Coming Soon....Polymer Clay bracelet sizer tutorial

I did a workshop with these at the recent Horizons Polymer Clay Retreat in Vancouver. It was a fast 'Bam Bam' workshop quite late in the day, so hopefully my students walked away with some interesting info! I think these will be Bam Bam's because they are quick to make too!


First I showed the PhotoEZ stencil process, how to develop and screen them on polymer clay. Then I explained how to make the bracelet size 'specific'. I heard some oooh's and aaah's when that was revealed with my little 'Bam Bam Gizmo', lol. Perhaps you too have struggled with sizing, that when your wrist measures 7" and you use large beads, that your bracelet actually has to be much larger than the 7", or it won't fit....or you made some and they ended up being to small. I invented a sizer that is multi functional unlike the cone shaped sizer on the market. I've been using it ever since, even for beadwork. I'll be writing instructions sometime this coming next week. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime....would you be interested in a tutorial with sizer/kit?...?

Polymer Clay Baking...Do you bake indoors or out?

It has been very interesting lately to watch a lot of people redo or remodel their polymer clay studios.
What I have noticed is that a lot of polymer clay artists have their ovens right in the studio where they work and am wondering if they have ever given it much thought.

Some clayers may enjoy that smell when baking those projects, and I can't believe those that say they think it smells 'good', ugh!....but if you smell it, my friend, you are ingesting it. Some clayers may say "oh shut up already, I know all about it!"

For years now I've been keeping my oven where it belongs....outside. My polymer chemist husband is the one that made me do it, lol. He said: "It may be alright to open a window while you are baking, but that's no different than smoking a cigarette indoors and trying to blow the smoke outside." Yeah, true (except I quit smoking, lol). By now we all have heard that second hand smoke is bad, right? So, just wondering...is inhaling polymer clay fumes on a daily, or even weekly basis, any better...? Did you know that 3rd hand smoke is just as toxic as 2nd hand smoke? Smoke that is on clothing, drapes, furniture.....dumda dum, you touch it, you ingest it. Yep, those polymer clay fumes are covering all your furniture and drapes etc. if you bake indoors....I didn't even think about that, did you? I guess we could say ALL our indoor stuff is now polymer clay 'dedicated'!

So... a question....do you bake indoors or outdoors and why or why not?

Bangles Explosion!

...and a few other Polymer Clay bracelets made with recycled PVC as the base and handmade glass tiles and a stretchy cuff with green blue mica shift.



Realized I hadn't posted in a few days, as I'm busy preparing a whole bunch of things, but my polymer clay just can't wait any longer! Horizons 2009, the Vancouver Polymer Clay Retreat is coming up fast and I'll be doing a workshop with these bangle bracelets. Was going to call them Bang Bangles, as they bang together when one wears two or there, lol, but sounds kind of silly doesn't it...I dunno....mmm.