Polymer Clay Musings

One of my favorite aspects of polymer clay is that it is so darn versatile. You can mimic almost any material, use it for molds, make jewelry, housewares, museum quality art pieces, create almost anything your imagination can dream up.

I'll admit, while I've mastered many techniques, there are a few that I haven't really gotten the hang of. One of those techniques is caning. Yes, I know, one of the most basic of the basics. I attempted it early on in my polymer clay adventures and didn't have much success. Part of it was I was too broke to commit the amounts of clay needed to cane properly. And I also lacked patience. I've tried it periodically through the years and each attempt has gotten better but it has never ignited my imagination enough to really work hard on it. I prefer sculpting and faux/antiquing techniques.

I'm sure y'all have seen plenty of my own work so here are two fellow Etsy artists demonstrating my two favorite methods....

antiquing

Dirty Love by huntersdesigns

and sculpting

Welsh Corgi by designsbyginnybaker

Time for Another Etsy Fav's Round-up

This time I'm going to share my favorite silver pieces from Etsy. I finally got some silver stock to play with and have been looking at other work to see if I can figure it out what they did, as far as techniques go. I've never done traditional silver work and am pretty sure that my first few pieces will just be learning experiences since I don't have time for a class. I remember when I first started with PMC (precious metal clay). I used up about $75 worth of the stuff before I got the hang of it. I have some books and a few people I can call. So wish me luck.

Ruby Girl

Imogene and Annie

Erin Rea Designs

Mike and Mary Jewelry

Kismet Designs

New Belt Buckles

I have finally started working on some new designs. I want to explore patterns and different ways to use them. I also found this great vintage children's book in Fredericksburg a couple weekends ago. They had shelves and shelves full of these tiny things. I bought the Buck Rogers one and might go back to get one of the Dick Traceys. Anyway, wanted to share my new designs. I haven't printed them yet so it'll be at least a week before I have them in my shop.

I am also attempting to find a good mold so I can turn some of my belt buckle images into pendants. I just love making these. They are the perfect little frames.

Enjoy!