Polymeri Online 24.8.14 | Thailand adventures, Tomka's foliage, Smiling teeth beads, Painted polymer clay, Mix-n-Match extruder, Organic magic

H-E-L-L-O all! or should I say Sawadika :)

Back from Thailand but still there in heart & soul! What an amazing vacation.

This beautiful, peaceful and smiling country will stay in my mind for a long time.

So different than anything I ever saw, felt and even ate before: Wonderful spicy food, amazing landscapes, changing weather, people's kindness and even shopping - A true cultural adventure. 

I am certain that this trip will inspire me!

Getting a warm elephant hug!

Flying all over Chiang Mai in the "Flight of the Gibbons" 

Key Kitty Kitty!

With 23 rings on her neck she is the queen of necklaces!

Just before I am heading to my next trip teaching in Netherlands (5 last spots in the Skyscraper class and 2 more in the Moon Rocks class), sinking in loads of work, preparations and packing, here are some goodies I've gathered for you -

Tomka's foliage

Tomka Sorokina’s Etsy store is pleasing and colorful containing joyous jewelry items, fun patterns and funky designs.
She designs stuff as far as she remember herself. First clothes and accessories for her dolls, fabric flowers, drawing, beading, embroidery and more...

In this polymer clay fairy feather necklace, she combines colors, shape, impressions and antiquing. Fun! 

Tomka is also in Instagram - http://instagram.com/ya_tomka/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/yatomkastore

Painting polymer

Mai M. Villegas is a cake topper artist from the Philippines. 

In her FB she shared her process for creating a mini painting with polymer clay, as part of a figure holding a paint brush with an easel. 

White clay is her canvas and sculpting ball tools are her brushes!

https://www.facebook.com/MaviCrafts

https://www.facebook.com/mai9380v?fref=ts

Denise's smiling teeth beads

Denise Osborne posted a super cute photo of beads with teeth!
She credit Marie Segal for the idea and the photo description tells us that the Trinity Lutheran Church thanks MDPAG (Metropolitan Detroit Polymer Art Guild) member Denise Osborne who helped along with the guild members and donated clay for creating Beads of Courage with children who enjoyed the workshop so much.

Creating a teeth cane is such a brilliant idea! These smiling beads are so funny!!

https://www.facebook.com/Detroitpolymerclay/photos/a.173735802778602.1073741825.153570774795105/343467352472112/?type=1&theater

Leila's extruder mix and match

Leila Bidler came up with a great idea to invent new extruded canes combinations.
She extruded her clay through all her discs and store them baked, inside a box.  This way she can try and play with them and find new exciting shapes and designs. Mix and match! Leila is a long time polymer clay artist living in Italy. You can see more of her work in her site and flickr gallery -

http://www.lbidler.com

https://www.flickr.com/photos/gom6699

https://www.facebook.com/LeilaBidlerPolymerClay/photos/a.1411350672434084.1073741835.1411307482438403/1478964549006029/?type=1&theater

Gabriel's pendants

Michel Gabriel is a polymer clay artist of the organic side.

Her beautiful handmade beads seem to be antiqued, stamped, painted, twisted, carved and transferred.

Her flickr gallery is full of magical pendants and beads hidden in a polymer clay shell.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/gabriel

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michele-Gabriel-Studios/113431202052146?ref=br_tf

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

See you soon!

Polymeri Online 26.2.14 | Faux Fabric polymer, Moroccan Mosaic on the wall, E.T phone home, Argyle millefiori and LifeSavers duties

Toy-Belle from the Russian group posted a fun project of her - faux fabric brooches/charms. She calls is color therapy. It's a game of canes, snakes and logs, cut, pierced, textured. The final result is oh so cute.
The Russian ladies are known for their color challenges and from time to time you can see pictures posted next to color palettes showing their featured project.
In addition to her polymer clay project you will find felt and miniatures in her blog.

http://polymerclayfimo.livejournal.com/4857154.html

http://toy-belle.livejournal.com/

Polymer clay mosaic by Agnes

Hungarian artist Ages creates jewelry combined with polymer clay and leather. Her jewelry are mixing embroidery, texture, color and patterns. Agnes is a full time translator but her passion-hobby is creating jewelry. While her home decor is changing towards indian-moroccan style, her wall was missing something. She decided to create an elaborated mosaic piece and it was only natural that her jewelry patterns will find their place into her wall piece. Beautiful.  

http://moonsafaribeads.blogspot.hu/2013/07/polymer-clay-mosaic-mozaikkep-sutheto_3.html

https://www.etsy.com/shop/moonsafaribeads

The beloved E.T in polymer clay

When I stumbled upon this E.T figure I remembered my youth days watching this wonderful movie.
This sculpture is a work by I Do Cake Toppers team - Christina Patterson and Shaun Patterson. Christina and Shaun create their cake toppers since 2004, they have been making sculptures for clients worldwide including celebrities such as David Copperfield and pieces are made with polymer clay on a metal armature. Their size is about 8 inches height and about 18 oz weight.

http://www.idocaketoppers.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/i_do_cake_toppers/

Follow this link for a fun Mr. Hanky Christmas video tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNiagW7Uyps

Argyle cane tutorial by Kael

Kael Mijoy is sharing yet another of her ideas translating it into a fun easy tutorial, this time an argyle cane combined with flowers.
Kael was featured several times in PolymeriOnline and her site is great for inspiration.

http://kaelmijoy.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/polymer-clay-tutorial-argyle-cane.html

The past week I have been playing with some old and some new. 
These are 1 year old Extrudinary LifeSavers beads, waiting for me patiently since Cabin Fever Clay Festival last year, I made these for one of my demos but haven't had time to finish them since. Not sure if I'll keep them or sell them but they are sure fun to make!

LifeSavers Extruder beads

LifeSavers Extruder beads

Have a great week!

Polymeri Online 25.1.14 | Nunu's house of delicates, Button beads, Quick heart shape bead, Lauri Mod Podge transfers, Dream catcher in polymer and Knitted heart

Nunu's house of (polymer) delicates

Nunu's house is a heaven of candy, deli's and good food, only it is miniature and made of clay (polymer?).
In his Japanese blog Tomo Tanaka is featuring beautiful pictures of his miniature food which looks almost 100% real. Not a day to start a diet.
http://koapin.blog61.fc2.com/blog-entry-287.html
Wandering in his website (using google translate of course) I found out where the miniature food artists get all their cool tiny kitchenware and other accessories which makes this art looks so real! there are special online stores for all the teeny tiny tools which makes the final picture looks so authentic as if it is taken in a real set.

Violette's polymer button beads

Canadian Violette Laporte, also featured in PolymeriOnline a while ago, posted a cute tutorial for creating beads using buttons. She creates molds from a button, back and front and then press both halves together to create a whole bead. Antiquing with gilders paste or acrylic paint is also an option!
Part 1 - http://violette-laporte.blogspot.co.il/2012/02/buttons-and-beads-1.html
Part 2 - http://violette-laporte.blogspot.co.il/2012/02/buttons-and-beads-2.html

Super quick polymer clay heart bead

Looking forward to Valentines day? Here is a 1-2-3 step pictorial for creating a chubby heart! Thank you Zelodius Morton for this pinterest link
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/242912973625442608/

Lauri Mika Mod Podge transfer technique

Another find by Zelodius's Pinterest is a video demonstrating Lauri Mika and her Mod Podge transfer technique.  I had the pleasure of seeing Lauri demonstrating in person and now you can enjoy her lovely personality and demo as well! Use a laser printer picture and spread Mod Podge to transfer it into the clay!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh17JslFAsQ

dream catcher in polymer

Dream catcher in polymer? maybe a miniature version?
Here is a lovely tutorial creating a miniature threaded bead using cernit clay by MonstersCircus from Denmark.
You can use any clay of your choice to create this mix media design!
http://monsterscircus.com/2012/12/03/diy-julekalender-cernit-broderi/
The bead can decorate your home or used as a pendant!

Let's finish with another heart project, this time from Russian Anna Bragin. Anna is using an extruder to create faux knitting effect and then cutting her heart. A button embellishment is added to create a super cute sweater brooch!
http://www.livemaster.ru/topic/518565-brosh-v-tehnike-imitatsiya-vyazaniya-iz-polimernoj-gliny?msec=2
http://www.livemaster.ru/Braga

Have a great weekend!

Mini Tutorial - "CFCF2013" Extruded Pixel Cane Free How-To

I know everyone is talking about the upcoming Synergy 3, but since I had enough flying this month, I am staying home in my cozy bed and doing some studio work.

Swap brooches was one of my projects prior to my trip. These brooches were given as gifts to all ~100 participants.
The subject was free so I decided to create a pixel cane with the words "CFCF 2013".
These cane slices were turned into fun brooches, It was so lovely seeing the students wearing them on their name tags.

I thought to myself that this can be a useful mini-tutorial for you guys in case you decide to make a similar project, swap, gifts or even your own name cane made from extruded pixels.
For this project I used the 4 mm square disc to make sure I end up with a rather small cane. Working with the 6 mm disc would cause this cane to be quite big. The final size of the cane was 16 "pixels/squares" X 13 pixels wide which calculates to about 7cm/2.5 inches X 5 cm/2inches face surface area.
The 4 mm square disc is usually included in the Makins Metal clay extruder (sold in Marie Segal's store) and is not sold separately. I included this disc as a freebie when ordering my complete "Extrudinary" tutorial kit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I started my planning with an empty diagram of squares.
The next step was to place the letters in the most efficient way.
What do I mean by efficient?
I want the letter to be clear, visible but as small as possible to make sure the final cane isn't huge.
I used a neat tool called "Cross Stitch Writing Tool" to create my letters as a bench mark for the cane.

Cane Diagram - Click to enlarge

Then, copied it into the diagram.

The next step was to plan the background; plan the spaces and to count the pixels - letters and background apart. Each square is considered a "pixel".

The total "pixels" for the word CFCF was 32 pieces/parts, while the background around it was 84 parts.
The number 2013 was a total of 32 parts and background was 80 parts.

Next step was to determine the size/length of each "pixel" or in another words, what would be the height/length of the final cane before reduction.
In my case I wanted ~100 slices so I went for 7 cm / ~2.5 inches length of a cane (before reduction).

CFCF cane - back side
Click to enlarge

Now - Get busy extruding!....

When all colors are extruded, including some retro canes, I started the assembling of the pixel cane.
Placing each pixel, one by one, one next to the other to form a row (following the diagram) and going to the next row placing the pixels on top of the previous one. This step is crucial for the final look of the cane. If you place one of the parts offset a bit, the cane will look "distorted".

When working with such thin squares, a more stiffer clay is recommended. If you work with a very soft clay the squares will get stretched when you place them onto the cane.

CFCF cane - Front side
Click to enlarge

I played with the colors of my cane (black and white for the "CFCF" and black and red for the "2013") but you can make a unified cane in the same colors.

The red clay was a little softer then the white one so the final slices are a little diagonal in the joint. I'll keep this in mind for next time ;)
When the cane was ready, I reduced it slowly, measured it's size and divided into 100 slices & cut accordingly.

That's it!
Looks easy - right?

20+ diagrams which are included
in the Extrudinary Tutorial

You can make million designs using this method, even transform the most complex painting into pixels and transfer it into "squares".

Have fun!
I'll be happy to see your "pixel" canes!

Polymeri Online 5.12.12 | Yawning dude piggy bank, Fantasy feather and Lace millefiori canes tutorials, Elegant polymer clay beads design and Extrudinary promotion sale still available

Phew... What a week!
8 hours after announcing the new Extrudinary tutorial launch, ALL 50 square discs and kits were sold out!
8 hours!
Isn't that EXTRAordinary? (I know it sounds obvious that I will use this word, but it was!)
Now, 6 days later, almost all packing is over, CD's all burned, kits wrapped, few more left and 70+ clayers will have lot's of extruding work to do during the holidays ;)

If you're still looking for new ideas and adventures - this one is for you! Special promotion price expires soon!
http://www.polypediaonline.com/Extrudinary_polymer_clay_tutorial_extruder.html

Back to polymer links?

The Yawning Dude Piggy Bank

Born in the U.S.S.R., after 17 years living in Israel Alexander Mergold moved to Canada in 2008.
He has been making dolls and marionettes for over 20 years.
Alexander works with polymer and air-dry clays to create one of a kind characters inspired by literature and theater and his own quirky view of the world - I was laughing just looking at this yawning dude piggy bank! oh my! this is hilarious! :)
In this piece he is using Free Form® AIR Lightweight Epoxy Putty.
Here is a tutorial by him -
http://master-klass.livejournal.com/150222.html
Check out his blog - http://amcreatures.livejournal.com/
and Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/AMCreatures

Millefiori Fantasy
Feather cane

Penni Jo, Claylady43 is sharing with us a feather cane tutorial using the Stroppel cane as the center of the feather. The final result is so beautiful. Did you know that she is a grand mother to 25(!), and great grand mother to 6? :) She and her husband travel in their RV, attend craft shows and polymer clay guild meetings, teaching and selling while enjoying the country! Sounds great!
http://claylady43.blogspot.co.il/2012/11/fantasy-feathers.html 

Lace Cane Tutorial

Take a look at Parole de pate's Dantelle/ lace tutorial by Magali - A beautiful delicate pattern!
http://paroledepate.canalblog.com/archives/2012/10/23/25401578.html

Beads design by Biljana

Serbia artist Biljana Teodorović flickr gallery is full of her polymer clay designs, she is using almost every technique in the book - millefiori, transfers, sculpturing, textures, paints and more. I loved her recent jewelry design using wire addition, textures, lines, dots and faceted beads.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/49117171@N02/7322464352/in/photostream/
and blog - http://dokonadomacica.wordpress.com/

If you need me - I'm at the post office!
Enjoy your day :)

Extrudinary - 15 Ways To Re-Discover Your Polymer Clay Extruder | NEW Tutorials

EXtrudinary - TRIO Cuff Tutorial

I have a story for you.
Long time ago, sometime in the 15th century,
a secret group in Italy created something no one has ever done before - Pasta.
They called themselves - "The Extrudinaries"...

Sounds about right, doesn't it? Well, I'm Just kidding... :)

My family and friends know I'm a serious pasta addict.
I could probably eat pasta day and night if it wouldn't be so dangerous to my waist line.

EXtrudinary - Tribal Embroidery Bracelet
Tutorial

Being such a fan, I wasn't surprised when my DH announced on my 40th birthday celebration that we are going to look for the best Pasta in Italy.

One late evening in Florence, while looking for a place to have dinner, we peeked into a small neighborhood restaurant, hoping it's still open for hungry diners.
The owner escorted us to our table, and on our way there I noticed one of the chefs working with a large machine, shooting endless pieces of pasta.
"What is this machine?" I asked the owner.

EXtrudinary - Art Deco Bracelets
Tutorial

"La Pasta estrusore", she answered, a pasta extruder.
"Can I take a closer look?..." I asked
"Of course!" she said.
So I walked into the kitchen, thrilled, staring at this wonder.
The extruder was producing beautiful rigatoni, one by one, shooting the perfection into a large bowl. I was hypnotized,

Being a clay enthusiast, I couldn't avoid thinking of my dear friend, my personal clay extruder.
That moment I knew what I'm going to do next.

EXtrudinary - Life Savers Beads Tutorial

This is the story of our polymer clay extruder, a special and powerful tool, that you probably have somewhere in your drawer, hidden in the dark most of the time.

Well, its time has come and it is ready to come out and play!

So now I ask you -
Why settle for just retro canes, when there are so many other designs just waiting to be discovered and created?

Get your clay extruder up and running - Upgrade your extrusion abilities and techniques to the top level and use it as your personal Sous-Chef de Cuisine assistant!

EXtrudinary - Torpedo Beads Tutorial

Are you ready to take a trip back in time to the 15th century and become Extrudinery?

============================
Extrudinary | Vol. 43, 44, 45

==> 3 illustrative & informative tutorials,
==> 15+ projects,
==> 14 super detailed videos; 6(!) hours
==> PLUS - A pampering kit with extra-ordinary tools! Test tubes, razor blades, and cane sample!

EXTRUDINARY Tutorials

Press here for all the details, photos, kit information, prices and special gifts -
http://www.polypediaonline.com/extrudinary_polymer_clay_tutorial_extruder.html

Ready to EXamine, EXperimentand EXecute new, EXciting EXtruded ideas?
http://www.polypediaonline.com/extrudinary_polymer_clay_tutorial_extruder.html