Toy of the Week #3 and 52 Earrings a Year #16

I’ve just received some of the Baroque Gilders’ Pastes. After trying the Viva Decor Inka Gold which are water based, I wanted to compare them. Gilders paste requires turpentine or paint thinner as a means to soften, however you can use your finger, a cloth or a bristle brush to paint with. Hands, fingers and work surface are easily cleaned up with baby wipes.
When I tried to open one of the jars, I found I initially needed the aid of a tool. I use a small screwdriver to pry the lid off for the first time. After this, if you’re careful not to snap the lid down all the way, then it won’t be so difficult to open thereafter. Just like the Viva Decor, some of the paints are soft and smooth and other cakes look a bit cracked and dry. That is the nature of the beast, but they are easily reconstituted with a bit of thinner.

This is the first time I have used these here, for this demonstration. I rolled some copper clay mixed with a bit of ecru and textured with my Steampunk Cogs and Gears stencil. I also textured a dark silver sheet so the pendants created will have texture on both sides and will be reversible.

I choose some round cutters for my pendants. I think I won’t need to demonstrate here how to use them as this isn’t really a tutorial, just a quick demo. If you are one who has purchased one of my tutorials, I tend to show all the steps for a more visual tutorial, but I won’t do this here. The next thing I’m preparing is a design from a mold. I chose my Flower cabochon mold. I wet these molds with a little bit of water as a release agent. Condition and roll a bit of clay, push into mold, texture the back if you like. The nice thing using a texture is that it also lifts the molded piece out of the mold instead of having to pry it from the mold and risk deforming it. You can use sandpaper, fabric, sand paper…

While one can measure more accurate amounts for a cabochon, in this case I use an oval cutter. I rather like the Makins Cutters as they are very reasonably priced and readily available through Michaels, online polymer clay suppliers or kitchen or baking supply shops. The oval cutter creates a clean edge.

Then I bake my pieces. For the green beads I used the Hawaiian Hibiscus stencil, the Patina and Iris Blue Gilders paste on a medium shade of green clay as a base. Then I added just a hint of Inca Gold. I didn’t use a cloth to apply, just my finger. For the piece in the second photo I used a stamp and applied the same paints with my finger.

For the copper base clay cabochon I first used a bristle brush and applied Patina, and then rubbed off the Patina on the surface, so it was just left in the crevices. I highlighted the high points with a bit of copper gilders paste. For the second cabochon I only used black with a brush and wiped off the paint from the raised parts. Apparently these are very durable without any fixative, but to be on the safe side you could use a spray on varnish or brush on varnish such as Sculpey Glaze or Preserve your Memories II Spray, something like that.

Here are some other things I made and the finished earrings and cabochons…The Earrings are my #16 on the 52 pairs of Earrings a Year challenge. I need to hurry up with my tangerine tango #17 and am a week behind…

Not bad for my first try. Not sure if I like the shoe polish odor, lol