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...

I am not sure how I have failed to mention this on my blog before but I am off to Polymer Play Days in Nottingham next week! Being a mother of 2 small children it is a real treat to be able to escape and have 3 days of pure polymer clay! I am looking forward to learning some new techniques, meeting some people I have met online in person and spending time with other people who actually know what polymer clay is! ( I am trying to educate the...

White flower green backgroundOriginally uploaded by surfingcat clayMy latest flower cane. I wanted something to cover some yellow aluminium crochet hooks and thought about making a sunflower cane. Somehow I ended up making white daisy type of flower with a green background in Fimo Soft (I usually use Kato these days as it gives much neater results in cane work for me). Strange how you end up doing something completely different at...

I am currently taking part in a patterned sheet swap held on PCC forum. This is a 2 part swap. The first was to make some patterned sheets and the second is to cover an object/objects with the patterned sheets you receive.I didn’t take a picture of my sheets but they were something like this. You can see them and all the other sheets sent in for the swap here on Barbara the host’s flickr set (thanks Barbara for hosting and sharing...

I used to think that a butterfly cane was too fiddly and likely to distort on reduction but now I have improved my cane building and reducing skill somewhat I decided it was time to tackle it. I had a good browse through flickr at butterfly canes for guidanceCane ready for packingReady for reductionFinished butterfly canesI am pretty chuffed with how it turned out. The colour on the wings is actually a three way skinner blend from white through...

I had a go at the zebra cane from Cindy Leitz video newsletter because I didn’t have much time but wanted to make a cane for the PCC forum June Cane Challenge (a good excuse to do lots of cane making). I didn’t think I liked animal prints really but thought this zebra one would be a variation on black and white stripes.  I made this cane and decided that I loved it!I then made myself some beads. I sanded and buffed them today...