If at first you don't succeed...

You may remember that I was rather excited about a new to me technique to make faux ceramic using polymer clay and liquid translucent polymer clay.  The photo above is from the faux ceramic pendant tutorial and is what inspired me.  The technique looked reasonably simple and I had the polymer clay, liquid translucent polymer clay and alcohol inks, so off I went.

Hmm, not quite what I wanted, so it was a little disappointing, but I analysed why it had not worked as well as I wanted it to.  Here are my conclusions:

1. The liquid polymer clay (Sculpey) was too thick to pool properly
2. I had applied the coloured translucent clay on all the raised areas of the images, not into the recesses, which is what I should have done (if I had looked at the tutorial more carefully in the first place, I would have realised that!)
3. I had applied the liquid clay using my finger so the application was not very precise
4. There was a matt finish, rather than a glossy one, although this could have been remedied by applying a glossy glaze

So, I decided to buy some Kato translucent liquid clay as I had seen this used on a different tutorial where it could be heated by a heat gun and gave a look of resin, so I reasoned that it would give more shine.  I also bought some Sculpey clay thinner (just in case I wanted to try again with the Sculpey liquid).  I tried again, using the Kato liquid clay.

Here is the Kato liquid clay with one drop of alcohol ink just sitting on it - the colours looked lovely already, so I felt more positive.

I stamped the patterns into the clay and then cured it. Once slightly cool, I took my time and applied the ink/clay mix into the recesses of the patterns, using a cocktail stick so that I had more control. Once I was happy with them, I cured them again and was pleased with the result - the liquid clay was glossy and did look a bit like a ceramic glaze.  This is a technique I shall return to as I would like to work on an idea using polymer clay and gemstones.

I have also been stamping on polymer clay using my Blockwallah stamps and the results have been great.  I used the StazOn ink, which smells of marzipan when you use it, and which can be used on pretty much any surface.  It worked well on polymer and gave a nice clear impression.  More stamping to come, I think, and I have been looking at some colouring pens which work well on polymer clay, so I think there will be more experimenting to come...

Polymer Clay - making simple canes (part 2)

The slices of cane are now placed on a piece of black clay (rolled out on the thickest setting of the clay roller), as closely as possible.

 Cling film is put over the top and the clay is smoothed out using the acrylic roller.  Putting cling film over it stops the patterns from distorting while being smoothed and joined.

 Here it is after rolling and smoothing.  Hopefully, no gaps left!

 Then it can be cut to shape using a cutter or the blades and is ready to bake.

 The next simple cane is a spiral cane.  I conditioned and rolled out a piece of black and a piece of gold on the thickest setting of the clay roller.

I cut the two piece to the same size, cutting the top and bottom edges with a bevel, so that the clay joins together smoothly.

Just roll it up!

Keep rolling!  You can see there are gaps at this stage.

 Once it is all rolled and the join is smooth, the gaps have all gone and here is the spiral cane.

 It gets rolled and reduced too.  You can make spirals with lots of different layers and colours.

 To create a pendant, I placed slices of both the canes onto a piece of black clay rolled on the thickest setting, covered it with cling film and smoothed the surface, as before.  I then used a cutter (going through the cling film as well), which pushed the pattern down the sides of the pendant.

 Here are the two pendants ready for baking.  They are on a piece of card, on a bead baking rack and then on an old baking tray.  The card stops the backs of the pieces from being shiny where they are in contact with the metal.  I bake them for 30 minutes on gas mark half - the coolest setting on my oven - but different clays will vary so check the instructions on the packet.

Polymer clay will keep for ages, providing it is kept in a plastic (Grade 5) box.  Some other grades of plastic will be melted by the clay.  Just check there is a number 5 in the triangle underneath the box and it'll be fine. Canes that have been made previously can also be stored and used in other projects - you can see some of mine above.  Scrap clay is kept to be used in other designs or as the bases of other beads - there is very little waste.  If this post has whetted your appetite for more, do go and have an internet search for polymer clay artists, as there are some amazing makers out there.  I love using polymer clay as it is very forgiving and can be used in so many different ways - the only limit seems to be the maker's imagination!



Polymer clay - making simple canes

A while ago, I said I would post about making simple canes with polymer clay and I thought I had better get on with it!  (It is quite a long post, due to the number of photos, but I'll split it into hopefully manageable chunks).  Firstly, polymer clay is a non-toxic material, made of tiny particles of PVC, pigment and a plasticizer.  It needs to be baked at a cool temperature to harden.  You can use a domestic oven to bake it in, but use a baking tray just for your clay and cover it with foil when baking to ensure the material doesn't get onto the oven.  Although it is non-toxic, you need to have tools that you keep just for clay work - don't use the same tools for cooking and clay.  Above is a basic selection of useful/essential tools.  From the top left: a clay roller (for getting lovely thin sheets of clay), an acrylic sheet (for rolling/flattening), a cutter, an acrylic roller, cutting blades (extremely sharp), and some polymer clay.  The materials are sitting on a ceramic tile which is an ideal surface to work on.

 There are lots of brands of clay out there, but I use Premo by Sculpey (ranging from around £1.95 to £2.50 for a block like the one above (about 57g).  This brand is marked into four pieces, which is helpful when you only need some of the block.

 The first thing to do is to condition the clay by rolling it in your hands and warming it up.  It will become more malleable and easier to work with. 

 How do you know when it is conditioned?  The piece above has broken into two when folded over, so is not ready yet.

 Now it's ready - it is smooth and folds nicely.

 (I changed to black clay here, so that you can see it against the background.) It is being rolled out before being put through the clay roller.

 Here it is on the thickest setting, on my roller, number 1.

 Here it is after being rolled on number 5.

When you put the clay into the roller, make sure any fold is put in first, otherwise  air bubbles could be trapped in the clay.

 A sausage of pearl clay is wrapped in a thin layer of black clay.

 It just gets rolled up and the clay is cut with a bevelled edge to join together.

 The bulls-eye cane (that's the official name of this type of cane) is rolled to reduce the size and then cut into small lengths.

 I made another cane with gold in the middle and this has the black and white canes placed around it.

 It is rolled to smooth the surface and make sure the clay is all stuck together.

 It is then reduced by rolling it with a piece of acrylic.

Then slices are cut from it and can be used to make a pendant...