Wonderfully coordinated color palettes are one of the things that truly spark my creativity and light up my creative life. In much of the art world, things that speak to a person happen through good design and color. Every person has a color or a specific color palette that aligns with their soul, mood, personality, and even the design scheme of their home. In the opening season of the TV show Frasier, his producer goes to his home for the first time and says, “Exactly as I imagined, beige everywhere.” Most of the time, even our personalities tend to say a lot about our color and color preferences. For many artists, our color palette tends to reflect ourselves and not that of our customers or buyers. Well-seasoned artists do both and do it well; they design with their own specific color palettes but also keep their customers in mind.
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Hints, tips, tricks, and valuable information for working with polymer clay.
How to Clean Your Studio in 15 Minutes
Posted on — 6 CommentsThere are a lot of things that I love about having my own studio in a separate area from the everyday areas of my house. One of which is that I can shut the door (and even lock it if I want to)…and come back whenever I want. But here’s the neurotic part of me…I like my studio clean. In fact on any given day, my studio can be cleaner than the rest of my house. Why? Because that’s the way I like it! How? In less than 15 minutes I can clean the whole thing from top to bottom, even though the kitty lives in here with me. Read how to clean you can learn to clean up your studio and to keep it clean in less than 15 minutes with just a small bit of patience and time commitment.
Continue reading How to Clean Your Studio in 15 MinutesFloss Box Clay Storage Solution
Posted on — 15 CommentsClay storage is a challenge for anyone who works with polymer clay, especially when 80% of clayers are working in a space the size of a closet. One of the hardest things about having a small studio is having adequate space to store things in, especially blocks, more blocks, and pounds of clay. This is especially hard for me, who may need multiple brands of clay, custom blends, inclusions, etc. Today I’m going to share with you how I store my opened packs of polymer clay, the clay that is constantly being used.
10 Polymer Clay Tips & Tricks
Posted on — 14 CommentsAs with all things in life, we pick some things up and get good at them…and yet with other things we need help. I am a 100% self-taught polymer clay artist. I have purchased several polymer clay books and use several very religiously. Here are 10 hints, tips, & tricks for working with polymer clay that you may not already know or thought of that will help you in your own polymer clay jouney.
Continue reading 10 Polymer Clay Tips & TricksPolymer Clay Studio Tip: Reusable Cloths
Posted on — 4 CommentsToday’s studio tip is a rare one as it has almost nothing to do with polymer clay … but it does have to do with your studio, your brushes, and helping to keep your studio clean and lint-free!
Continue reading Polymer Clay Studio Tip: Reusable ClothsHow to Use Blending Chalks on Polymer Clay
Posted on — 30 CommentsWhat Are Blending Chalks?
Blending chalks are just that, chalks that are blendable. Blending chalks can also be called chalk pastels or soft pastel chalks. Chalks can be used on a variety of surfaces, including polymer clay. Their color can be easily applied with a brush, sponge-tip applicator, and a variety of other applications.
Continue reading How to Use Blending Chalks on Polymer ClayMica Powder Highlight in Sculpting with Polymer Clay
Posted on — 2 CommentsMica powder has always been great for polymer clay artists as a surface treatment. Traditionally in the polymer clay world, mica powder has been used for jewelry artists and as an “all over” treatment for sculptors. But did you know that mica can also be used in wonderful and surprising ways for sculpting too? Even on facial and realistic sculptures? Mica powder highlight is a wonderful trick that if you don’t know, you should get to know and use in your sculpting.
Continue reading Mica Powder Highlight in Sculpting with Polymer ClayUsing Veneers in Whimsical Sculpting
Posted on — Leave a commentMany people ask if today’s popular veneers (like silkscreening, the Galaxy Tutorial veneers, veneer you’ve created yourself for polymer clay earrings, or my very favorite the Faux Collaged veneers) can be used with whimsical sculptured creations. The short answer is: absolutely!!!
Continue reading Using Veneers in Whimsical SculptingHow to Use Our Mica Powders
Posted on — Leave a commentSo what is mica powder? In a nutshell and simply explained, mica is a mineral [a rock] that has a reflective and metallic look to it. When it is ground and made into a powder it retains those natural properties. Make is found both in the earth, from the ground and is lab-created (which is most often these days). The larger the particles that mica contains, the more sparkly and shiny it is and becomes.
Continue reading How to Use Our Mica PowdersTop Five Mixing Clay Colors
Posted on — Leave a commentIf you are familiar with making your own color recipes or color palettes, then you probably have familiarized yourself with your favorite polymer clay colors to use for mixing clay colors. If you aren’t familiar with the way that I mix colors you can get my clay mixing worksheet here. Without further ado, let me show you what top five mixing clay colors I can’t be without.
Continue reading Top Five Mixing Clay ColorsPolymer Clay Tips: Productivity in Your Studio
Posted on — 4 CommentsHow to Be Productive in Your Studio
Helping each of you with polymer clay tips is one of those things that I really love! Why? Because I love helping people. I love helping you succeed and I love helping you on your creative journeys. I hope some of these small tips help you achieve your goals in your studio. So, without any further ado, let’s get on with it, shall we?
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Reworking a Sculpture That Doesn’t Satisfy You
Posted on — Leave a commentReworking a sculpture is always a hard decision. What happens when you put time, energy and effort into a piece and you’re not satisfied? I admit that it does happen to me and it probably happens to you too. So what do you do? Do you just leave the piece as it is and decide the piece is a failure or worse yet, that you are a failure? Do you decide to throw it away? Or do you decide to overhaul it? In all truth it can be any of the above and sometimes a variation of the three. Here’s the story about Mr. Mushie d’Room and hopefully it will inspire you to reconsider something in your studio too.
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Understanding the Difference Between an Under-sculpt and an Armature
Posted on — 2 CommentsIf you are new to sculpting, you know that there’s a wide variety of things you still have to learn. Understanding the difference between an under-sculpt and an armature may be at the top of your list, or it may be at the bottom. Regardless, at some point in your sculpting world, you may find that the two of these ideas collide and you find yourself either needing to know the difference or needing to know how to execute to two. Under-sculpts and armatures are often easily confused. Today I hope to clear up some of the confusion and help you better understand the difference between an under-sculpt and an armature.
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Top Sculpting Books in Polymer Clay for Beginners to Intermediates
Posted on — 4 CommentsTop Sculpting Books in Polymer Clay (Not Sponsored)
Here’s my top sculpting books in polymer clay and a few brief recommendations on why they are my favorites. There are a lot of sculpting books for polymer clay. Digging through the masses of sculpting books to find your favorites can be tough, especially in such a niche market.
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10 Sculpting Tips for Polymer Clay Sculptors
Posted on — Leave a commentHere’s 10 sculpting tips for polymer clay because sometimes you just want a head start! These sculpting tips for polymer clay are sure to make your foray into the sculpting world a great success.
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15 Common Polymer Clay Mistakes You Need to Know
Posted on — 18 CommentsMistakes happen. We’ve all been there. Today I’m going to share with you 15 common polymer clay mistakes that you need to understand when working with this versatile medium.
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