Sunday, 18 August 2013

Polymer Clay Whats Cooking

This week I've had a sort through my clay canes some have been dispensed of for scrap clay, but I've used some others for my polymer clay ear studs and rings.

Old polymer clay canes resigned to the scrap pile
Old polymer clay canes resigned to the scrap pile
You may recognise a few already as my millefiori studs and rings are proving quite popular I've had to make more for my Etsy Shop.  Some are new though, well new styles from old canes, once cooked I'll know which ones will work well or not.

Polymer clay focal's for ear studs and rings
Polymer clay focal's for ear studs and rings
I've also been playing around with some more clay firstly I tried out some rose studs in some alternative colours a dark blue and green brushed with gold, but I'm not entirely happy with these.

I also got my urchin mould in the post this week all the way from Canada as you can see below I had a little practice with them, its a fantastic mould though as usual my alcohol inking technique needs some work I always find my colours come out a bit too intense.



Polymer clay roses and urchins
Polymer clay roses and urchins
I'm now awaiting another delivery of crystals to play with some new alcohol inks and more white clay so I should be having a fun week experimenting.

This post is part of Handmade Monday, why not pop on over to Handmade Monday and check out more great crafter's over on Handmade Harbours Handmade Monday

Sunday, 11 August 2013

Polymer Clay and Swarovski Crystals

Its time for me to start thinking ahead to creating new items for Autumn/Winter for me this is quite early as I'm always slow on the uptake, though I suspect many other crafter's started quite a while back.

I've been jotting down a few ideas as they pop into my head and one particular idea sprung to mind, for me Autumn but particularly Winter is always about the glitz and party's so with this in mind I decided to order some Swarovski Hot Fix Crystals to experiment with my polymer clay.

I ordered just two types of samples some hot fix Swarovski Crystal and some gold toned Swarovski Pearls with Autumn in mind from Beads Direct on Thursday and was delighted when they arrived Saturday morning and I couldn't wait to get started.

So heres my experiments with the Swarovski Crystals and Pearls, now despite them being hot fix crystals I pushed them into the clay in the desired pattern and cooked them as they were to see how well they attached, needless to say not strong enough for a wearable item of costume jewellery so I decided to very carefully super glue each crystal on which worked perfectly.

Swarovski Crystal & Pearl hot fix with polymer clay by Lottie Of London
Swarovski Crystal & Pearl hot fix with polymer clay by Lottie Of London
Above are some simple earrings and rings using the gold toned pearls in more Autumn tones.

Swarovski Crystal & Pearl hot fix with polymer clay by Lottie Of London
Swarovski Crystal & Pearl hot fix with polymer clay by Lottie Of London
And some samples for Winter especially the ring which is very glitzy.

I'm really pleased with how well they worked and I can't wait to order some more dazzling colours to experiment with, they've also sparked some new ideas for Summer next year.

This post is part of Handmade Monday, why not pop on over to Handmade Monday and check out more great crafter's over on Handmade Harbours Handmade Monday


Monday, 5 August 2013

Polymer Clay Mokume Game

In a early post last year I blogged about Mokume Gane with Polymer Clay, well this post is a slightly different variation on the technique.

There is a great YouTube video by Julie Picarello where she shows you how to make some gorgeous pieces and I highly recommend you take a look.

Here is my first attempt using this technique.

Colour selection for polymer clay Mokume Gane stack by Lottie Of London
Colour selection for polymer clay Mokume Gane stack
 I selected my colours for the technique and run them through my pasta machine two at a time to get the desired length, as you can see I combined each darker colour with a lighter colour.


Light on dark polymer clay strips - Mokume Gane by Lottie Of London
Light on dark polymer clay strips

Polymer clay stack for Mokume Gane by Lottie of London
Polymer clay stack for Mokume Gane

 I them combined the four colours again using the pasta machine and cut my long slices to achieve a stack following the dark/light colour combination.


The stack has been indented with a pattern - Moume Gane by Lottie Of London
The stack has been indented with a pattern

Now this is where the technique differs slightly previously my indenting on the stack was more random this time I went for a more structured pattern on the clay.

Mokume Gane slices taken from my polymer clay stack by Lottie of London
Mokume Gane slices taken from my polymer clay stack


Also differing from the last technique when it came to slicing my I clay previously shaved off random slices that where applied to a backing sheet of clay.  This time I cut deeper which left me with four thicker slices of pattered clay to work with and create some pendants from.

Here are my cut pendant shapes ready to be cooked and crafted into some lovely jewellery pieces.



My polymer clay Mokume Gane pendant pieces ready for cooking by Lottie Of London
My polymer clay Mokume Gane pendant pieces ready for cooking

This post is part of Handmade Monday, why not pop on over to Handmade Monday and check out more great crafter's over on Handmade Harbours Handmade Monday