There’s something that I’ve never done in my life…and that is make a GingerBread House. I love the way they look and the smile that they bring to everyone’s face when they are seen around the house. So this year, as the Grand Finale to the Twelve Days of Christmas, I made my very first GingerBread House! After 12 grueling hours in the studio, Parker’s first GingerBread House came to life.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but it wouldn’t be without a GingerBread House. ow.ly/fn0ZV CLICK to see it!
On Tuesdays, I love to bring you a little polymer clay tidbit, tip, or trick. Today is no different. I’m going to be sharing with you how to use a Heat Embossing Tool with polymer clay. This versatile tool finds its home in scrapbookers & card makers closets. But as clayers, we share with a variety of arts, crafts, and mediums…and therefore…we stole this tool and claimed it as our own too.
Polymer Clay Tip & Tutorial How To Properly Use a Heat Embossing Tool ow.ly/ffEMf Great information for polymer clay artists!
Don’t you just love winter? I know that I do. Winter is my second favorite season, second only to fall. Living in NW Pennsylvania near Lake Erie, we get a LOT of snow every year. We live in the snow-belt region of the country and I love it! Yesterday I was delighted to showcase the art and talent of Meg Newberg. Meg does a lot of awesome things with clay, but her best are made with millefiori canes. Today she’s going to show us her snowflake cane and where you can purchase the tutorial to make it yourself as well.
Polymer Clay Tutorial of a Snowflake Millefiori Cane by Meg NewBerg ow.ly/fa7f3 Visit the blog to see this awesome cane today!
It is my pleasure, as always, to introduce to you polymer clay artists. Polymer clay artists, designers, & sculptors are indeed a rare breed: always fun, unique, & joyful! Today’s polymer clay artist, Meg Newberg, is no different. She’s a wonderful polymer millefiori cane artist, who also sells her tutorials in her Etsy shop. Tomorrow, I will feature a season cane of hers, how you can get it, and what she’s done with it. It’s truly my honor to feature her today. Continue reading Meet Meg Newberg – Polymer Clay Millefiori Cane Artist
Etsy is gearing up for some big sales events this month. Two of those events are Black Friday & Cyber Monday. In order to get your store ready, we’re going to talk about tags that you can use to help your store get found on Etsy and give you a boost and potential holiday sales so that you too can experience Etsy success. With Etsy’s new “browse” feature in full force, you need to learn how to tag your items appropriately in order to get found.
Every Tuesday I bring you a tip, trick, hint, and occasionally a tutorial. Well…today I give you one of my secrets in my arsenal of claying, the trick uses the very reasonably priced and easy to find Super Sculpey.
Do you ever have one of those times where the ideas just don’t come? You sit … think … try to create … and after several hours, all you’ve done is play around and there’s nothing “new” produced? Well I’ve been so busy that aside from my orders, I’ve had one of those spells. I’ve frankly been in a creative rut. And it’s not so much that I don’t have ideas, for I have an entire notebook of ideas…but nothing sounds appealing to me! *Sigh* So to help me to get through these times I have done several things to help myself get “into gear.” I’m sure that some of these ideas may help you as well. Continue reading Inspiration for the Creatively Dry Using Color Palettes
On today’s Build Your Brand post, we’re going to talk about shipping. For most people who sell online, this is the part that they like the least. The wrapping, packing, thank you cards, freebies, and the drive to the post office…and in some unfortunate cases the saga of the “missing package.” Today, I have a few tips & ideas that will help you to become a proficient shipper, not leave things out of your packages, make your shipping fun as well as looking like your brand and last but not least make your holiday sales less stressful!
It’s Wednesday. That means it’s time to Build Your Brand! ow.ly/eTO4F Today’s article features tips to help you SHIP your items!
I am a 100% self-taught polymer clay artist…and from being involved in many different polymer clay communities, I’m NOT the only one! It turns out that most polymer clay artists are self-taught. On Tuesdays I usually give you some kind of a tip or trick to working with polymer clay. Today I’m going a step further. I’m giving you an entire book full of tips & tricks to help you as you learn to clay. That’s right, today I am doing polymer clay book reviews and hopefully will be able to do a book review every month for you!
I have an addiction…I am addicted to pens. Not just any pens, polymer clay covered pens. I have always been a fan of pens and have more pens than any 4 households need. However, when I discovered that I could cover my pens in polymer clay…a new kind of obsession was born! An obsession to creating and covering pens with polymer clay. I’m showing off some very awesome polymer clay covered pens from artists around the globe. Feel free to leave your comments and links to your own polymer clay pen creations at the end of this post.
I recently received an email from someone whose work I admire greatly. She asked me how I kept my Parker colors so crisp and untainted from the other colors of clay. I do have a “secret” method to keeping my polymer clay colors from mixing together that I will share with you today. Working with polymer clay is always fun…but can often be frustrating too. In all honesty though, the “secret” is no secret at all…
Use Lotion
I have an entire post dedicated to the benefits of using lotion when you are working with polymer clay. But using lotion is the first thing I do when I enter my studio. It’s so important to me and working with polymer clay that I keep a bottle of it right in front of me at all times…you can clearly see the bottle of lotion, right there, front and center. Make sure to read the article as to why using lotion is a good thing for you and for your clay!
Use Cornstarch
By looking at my polymer clay studio work area here in these photographs, you can see many of the things that I use often. The other thing that you should notice in this photograph is the huge container of cornstarch. I don’t use corn starch often, but I use it when I have colors that I know taint my hands, work surface, and other clays. Most of those colors are any shade containing reds, black, or green pigment colors. In order to use cornstarch to prevent my colors from bleeding, I have an intricate process. Feel free to use my process and achieve nice results working with polymer clay.
HOW-TO USE IT:
Tap your moist fingers into the corn starch (get the moist by using lotion or wiping with a baby wipe). Then rub that cornstarch onto your hands (similar to washing your hands). Then lightly tap the cornstarch with your fingers again and rub onto your work surface. Then play with your clay like normal. When you are done there should be very little of the color on your hands and on your work surface.
Please remember that using cornstarch also will keep your clay from sticking to the surface and other clays…so use sparingly!
Separate Your Colors
Often on my FaceBook page you will see me post pictures similar to the one here at the left: a color palette of something that I’m working on for the day. What I didn’t notice until after I took this picture, was that the white clay on the bottom looks like my work surface. It’s not my work table, yet it’s so white that it almost looks that way.
In order to prevent color bleeds, I always start a project with an idea in mind. I rarely start from scratch. In this way, I condition the lightest color first, following through to the darkest colors. In the case of this palette I conditioned the clays in this order: white, gold, green, brown, red, & black. In each, if any particles were picked up from the previous color, it seamlessly blends into the clay with no “ack, I got red onto my white” spots.
First Thing’s First
In the same way, when I begin a design, especially my Parker StoryBook Scenes working on the lightest color first. In most cases (except Christmas designs) Parker is a bright and vivacious yellow color. I always make Parker first. Since Parker is the featured element of all my StoryBook Scenes, he must be perfect. So in whatever you are working on, be sure that your primary object of focus is the item that you do first, while your hands are clean!
When All Else Fails
When all else fails, after you’ve successfully done everything you can think of to avoid color bleeding, you still have red spots on your white and blue spots on your yellow. When this happens, you must do what you must…break it out…the bottle of rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is my secret weapon…but truthfully something I use only about once a week. Read my post on rubbing alcohol to see how to effectively use this to remove stains from your hands & work surface. (And yes…you can see my bottle of rubbing alcohol to the far left on my work surface. Yep, I don’t use it that much, only when I have too.)
If you think before you begin your clay process, you should have no trouble with your polymer clay colors bleeding on you.
Thank you for being a part of the Kater’s Acres Family, Sculpting Blessings,
I have been doing craft shows for about 10 years now. Over time my designs and set up has changed…except for one thing…my business card holder. I always put my business cards in a little flower shaped glass dish. It matches my other “pretty” display fixtures…but seeing as I no longer sell the jewelry component of Kater’s Acres and function strictly on polymer clay sculptures, it was time for a change. For this years’ fall craft show I decided it was time to spruce up my business card holder into something that matched my business…
One of the hardest things to do is to cut a cane in an even, thin slice, without any drag. When I first began working with polymer clay millefiori canes, both raw & baked, I had the hardest time cutting them in thin, even slices. One side would always be thicker than the other or I’d adjust my blade halfway through the slice and create very unpleasant “drag marks” on the sliced piece of cane. After several years, I got smart and solved my problem…
It’s not easy to cut a millefiori cane with accuracy and precision every time. Trust me, I know. But there are a few things that you can do to make your millefiori cane cutting adventures a little easier.
It is my pleasure, as always, to introduce to you polymer clay artists. Polymer clay artists, designers, & sculptors are indeed a rare breed: always fun, unique, & joyful! Today’s polymer clay artist, Aniko Kolesnikova, is no different. It’s my honor to feature her today.
MEET ANIKO
My name is Aniko and I am almost 27 years old. I was born to be an artist and I never let out my brushes out of my hands since I was 3 years old. When anyone asked who I am dreaming to be – I always said “An Artist”. Well, when I was little I thought artist is someone who ‘paints a lot and is poor’ as my mom said. I never knew anything about polymer clay or other media. (Although, I was quite successful with plasticine and organic clay.)
I was born in Latvia, Riga but my family tree takes me to Russia and Ukraine (So I am half Russian half Ukrainian by blood). I feel more like a citizen of the World because I speak fluently 3 different languages, lived in 4 different countries and seen so many nationalities.
Right now I live in UK for almost 3 years now. I call myself a chameleon person because I can adapt to circumstances, places to live, and country traditions. I always try my best to explore other people and try to understand them.
EDUCATIONAL ROOTS:
My original education is Architecture and Interior design but I worked only few years in this industry and understood that huge spaces is not something I am able to handle. I am more Macro person. But I am perfectly capable of making my house pretty decorated and clean. So my 7 years in university wasn’t all pointless stuff. J
I got introduced to polymer clay on my last year in University. We had a sculpting course for half of a year and they said – I have a talent.. I was quite pleased but I could not imagine where and how I can get with plasticine figures.
INSPIRATION & CLAY BEGINNINGS:
So time passed and I stumbled upon some amazing journals onDeviantartmade by my dearest friend and biggest past inspirationMandarin Moon. She told me about polymer clay existence and there I was … facing the whole new world of polymer possibilities. I started as a failure and some of my first clients even asked for their money back. Although it wasn’t myETSYexperience but more sort of person to person deals with my friends. Then I practiced more and more and now I am who I am. (I’ll let you) judge it for yourself.
ETSY SHOP HISTORY:
My ETSY store “Amandarinduck” was created in Aug 2010, but I have sold more than 5 years on ETSY. I had about 5 different shops from which I still keep three. One of them isAmandarinduckwhere I sell my polymer clay. Before this summer I was dealing with lots of different jewelry [semiprecious stones, gold plated jewelry, feather earrings, polymer clay] but now I decided to work with polymer clay only and I am mainly concentrating on jewelry and journals. Sometimes I do custom orders on jewelry boxes from clay as well.
My other shop is for Macro dreamy nature prints and it is called “Sunnykiss”. I also have third shop,Mandarin Feathers, where I sell feathers. Because I love feathers.
MY UNIQUE SHOP:
Well first of all I haven’t seen any journals like mine on ETSY. It seems like I am working in a different style then others. I can spend more then 48 hours on one journal and I will never finish it till it’s really done. No cutting corners, no time saving with push stamps, standard textures and things like this. It’s 100% handmade by my own hands. There is only one artist on ETSY I truly think is similar to me. This is my very first inspiration and a person who made me familiar with polymer clay – Mandarin Moon.
My shop’s name has different story. So please don’t think that I was so inspired by Mandarin Moon that I even took half of her name…It’s just a coincidence.
There are beautiful leather journals or mixed media journals, but polymer clay journal range is quite small and I feel like I don’t even have competition on ETSY. Again, here I am not trying to say I am a queen of polymer clay. I am just telling what my followers and clients say. Hundreds of comments on Facebook, thank you letters from my clients and even thank you gifts is a proof to my words.Amandarinduckis also a shop that makes it’s clients 110% satisfied. I give them not only their item, but also love and support (especially with custom orders), cute letter, cute package, extra gift each time they purchase something, and some of my clients just become my friends so they also come back to me again quite often. Not to mention that they also get a discount if they are return customers.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE ITEMS IN YOUR STORE?
I do love making journals but at the same time I love making jewelry. I have few items I love and they mean a lot to me. They are nature inspired jewelry pieces, few of my jewelry boxes and almost all of my journals. Also I do love how different is my Prometheus collection is and Prometheus bangle is a favorite piece out of whole collection.
This is an absolutely accidental item. It was a challenge from my fiancé. He said to try something new and offered a theme “The Alien movie”. Well.. I like challenges… It makes me want to prove that I can do it, because even my motto is “Yes, I can”. So I made it and it attracted so much attention. All of my followers and friends, even males were all wondering how much it costs, can it be adjusted to man’s hand and so on.
But to be honest, each item is a story to tell just because I spend so much time making it. It’s like I live a separate story each time.
CUSTOM ORDERS:
Well, when I tell to my clients and followers that I do custom orders I usually add something like “I can do everything you want”. So “everything you want” phrase would probably explain my custom services the best.
I do custom journals A6-A4 sizes, all sorts of jewelry and jewelry boxes and also some custom figurines for special ocasions. I prefer working in my unique sculptural style, where I create almost 3D objects, looking like fairytale alive creatures, natural fresh and blooming flowers or dark and gothic motives. I love creating a story in clay. Something that has a meaning. Even if I make an abstract composition – it still has a feel to it, a style, an idea. Flora and Fauna themes do inspire me the most. Elves, fairytales and magic objects are my passion, too.
The only thing I don’t do is standard polymer clay techniques like canes and everything you could do with canes. This is something my heart doesn’t lay to. Although I do some cane video tutorials – I would never be able to work 48 hours on a cane project…I am not a cane person.
GIVEAWAY:
Mandarin Ducky is having a giveaway. Please join her on her blog to participate in this awesome giveaway!
Would You Like To Be the Featured Artist for the Month?
Are you are a polymer clay artist? Would you like to be the featured artist for the month? If you answered “yes” to both of these questions, please go HERE and answer the questionnaire and email your responses to me. Artists are subject to approval and are featured on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Every single selling struggles with one very big thing: tags. Most sellers on Etsy have a love/hate relationship with tags. Some days they love them and some days they hate them and other days they just wish they could get insight into using better tags. So how do you tag your items to get found in search results? Here’s a brief how-to to spice up your tags and get your items found.
Do you ever have one of those times where the ideas just don’t come? You sit … think … try to create … and after several hours, all you’ve done is play around and there’s nothing “new” produced? Well I’ve been so busy that aside from my orders, I’ve had one of those spells. I’ve frankly been in a creative rut. And it’s not so much that I don’t have ideas, for I have an entire notebook of ideas…but nothing sounds appealing to me! *Sigh* So to help me to get through these times I have done several things to help myself get “into gear.” I’m sure that some of these ideas may help you as well. 
