Embossing Folders and Polymer Clay Buttons

I have been so busy with some big (well, big for me anyway) custom orders the past few weeks that I haven't had time to play. But all of that changed yesterday. I finally had an afternoon free to do what I wanted to do.

I bought an embossing folder some time ago and was really itching to use it. Wait? What? An embossing folder? Yep, you heard right. An embossing folder. Now you may ask, "What the heck is an embossing folder?" Well, let me explain...

Spellbinders - Flowers and Leaves embossing folder

Embossing folders are just that. A plastic folder you use to emboss a design onto paper, usually card stock, to make cards and such. They have a design on each side, negatives of each other, that match up perfectly when its closed.

This is a paper that I embossed with my folder.

Now if you are a card maker these folders are great tools to have around. But just because I don't craft with paper doesn't mean I can't have fun playing with them. So here's what I did with mine.

I made buttons!

I used my paper embossing folder to make buttons!

For these buttons I used the side of the folder that gave a raised design.

I used the other side of the folder for these buttons. The design is stamped into the clay.

Experimenting with some different effects. Plus, there are so many other possibilities!

If you are interested in trying this for yourself the only thing to remember to do is to use some sort of a release. I sprayed a little water on the folder before pressing the clay into it. You could probably use cornstarch, baby powder or baking soda too. But I found that a little spritz of water was all that was needed. And don't actually close the folder onto your clay, the way you would paper. Just use one side at a time. If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below.

I'm really loving the look of these buttons. And I'm going to be on the look out for more embossing folders with different designs. Sounds like an excuse to go to the craft store!

One thing leads to another

This is a true story

If an artist goes to the craft store for polymer clay, chances are she will look up and down the other aisles. And when she's looking around she is bound to see something that piques her interest. She finds something she thinks could be quite useful and takes it home.
Once she gets home she will open her new found art supply and immediately think about Mexican tiles. Working on tiles reminds her of ring dishes (which she has been meaning to make).
While making ring dishes her mind will wander to pottery shard jewelry. But instead of jewelry.....hmmmm, what about buttons? So she makes a few.
And chances are, after making tiles, dishes and buttons, she will need to go to the craft store for more clay.

The end

This set of fondant stamps looked interesting to me. I  hoped I could do something with them that didn't involve cupcakes!

I love the patterns and colors of Mexican tiles and experimented with different variations.

Heart shaped ring dish

Square ring dish

Small round ring bowl

Buttons!

A close up look. I think the rust colored leaf ones are my favorite.

April Flowers

April found me working on flowers. Wow what a surprise, right?

I had a custom order to fill for 7 crochet hooks. I love how they turned out. And so did the customer! Her review read "The workmanship is excellent. The colors and designs are terrific. Very comfortable to use." I love it when my customers are happy with their purchase. Yay!

Next, I decided to try something new. Plant stakes! I made 3 sets of these whimsical flowers. A great way to add some color to your green, non-flowering plants. Or arrange them in a vase for a bouquet that never dies!

I even tried my hand at flower sculpting.

I love the lily the best! In the end though I decided not to use it. It was going to be just a bit too fragile. But the poppies passed the test and so did the roses! Here is where they ended up. A flower vase given as a birthday present. I was told that Nana was very pleased! Another yay!

So there you have it. Three very different projects. Three very different styles and applications. But all of them blooming with color!

If you know someone who would enjoy receiving a flowering gift that never fades, let me know. I would love to help you out!

February Highlights

As promised yesterday, I'm going to play catch up on things that I have created this year. And so that brings us to February.

February, I think, is my least favorite month of the year so thank goodness it's also the shortest! It's usually one of the coldest too. I'm pretty sure when February rolls around, many others feel the same way I do. They're tired of the cold and just want Spring to hurry up already!

February found me making a few new items. All of which were fun, bright colors, in the hopes of curing the winter doldrums.

I started with keychains! Flowers, butterflies, fish....yeah that felt like spring.

Then I moved on to earrings. They may be small but they are bright!

I even tried my hand at thumbtacks. What a cute way to pin up notes, reminders, recipes, or whatever!

A new item I started making this year is dread beads! I really like making these single, large holed beads. Wear them in your hair or string them on some thick cording, the choice is yours!

Anticipating warmer weather, I made these hair ties. I wear my hair back all the time and thought these would be a fun way to dress up that ponytail!

 

And finally, I made these fun refrigerator magnets!

That's about it. Although it's no longer winter these fun, cheery items for you, your home and office will always brighten your day. Some are still available in my Etsy shop. I invite you to stop by and take a closer look!

Inclusions in Clay

I have been playing around with polymer clay for nearly 20 years now. Wow! After all that time you would think I've seen and done it all. Hardly! There have been weeks.....even months.... that I haven't even touched my clay. And with it's versatility, new ideas are always being discovered.

What I've been playing around with the past 2 days is certainly nothing new. I'm not the originator of these ideas. Others have been adding "things" to translucent clay for years. But I wanted to try for myself and share the results.

First up, dryer lint..... Yes, that's right.....  Dryer lint.  Now most of the time I'm fighting the battle of keeping my clay clean. Anyone who has ever worked with polymer clay can tell you....it's like a lint magnet! No matter how clean my work surface and hands I'm always picking little pieces of lint or cat hair off of my clay. So why in the world would I intentionally mix it in? Because, just look at the results.

At the top is the lint. The bottom right in uncured translucent clay with the lint mixed in. The little owl figure is the cured piece. 

The top is some green dryer lint. The bottom left shows what the uncured clay looks like. The pebble on the right is after curing and sanding.

Isn't that little owl cute? Looks like carved stone, right? And what about my green pebble? It reminds me of a polished river rock.

Well, while I was experimenting I decided to try out a couple other ideas.

This little bird was made by adding blue crayon shavings to some translucent clay. I love the speckles!

I mixed in some bright orange play sand and got a gold fish!

These simple little animal totems are so much fun to make! I'm not sure what I will do with them yet. Perhaps I'll drill holes through them and turn them into beads. Or maybe another idea will come to mind. But I do believe I will try out some other colors of both the crayons and the sand. I do love colors! So.....off to the work table! Until next time........

Wallflowers

Here's the post I promised last week. An introduction to a new product I made that I'm calling Wallflowers.

These came about due to the fact that I had made too many patterned clay sheets (I must confess, they are sooooo much fun for me!) but I had no plans for them. I would make them and store them away for another day. Well, it was getting to the point where I had to do something with them all.

This is just a few of my sheets. Some were leftover from other projects. Others I made while experimenting with scraps.

I took out my small tear drop shaped clay cutter and started punching out petals.

These were the first in the making.

 I added two more petal shapes to the mix and made these.

Here they are on my wall. Aren't they fun?

I made coordinating flowers in groups of 3 or 4 for each pattern/color. They are all available on-line.

But of course they can be used for other things, not just as wall decor.  Here are a few other ways they can be used: decorate scrapbook pages, attach them to a headband, turn them into refrigerator magnets, decorate a picture frame or mirror. Maybe you can think of another use! If so, let me know in the comments.

That's about it for now. Until next time.....

What choice do I have?

Last month I was so excited about moving into my own space, remember? It took a little bit of work (okay, a lot of work) to get there but I did it! And wouldn't ya know it, before I had time to remember where I put everything , my daughter called wanting to move back home. It seems living so far away wasn't all it was cracked up to be. So.....I've had to move out of my studio room and turn it back into a bedroom.

I was so sad to lose my space that I was close to being depressed. I mean, I hadn't even gotten it the way I wanted before I had to give it up. I even had a fleeting thought of just packing up all my stuff and calling it quits. (Yeah, I was feeling a little sorry for myself) But, like I said, it was a fleeting thought. Because who was I kidding? I would never be happy with my clay and all of my other crafting "necessities" packed away. So, I tried to stay positive.  I cleaned and  rearranged and organized my formal dining room the best that I could to suit my needs. Sharing this open space will have it's drawbacks (it has no doors to close off the noise and cat traffic) but it sure beats having nothing. I'll make the best of it and just keep on doing what I do. I have no other choice. After all, it's the only thing I know to do. Until next time.....put a smile on!

What's in Store for 2013

We are less than a week into the new year. Have you broken any resolutions yet? Me? I don't make resolutions. But I have made plans, goals if you will, for me and my Etsy shop. Ready to hear about them?

First up......Macrame!  I love macrame!  I remember when I was a kid in the 70's my Mom made a couple of macrame plant hangers and a handbag. But I never learned the knots back then. It was when my daughter was a preteen wanting to learn how to make friendship bracelets that I taught myself some of the knots.  In order to teach her I had to learn it myself!  I've been knotting off and on ever since. There is still a market for macrame hemp jewelry and I have decided to start making a wider variety for the shop. I ordered 12 different colors of hemp and have made a number of bracelets. My goal is to learn a few more knots and try to offer something a little different than just the basic jewelry. And one of these days I'm going to make my own hammock chair too!

12 spools of hemp!

One of the bracelets I made. It's knotted on memory wire!

Next I'm thinking about offering my polymer clay canes for sale.  I love making canes but then I have trouble using them.  I get bored with them quickly and then I'm ready to make a new one. I ordered this set of discs to use with my clay gun a couple of months ago. I love the repeating patterns and the geometric shapes used in quilt blocks.  This should be fun and I have been itching to get started.

          And I finally did!

The first of many!

And just this week I rediscovered Shrinky Dinks! Remember those? Another throw back to my 70's childhood. And once again I have my daughter to thank for this! I was cleaning out some stuff that she left behind when she moved out and found this book. It still had some of the plastic sheets too!

Shrinky Dinks Book!

I sharpened my colored pencils and started drawing. I've made some mistakes, learning what works and what doesn't. I'm not sure where I'm headed with this but I have some ideas in my head. So only time will tell.

The 2 on the left are too dark. The other 3 aren't bad but could be improved.

So what do all of these things say about who I am? I have no idea! I hope to find a way to incorporate everything I enjoy into one cohesive shop. That's one goal that may take me a little longer to reach. But so far this year I've had a blast revisiting some things I haven't done in a while and stretching my imagination.  I am looking forward to what this year has in store for me!

No. 4

It's been 5 weeks now and bead challenge number 4 is done!

Lulu, from Divine Lulu Creations, wanted to see what I could come up with using dolphins as my theme! This is what she said, and I quote, "How about dolphins? It's almost summer and they're so happy and beautiful!"

Well Lulu, how did I do?  Looking at this little guy makes me happy!  But you know what they say about beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder.  It's hard to capture the true colors and depth of these beads in pictures. They look much better in person, all glittery and shiny!

I'm picturing these made into a ceiling fan pull.  How cute would that be in a little girls bedroom?  Add a few sparkly crystals.... hmmm. Maybe.  I won't do anything else with these for now because I have to focus on my next project.  Snake beads.  I'm really going to have to switch gears for that. Wish me luck!

Out of Africa?

If you have read my last couple of posts then you know that I am doing what I am calling a bead challenge.  I posted that I wanted some suggestions for making beads. I was feeling uninspired and needed someone to kick my butt in gear.  Well, I had 6 people respond to my challenge and today is show and tell day # 2.

Jeanne from Blue Ridge Origami, suggested  I make African themed beads.  She mentioned that someone she works with, who is from Zambia, had brought some handmade African jewelry to the states with her.   Well for me, the first thought in my head when I hear Africa is animals; you know, lions, elephants, zebras and giraffes.  I could have gone the animal print route but that really wasn't were I wanted to go.  I wanted my beads to have a more natural Earthy feel. Maybe even a little primitive looking.  Something that had been made of bone or clay or had been painted with natural dyes.  So, where did that lead me?  To google of course!

When I was a kid I used to have to turn to the World Book Encyclopedia for the answers to my questions.  I had a teacher that when asked something by a student, her answer was "Look it up!"  Today, I don't even think my kids know how to look up information in an actual book!  The response I give them when they ask a question is "Google it!" Boy how things have changed in the past 3 decades! Is the World Book even published anymore? Hmmmmm

But now, back to the beads. I chose to use black, brown, gray, ivory and brick red, which is a far cry from my normal color palette. Sometimes we need a change from the norm.  And I have to say, I enjoyed it! In fact I got a little carried away.  I ended up making 51 beads which when strung together measures 22 inches.  Lots of possibilities with that many beads, I think.  I am very pleased with the way they turned out.  What do you think? Did I capture the African theme?  Thanks Jeanne, you have opened up my mind to even more projects in the future.

Well, I have now completed 2 challenges and I am looking forward to the next one.  I already have a plan for it, so be on the look out!  Karalee, you're up next!

They are temporarily strung just to give you an idea of how they could look as a necklace

The making of buttons

Today I thought I would share with you how I go about making my polymer clay buttons.  It's really not hard.  Anyone could do it.  I think the hardest part is deciding what colors to use.  So many possibilities!  Well let's get started!

I decided to use pink, black, white and gray today.  I already have my pink and gray mixed and ready to use.  The black and the white still need to be conditioned to soften it and get all of the particles in the clay evenly distributed.  These buttons are going to be striped so I have to use my clay gun.


Each color is pushed through the clay gun to form even sized strands.  I use my caulk gun to help with this.  It's pretty hard on my fingers trying to push the stiff clay through those tiny holes.  Doing it this way I have my strands within seconds! Now I'm ready to start laying them out onto a thin sheet of black clay!







I make sure to get them as straight as possible and then I run this whole sheet through my pasta machine.  This makes a nice flat, even sheet. I make it pretty thin, so I take yet another sheet of black clay, about 1 - 2 mm thick and lay the striped sheet on top of it. 

                                                     

                                                                   




After 
both sheets are adhered to each other, I lay it on a ceramic tile and cut out the buttons using a round circle cutter.  Using the tile means I don't have to move the buttons and risk making them misshapen.  I put holes in the buttons with a needle and put it all in the oven.  

I still have some of the striped sheet to use later.  Maybe I'll make some striped beads later.  And that scrap pile will become the centers of those beads.  Nothing will go to waste! Well, after the buttons have baked for about 30 minutes, they are ready to be wet sanded.  I like to take this extra step because it makes them feel so smooth.  Then I will drill the holes a little bigger.  Oh yeah, I still have to polish them too.  I do this with a soft piece of denim.  It gives them a nice satin shine.  And there you have it!  The buttons are now ready to use! Now I think I'll go list these in my Etsy shop.  Have a great weekend everyone!