Polymeri Online 27.11.14 | Pam's Millefiori haute couture, Molds and cookies and buttons, Make your own sculpturing tools, Polymer belts, Masking tape to the rescue & De-stashing sale in my "garage"

Pam's Millefiori haute couture

Pamela Carmen’s flickr gallery is full of colorful animals decorated with endless blooming millefiori canes.

Fish, owls, birds, hens, frogs, all of them gets their coat of flowers.

In her owl sculpture she mentions ceramic as her base while only the veneer is canes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/pamelacarman/

Molds and cookies! :)

Nerd Ecrafter posted a video for creating your own molds using only liquid translucent clay (she is using TLS by Polyform). She took an oreo cookie, embedded it into the liquid, baked it (twice) and created her mold instantly. You can use this technique to create any mold of your choice from your found objects as long as they are oven proof! yay!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq_ofBGMUSg

Molds and buttons

Talking about molds, here is another example by artist Elena Semin, taking a button with a nice pattern and creating 2 molds/casts to form a double-sided bead with a pre made channel –

http://hobby-box.ru/phakturnye-businki.html

Don’t forget to take a look at the glowing snowflake tutorial– fun and easy project just in time for winter!

http://hobby-box.ru/master-klass-snezhinka.html

Make your own sculpturing tools

Ever wanted to create your own sculpturing tools? Diane Foster‎ published this PDF file on the “Polymer Clay Tutorial Collectors” FB group showing how to transform simple tools into sculpturing tools! The ebook is written by G. Schellert.

http://www.ringert.com/sculpting/MAKE%20YOUR%20OWN%20SCULPTING%20TOOLS_ebook.pdf

Polymer belt necklace

Ingrid Ulrich’s belt accessory is beautifully adapted to polymer clay. Stamped and antiqued it is giving the impression of the real thing. Located in Germany she is playing with various techniques in her designs.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16881789@N07/8437844559/

http://www.ingul-schmuckdesign.de

Masking tape to the rescue

Remove excess polymer clay powders

Christelle Van Lingen shared in her Pinterest gallery a tip she credit Christie Friesen. By using a masking tape you can take off any excess powder left on your stamped image. I learned this trick from Laurie Mika when I was her student several years ago, when she used it on extra foil left on a design. That is really a neat trick.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/8373949282726848/

I am de-stashing some of my extra tools and findings, if you’re interested you can take a look of what’s left, in my FB gallery –

https://www.facebook.com/iris.mishly/media_set?set=a.10152601243342968.1073741846.608452967&type=1&pnref=story

Have a great thanksgiving holiday if you're celebrating, and a great rest of the week :)

Polymer Clay "Catch 22" - The Artist's Paradox

There is an irony with us artists selling our work. We spend so much time trying to make a living from our wonderful art only to discover that we’ve become way too emotionally attached to our work and can’t let it go.

Sounds familiar?

Think about it.

When you sell a piece of your art, how to you feel? Do you feel great about the sale and ready to pay some bills? do you feel a little sad to see it go, but hey, that’s a part of being a professional polymer clay artist! or do you regret the second you let it go and find yourself hurrying back to your studio trying to recreate a copy of it for yourself?

These feelings of "sale remorse" - We condition, play, shape and design our clay and tend to get physically attached to our final piece, can't let it go.

Many artists are happy to sell, but at the same time, they would also wish they could save a copy of the work for themselves. If not for emotional reasons, it's to “check back on it as a reference for how I made a certain piece”.

Why am I telling you all this?

When I started my way with polymer clay, every fair I participated in - I had mixed feelings.

Glad because I sold and sad because I sold it!

Crazy - isn't it?

In time I learned that although my designs are very dear to me, it's like finding them a new home and letting my customers have a "small piece of me". That's a nice thought. They chose me.

Tomorrow is one of those days. I am saying goodbye to some of my own personal favorites.

As a part of studio re-organization, making room for new things, I am holding a special pre-holiday studio fair - the first in 2 years.

Some of my most favorite PolyPediaOnline tutorial products will be offered for public sale.

These items are very dear to me and always reminds me of the wonderful material we are working with.

If you're wondering about a certain project, want to see it in close, wear one of my jewels or a collector of polymer clay pieces - you are welcome aboard!

Some of the designs have Only 1 item AVAILABLE!

The special link to the sales page will be sent to all PolyPediaOnline members tomorrow during the day, that's more than 5000 artists getting an email from me with a link to the StudioFair page.

If you are interested and want to see one of my pieces in person, you are welcome to join!

The items will be published here in the blog only after PolyPediaOnline members will have the exclusivity to be the first to know and purchase.

Hope to see you in my "booth"! Come & say hello... :)

My new flower centers canes tutorial is online!

NEW E-Book - How to Create Center Canes for flowers - 10 center Canes Step-by-Step Instructions TUTORIAL

Here is another tutorial for you to enjoy. I am happy to share my knowledge and experience regarding teaching flower canes & centers.

My tutorial demonstrates how to make 10 different flower centers canes, with clear and detailed instructions, 36 pages and about 100+ full-color pictures to guide you through.

Available now in my etsy store :)