Finding the right brand of polymer clay can be a challenge for anyone, but especially new clayers. As I began the journey of the Friesen Project, I didn’t realize how many new clayers would be joining us. This week I have been bombarded by requests asking what kind of polymer clay I use in my studio and how to find a brand of polymer clay that will work for you. So, without further ado, let’s find a brand of polymer clay that will work for you, your hands, and your climate.
If you are like me, you’ve spent the month falling in love with dragons. You’ve probably made more than 2 by now and you’re loving every minute of it! Why? Because when you read through Christi’s books and learn her style, her humor and love for the inconsistencies in claying inspire you to be more creative than you thought you could be!
Last week you were challenged to create a dragon with arms and legs.
All you have to do is search the internet for help on how to bake polymer clay. You will see a lot of wrong and incorrect instructions on how to do this. But let’s be honest: every artist does this differently and every artist has their own system that works for them. What works for me, may not work for you. And the biggest thing with polymer clay … the baking times are different for almost every brand of clay and oven. Today I’m going to give you a few tips on how to bake polymer clay items at home in your own toaster oven.
Well, it’s finally here … the second week of Tutorials for the 2013 Friesen Project. I have loved seeing all of your work and dragons that you have made over the past week since we began this project. Here are two of my personal favorites…both done as an offspring of the Wendyll dragon from the first tutorial.
Sometimes your polymer clay pieces need an extra something, just a touch of something special to bring out the details that you have embedded into the clay. When you have carved or engraved your clay, you will often want to accent those pieces after they have finished baking. Many artists call this adding a patina to polymer clay. Other artists call it antiquing an item. For today’s mini-tutorial, we’re going to call it an “antique finish.” There are many ways to do this, but this is the way that I find the easiest…
Well, it’s finally here … the first week of Tutorials for the 2013 Friesen Project. Are you excited? I know that I am! After last week’s Friesen Friday and reading your book, some of you just couldn’t wait to dive right in and have already created your dragon. That’s fine, no big deal! But throughout this month there will be several different “specific components” you are going to need to work on for each project. Without any further ado however, let’s get started!
PLEASE NOTE: In order to do this dragon tutorial, you will need Christi Friesen’s Dragon book that is available for purchase here. Due to copyright, exact details and process have been minimalized to protect Christi’s art and design. Polymer clay is the most shared community in the world, please do not ruin that by going against US copyright laws.
For anyone who’s a self taught polymer clay artist, you’ve already made some critical mistakes in claying. You tried a shortcut (that didn’t work) or tried a way to do something that ended up ruining your piece. It’s okay, don’t worry, we’ve all been there. This month we are going “back to basics” in creating with polymer clay. So for today’s mini tutorial we’re going to go over the proper way to embed a bead into polymer clay.
Do you know what this means? This means we’re about to talk about Christi, Christi Friesen that is! Ok, well maybe not about her….but we are definitely going to talk about Christi Friesen books. You see, today is the first Friday, in a year of Friday’s, for the Friesen Project. This means that every Friday for the next year, we will be talking about Christi Friesen and begining to explore her style, unique designs, and transformative journey into the polymer clay world and using mixed media elements to enhance our work. I am so excited to be joining with you in this journey. If you have not yet signed up to receive the polymer clay & Friesen Project emails, please do so now. This will ensure that no matter what you are doing, you never miss anything! But without further ado, let’s dive in, shall we?!
There is a lot of information on the internet about how to condition polymer clay. There are even people saying that there’s no need to condition clay if it is soft (gasp)! 2013 is going to bring lots of talk of polymer clay and all things sculpting to Kater’s Acres blog, the biggest of which is The Friesen Project. Because of this, all during the month of January, I am going to talk about some of the basics of polymer clay. With so much incorrect information on the web, it’s really hard to know what it correct.
If you are wanting to spend the next year working with clay, Christi Friesen, and me as your host … the Friesen Project is just what you’ve been waiting for. Below you will find answers to the most common questions.
The Friesen Project is an opportunity for you (no matter where you are) to spend 52 weeks getting to play with clay and learn some of the basics of the Christi Friesen design and style elements. Here’s what you can expect over the course of the next year with Christi & myself. Continue reading The 2013 Friesen Project Overview
It’s no secret that I love a good DIY project. What’s also no secret is that if I can make it myself better, more simply, and more cost-effective, I’ll likely do it. So for my polymer clay tip today, I have decided to share my recipe for my super-easy hand scrub to keep your hands from becoming clay stained and a super quick washing solution between colors. This recipe using things you likely have already in your kitchen, as well as a recycled baby jar (thank heavens for my friends who keep me supplied with them).
WHY MAKE THIS SALT SCRUB:
Have you ever finished a project and washed your hands with soap and water and gone “ew!” because there was yucky clay scum left behind? Well, I have! And it is because of this that I decided to make my own salt scrub. Please note that this is a super simple version of a fancier version (that calls for scented oils, specialty moisturizing oils, etc). Some versions call for sugar instead of salt, but my studio is downstairs and sugar tends to attract ants, especially when I leave the lid off the jar, which is often … therefore I use salt, which doesn’t attract bugs and in emergencies can be used on slugs … although I’ve never had any of those in my basement … moving on!
For most of my readers, you have already mentally checked these things off in your head because you have them at your house. Please know that you can use any kind of oil [even vegetable oil or coconut oil]; I prefer EVOO because it leaves my hands nice and softie-soft! You can use any kind of dishwashing or hand soap. I prefer Dawn as my choice for dishwashing soap for its awesome cleaning power, but you can use any soap. The reason that there are no added “scents” to my recipe is that my dish soap is already scented … I mean why should I ruin that awesome Thai Dragon Fruit smell that Dawn has given me? PS: If you haven’t tried this scent yet, you should … it’s my favorite.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thai Dragon Fruit Scent has been discontinued as of 2018.
HOW TO DO IT:
Here’s the easy part. This recipe is for a SMALL jar (approximately 2.5 oz), you will need to tailor this recipe to fit your jar.
1 Tbs. EVOO
1 Tbs. Dish Liquid
1/4 cup salt
All you need to do is stir it all together inside your jar! And then wah-lah! You have an awesome homemade, ultra-cheap, DIY salt scrub that you can use to get all those clay bits off of your hands once and for all.
A FEW NOTES:
You want this mixture to be semi-dry. The salt should stick together, but it should be loose, but still able to be packed. If there is oil or soap “floating” in spots in your mixture, keep stirring. If there is still oil or soap in there, add more salt until it is all absorbed. Feel free to keep a spoon next to your mixture, just so that between washings of your hands, you can stir your mix so the oil & soap don’t settle to the bottom. I also tend to “shake” my bottle before I use it. This also helps to keep it nicely mixed.
Sometimes polymer clay inspiration runs out and your creative streak comes to a grinding halt. And personally, I hate it when that happens! I go along for weeks with thousands of ideas swimming around my head and then all of a sudden BAM all those ideas are just … gone! Where did they go? Chances are my inspiration got lost along the road of life and needs a little “revival” in order to come back to me. Delving into different craft mediums can be helpful to find your inspiration once again and art journaling is one of the ways you can find that inspiration again!
(Photo at right is linked to artists profile page here onPinterest)
One of my favorite things about working with polymer clay is that you can reuse everything … or should I say give your old things a new purpose, in other words: repurposed items you’ve already used! What kind of items can you reuse: everything. Well…okay, maybe not everything … but you certainly can reuse a LOT of things that you probably haven’t thought of, or may have thought of but haven’t taken the time to do so.
You can reuse or repurpose items like your shipping label backs, pickle jars, peanut butter jars, Carmex jars, cat food containers, and anything that is glass, metal, or heavy plastic. You probably already know this, but your question now becomes … but what do I do with them? Here’s a few examples & projects that you can do with things you already have in your house.
How to Cover a Bic Round Stic Pen with Polymer Clay
Well, it’s about time…my first ever polymer clay video tutorial! Perhaps I can get one of these made every month for all my wonderful readers and claying friends…but we’ll have to see. Today’s how-to is a polymer clay pen tutorial. Before you begin watching the video there’s a few things you will need.
I absolutely love meeting new polymer clay artists. The first thing they say when I ask if they have made a pen yet is: “You can do that?” I giggle to myself and tell them, yes, you can do that. It’s a simple, easy, & basic project. Even for beginners. This is not the first time that I have written about polymer clay pens, feel free to click the link to see some awesome talent. Tomorrow I am releasing a NEW tutorial on YouTube, just for you wonderful folks on how to cover a polymer clay pen.
One of my favorite things about working with polymer clay is that you can reuse everything … or should I say give your old things a new purpose, in other words: repurposed items you’ve already used! What kind of items can you reuse: everything. Well…okay, maybe not everything … but you certainly can reuse a LOT of things that you probably haven’t thought of, or may have thought of but haven’t taken the time to do so.
