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

Glow in the dark and Faux Fun

It’s a new year and hoping you survived the holidays (or weather) without a hitch. Winter isn’t over tho. Apparently we had another Tsunami Warning a few nights ago which was changed to an Advisory…but we slept through it this time and didn’t even hear about it until next morning.

I sat down at my desk to try a Glow in the Dark shot with a borrowed camera. It’s just a simple Fuji, but has a manual setting and my older Sony only has Auto focus which isn’t possible to use in the dark. These dagger beads made from Glow-in-the-dark Premo will be for some earrings and necklace…might be interesting for a night out on the town. I mixed another colour into the clay as it was a bit too green in daylight.

The shot in the dark isn’t as crisp, but then it’s virtually impossible to focus a camera in the dark, even with ‘manual’ and a tripod…or I don’t understand how to use the camera correctly which is entirely possible since I don’t have the instructions.

This shot conveys the glitter quite well.

Ok…perhaps this is boring stuff for you, but I’ve also been working on some Faux things like Turquoise and Nephrite Jade. The slab is faux and for the Jade, the ovals are real. I hand carved the tubes. Hadn't done that for a while. One of my directions this year will be to create more focal beads and incorporating them with bead embroidery. Actually I don’t have a real plan yet.

What’s on your clay table?

Colourful faces

Ok…here in Canada we spell Colour with a ‘u’ added, but spell check is driving me a little bonkers. Am using Windows Live Writer and it wants me to add the ‘u’, but then when I need to edit something in Blogger it underlines it and insists it’s without the ‘u’, argh…
Anyway, with the suddenly dreary, gray, wet and colder October weather I need to add some colour to my online shops (most are in Etsy right now, but will add more to ArtFire) by adding more of my Art doll face cabochons. While they are moulded, the moulds have flaws which transfer to the faces, so I  redefine them by tooling each cabochon, plus I add details such as the spiral symbol, nostrils, eyelashes/eyebrows, change the lips and of course color them with my unique mixed media that exhibit a sort of ceramic property.

The exception are the recently addition of faux or imitative stone cabochons. Right now I just have the Rhyolite or Sandstone but will be adding other type.

I make them both masculine or feminine, glossy or matte. Of course, I prefer the faux stone in matte as opaque stone is rarely glossy and for the colours I prefer the glossy as it also makes the colour more permanent, although I put some matte ones in the wash and they came out looking the same. I just trust the gloss more, but for art dolls either should be fine. Wouldn’t a matching pair of dolls be fun?

I have some creepy Alien faces for Halloween as well…creeeeeepy!! not sure if I should list those…

52 pairs of Earrings a Year

I’m a little behind and had legitimate reasons which I won’t get into, but I’m glad to say I am once more caught up with this challenge. 52 pairs of Earrings a Year… I’m happy to present…
#17 with the Theme “Tangerine Tango” for which I created simple enough triangular pendants with my Batik & Shimmer technique

For week #18 which is an open theme, I created resin monarch butterflies

Week #19 had another theme which was ANYTHING FAUX…so here they are, some of my faux ROMAN COINS.

Week #20 or May 13-19 is the open theme for which I created some traditional beaded earrings with goldstone coins and glass bead fringes.

and I have another new thing…isn’t it interesting?? (I have another that looks exactly the same)

what is it you may ask?
My new hearing aides!!!! YAY!!! Those of you (you know who you are) who helped to make this purchase possible, I thank you. So much technology packed into a box that measures a mere 1 inch. These are now my favourite pairs of earrings! I have 4 programs for these, general, speech in noise, outdoors and music. My favourite setting is speech in noise which doesn’t amplify all the sounds distant and near as it does for the general setting, but only amplifies sound in the immediate area. The receiver has a telecoil which automatically tunes the aides to my analog phone when I place the receiver near my ear. I avoided the phone for far too long. No more excuses! Next time I’m in the city, I’ll have the programs tweaked a bit more, but they are pretty darn good!

Inkjet and Faux Jade Rose Earrings

I made two earrings this week for the 52 Earrings a Year Challenge. The theme was Twigs for #13 and for #14 I chose to make Faux Jade Ear gauges. I believe I’m now caught up with the challenge!

Well, trees aren’t exactly twigs, but these leaf-less trees reminded me of twigs, so I made Inkjet transfers on Kato polyclay and then covered them with resin. I altered the sky to give it a pink hue. Some ‘twigs’ of coral beads and iris purple glass beads dangling from them complete this pair.

For #14 I chose to make a Faux Nephrite Jade and turned them into faux ear gauges with some roses. I couldn’t fit the stud properly on the hard bust. They fit a person much better, but I don’t have any live models. the little swirl on the stud isn’t supposed to be sticking out, but one gets the idea of the look.

#15’s theme is going to be Easter. I’m not into Bunnies and Eggs sort of thing, so will have to think that one out…maybe I’ll be inspired by something a bit more spiritual…stay tuned.

Playing catch up

I’ve had to do some catching up with a whole bunch of things at home here, but also meant to post more earrings and I’m behind. So I’m posting my #9 and #10 Earrings at the same time. This is for the Earring Challenge which you can visit by clicking on the widget to the right of this post.

These earrings weren’t really challenging in the sense of execution, but a challenge with the time limitations I’m having at the moment. Hope to come up with something better for #11 which has a Theme “Spring”. wish me luck! (it’s been stormy, hailing and snow.I could use a little Spring, lol)

#9 are some Faux hammered Copper Earrings. To make the hammered look, I used a stylus to emboss the clay and then applied metallic copper mica.

#10 Hawaiian Hibiscus Crackle with resin. I used my New Crackle Technique along with one of my stencils. I silkscreened the Hibiscus with copper paint.

52 pairs of Earrings #5 and #6 and Macro Photography

I promised to talk more about the Lens attachment I got for my P&S (Point and Shoot) Camera and will do so, but first want to show you my latest earrings for the 52 pairs of Earrings a Year Challenge on Flickr. These two will catch me up. Both are made with polymer clay and wire. The flowers and faux glass pieces are polymer clay.
 

close up of ‘glass’. The frosted look makes these look less transparent, but I’m still happy with the translucency. This photo, and the one above were taken with the ‘Little Big shot’ attachment lens.

These earrings were shot with just the regular macro setting on my Sony This was as close as possible and not quite clear or crisp enough. The attachment really makes the subject look clearer which is hard to do with only a 3.3 megapixel camera. My Sony is 12 years old.  I figure I should still be able to get a few more years out of it and fills my need.

Am also preparing to make more heart pendants. They aren’t just for Valentines. Also shot with the lens attachment. The heart was done with my Batik and Shimmer technique.

The Macro Little Big Shot is worth having and comes in different sizes to fit your camera or even Smartphone. Visit the Blog, lots of info on a page with easy to understand You Tube videos. I’m so happy I have this little gizmo.  I think you will be too. The small price of $19.99 even includes shipping and a great carry case with clip.

Faux Glass Et cetera

So many things are going on my polymer clay studio right now. It’s one of those times where I wish there were two or three of me. As you know I love to experiment and am always challenging myself. I’m analytical and a problem solver, and when a mystery pops up, I’m confronted with the compulsive need to find a solution. ‘Is it possible?’ I keep asking myself. This quirk maybe to a fault because lately, every alternate day when it’s my turn to cook for the family, the meals are quick to prepare Stir fry, casserole, pasta… meal planning is out the window as the mad scientist would rather spend all day dabbling with a little of this and a little of that. Thankfully my cooking still gets compliments and my daughter helps with dishes.
Ok…some new stuff…
Faux Glass…It’s still in the experimental stages, but this may be an upcoming tutorial. Wondering how much interest this would generate? Here are a few pieces. The very light blue set…one is glass the rest are faux. In case you are wondering, the one on the left is the real piece. I think I managed to get the colour realistic enough. Funny thing is when photographing light coloured or see-through items, my camera picks up the bluish tone rather than the white background. My white balance isn’t quite right and my older Sony only allows for Indoor, Outdoor or Auto, but the colour of the glass is this…

To show the difference in translucency, I used a Ring to lean them against. The first piece is real glass, the rest are faux.

I made a few of the tear drop beads in these colours

I felt I should get a few more pieces of jewelry done or at least some components, so made this from the Evergreen sheet I had left.


Then I got to work making a burnt orange crackle sheet. I made the Ring from above, some earrings and really like how the crackle reflects. Straight on there is no glimmer, but held at angles there is.

Some of these close up photos were taken with an attachment that I got for my camera. I have an older Sony style camera that has Macro ability, but not nearly enough close up capability as I would like. I’ll blog about this in my next blog, it’s something that can fit virtually any camera and is super easy on your wallet. Stay tuned…
Until then, drop me a comment…

Turtle Jewel Pendants

It’s been a busy summer, but I’ve been itching to write another tutorial and must say this one has been a long one in the making. Between computers and lost photos (even though I have an external hard drive), too complicated, but I finally got it done. These can be interpreted any way you like, into a tribal kind of pendant or more classy. The facial features like eyes and beak can be left off for a more serious look or you can add comical Muppet-like eyes for fun.

This tutorial consists of 61 steps, 23 pages and 58 photographs.

This lesson is a detailed step by step how to create a turtle with a textured back with an inlaid polymer clay bezeled or rimmed stone. Slowly but surely (turtle pun) you will learn how to build the head, body, legs and tail, then assemble, sculpt, texture the front and back and turn the turtle into a adorable wearable pendant. You can also choose to create a larger version as a decorative ornament. Give your turtle land or sea legs or a metallic or faux bone body.

I’ve listed this in both my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

Springing into Polymer Clay Colour

Here are a few things I've been up to...Polymer Clay Flowers, Hearts, Beach Pebbles and my Batik and Shimmer Jewellery. I'm really enjoying some of the new Premo colours, particularly the Pearls, like Bright Green, Peacock and Violet, although Wasabi is an interesting colour as well.