all, covering your tools with polymer clay is an expression of your art so go for it.

More Stick Figures

"Pulling My Hair Out"

Polymer clay over a wire armature with polymer clay canes defining the features.

"My Head Hurts" is the same structure except no canes. I used a complimentary color to define the features.

Polymer Clay Stick Figures

I'm feeling a little on the rough side today. Can you tell? I think it's appropriately expressed through sculpting with a little polymer clay, wire and a few beads.

I used telephone wire for the body armature and aluminum foil for the head's armature.

The "hair" is bead woven; part fringe and part sculptural peyote stitch.

She says it all.

I'm off to do a couple more and will post tomorrow.

Storage for Rubber Stamps

I have two boxes of mounted rubber stamps. Above is a sample. I thought I would be able to find what I wanted if I efficiently labeled each one. Except I could never fit them back in the box where they were supposed to go so they ended up piled one atop another. Then I would have to dig to find what I wanted and I hate that. Today, I discovered I may be the last person on this great green earth to have discovered CD holders to store unmounted rubber stamps. Since I use my stamps for polymer clay, I felt I no longer needed them to be mounted. I either run the stamp and clay through the pasta machine together or I lay the clay on the stamp and give it a roll. I've always hated those wooden blocks. So scraper in hand, I removed all the backings from my mounted stamps. Below are the first three piles of filled CD holders. They are organized according to theme, shapes or textures.

The larger tool took care of the large wooden blocks and the small putty knife worked for the rest. Some of my stamps were so old, the backing just fell away easily. Others needed a little persuading.

Below sample is the stamps stored in the "Foliage" CD holder.

Labeling is easy with the handy dandy label maker.

So what began as two large boxes of stamps, ended in one small container in which I could also store the ink pads.

I am so tickled with this little system. I googled "storage for rubber stamps" and tons of great ideas came up, including a video on the CD system. I am not going to index, at least not yet. It is small enough that I can flip through these in a blink.

I did keep one block and one dense sponge to help apply even pressure when I need to. But other than that, I have a huge garbage bag of wooden blocks and sponges for the garbage men in the morning and a whole half of a studio cabinet shelf to fill with more goodies. Shopping just popped in my head and I mentally slapped myself back into reality.

Polymer Clay Demonstration

I was going through more photographs and trying to organize them when I came across these photos of a demo I did on polymer clay here in Sun City West, AZ. I had a great turn out and was amazed at the number of people who still do not know about polymer clay and the world of joy it offers.

I also supplied information about a beading club here that offers classes in polymer clay. I thought I did a bang up job on the demo, but was disappointed that I could not talk the coordinator out of removing the tacky sign on the front of my table.

I had samples of different brands of polymer clay and lots of examples of what you can do with them. The local newspaper here asked me to write an article about polymer clay which also turned out great (patting myself on the back). Still, it always amazes me when I hear "But how did you get all these paint colors in there?" Or, "Where did you get this fabric, it's great." No, it's polymer clay.

It's great getting the word out and seeing the light bulbs go off when a person realizes what they might create with this medium. Just so cool.