Sara Jane's Studio

Another Polymer Clay Project

This is the final project that resulted from my recent play-time with the Clearsnap StamPress.  (You can see my review of the StamPress itself by clicking here.)  My other projects were a decorative box, a trinket box, and a not-so-successful box.

 The inspiration for this piece was the polymer clay panel in the center- it was the result of impressing polymer clay with a stamping wheel by Paula Best, using the StamPress.  The center of the panel had four line sketches of faces, but I cut those out with my Xacto knife after baking, so the panel was more like a frame.  It was an interesting exercise to color the piece- it started out as plain white poly clay.  First I tried black acrylic paint- but, yuck!  While it got into the grooves well, the rest of the surface looked a dull grey.  So I wiped that off as best I could, and then tried wiping with a magenta acrylic paint.  Better.  But it needed something a bit more- so I used my finger to "dry brush" on some Lumiere True Gold acrylic from Jacquard.  NOW I was getting somwhere.  The little flower on the right needed something to set it apart, so I painted in just a touch of green in the stem and leaves, and then made certain that there was gold on the raised areas.

The container is a small shadow box from C&T Publishing, and I decided at the end not to use the cover.  In retrospect I realized that I could have also used a small square jewelry box (like the kind that you get new jewelry in).  I covered it with Rose Red Designer Prints paper from Stampin' Up!  Then I filled it with three layers of 3/8" thick foam core- because I wanted my panel to be more forward in the box, rather than all the way at the back.  The top layer of foam core I covered with a Kiwi Kiss Designer Prints paper (also from SU).  The polymer clay panel was attached with OmniStick Glue (like E6000). 

The flower in the center was made from layering three flowers from Maya Road.  They aren't felt and they aren't paper- more like a flocked surface.  A decorative brad is holding them together, and the whole was attached in the center of the frame using OmniStick.

Then came the rest of the embellishments:  a 1/8" polka dot satin ribbon and a fine gold cord were glued to the edges of the back.  Two small pieces of gold paper charms (tiny strings of flowers) are centered above and below the poly clay frame.   Pearl "Dew Drops" are in each corner, and I added tiny red hearts from my stash to each corner of the frame.

All-in-all, it was really fun to work on.  Of course my young 15 year-old friend, Aaron, asked the classic male question:  "What's it for?!?"  Fortunately his sister knew the answer, and I know that you do too!

Keep creating!

 

Not my proudest project

I am not in the habit of sharing the projects that I am not happy with, or just plain don't like, or that I, ummm, make mistakes on.  But then I thought, I learn from those projects, so why not share the whole process?

I was playing around with my StampPress from Clearsnap and impressing polymer clay.  I decided to try to form a strip of clay around a paper mache box and bake it.

I mixed up a green polymer clay with a hint of blue, conditioned it on my clay-only pasta machine and ran it through the StamPress using a standard size wheel from Stampin Up! ("Forever Flowers").

The polyclay tray (shown here holding the green clay) that comes with the StamPress is only about 8" long, so I had to make two strips to cover the side of a 4" diameter paper mache box.

I used the remnant of the second strip to decorate the top of the box.

I attached the strip to the unfinished paper mache box using a liquid poly clay, and baked at 275 degrees for 15 minutes (my polyclay was only 1/8" thick).   This part of the experiment was a success:  the strip was adhered to the box, and the box did not burn.

Then, I used a combination of my finger and cotton swabs to highlight the images on the cured polyclay using powdered mica pigments.  And I wish I had stopped here!  But no, I had to go on and apply a liquid gloss finish (like Crystal Effects, but made for poly clay) to the polymer clay.  MISTAKE!  The liquid gloss ended up solubilizing the dry pigment and making it flow.  DOH!!!  So where I had originally had a pretty dense application of color, I found that I now had a muddied, less intense look.  You can probably see this better by clicking on the image, below, to enlarge it.

In my attempt to salvage something, I kept going with paint and stamping.... I started by edging the polyclay strips with my trusty Krylon gold leafing pen.

Then, I painted the sides of the box above the polymer clay strip and the top of the box with Jacquard Lumiere Bright Gold.  The sides of the lid were painted with Halo Blue Gold- which turned out to be a pretty good match for the polymer clay color!  (At least ONE thing worked out!!)

But then the gold lid seemd too overwhelming, so I stamped a small background image from Stampin' Up! (Boho Backgrounds) using Handsome Hunter Craft ink.  I carried this image down the sides of the lid as well.

And that's it.  A just okay final product- but a pretty good learning experience.

A box for special things

I was playing with my StamPress (by Clearsnap) for a product review on Craft Critique (you can see the actual product review by clicking here), and decided to make a couple of fun projects using the pieces that I created with the StamPress.

Here is the first one.  Considering that the base is a simple paper mache box, I spent WAY to much time on this project.  Does that ever happen to anyone else?  But I am pleased with the result.

This was inspired by a stamping wheel design by Paula Best that came with my StamPress.  I made a large panel with three images in white polymer clay, cut them apart and baked them before coloring.

My first pass at coloring was with Copic markers.  And the result was okay- but the color was not very saturated. So I overpainted the turquoise, the green and the green-blue with Lumiere and was happier with the result.  The face and pale background are still Copic marker.

The box, which was the standard brown paper mache, was covered with a layer of white acrylic paint before I did anything else.

Since the polymer clay panel is smaller than the top of the box, I decided to extend the design on the panel to the box lid.  I spent considerable time measuring and drawing the lines with pencil (and remeasuring and redrawing!) before I was happy with it. 

I used Pearlescent Turquoise, Halo Blue Gold, and Citrine colors of Jacquard Lumiere, and mixed a blue-green using Pearlescent Blue and Halo Blue Gold.  The dots were added by tipping the back-end of my paint brush in the paint and dabbing it on the surface.  (I love that trick for making perfect little circles!!)  (BTW: Lumiere is my all-time favorite brand of metallic acrylic paint.  It is incredibly rich and spreads on like buttercream....) 

The white lines were touched up using my Signo Gel Pen.

The sides of the lid were painted with Citrine, and the body of the box with Halo Blue Gold.  Right now, I can't decide if it's done, or if I want to carry the geometric design onto the sides of the lid and the box.  What do you think?

Keep creating!

Artful Amulets

These litte gems are SO MUCH FUN to make!!  They were inspired by an article that I saw in an "Inpirations" magazine, published a few years ago by Stampington & Co.  Of course I only got around to making them a few months back- yes, my project list is that long!!  Don't be fooled by the pictures- in total they are only about 2" to 2 1/2" tall.  They appeal, in part, to my love of tiny, detailed things.

You start with a little glass vial, which you can purchase at a variety of online stores, including Stampington and SkyBluePink.  (The latter is one of my favorite places for funky fun stuff for collages and altered art.)  They come with little cork stoppers, which you don't need to keep for the amulets.  But don't throw them away, you never know when you might find a use for them..... (Who said that?!?!  Was it my hoarding gremlin or yours?!?) 

Polymer clay is kneaded to a working consistency- I always use my pasta machine (devoted to only polymer clay, of course).  For thes little sculptures I used white, gold and black, depending on the look that I wanted.  I used the clay in two basic ways:  one was to stamp on a ~1/8" thick piece of clay.  You must first add a release agent (water, corn starch, and Versamark all work), and you must exert LOTS of pressure.  The best part is that if you don't like the impression that you left, you just fold up the clay, run it through the pasta machine, and stamp again. 

The second way that I used the clay was with flexible molds, such as the ones that you can buy at Sweet Brier Studio.   To use these, you basically smoosh (technical term) the clay into the mold, and level off the back so that it is flat.  You bend the molds to release the design.   

You can decorate the clay before it is baked using Jacquard's Pearl Ex powder, or you can wait to paint them afterwards.  I chose the latter for this set of amulets, and used Jacquard's Lumiere paints- which are my favorite metallic acrylic paints. 

A little log of clay is rolled to create the "neck", which also happens to be the stopper for the vial.  If you want to hang it, say as a necklace, or as a good luck talisman on the rear-view mirror of your car, you can cut a short piece of clay, and fashion it into a loop on the back of the face or the image that is the top of your sculpture.  Polymer clay is very forgiving, and you can blend both the "neck" and the loop easily with your fingers and/or a toothpick if you don't have any clay tools.  The sculpture (without the glass vial) is baked in a toaster oven (also devoted to only polymer clay use) according to the instructions for the particular brand of clay you are using.  Again, polymer clay is a wonderful medium because the baking temperatures are relatively low (275 degrees, or thereabouts) and the baking time is short (20-30 minutes).  So these projects work up very quickly- in other words, instand gratification!  I am all over that!!

For the final touches, I found some bits of hand made paper, and rolled them up to fit in the vials.  Funky fibers were used to finish off the amulets.  You can also write yourself a special note and roll it up in the vial - maybe one of your favorite affirmations?

I gave one of these to my mother on Mother's Day, filled with love and good wishes- and she keeps it on her bedside table.  (Perfect for the woman who otherwise has everything!)  The rest are destined for sale at a little shop that has opened up nearby- but somehow I have not been able to bring myself to part with them!  I guess I'll just have to get out the polymer clay and make some more!

Keep creating!