#1 Tiny Envelope Tutorial ~ #100thingschallenge

Mastering Pebeo Paint

I truly like the specialty paint by Pebeo, but there is a learning curve to using it on polymer clay. Last month at the Southern Connecticut Clay Guild retreat, Clay ConneCTion,  I had the opportunity to dabble both the Fantasy and the Moon paints.  I truly dabbled the paint on to baked inchies tiles. Clay thickness was number 1 on an Atlas pasta machine.  The paint was applied with the tip of a dollar store wooden screwer. After drying i noticed that some of the tiles curled up at the corners.  So my theory is that the paint does pull the clay as it dries and retracts.  The retracting of the paint may cause the clay to crack. 

I went on to try the clay on a thick piece.  Advice: make sure the layers of clay are really pressed together,  because the paint is going to pull at the clay.  Here are a couple of images of my experience.

To Purchase or Not to Purchase?

Yesterday I had a 40% off coupon for Blick Art Supplies. I toyed with the idea of purchasing a 8 x 10 gelli plate. But I didn't purchase it because I had a 5 x7 gelli art plate and a home made plate. My homemade plate was smaller than 8x10 and it was a little delicate on the edges. I figured that I would be happy with the output. Today I am not happy with the output, there are several reasons why, and now I am sad that I didn't use that coupon for another gelli plate. I had an 8x10 gelli and somehow lost it in a move I made back in May. Oh I also lost a box of acrylic paint. Nice paint at that. The stuff I have now is not so good. Therefore I am not getting the results I would like to have.

I did try some deli sheets and some of them are kind of nice. I made some turkey eyes for some pre-k students and decided to keep the waste. The waste turned out to be a cute stencil. This is painted on a deli sheet.

Found a geometric image that I liked, so I made a stencils. This next one is a deli sheet also.

 










While I was playing around I  did manage to use a sheet of music, and I was pleased with the outcome. 

I have taken some time playing with gelli art, but my original interest was to try it on clay, well now I think I have figured out the secret for clay success. 

Need a Helping Hand?

 

 

How many times have you wished that you had a helping hand while using your pasta machine?  Numerous times I wished that I had a helping hand while working on long thin sheets of skinner blends.  After all the blending, the sheet breaks in the middle.  Oh shoot! 

 

Well I stumble upon a pin that recommended using painters tape or masking tape to cover the back area of the pasta machine, so the clay doesn't stick to it and break.  Well I ran off to find some masking tape.  Well there was no masking tape here, only packaging tape.  That is not going to work - the clay is going to stick to the shining packaging tape.  Oh well I have to go out to the store to get tape - NO!  I decided to use the stuff I had! 

 

Polymer clay does not stick to regular paper.  So I used the packaging tape to create a two sided stripe of tape.  (Before the purchase of double sided sticky tape, I did this all the time when hanging posters.) I just rolled the tape back on itself to create a stick tube of tape. This is better than double sided tape, because the double sided tape is very thin and when it is stuck down, there is no removing it.  So the rolled packaging tape will be easy to remove.  Using the sticky tube, I stuck a simple sheet of paper to the back of my pasta machine.  The clay guided very nicely over the back of the pasta machine.  So when you are stretching out a skinner blend to make a skinner plug, you can place the blend in and use one hand to crank the pasta machine and the other hand to guide the clay sheet out.  There you go! What do you think?



 

 



Hey Cupcake

I acquired the nickname "cupcake", from a PTA parent, because I rewarded good behavior with a cupcake party.  They were fun events.  So I found a Wilton mold of a cupcake and I could not resist it.  I made me a cupcake charm to wear.  Thanks Mr. B. for the nickname.

Clean Hands

Well it has been a long time since I have made a post, so today I will end the dry spell.  Above I have included a photo of my new favorite hand cleaner.  This stuff is wonderful when cleaning polymer clay residue from your hands.  This is a pumice hand cleaner and it has a sweet cherry smell.  After rubbing a small amount on my hands, making sure to clean the fingers, I either wipe it off with a baby wipe or rinse my hands in water.  My skin feels so soft and clean.  This stuff is great to use just before you start working with white clay.  I do recommend getting jar of this stuff.  You can find it at most hardware stores.  It should not be too hard to find it is made by the same people who make Purell Hand Sanitizer.

Summer Retreat

I just returned from the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild - retreat "Clay Connection", in New London, Ct.  It was 'A W E S O M E'.  I had so much fun, met wonderful people, and learned a ton of things.  I was blown away from this experience. I need to make a pledge to myself to attend a similar event annually.  It had been over ten years since my last retreat at Shrine Mont in Virginia.  The guild members and participants were friendly and gracious with sharing their skills and expertise.

I entered a timed challenge where I created a Bottle of Hope using crayons as a challenged ingredient. It was inspiring, so I went on to create a second BOH that I was pretty proud of.

The surface treatment was a new technique.  I have only tried it a couple of times. With this bottle I think I have learned how to control the output.  I still need some more practiced with this technique, but I love the results here.  I will share more about this technique in the future.

New Online Store

I like making and selling jewelry.  Sometimes I have come along a piece of jewelry that I am willing to share, but I did not make this item.  With my etsy account I can only sell items I have made, so now I have found a place where I can share anything I wish to share.  So here is a link to my Square Market place.
https://squareup.com/market/cassandra-williams

Lentil Bead

Lentil Bead
Originally uploaded by claycass

Silk Screens and Silk Screening

I have created several afro-centric designs, and I think these designs will work nice with polymer clay silk screening.  I envision that these silk screens can be used to create small pieces of art.  In November I created a pretty unique piece using silk screened polymer clay.  I decided that I would like to create some afro-centric silk screens and use them to create wearable art work. 

    

 Adinkra Symbol - Strength

 

This is my first featured design.  It is the African Adinkra symbol of  'strength'.  The silk screen sheets are 4 x 5 inch squares.  Acrylic paints can be used to create the design.  Using typical silk screen process of squeezing the paint through the screen will create the design in paint.  A mixture of different colored clay and paints can yield amazing art. This is just a sample of what I created when playing with clay, paint and silk screens.

 

In the future I am looking for creative ways to use other Adinkra symbols.

 





 



I hope the new year brings prosperity and well wishes to everyone.  mmmm

I have to repair or replace my laptop so that I may really create postings for my blog.

I see myself returning to school to obtain yet another degree in pursuit of the American dream.  With that said blogging  and creating may be come difficult.

My laptop is down and I am going to try and create a post using my Samsung tablet. So this is my test.

Silk Screening

Just finished a class today on silk screening taught by Karen Woods.  She was a wonderful instructor. She gave us some great tips.  I see myself now looking for images that I can turn into silk screens.  Karen created a wonderful sample piece in class.  This was a workshop held by the New York Polymer Clay Guild.

LARGE PINCH FLOWER CANE

I conditioned some clay while watching a video. It was so warm that when I went to stretch out the blue blend it folded back on itself. So it was a mess. So I decided to work with it, this meant that the blue end of the blue/white blend was in the center. I also think in the future the initial petal cane should be rolled and reduce as a round cane. Reducing the cane in the round gets the cane to a desired size with ease. From France I have admired some big flower cane necklaces, so I am working on creating some large flower canes.

Check Out My Big Haul

I went to Michael's today and I got quite a haul. I had a coupon and a gift card, so I only spent $14. I am excited because I found the Sizzix tag die cutter. By its self it was $15. I thought this die cutter had a design on the tag. But the heart, butterfly, and I love you are not part of the die cutter. With this die cutter I am going to make product tags for my jewelry. I had some old texture sheets from Fiskar and the Spellbinder embossing mat should help with the impressions. I was reading the package of the Spellbinders dies and they state that the dies do all 3 things. They cut, emboss, and engrave, but they were all around 25$ and up. Next 50% off coupon will go toward a Spellbinders purchase.

 I also found some great colored cardstock. I bet this color is close the Pantone Color of the year for 2011, tangerine. I love the color so I just had to purchase it. The Color Infusion thread was a new item for me, it made me think of the kumihimo.they are sitting on the 'tangerine' cardstock. I like this braided cord. So I think this Color Infusion thread might lend itself well to the technique. I was originally turned on to kumihimo some years ago from Fiber Goddess. She has nice looms and bobbins. The Color Infusion thread comes on a nice bobbin. The other skein of yarn matches my color palette.

 I love apples - so for 3 bucks I had to have a new timer. I purchased greeting card for my friend, bugs for my clay and erasers for the little girl in me. Nice shopping, aye?

Nice Twist on Staples

Clipper Street Scrapbook Company: C is for Clever...: Recently found this on the Tim Holtz Blog and thought it was brilliant. What another great way to use your alcohol inks...to make your own ...
This is a nice feature to know how to create.  I have staples and alcohol inks.

Great Bails

These bails would work great with polymer clay beads.  I visited the new Joann's in the area and I picked up some new findings, so my creative juices are getting stirred up.

Cabezels!

The Art Of My Clay: Coming soon!
These molds look great.  I love the petals.

I am fascinated with the look of these cabochons. Well it looks like I might have to spend some money this summer.

SUMMER FUN

I am on a working summer vacation, so I am not going to be able to be totally creative. I will look for opportunities to make things. I saw this clasp and I said, "this is something I would like to make." Well so I can find it again I decided to blog about it. This clasp is simple but elegant. So have a look at the instructions if you dare to be creative. HAPPY SUMMER.

Shopping for the Best Buy

I went to Michaels to look for inspiration, while there I spied a deal I need to swing for myself. These two items are produce by two different companies and the prices are different. With a closer look I saw that the items were really the same things. I was waiting on a 50% coupon, so I could make my purchase. I now see that making a wise choice could save me an extra five dollars.