Apr 5, 2017

Imitated Nature

For those that don’t know I love to recreate things found on the beach with polymer clay. That’s also where my choice of name ‘Beadcomber’ came from, beachcombing.
I know a couple of my pieces are missing from this photo, namely a sea star or starfish and a whole sea urchin, but I wanted to see how a group shot of my handmade bits would look like. Sea urchin piece, sea glass, driftwood, pebbles, shells and my most recent addition, sand dollar.
The Sea urchin, driftwood and shells are made in a similar way with the help of chalk, the sea glass is made from a liquid form of polymer clay and the sand dollar is caned or made with a method called milifiori which is based on a technique that was originally used in glassworking for making complex designs.
DSC00045faux nature
So what is a cane? It’s a log or cylinder of clay that has a design running through it, so each slice of the cane - the cross-section - contains the design. I made a cane that measured approximately 2 inches in diameter and the larger the design, the easier the cane is to handle. It can then be reduced in size by pressing, stretching and rolling it so the cane becomes longer and thinner and the design becomes smaller along with it. Then when cutting slices from the cane, the design will look the same front and back.
DSC00021sand closeup
I have tutorials on all, except for this and the driftwood. They can be found Here. Just look for the Download Category with Tutorials. If you want some sand dollars or other things, I have them too!

Mar 22, 2017

Silkscreen + Chalk + Ink + Liquid Polyclay = Faux Ceramic

I was just going through my photos on my computer and while I had posted this tutorial on Facebook, I completely forgot to post it here. It’s not my usual style for a tutorial, but made it as short as possible. If you aren’t into making Christmas or Easter Ornaments, this technique can be used for plenty of other projects including Sun Catchers, Pendants, Bracelets, Boxes etc.

I’ve been making silkscreens for more than 10 years now and they have become very popular for use in polymer clay. Here is one of the earliest techniques I developed using chalk.

Silkscreen + Chalk + Ink + Liquid Polyclay = Faux Ceramic. Enjoy!

For my Silkscreens, check out the nice variety in my Etsy

DSC00030 ornaments2

Tina Holden Snowflake

Snowflake Tute1

Snowflake Tute2

Snowflake Tute3

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