Since I started improving my polymer clay work by following tutorials and going to workshops I have found it very confusing when people give you a pasta machine thickness as the different brands (particularly Atlas and Imperia the main 2 quality machines) don’t compare easily. I have an Imperia machine which I love, it is easy to take apart to clean, only requiring to remove the end plate on one end (the one without the knob) with 1 screw...

I am trying to get ready for my first sale on Friday (my mum sold some bits for me at a charity coffee morning a few weeks back but I wasn’t there and she did all the display etc). I don’t have as much stock as I would like (where does the time go?) but I am working on it!I have been polishing many of my beads in a rock tumbler recently. I half fill the tumbler with small smooth pebbles, bung in a handful or two of beads add some...

I have been looking for some pens to cover with polymer clay and couldn’t find the Bic stics that I know from people in the states are oven friendly. I tried out a few brands – without clay (having already learnt the hard way!) and they all deformed even at 115oC. I asked for help on the PCC forum and Tonja was able to suggest using some papermate pens – PaperMate Flexgrip Elite and PaperMate Flexigrip Ultra in capped rather...

So I was just sitting down trying to figure out how to make them neater when I remembered I had a small star cookie cutter. I was going to use it to make an impression on the end of the block of clay to use as a cutting guide when I remembered seeing somewhere someone making a cane from cookie cutters (sorry can’t remember who or where or when – I do remember it was elephants and it was a neat idea). Here’s what I did. The...

My favourite necklace right now is my spliced flower cane one that I made recently with the matching bracelet.   one of the spliced flower cane beadsI decided to play about with the spliced flower technique to see what would happen. I turned them inside out (I normally put the white in the center) the starting skinner blend logs rolled so the white is on the outsidethe restacked logs after first bit of squashing  The finished flowerI tried 3...

As well as making my mums birthday present (will show you soon – can’t show you now as she might read my blog) I am also making cake forks for my other sister in law. She has Dorset Fruits Crockery by Poole Pottery so I decided to make her some matching cake forks. She has a set for each of the family with their own fruits and they have plums (as shown), apples, grapes and pears. I am still experimenting with inlaying or having a...