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.

Polymer Clay Shank Buttons

This week I wanted to try and make a different type of button.  Normally I make two-hole buttons but I wanted to make shank style buttons.  I searched online for pre-made shanks. But I was feeling impatient. I wanted to make these NOW! I didn't want to have to order the shanks and then wait for them to be delivered. So I decided to use what I had and make them myself.  I wasn't sure if it would work but there was only one way to find out. This is what I did.

I had this spool of 20 gauge wire on hand and thought that would work just fine.  I cut 6, 1-1/2" pieces with my wire cutters, one for each button.

I centered the wire on my round nose pliers and bent each end down, forming a loop.

.

 Like this.

I then coiled each end, like this.

I placed the looped and coiled wire on what will be the back of the button.  I pressed in down just slightly.

I took another, smaller circle of clay, cut a small slit in the center of it with my X-acto blade and pushed it down over the loop, covering the coiled ends of the wire.

I blended the edges of the smaller circle into the back of the button. I then textured the whole back to seamlessly join the two circles of clay together.

After doing this for all 6 buttons, I cured them in the oven for about 30 minutes. After sanding and polishing, here they are!

I am really pleased with the way they turned out.  They appear to be very sturdy, which was my biggest worry.  So I think I will make more of this type of button. In fact, I already have an idea for my next set!