It's been maybe 3 years since I decided I wanted to try making things out of polymer clay. I was inspired mostly by watching the Carol Duval show (currently in reruns) and her guest Donna Kato and various other artists. Well, long story short, I didn't dive into my stash of polymer clay until about 3 weeks ago. Below are the books that I have learned from and been inspired by.

The Polymer Clay Techiniques Book by Sue Heaser. As the cover says there are over 50 Techniques for Creating Fabulous Oven-Clay Projects from Jewelry to Dollhouse Miniatures. There are step by step instructions for a large amount of projects from simple to elaborate as your skill level increases. I have been reading this book off and on since I bought it. This book is probably the most basic of them all. It is a good book to start with. The content page is really too long for me to put all of it here. I will just list the Getting Started catagory: Basic Techniques, Color Mixing, Marbling and Making Blends, Using Cutters and Clay Extruders, Baking, Carving, Cutting and Drilling, Sanding and Buffing, Gluing and Varnishing.

The Art Of Polymer Clay by Donna Kato. It says on the cover "Designs and Techniques for Creating Jewelry, Pottery, and Decorative Artwork." This is really a beautiful book with projects in the Donna Kato style. It covers Millefiori, Surface Treatments, Making and Using Molds, Imitative Techniques, Vessels, Floral Forms and Finally Figurines and Sculpture. Again, a book that I have read off and on for quite a while.

Polymer Clay Creative Traditions(Techniques and Projects Inspired by the Fine and Decorative Arts) by Judy Belcher. The chapters read: Glass Traditions, Metal Traditions, Fiber Traditions, Painting and Drawing Traditions, Stone, Bone and Wood Traditions, Sculpture and Ceramics Traditions. Again, this is a beautiful book full of projects and inspiration. The projects are step by step with a lot of photos.

I got to the point of not wanting to buy anymore clay books since I for some reason held back from trying some of the projects. Then I found Donna Kato's book on surface effects and that finally got me going.

The Art Of Polymet Clay Creative Surface Effects (Techniques and Projects Featuring Transfers, Stamps, Stencils, Inks, Paints, Mediums, and More) by Donna Kato. Wonderful book with great photos and lots of step by step instructions with photos. I love this book. My first projects were using molds that I had bought on my trip to Florida. The second project was from this book. I learned to make a direct inkjet print transfer but that's another story. The books index: Polymer Clay Basics, Mica Shift Techniques, Transferring Images Onto Polymer Clay, Creating Texture, Paints, Inks, and Pigment Powders, Special Effects with Liquid polymer Clays, Sculpture and Mold Making. Super book. Jump right in!
Beth
beaded@azcraftydiva.com
etsy shop

Hope all of you have gone out and voted or stayed home and mailed in your ballot before the deadline. We did the mail in ballot. So much easier to do at the kitchen table.

Saturdays are such a mixture of things. I had shopping to do at Staples. I needed ink for the printer and photo paper. I want to try doing a photo transfer to polymer clay. I couldn't find the recommended brand and ended up with Cannon glossy photo paper. I probably won't try to do this until Monday or Tuesday. I do have a couple of pictures of two different works in progress. One is a polymer clay mold I did of a ladys head and made hair out of black polymer clay then after baking put the head on a round of gold polymer clay. After baking that I put the whole thing on a square of Lacy's Stiff Stuff. Now I'm creating a besel of using different sizes of gold beads but that doesn't show on the photo. I also am working on a christmas tree pin. It will eventually have swarovski flat back crystals place here and there to look like ornaments.

http://www.bidviews.com/earte/xmastree.jpg
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/orientallady.jpg

Until next time, Beth
http://www.azcraftydiva.com
beaded@azcraftydiva.com

Saturdays are such a mixture of things. I had shopping to do at Staples. I needed ink for the printer and photo paper. I want to try doing a photo transfer to polymer clay. I couldn't find the recommended brand and ended up with Cannon glossy photo paper. I probably won't try to do this until Monday or Tuesday. I do have a couple of pictures of two different works in progress. One is a polymer clay mold I did of a ladys head and made hair out of black polymer clay then after baking put the head on a round of gold polymer clay. After baking that I put the whole thing on a square of Lacy's Stiff Stuff. Now I'm creating a besel of using different sizes of gold beads.

http://www.bidviews.com/earte/xmastree.jpg
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/orientallady.jpg

Beth
http://www.azcraftydiva.com
beaded@azcraftydiva.com

Bead Embroidery Tutorial - Turquoise and Green Pin

On first picture it just shows a rough sketch of my design idea with beads in my color palette. A lot changed from this to the final product.
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/laughinsketch.jpg

Second picture shows the basic pin started in the middle of a square of Lacy's Stiff Stuff. The turquoise cabochon is 12 X 18 and has a besel made of one round of size 10 green AB beads next to cabochon. Next round is size 11/0 delica silver beads, which I layered above the green. Next round is size 15/0 grey seed beads layered on top of the silver. I went back through each round as I finished each one to make the beads stand up and look more uniform. I used back stitch four and back stitch two throughout the entire piece. http://www.bidviews.com/earte/laughinpinredo.jpg

At this point I cut around my piece, being careful not to cut any threads. I usually cut about 1/16 of an inch away from stitching, but have done more than that on some pieces. Trace around piece onto a piece of cardboard or plastic. I use plastic sheets that I buy from Joanne Etc that are used to make quilting templates. After tracing on the plastic I draw another line inside of that about 1/16. I cut out plastic on inside line and rough it's surface up slightly with sandpaper and then glue to the back of piece being careful to center it so that you have 1/6" clear around plastic. After glue (E-6000) has set, I rough up a small area where pin back will go. I glue pin back and let it cure. In the meantime, I cut a square of ultra suede larger than my piece and when pin back is cured, I drape fabric over back of piece and mark where pin openings need to be. I make small cuts and then put fabric back on pin and adjust cuts as necessary.

I have tried putting glue on back of piece, then trying to manipulate fabric over pin and end up with glue everywhere. I now put fabric on piece and then roll back top just enough to squirt in some glue and smooth with a round toothpick and press fabric down. I repeat on the bottom half. Once glue has cured, cut fabric edge to match edge of Lacy's stiff stuff.

http://www.bidviews.com/earte/laughinpinfrontredo.jpg
Whenever I finish the last round on a piece or do an edging stitch, I usually use a marking pen to color the edge and about 1/16 into top of piece. On this pin I used a green highlighter and I absolutely hated how it looked. To cover it up (see bottom of piece) I decided to put one more round of turquoise beads after I had done my edging stitch. After I had done the
round of turquoise, I felt that too many stitches showed on back of pin. See picture four.
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/laughpinbackredo.jpg

I found some beige cording that matched the ultra suede and I glued it over the stitches. I think I needed something even smaller than that, but that's OK for now. I usually have a black background and the stitches with black thread seem to disappear. Also on the back I glued my name. It also is too large. The name is made from polymer clay, so I am clipping off Eliza and leaving Beth Arterburn, which doesn't take, up so much room.
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/redolaughinpindone2.jpg

Here is the finished pin.
http://www.bidviews.com/earte/redolaughinpindone1.jpg