Purple plastic flower brooches
I started making these brooches back in July 2009 but they have been sat waiting to be finished since then.They are made from shrink plastic and then painted with acrylic paint. They are about 6cm in diameter.Finally they are finished!Shrink plastic and acrylic paint brooches
read moreSilver flower prototype
A while ago I saw instructions to make a necklace in a jewellery magazine that I loved. I thought wow I am going to make one of those. I set of to the computer to buy the beads listed and realised that the price of the components was over £60! Now I have never spent that much on a piece of jewellery before and didn’t intend to start spending that now either. I realised that the most expensive part was the silver flower focal bead because it was Thai Hilltribe Silver and cost £35, so over half the cost.This was the thing that made me...
read moreWhat shall I do with those lentil beads?
copperpinkswirl3Originally uploaded by purplecactusstudiosI have made several lentil beads in the past but they all sit in my big box of polymer clay things yet to be given a lease of life. The new improved me who actually makes things needs to get using them so what shall I do with them?I found loads of lentil bead jewellery on flickr (that link will take you to my lentil bead gallery, wish you could have more than 18 images in a gallery I could have had lots more!).I think I will look at making them into a necklace with some other beads...
read morePerles givrées – Frosted beads
Perles givrées – Frosted beadsOriginally uploaded by gRiS bLEuI have to say I often see polymer clay things that are breathtakingly beautiful. There are so many talented people out there! I have an ever growing collection of favourites on flickr.I came across this from Gris Bleu today and I just had to share it.
read moreQuick clay play today – scrap lentil beads
It’s the weekend and the kids are around so it is time for family but my kind husband took the kids down to the gym this morning which meant I had just over an hour of clay time alone. I spent my time playing with the extruder but didn’t produce anything I would bother repeating. So what do I do with this pile of scrap I have just produced? What else but swirl lentil beads. They haven’t been baked yet but here they are. Scrap clay lentil swirl beadsMy aim is to try and turn them into some jewellery realatively soon (but I do...
read moreBuffing with the Dremel – part 1
Having sanded and buffed a load of beads by hand last week I decided to try buffing with a dremel. I wanted to get a really shiny buffed finish and I had read that you could only achieve this with mechanical buffing. I only started sanding recently and have been buffing by hand on a tea towel . I have never used a dremel before, I am borrowing one from my parents.I tried the dremel buffing wheel (sewn muslin one that comes with the Dremel) last week and managed to make some nasty grooves in my work. The surface was horribly dull and the...
read moreI’ve finished and used the buttons (well 1 of them ;)
Anyone who knows me will recognise the power of the blog – I am not one to finish things as a rule. So this week I not only made some buttons but I finished them (sanded and buffed – they came up pretty good) and then made a brooch using one. Here it is Felt flower brooch with polymer clay buttonI am thinking about making a blog about the rest of my life as this one seems to be a very good motivator (I don’t want to bore you all with the state of my house or why I can’t get out of bed in the morning…)My daughter...
read moreFirst polymer clay buttons
Here are my first ever polymer clay buttons! Again it was using a Cindy Leitz video. They aren’t great (my fault not Cindy’s of course!), I can see lots of room for improvement.I had problems with the cling film I was using sticking to the clay – must try a different brand. I would of squished them up but I liked the pattern (off cuts from a scrap clay Natasha bead). I think they might be rescued with some heavy sanding – round the edges too where I didn’t do a great job with the cutter.I also must remember that...
read moreGlow in the Dark Rainbow Jellyroll cane
This is a neat cane which I learnt from one of Cindy Leitz’s video newsletters (I love Friday’s the day they arrive!). There is a lot of excitement about this Friday’s video as it is Faux Opals that look great!I had to switch back to Fimo as I had Fimo Soft Glow in the Dark and Kato don’t make one (might be worth an email suggesting that they do of course). I find the fimo so soft to work with now I don’t really enjoy it.I did for the first time ever put a cane in the freezer for 15 mins before slicing –...
read morePlaying with the extruder – square sticks
I have been playing a lot with polymer clay recently, trying out new things.I thought I would share some of them with you, here’s the first…Square sticks I didn’t quite take the right pictures so you will have to piece it together a bit yourself. I put some sticks of polymer clay in the extruder barrel instead of the usual discs to see what would happen. As you can see I was just playing around and not taking my time to be neat. I would cut them into neater square cross section sticks of even size in future. On the right...
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