Hints, tips, tricks, and valuable information for working with polymer clay.
There’s nothing prettier (in my opinion) than that perfect leaf cane that seems to pop & glow in all of your creations. I’ve made literally hundreds of leaf canes & I finally found a blend that makes my leaves pop & almost “glow.” You’ll have to make these for yourself and see what you think…
Part of the fun of our polymer clay weekend with Christi Friesen was that she had offered a contest to everyone who was attending. She asked each person to answer the question “What does polymer clay mean to you?” There were fantastic answers, most revolving around how polymer clay had saved people from a very difficult time in their life (which many of you can relate to I am sure) or about the versatility of the medium. Here’s what I wrote …
We all have them, those grimy gross tools that have that “clay muck” residue from years worth of claying on them … or is that just me?! As I looked at them today in my studio, I thought, “ugh, these are disgusting.” And yes … they were. So … I guess it’s time to clean them. For those of you who have ever tried soap and water to clean your tools, you know that this just doesn’t work. Today I will share with you the best, quickest, and easiest way to remove that clay residue.
Continue reading How to Clean Your Polymer Clay Tools
Today’s the day, the final edition of “Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio.” This past month myself and Ginger from The Blue Bottle Tree have brought you a collaborative series of posts. I hope you have enjoyed them so far. In case you missed one, I’ve put the links to them below so you can check them out.
Today’s article is by Ginger. To accompany hers, I will write my own today and I will tell you how and where you can reclaim, repurpose, thrift, & find some bargains that you can turn into useable & functional items in your polymer clay studio. READ THE ARTICLE NOW.
As many of my readers know, I am not a full-time artist. I am an ordained American Baptist Minister. This means that some weeks (like last week) are very busy for me with church and church activities. Last week was Holy Week and I was crazy busy! However, I did manage to squeeze in about 6 hours of work in my studio last week. Working in my polymer clay studio always seems to just melt all the stress away, and last Friday was no different.
Continue reading WIP Wednesday: A Short Week
As anyone who has created one of more millefiori canes, you know that there are some really awesome canes and some really not so awesome canes that you have made. One of the things that I like to do is create a “library” for my canes. This idea is not my own, but evolved from a discussion in one of the FaceBook groups I am in. Many people talked about how they store, collect, and display their canes for future reference or use.
Welcome back to “Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio.” This month Ginger from The Blue Bottle Tree and myself are bringing you a collaborative series of posts. I hope you have enjoyed them so far. In case you missed one, I’ve put the links to them below so you can check them out. There’s valuable information in each article, so don’t miss them. I hope that you will continue to join us and chime in with your comments, thoughts, & ideas as well.
It’s true that artists come in all types: organized, messy, simple, & complex. Often our spaces reflect the artist within. Our series “Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio” continues this week over at The Blue Bottle Tree. Ginger takes us on a great journey of finding your dedicated space and “Making Room for Your Polymer Clay Studio.”
As you read in my post last week, we focused on “Falling in Love with Your Studio, no Matter its Size.” This week Ginger takes that one step further and explores ideas on how to create that studio that you’re craving. She delves into all kinds of ideas surrounding building your own craft space: from converting an existing space, stealing a space, functional furniture, cart trolley’s and much more.
Continue reading Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio: Making Room
Welcome April! This month myself and Ginger from The Blue Bottle Tree are bringing you a collaborative series of posts, “Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio.” Each Thursday in April you can join me and Ginger as we talk about a topic relating to “Making the Most of Your Polymer Clay Studio.” I hope that you will continue to join us and chime in with your comments, thoughts, & ideas as well.
Yes, polymer clay can be an expensive hobby, but it can also be an inexpensive hobby. It depends on how much “creativity” you put into your studio.
Continue reading HomeMade Polymer Clay Tools
This past week I had a guest in my studio. They saw this unique and lovely colored bunch of clay on the back of my work surface and stated, “WOW! How did you get those colors?!” I laughed and said, “It’s scrap clay!” Needless to say, they didn’t believe me. If you haven’t figured it out by now, I love to write about scrap clay and how you can reuse it and do something wonderful with it…so today’s post is all about what I did with my scrap clay and how I got those beautiful colors to make more colorful things.
‘How to make your own color palette’ can sound difficult, right? Well, I am part of a lot of different polymer clay groups on FaceBook. Some I am more active on than others, and some I just lurk. Last week, someone asked how to make a color palette. There were lots of ideas thrown out, many of which were great. Most of my items are made from custom color palettes that coordinate. Making your own palette is easy and the more you do it, the easier it gets. There are lots of ways to make your own color palette, but this is the method that I prefer.
Continue reading How to Make Your Own Color Palette with Polymer Clay
Welcome back to “Work in Progress Wednesday!” Just so you know, “a scrappy week” is not a metaphor or a replacement for another word. Rather, it describes exactly what most of my time in my studio was spent doing … playing with scrap clay! I’ve been so busy creating the past several weeks that I have generated a lot of scrap. Often, I just throw it in a giant glass bowl awaiting future use. When I’m caning however, I will often have a sheet of clay ready to make a Stroppel Cane to help absorb those wonky cuts.
It’s always a challenge to figure out what to do with all those scraps that you have left over from making a cane. I have more scraps from making canes than any other single thing that I do in my studio. I suppose it’s just the nature of the beast.
Continue reading What to Do with That Scrap Clay? Make Some Cute Pens!
I’m really enjoying the process of learning to make canes. In fact, where I used to be scared of anything that wasn’t a leaf cane or flower petal cane, I can now say that I thoroughly enjoy making my canes! Much of that is thanks to this year long project team that has continued to push me to make a new cane every week. Continue reading 52 Weeks of Canes: Basket Weave Cane by KatersAcres
One of the most time consuming parts about using scrap clay (for me at least) is blending it together. Why is this? Well, because often my clay just sits and waits on me. Some of the clay in my scrap clay pile is many years old. Other bits & pieces are fresh from recent sculptures or designs. But here’s my biggest tip for you … you know how I’m always telling you “Don’t use Sculpey” for your finished pieces? Well … when I have my students over in my studio, because they are mostly beginners, that’s all we use. When they get “good enough” that they aren’t wasting clay, I transition them to Premo or Fimo depending on their projects. Here’s the thing … every once and awhile you get a block of clay (it could be ANY brand) that is just too hard to condition! You run it through your pasta machine a zillion times and it’s still cracking, breaking, and just can’t get “warmed up” and softened. Continue reading Blending Polymer Clay
