Polymer clay was my life........really.

I've worked with polymer clay for thirty years and made my living (with the help of an agent) to earn a living for many years. I think I can help with a lot of questions. So, I'm here if anyone wants to chat about pc.

Always wonderful to hear about an artist who can support herself.

Okay -- my first question is what sorts of things did you make?

nephew leaving tomorrow morning for.....IRAQ!!!! I love pc and will tell all I have learned to anyone who wants to learn. It's a remarkable medium!

National gifts shows. Did the Atlantic Gift show in January and the L.A. Show in January and June for many years. I had a line of rabbits, witches, plaques, angels, ad infinitum! Trinket boxes were big also......biggest of all were my Christmas ornaments.

I had every intention of coming home and doing it right away but that was about 6 months ago!

Someday soon I hope I will have lots of questions for you. Thanks very much.

Can you post some pics of what you do? I'm sure we'd all love to see it.

Good for you that you make a living from your work. It's such a ideal of mine to be able to do that, well if not a living at least some help. Being able to really work at what you like is great.

'Cause if you got Sculpey or Premo, and kept it sealed, it should still be soft enough to work with, even at this late date. The original FIMO was murder - you'd have to budget at least an hour for some colors - just for the conditioning and softening.

http://www.joann.com/catalog.jhtml?CATID=83500&PRODID=11147#select
It hasn't been opened.
This weekend is going to be taken up with other stuff but hopefully in the next week or two I plan to start. I knitted a bag and bought it to make a large button for it. A small first project!


Edited to to try the pic link again!

Still not working, so just link to Joanne's page. It's Sculpty.

I'm just about to finish a shrug (really a shawl with a button closing) and I followed the directions and the button hole ended up being about 8" in length (a slight exaggeration). I could just make my own button for it (or sew it up of course)!! Cool idea. Thanks!

of polymer clay. What determines whether clay is any good is-- heat. How much heat has it endured in shipping. If you're ordering lots, order during cool months and store in cool spots. Fimo is crappy, excuse my French, but it's a division of Eberhardt-faber and is foreign made....it's old and been through a lot by the time it gets to market in U.S. as is Cernit (French) but it is a softer thus less strong clay over all. I could go on forever. If I know what you want to make I can make recommendations. Early on I would buy Fimo because of it's wonderful qualities of COLOR!!! But now we have Kato Clay-----WONDERFUL and it's American made. I do not work for Kato Clay....I have found it has the color dept of Fimo and the workability of FRESH Premo. I worked for many years with Pro-Mat (Polyform's answer to Fimo which later was marketed as Premo---change in polymers). Do not buy hard clay.....if the clay doesn't start to respond to conditioning in a couple of minutes, you've bought a headache....who wants to wait to turn an idea into a product?

do have to scan! Hopefully, when our other trailer arrives I can do that. I made between fifteen to twenty thousand pieces per year and sold wholesale via national gift shows with an agent. It's extremely hard work but it got me through a divorce and helping one of my two children through college....also bought two homes and little, but new, automobiles....civics! But, it was a godsend...I had a line of rabbits, of all things!, with little messages printed on them that sold like hotcakes for years. I have the beginning of a book started....I loved what I did and plan to continue at some level.....but I've just moved fifteen hundred miles, re-married....yada,yada,so...but if you want, I will be more than happy to help you find a niche that you will love working at and help, probably better than you know, financially...this isn't a scam. It's hard work but very rewarding.

We've buried an infant grandson this week and TODAY were in Ft. Hood helping a sister-in-law send off her only son to Iraq......so I'd love to have more pleasant thoughts....and I love clay and do know lots....promise.

What a load of heartache. Condolence and prayers for your nephew's safe return!

NOW, since it does seem to lift your spirits -- and I'm very interested -- yes! let's talk caly.

and I hope your sister-in-law's son will be ok.
Looking forward to your pics when you get the time to do it. What you did sounds like fun and to make money at it too is a bonus.
I taught art for 11 yrs but way back before my boys were born so I know clay a little. Never used pc though at all. I'm looking forward to trying it soon. Right now my youngest son is on treatment for Hep C and all my attention is going towards him. He just started so it's kind of traumatic wondering how this will go.

a great medium to get involved with.....might give your worries a bit of a vacation. God bless.

a kids' class for seven weeks this summer - and it will be about all things polymer clay. I've been working with it for about 15 years. It's THE GREATEST medium. I like to call it the "people's clay," because you don't need some fancy kiln that heats up to 17-bajillion degrees, as is required for ceramics. Just a simple toaster oven will do. And you're only limited by the size of your oven. Congratulations on your marvelous success with it! It's just wonderful to work with, isn't it?

:toast:

This looks fun, but expesnive. I'm not good enough with the regular stuff yet.

I would try PC first.....because it's much cheaper....and you can learn lots about the economical use of clay in general (and sculpting) before going to a more, much more, expensive medium. Silver clay is beautiful but it also calls for a kiln....a small one but still not something that most everyone has available. I am not discouraging you! If you have the bucks, go for it!! There is virtually no waste with PC....scraps are very valuable pieces if even just to clean a pasta maker!

Premo. You can order Kato online at www.prairiecraft.com There are projects on the site and a newsletter to sign up for.

I notice you're from Texas. Please stop by the Texas forum & say "hi" to all the Texan DUers! We're a friendly bunch!

dg

Maybe if it's thin enough, but anything thick just winds up looking like paraffin in my experience. Of course Sculpey may not be the best option here.

I mix it with some flesh-type color for use in Ebenezer Scrooge's face and hands. A bit of translucence gives it a nice depth and realistic old-person look rather than plain solid opaque. I also mix a bit in when making 'teeth'... looks more realistic, oddly.

It IS pretty creepy looking if used alone, but useful when mixed with colors. Also it tends to get a strange look of being cracked through it's depth if over baked at all.

"over baking" thing is true. At one time I thought I had overcome that problem by over conditioning the clay mixture and letting it rest...I do think it helped some but the problem still existed although at a lesser degree. Another nice skin look is to mix a bit of white into Super Sculpey....I used it in making miniature folk art doll pins...it was almost a muslin look.

has to be buffed,buffed,buffed.....and THEN its qualities shine.

I was hoping for a stained glass effect with a thickness of ~3 mL. No such luck.

acheived in my book by carefully slicing conditioned clay that has been conditioned and rested a bit into as thin a slice as possible. TRY slicing a piece large enough for your project so you can avoid over lapping too much....does this make sense? To tell you the truth I've never measured the thickness because it's so thin I have no good way to do it! Hope this helps.

OH--my brain just clicked, "ON"! Besides covering your piece with a thin sheet of translucent also mix some in with the colors for more depth. Be careful not to over bake.

and would like to play with making some. Any book you could recommend or website that would give me the basics? This is just what I need...a new craft!

http://www.polyclay.com/buttons.htm (Article making impressions in the clay for visual interest.)

I have made buttons just free hand and they are lots of fun. I had the best luck with ones that sewing holes were put in (rather than a shank type button).....of course do this before the clay is baked....saves having to drill them after baking! If you like round buttons you can use a snake of clay of uniform diameter and take equal slices off of it and come up with fairly uniform buttons as far as size is concerned.

If you make clay canes you'll have nice snakes (rolls) of clay that too can be sliced.

The most important factor is to make certain your button is sufficiently thick so the clay bridges between the holes are strong. Experiment a while and you'll know fairly quickly what's best. Also use the smallest needle possible when sewing the button on an item. Do not use Sculpey III for buttons....just isn't strong enough. If you absolutley love a Sculpey III color you can mix equal amounts of Super Sculpey with white or translucent Kato or Premo to give it some strength....you'll lose some of the color satuation but............it's a trade-off.

I also recommend that you overbake the buttons a bit....overbaked clay is a bit more flexible after cooling. Be certain to do this in a well ventilated room. (Some colors, esp. yellow do not do well when over-baked....they'll have a scorched look!)

Itty bitty clay cutters also are fun for shaping and don't forget your rubber stamps for impressions...dust lightly with corn starch before imprinting to insure a good imprint without sticking and protects the rubber in the stamp.



These buttons do not have to be removed for washing or drying!

I'm going to check it out...I'll let you know how I fare. :toast:

metallic with my intials in them....when buffed they had that old gold nugget look! Best to do that by making a stamp of the intials. If you need instructions just raise your hand!

edit--spelling!

do you have any recommended books or websites for that?

a ring holder or a critter to put into a pot. It's a snail and it can be made out of scrap clay, you know the clay mixtures you didn't like! HOWEVER, I guess I'm not sure as to how to upload the picture from my Kodak program. Could someone tell me how to do this? Sorry. Last week I uploaded pictures to a website to sell our motorhome and all I did was enter the file as an attachment, but.............?

photobucket.com is free, just upload your photos there. It pretty easy to use. You'll have to make an account first, then just load your photos there, and include a link to the photo in your DU posting.

whole world into itself. I really don't know where to start not knowing what kind of beads you want to make. If you're not sure, Google "making polymer clay beads" and start looking at site tutorials or lessons. You'll find lots on the internet with good pictures and instructions. If you're really going to get into bead making,I would suggest buying a bead shaping and cutting thingie (I don't know what it's called). PC sites will have bead making tools listed and I'm sure they would be wonderful help. Also look at Bead and Button magazine like at a large news-stand, Barnes and Noble.

but not many. Maybe one per magazine at most.

But I've started with what info I have. I learned to make Skinner blends and canes over the weekend. I did make a pendant out of a square cane that was cut/folded to get a neat mirror image effect, I'll have to get a pic of it.

http://i175.photobucket It's only 5 pieces--primitive but FUN!

Edit: OK, I'm stupid...why won't this pull up?

go to your photobucket album,

under the picuture, there should be a line called "html tag". copy and paste that tag into your DU post, and it should show up here.

I said! GIANT SNAIL INVADES DU!

deleted!

about your 1st Cav shield.....we just saw my nephew off from Ft.Hood last Friday...he's in Kuwait on his way to Iraq and he's in the 1st Cavalry..

looks wonderful!

outfitted rabbits!! The pictures are on another computer and like a dummie I never made a disc.
That computer is here but............whoa we already have two set up in a small place....but one of these days I'll get hubby to connect it for me. I have a flash drive so I should be able to pull them off fast....of course, then again.......I forget how to do stuff if I don't do them frequently enough.

It's clear we have a real pro in our midst, and the rest of us would like to take advantage. :)

and bldg. of three thousand sq. feet to less than 800 sq. feet. There's a good reason for this altho I won't bore you with it....however, to say I know where anything is...is an outright lie! (See Libby it isn't so hard!) Anyway, I will eventually upload some pics....I might at least show you part of my beloved MN studio...I was in heaven there. Unfortunately, all that you can see of any work there is a clock I was working on and my son's fly tying apparatus! But, you might get an idea of the inspiration is was.....those pictures,some of them, not the best, are available. Tomorrow.

I had quite an experience in uploading today.....so much to learn so little time! Thanks to AllegroRondo for the essential guidance. Don't you just love computers? I am mesmerized by all that's available.....so much of what I have learned was solo....no books or internet thirty years ago so some of my methods are very basic. For example, tools: I have tools that I would never give up....but they're common items around the house because pc tools didn't exist way back when! I also have some methods that other clay artists don't seem to know about, but I will tell all of you because I love DU and everyone that makes it such a revelation. Someday when I write my book, you'll know where it was first printed.

I use the white Sculpey. We cover a long unit on ancient civilizations and for ancient Egypt we make little scarab amulets from Sculpey. They form their scarabs using references or from their own imagination. We set a jewelry eye before baking so that we can string and do some beading (it covers a few different crafting experiences) After the clay is baked they paint the amulets in different tones and shades of blue. They come out great.

I would like to expand and offer more pc project's. Any suggestions? I love the snail ring holder!

I can't wait to see more pictures!!!

Anything from hogans to cathedrals might be doable with poly clay. Or if you are still in that historical period, how about having them make some cuneiform tablets?

Our local landmark society sponsors what they call the 4th grade architectural contest. It is county wide, and my plan involves a sharpie pen rendering (from a landmark society book of historic places)and then they color in with watercolors. I'm thinking a relief out of Sculpey would be a nice change of pace.

To go along with this unit we also make gargoyles out of fiber based coffee/beverage holders and papier mache'.

Thanks!!!:hi:

the plain ol' white Sculpey very useful. When I was doing production art and going through eight hundred dollars of clay a month, Sculpey became a wonderful extender of the more expensive Premo or Pro-Mat (way back when). It is also good like you have used it....for little pieces that are thick enough it is strong enough. Did you ever have trouble with the jewelry rings breaking through the holes?

Sculpey is also good enough for simple molds. Just the negative and positive aspects of mold making is interesting in and of itself.

Leaf imprints...those leaves with stong vein structures make incredible impressions! Washed down in a burnt umber and pulled off is fun. Again let me think about it. I worked in fantasy world for too long!

Pictures? I went to "explore" our storage units yesterday---quite a revelation! Did find some of my small tools but no pictures I could at least scan.....but I'm still looking. Found a few of my studio on another computer with some scraggly rabbits. The rabbits are a mixture of Sculpey and Premo...carved in detail with a Dremel tool after they were cured. Fun to do but...I wanted to start my rabbit herd! From the pictures I can tell I didn't even get to the carving part on most. I'll see what more I can find.

The kids have to design a meal out of clay (I use salt clay that I make myself) Maybe using Sculpey or another polymer clay would be easier. I bake the salt clay in our cafeteria's convection oven, and then they paint their creations with acrylics. The problem with the salt clay is it will crack and break very easily.

They have to represent a well balanced, healthy meal, but have to think about composition, color, texture, all in three dimensional form. The next step is to design a paper plate, a place mat, and napkin (made out of construction paper) with watercolor and markers. When all is complete, they glue down the food and napkin, and we add plastic silverware to complete it.

I am thinking that the leaf impressions would make a great project for early fall.

I'm getting excited about all the things I could be doing with pc.
Thanks!!!!:hi:

I had a clay friend who made food miniatures for doll houses! Maureen Carlson has a book that Fimo put out (I don't know where my is) it's one from the mid 90's, I am guessing, that has some food in it for her characters. Veggies lend themselves well as do bread products. Trying "Googling" polymer clay food replicas....that might yield something.