Playing with Polymer Clay this Weekend! Ring Dishes, Beads and More

This weekend I spent it entirely playing with the clay, weekends like this are so few and far between!

I created some new Ring Dishes, as seen above to replace my collection as they are proving very popular, I really enjoy experimenting with the inks to create different effects. 

Turquoise Ring Dish at Lottie Of London Jewellery

I also created some new beads for a new Chunky Statement Necklace here

New Polymer clay beads for Autumn

The colours are created from another colour mixing adventure, this time in more muted Autumn tones for the coming season.

I also had an order to complete for despatch my Leopard Print Statement Ring and created some new studs with a new cane I created recently.

Leopard Print Rings and Stud Earrings with my new cane

Coral Pink Trinket Ring Dish New at Lottie Of London

Here's a new addition to our Trinket Ring Dish Collection, handmade from polymer clay with alcohol inks this dish has a subtle marbled effect in a soft coral pink with gold trim.

Soft Coral Pink Ring Dish £9.99, New at Lottie Of London Jewellery

Alcohol Inks on Polymer Clay

Playing with alcohol inks on polymer clay

I have recently expanded on my shop products and added a new line of ring dishes & trinket bowls to compliment my jewellery collection at Lottie of London.

This gave me the chance to dig out the alcohol inks and play around.

Now it had been a long time since I've played with inks and felt like I needed a little testing and refreshing of my techniques before I went gung ho and started making the ring dishes.

Here are some examples of of my test slices playing with colours and different applications, as you can see I had some fun!

Playing with alcohol inks on polymer clay

Playing with alcohol inks on polymer clay

Playing with alcohol inks on polymer clay

Playing with alcohol inks on polymer clay

Well my technique hasn't left me, I'm delighted with these results and they will make for some beautiful ring dishes.

Pink Ring Dish & HomeMaker Magazine

I'm having a mini celebration this month, my Pink Ring Dish has been featured in Junes issue of Homemaker magazine for there Tie Dye feature.

Pink Ring Dish the perfect solution for storing your jewellery handmade by Lottie Of London

Pink Ring Dish the perfect solution for storing your jewellery handmade by Lottie Of London

Alcohol Marker Pens on Polymer Clay

I purchased some alcohol marker pens by Spectrum Noir last year for trying out on polymer clay.

My theory is that as alcohol inks are usable on polymer clay surely it would be possible to also be able to use the pens with a more controlled colouring effect on clay too. I have only had a chance to have a quick test of the pens but here are some examples of my first mini try out.

I made some small tiles of white clay both raw and cooked to test the pens here are my results.

Testing Alcohol inks on polymer clay

The above picture is done on raw clay with just the pens.

Below I used the pens as seen in the first photo and then decided to mix it up with some mixing fluid which I thought made it a little on the mucky side.

Testing Alcohol pens on Polymer Clay

Here I played around with some stamped clay.

Testing Alcohol Pens on Polymer Clay

The best result I believe is with cooked clay mainly due to the fact that on raw clay some of the clay does stick to the pens which I believe will ultimately shorten the life of the pens and given their price this wouldn't be a good thing.

The effects are not as great as I hoped but I do plan to test these out some more to see if I can get some different effects.

Until next time!


Lottie Of London Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trinket Bowls & Ring Dishes Now at Lottie Of London Jewellery

To compliment our collection of bright and bold jewellery we are now delighted to introduce and new line of jewellery storage solutions with our trinket bowls and ring dishes.

All handmade from polymer clay using a variety of techniques with alcohol inks each bowl has a unique marbled effect design.

Soft Mint Ring Dish now available at Lottie of London Jewellery

Pink Ring Dish now available at Lottie of London Jewellery

Now available in our at Lottie Of London Jewellery

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

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

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

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

What to do with Alcohol Inked polymer clay scraps

Using Up Scraps of Inked Polymer Clay

Following my recent post on  Polymer Clay Swirl Beads in which I created a necklace using swirl lentil beads, I have been left with some left over scraps of inked clay.

Incase you have'nt seen my post, I created sheets of clay using metal leafing and alcohol inks which was used to create my beads for my necklace below.

Polymer Clay Necklace with swirled lentil beads

 I was left with with a few random scraps , as you can see, now more often than not my scraps would go into my scrap pile for forming the base of my beads, but with these inked scraps they are still usable, heres what I done with them...

 As you can see the scraps of clay are in many shapes, the larger sheet I tore into strips also.  I used the strip scraps to cover base beads totally and then rolled them out so they blended in.

This is pretty much the same as the watercolour torn paper effect used by  Maggie Maggio.

Here's some more examples of what I made using my scraps ...

 

Some simple round beads with torn strips applied

Some swirled lentil beads

Swirled heart charms created from lentil beads, and two pendants using various scraps of inked clay

So why not have some fun with your scrap clay and see what you can make...

Part of Handmade Monday with Handmade Harbour

Polymer Clay Swirl Beads

 Creating Polymer Clay Swirl Beads

I have a wedding to attend tomorrow and I have been playing with the idea of creating a necklace/pendant to go with a new dress I am keen wear.  Below is a close up shot showing the print and colour my dress.

Print of my party dress with colours on red/orange, black, mauve and hints of white and green

The print of the dress is very bold as you an see and is almost animal like, but rather than replicate the print and colours I have decided to take some of the elements of colour in the dress and create some polymer clay swirl beads.

Polymer clay with gold metal leafing applied

To create my beads I have decided to use alcohol inks for my colour which will be applied over gold metal leafing on two sheets of black clay.



 

Polymer clay applied with metal leafing and alcohol inks

 
Here I have applied alcohol inks over each sheet of clay.

My first sheet has been applied with alcohol inks in  Wild Plum with hints of Stream and Pearl.

The second sheet has been applied with Stream and Buttercream.

My polymer clay sheets are covered with a thin translucent clay sheet

The clay sheets are allowed to dry and once ready I apply a thin sheet of translucent clay over each cover.  I do this as I have often found that it protects the colour and leafing from rubbing off when applied to beads.

Polymer clay lentil swirl beads prior to cooking

Here are my swirled lentil beads prior to cooking, these are two test beads to test two types of application styles for swirling but also to test the colour once cooked. 

Polymer clay lentil swirl beads after cooking

Now the beads have been cooked, some of the translucent still remains and unfortunately the Wild Plum colour has become more pink after cooking,







So after some more experimentation with swirling here are my final swirled lentil beads... as you can see I have included a red and gold bullseye cane into the swirl to give the bead more depth in colour as the wild plum colour was not strong enough. 

My Polymer clay lentil swirled beads, my final design

They now need a good sanding, buffing and polishing before I decide on my final necklace design.

Updated sometime later that evening ....

Here it is my finished necklace and I'm delighted with how its turned out, initially I was worried that the beads would look slightly dull but after a good polishing, buffing and varnishing they are perfect and the Fire Opal Swarovski Crystals I have teamed them with give the necklace that extra sparkle, I can't wait to wear the necklace tomorow.

Polymer Clay Swirled Lentil Necklace

Polymer Clay Swirled Lentil Necklace combined with fire opal swarovski crystals

Polymer Clay Swirled Lentil Bead (largest bead)

Polymer Clay Swirled Lentil Necklace wire wrapped in gold with swarovski crystals

Updates on previous Posts

Here's an update on my previous posts where pieces where not finished or complete.

Firstly my necklace to go with my new Irregular Choice Shoes here it is

I was thinking of making some floral beads with some polymer millefiori canes but I decided to go with keeping it simple in the end.


Another catch up was on the tutorial I had tried by River Valley Design, here are the sanded, buffed and polished finial pieces.

Well I still don't like the pieces and they will have to go into my bin of rejects, the reason I don't like it though is not because I have the wrong type of texture mould but because I don't like the colours from the alcohol inks.  The Blue/Yellow (the first pendant) is probably the better of the three, I'm afraid this may fall into my failed alcohol inks pile, I think I went over the top with the inks and used every colour I had, a lesson to be learnt.

But I now finally have some new texture plates by Walnut Hollow which seem more suited to the tutorial and I will putting to the test very soon.

Finally I have been teaching my daughter Amelie (age 8) a few clay techniques and here is what she has made

Her millefiroi cane is still sitting in the fridge waiting to be used on some beads :)

Alcohol Inks and Foils : Part II

Alcohol Inks and Foils Part 2

Just slightly late :)

I have finally got round to taking my final photos of my work on alcohol inks and foils so here we go

My Pebble Pendant Necklace

My Autumn Toned Heart Pin

Molten On Black Lentil Bead Set now available for sale from TheBeadyShop.co.uk

Molten On Black Round Bead Set now available for sale from TheBeadyShop.co.uk

I really pleased with how this technique has worked and can't wait to try more colours !

If you missed part 1 here it is Alcohol Inks and Foils Part 1

Alcohol Inks and Foils Part 1 : Autumn Charm Bracelet

Alcohol Inks and Foils Part 1

Using the Polymer Clay sheet, mentioned yesterday, here is a collection of the beads selected for my Autumn Charm Bracelet, which features the polymer clay punched leaves and some extra added polymer clay oval beads (not seen here as I created them after this photos was taken).

My finished Autumn Charm Bracelet, featuring my handcrafted polymer clay leaves ovals, also included are an assortment of glass pearls, Czech facets, flowers and pillow beads.

I also made a set of earrings from the little Polymer Clay Oval Beads that have been included in the bracelet,

 teamed with some Fire Opal Swarovski Crystals 

More still to come ...

Catch up with Alcohol Inks and Foil Part2 Here