Archives for July 2010

Polymer Clay Day #45: Lava Bead Tutorial and Lava Love Pendant With Matching Earrings!

This pendant is one of the final projects in which I incorporated the lava beads detailed below. My inspiration for this tutorial came from Ponsawan Sila’s lava bead tutorial here. I have mentioned her blog before. She has some wonderful polymer clay beads and free tuts. Here is how I made mine (click to enlarge)…
Ponsawan mentions using acrylic paint after the beads are baked for color and shine. Hers look cool done that way. I love the bronze color I mixed, so I didn’t go that route. I did spray the cured pieces with varathane by Rustoleum. Be careful when finishing clay pieces. Some finishes will react with the clay and cause the piece to soften months down the road. There are tried and tested finishes that can be used. Future Floor Finish is a good one, and it is cheap. I prefer sprays, and the Rustoleum has been tested to at least a year out with good results. The shine it imparts is brilliant. It is my favorite!
Some more lava bead pics from this project…

Tuesday Tag-Along

Polymer Clay Day #44: Various Circle Triangle Zebra Print Pendants

Love love love Sundays. Today the sermon addressed the common stereotype that Christians are judgmental, and how that drives hoards of people away from church, away from Christ. The take home message was that judgement is necessary in life, but there is a way to go about it with love. And if we aren’t coming from a place of love in our judgements, we are probably best to just keep quiet. Like if someone I love is in an addiction, I would ideally approach them with an awareness of and openness about my own shortcomings as opposed to coming at them from a place of self righteousness and superiority. The summary take home sentence was “I want to be handled gently, and I am not perfect.” So, I will meditate on that and keep it as my filter to the best of my ability this week – until I go back next Sunday, and Danny gives another sermon that hits home with a new sentence.

Nothing to do with clay, I know. Guess I had to get that out. More zebra print work. I like the first and third pics with the pink triangle and it’s subtle chinese character imprint on the pink. I also like the smaller black and aqua triangle in that the triangle is flush with the circle, and kindy wavy trippy.
I must say, I am so excited about a new clay thingy I tried today. I took plenty of pics during the process, and am going to take a crack at posting a step by step tutorial tomorrow. See you then…

Polymer Clay Day #43: Water Slide Transfer Beads!

I usually post finished jewelry as opposed to just polymer clay beads, but I was too excited about these to wait for the finish to dry. I love things that rock out and are easy to make, like these. All I did was put a Lisa Pavelka water slide transfer on white clay, cut to desired size, then baked. The transfers come in many different designs and couldn’t be easier to use. There is even blank transfer paper to print your own designs on, which I have yet to try. It is not carried in any of the local craft stores near me, but you can order it (any lotsa other awesomeness) from her online shop, here. I get no kickbacks or freebies for posting this, I just love it and want to share. Gonna order me some of those blankies. Combining my graphic design with polymer clay… it is almost too much craft bliss.

Polymer Clay Day #42: Storage Bins with Clay Number Embellishments…

Let me just first say… I am baaaaack!. So wifi capable now. Wow. What did I ever do before this laptop merged with my body. Remember this post? I prettied up some storage bins I scored at a yard sale. I only did two of the 4. See…

After getting my craft room painted, the need for more storage for all this clay, jewelry findings, beads became apparent. So, I went to work on the remaining 2 storage caddies. Here is what emerged…
I simply textured raw clay, then cut out circles with my cookie cutter. I stamped the numbers on using acrylic stamps and black pigment ink. The cool thing about heat set ink and clay is that baking the clay sets the ink. Nice. I used matte gel medium to adhere appropriately sized scrapbook paper to the front of each drawer (which I had already spray painted black), then glued the clay number circles on with a dab of hot glue. Easy, and awesome with the rest of my craft room style. Stay tuned for more revelation of the creative space. You get a small glimpse of the wall color in the last picture above. Soooo good to be back. Time to clay. Friday blog hops I joined to meet new friends…badge

No Clay Day 4

Moving and unpacking has been a bit more involved than I had anticipated. Pretty much need to paint every room, while living out of boxes piled in the garage. Gonna be awile before getting back to 100 days of polymer clay. Also, no internet until Friday. Blogging withdrawal forced me to post my bathroom painting projext drom my Droid. Missing the clay. Back to it ASAP. Craft room walls next!

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Polymer Clay Day #41: Zebra Print Framed Marathon Medallion

Sleepy crafter. Moved yesterday. Training for marathon. To tired for words. Clay rocks.

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