Clay Play! (DIY Ring Dishes)

These little dishes can sit on the window sill and keep your rings safe when you wash the dishes and they are so easy to make!

I used supplies from the October Smart Art box. If you are looking for a gift for an artist (or yourself) you might want to give these a look. Every month you get an ample box full of supplies to try a new kind of art. I have been receiving these boxes for a few months now and they never disappoint! I have been sent other monthly art club boxes in the past but this was the only one I would allow as a sponsor because it is the only one I felt had a good value of what you get compared to what you pay. You can see past boxes on their website if you want a better idea. The boxes are a surprise, you never know what you are going to get but that is also part of the fun!

Supplies:
Polymer Clay-Super Sculpey-firm
Molding Tools

Other supplies:
Toaster oven
Craft mat or waxed paper
Acrylic paint and varnish (Liquatex paint and Minwax polycrylic)

Directions:
1. Condition clay.
2. Shape into dishes.
3. Press leaves in clay.
4. Bake at 275 F for 15 minutes. Let cool.
5. Paint and varnish.

This is a fun thoughtful gift to make. Please visit our sponsor Smart Art to learn more about their monthly  art boxes or to subscribe today! Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

What YEAR is it anyway?

Hi friends! Yesterday I made a bunch of clay ornaments to use as gift tags on Christmas presents and I left all of my supplies out so my kids could make some if they wanted today. Well, my girls took one look at the ornaments and said “Mom, what does that say 2015?” To which I replied “Because that is this year.” The girls looked at each other and said “No it’s not!” I guess I am just ahead for next year! LOL!

Luckily I only stamped the date on one ornament! Working with polymer clay is really fun. There are some pitfalls I want to help you avoid though. There are different kinds of polymer clay and they all have a purpose. I thought about making this video really short and showing only the step by step (that seems to be the popular thing to do among YouTube crafters) but I really wanted to explain a little more in-depth so you can avoid making brittle ornaments or burning your clay. Maybe it is over explaining, what do you think? You can let me know in the comments below. 😀

Supplies:
polymer clay
stamps
ink (pigment-metallic looks really pretty!)
plastic wrap
rolling-pin or pasta machine
oven
needle tool, pin or straw
cookie cutter
mica powder (optional)

Directions (these are brief since I explained so much in the video):
Condition the clay be kneading or rolling through the pasta machine several times. Flatten the clay and place plastic wrap on top, cut with a cookie cutter. Remove plastic wrap and excess clay. Make a hole for the ribbon. Dust with mica powder if desired. Stamp snowflake with pigment ink. Bake according to package instructions. After cool, add ribbon for hanging.

I also wanted to give you some more info on the 2014 holiday lights contest sponsored by USA Today:

You can enter the USA TODAY contest by uploading a photo of your own holiday lights display here The winner of this photo contest gets a $5,000 gift card from USA TODAY!

It does not matter how big or small, they want to see ALL of your best holiday light displays! Don’t wait, you have until 12/10/14 to enter!

On the 12th you can vote for your favorite out of the 10 finalists! 2 voters will win $1000 and $1500 gift cards from USA Today! Voting begins here on 12/12/14

Good luck to all who enter and vote! Winner will be announced on 12/22/14

Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

 

WOYWW: Tutorial-Cheap Flexible Molds!

Happy Wednesday folks! well, this week we have gone from 2 degrees to 50! You know what they say about the weather in Maine, if you don’t like it wait 5 minutes LOL! This week my desk is littered with clay, glass, stencils and moulds…why am I telling you this? because it is What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday (or WOYWW for short) before I show you my desk here are some molds I made from Sculpy Bake and Bend Clay, it s way cheaper than using the Ranger 2 part molding stuff, I made a video to show you how at the end of this post:

And here is my desk, I am a skitzo crafter today, making stencils and molds…I think I like making supplies more than creating with them LOL!

And just in case you think I don’t support the crafting economy check out my yummy new glass I just ordered from Devardi glass. I sorted it in a bill organizer I picked up a few years ago at goodwill for $2. It is perfect for the glass rods. I hope to try out this glass later today, since my toaster oven is out for clay anyway I think I will use it as a rod warmer (don’t worry, I won’t burn my hands off!) since the Devardi glass (which is dirt cheap BTW) might be a little shocky so I want to bring it up to temp before I put it in the flame, my studio is really cold so thermal shock might happen…I’ll let you know how it all turns out 🙂

And now my super cheap flexible mold tutorial. I used Bake and Bend clay which I bought on sale for $5 a pack of six 1 oz bricks but regular prices is $7 so still way cheaper than the two-part epoxy mold maker. What I really love is that it does not cure till you heat it so there is no waste. With the 2 part stuff you have to use it or lose it! You can even press the clay to textured surfaces and make rubber stamps!

I thought of another tip when working with clay: Remove your nail polish first because the clay will make it all freaky and gross:) Oh and the scrap clay rigid mold tutorial (which is like making them for free-love that!) is here.  Well, that’s it! I am going to brew a pot of coffee and head over to the Stamping Ground and check out other WOYWW crafty desks, won’t you join me? Thanks for stopping by and til next time happy crafting!

Faux Dichro…well, an attempt at it anyway;D

A few years ago before I got a bead kiln I wanted to capture the look of dichroic glass with polymer clay…I did not quite get it but I liked the result. It is a quick and easy technique that you can play with this weekend!

You will need polymer clay and metal leaf. Metal leaf comes in books of 25 (or more) and can be made from aluminum, silver, copper, gold, nickel and other metals. It is usually used for illuminating books (fancy old Bibles) or gilding frames. You can get books of copper, aluminum and fake gold for about $5/25 5″x5″ sheets. Gold and copper tones look nice with warm rich colors an silvers look nice with cool colors. For instance I used a cool red with silver (er, aluminum) leaf. Every color can have a warm or a cool undertone, yellow is a warm color but lemon yellow has cool (green) undertones while marigold yellow had warm (orange) undertones.

Here’s how to make your foiled beads:

1. Condition your clay and roll it out into a 1/4″ slab.
2. Lay a sheet of metal leaf on top then roll over it again until the leaf starts to crackle.
3. Cut into squares, rectangles or long tapered triangles that you can roll up int “croissant” shaped beads. You can also put the small squares of foiled clay in a bead roller for cool round, oval and bicone beads!
4. Poke bead holes with a needle.
5. Bake according to clay package directions.
6. Glaze! I pressed my beads on an embossing ink pad, dipped them in UTEE and heated hem with my heat gun for a thick glazed look. You can also paint them with nail polish *Edit: see Silverleaf’s comment on the use of nail polish on polymer clay in the comments section. Thanks Silverleaf for the heads up! or use the tried and true FFW (Future Floor Wax, it is in the cleaning supply aisle and it is under the brand name Pledge, this stuff is like acrylic varnish and very durable!)

One more thing I want to mention. I also tried coating the beads with Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS-a product that completely mystified me as I have never found it useful except to help condition old clay and it is constantly leaking and making a mess of my clay drawer…anyway…) thinking I could get a thick semi transparent coating and it did not work for me. I think if I had baked the beads once then added the TLS and rebaked it might have. I’m no clay expert, obviously 😀

Go ahead and play with clay this weekend, you might just discover a new technique when you are trying to do something else. Enjoy the process and til next time happy crafting!

I spoke too soon…

Well, my superior vegan immune system didn’t completely protect me from the stomach bug the rest of the family got but at least I’m making a swift recovery! My friend, and fabulous photographer Tracy, tagged me yesterday (And since I didn’t get a chance to finish the craft I was going to share today due to an ill household) I figured today would be a good day to play along. So, to play tou go into the folder on your computer where you store your photos, go to the 6th folder and pick the 6th photo in there, here’s mine:

the 6th photo in my 6th folder on my hard drive

That is several sheets of polymer clay from a project I did a couple years ago. I was commissioned to make polymer clay leaves to go on a wedding cake. OK for everyone who is having heart palpation’s because I was using polymer clay near food calm down. The clay is non toxic AFTER cured. That’s why they say to use baking sheets that are clay dedicated on raw clay but after it is cured it should be as safe as any other plastic…bad point huh.

Polymer clay leaves by Lindsay Weirich

Since I have no new craft today  I thought I woulds share the leave with you. First condition the clay (knead it in your hands or in a pasta machine until soft) then roll it out 1/8" thick. Press a real leaf into the clay and cut out with an x-axto knife. Pinch around the edges with the leaf still attached to make it look like a delicate thin leaf and trim again with the knife. Remove the leaf and bake at 275 for about 10 minutes *Correction, these are very thin and will burn easily so bake them for about half the time the package says 8-10 minutes for Sculpey3, or 15 minutes for Premo at a slightly lower temperture on a bed of cornstarch (see comments) with a dusting of cornstarch on top.

So, want to play along? Post the 6th picture from the 6th folder on your blog and leave me a link so we can check it out!. To see Tracy’s beautiful photo click here.

Have fun and happy crafting!

Fun Stamped Jewelery!

I just reorganized my bead stash after an unfortunate incident involving a box of seed beads…I’d rather not relive it! That said there is nothing like cleaning out your stash to inspire new creations! I was going through some of my “craft” files on my PC and saw these stamped jewelery projects I’ve made over the last year and thought I’d share and maybe inspire you to use up some of your stash as well. My favorite thing about stamps is that you can keep using them and you never run out…of course when you run low on beads it means another trip to the bead shop and that’s good too!

I got some style stones from my mom on Easter (yes, I am 32 years old and I still get an Easter Basket) and they screamed for alcohol ink and stamps.

Supplies: Style Stones: Colorbox, Stamps: Inque Boutique, Beads: Blue Moon Beads

I got the idea for a stamped bobbin necklace from the Stampington magazine, sorry I can’t remember who thought up this idea first, who ever did rocks!

Stamps: Sunday International, Inque Boutique

I used clear buttons glued over stamped and punched circles attached to twill tape for this bracelet.

A few years ago I checked an amazing book out of the library called “Stamping with Style” and Lynne Kruke (polymer clay goddess)  made an amulet necklace out of polymer clay covered matchboxes. How Clever. I made a few too and here they are. These were so fun!

Stamps: Inque Boutique, Clay: Premo by Sculpey

Here’s one more, a domino bracelet.

So think outside of the box with your art supplies, who knows what you will come up with next!

Have a great weekend and Happy crafting!

Lindsay