Scraps and leftovers…
Due to the change in weather, I wanted to set up a nice garden this year of veggies and native drought hardy plants, which I did to the detriment of my blog postings. LOL
I have however also been making all types of jewelry out of leftover projects. I like to try to use up as much as possible of old supplies and pieces before I make any new orders or get new supplies. In this case leftover polymer clay, which seems to run rampant in my projects, I keep every poly clay scrap I possibly can. Sadly they often sit in a box for months, “glaring” at me when I go through my scrap box for something to make. Wanting to make a new order of supplies but knowing I had to do something with some of my left over stuff, off I went to my poly clay scrap and my jewelry finding junk box. I collected some slices off a cane, which I was able to cut into small pieces and arrange on a bed of scrap black poly clay, smooth the edges, carve little texture lines and add 3 horseshoe hoops for hanging findings.
Add a few findings, beads for contrast and silver chain, and there you have it: a quick and classy necklace. 🙂
After a few more necklaces made from scraps I realized I was honestly low on supplies so merrily I went ahead and made an order to Fire Mountain Gems. Though this time along with the needed supplies, on a whim I ordered a Boss’ Bead Bag. Basically a grab bag of all types of findings, beads, cabs, frames, anything and everything they carry might end up in one of these bags. I was more than pleasantly surprised when I opened my order.
Here is the Boss’ Bead Bag separated by size of beads and metal findings. There was sterling silver beads, semi precious stones, wood beads, adorable plastic animal beads, glass beads of all sorts, frames and filigree findings! Which of course got my squirrely little mind a whirl with the idea of making necklaces just from the supplies found in the Boss’ Bead Bag.
I wanted to try making the first one as classy as possible, just to see how un-grab bag like I could make it. I ended up with this lovely mix of butterflies and purple/pink hues, everything was from the Boss’ Bag except for a few added jump rings, eye pins and nail pins, which was also from this order to Fire Mountain Gems. I still have loads of stuff left over from the bag to make more necklaces and even some miniature work (there was some very tiny pendants and beads perfect for a doll house).I highly suggest anyone into jewelry making but also likes interesting surprises to order a Boss’ Bead Bag.
Till next time Safe Travels! 🙂
Resin work….
Resin work of any sort has always been an interest of mine. My parents had worked with it over 35 years ago but often complained about the odor and the “cooking” (over heating anything put into the resin) element of resin. With that in mind, I avoided working with resin, concerned about the vapors and heat. That was until I ended up talking with the people at Alumilite Corporation booth, makers of the Amazing Mold Making and Casting Products at CHA‘s 2010 Winter Trade Show. (See this blog post for 2011 CHA Winter Trade Show) They were showcasing their Amazing Mold Putty and Amazing Casting Resin as a way to create replicas of practically anything in a very short period of time. The Molding Putty is non-toxic (in fact you can make food safe molds with it) and the Casting Resin is a opaque, low odor resin and cures within 10-15 minutes. After seeing the demos I went ahead and got several kits.
I started making master pieces in polymer clay to make molds from. I generally use my junk clay, pieces left over from other projects, which for some reason always end up making pink or gray-purple color. LOL
Keep in mind while I use polymer clay as my master you can practically mold any surface or item you like. The more detail in the piece, the finer the mold.
Here are the masters made out of poly clay. Keep in mind I did high detail work. The Amazing Mold Putty does wonderful with anything with high detail, and I get better molds with high detail masters. The Cheshire cat is about the size of a US Silver Dollar.
Note I place the masters on Clear Stamp Acrylic Blocks used for stamping. I use them to keep track if the molding putty is plum to the piece and make sure there is little if no creases forming when placing the molding putty on the piece. You can use small clear glass titles as well.
Make sure you mix the putty according to the manufacture’s instruction, though the Amazing Mold Putty is rather forgiving if there is not exact amounts used. I try to use as little as possible to be able to do more projects. Do not attempt to remove the mold for at least 20 minutes to make sure the mold has set.
As you can see I tried to get the mold putty as plum as possible, using the Clear Stamp Acrylic Blocks as my guide.
While the cure time for the molds is 20 minutes I like to leave the master in the molding putty for longer, making sure the mold is a rigid as possible (but keep in mind it is silicon and very flexible once cured) before trying to make any replicas. The molds can be cleaned with mild soap and water before you make any replicas to remove any loose particles left by the master.
When mixing the Amazing Casting Resin be careful about stirring too fast and for too long. Once the two parts are combined stir carefully until clear, scraping sides, about 15-20 seconds. Then immediately start to pour the resin into your molds; do not pour too quick as you will increase the amount of air bubbles. It will set in 10 minutes, the thicker the piece the faster the cure time. Once the piece is cured I quickly demold, trim any rough edges, sand and either start painting or put some sort of clear protective sealer (I like to use Mod Podge); the resin will bond with the paint or sealer in those few minutes after demolding. I let them dry and sit for about an hour before I do the final sanding or drill any of the replicas.
The finished replicas sanded, drilled, painted and sealed. You can even easily put this resin into clear resin as well, as you can see with the skull that I purposely caught air bubbles in the eye sockets to give it the look of eyeballs.
Until next time, Safe Travels…
Back from CHA
Finally back and unpacked from the Craft & Hobby Association Winter Conference and Trade Show put on by the Craft & Hobby Association (otherwise known as CHA)! It was as per normal an amazing show, full of new products, demos, old favorites and awesome networking. It is always one of the highlights of my year, many of a artistic friend and local art businesses! While I meet so many wonderful people and got to try so many products I must note some really did out shine the rest;
One thing a bit different for me this year was the opportunity to have on display some of my jewelry pieces at the Alumilite Corporation booth, makers of the Amazing Mold Making and Casting Products. They were very pleased with my initial test runs of their product and I am looking forward to using their products in my future artwork.
The amazingly talented Donna Kato was there at her Katopolyclay booth, friendly, funny and as willing as ever to show polyclay tips. Unbeknown to me they now carry some wonderful new colors, products and tools!
The Plaid Creative Group , makers of Mod Podge, Folk Art and Apple Barrel just to name a few, was there in full force with some wonderful make and takes. While I was there I got to meet great crafting personalities such as Mod Podge Amy, and Candie Cooper.
Got to meet the lovely Double Stitch Twins ,Erika and Monika Simmons (they are even more beautiful in person) at the 75th anniversary Red Heart Yarns booth, they had some stunning pieces of their work on display and it was just wonderful to see how many wonderful ways Red Heart Yarn can be used!
The beautiful Lisa Pavelka was there doing a book signing of her new book The Complete Book of Polymer Clay. She was as friendly as ever and even talked about some of her new techniques, designs and new polyclay line coming out.
The fabulous Mark Montano was doing demos and book signings of his new book Pulp Fiction Perfect Paper Projects, you had to do a wonderful paper demo to get a signed book, oh twist my arm. LOL
At the always classy Beadalon booth not only got to see some new products but a dazzling display of Fernando Dasilva‘s work and book signing of his new book Modern Expressions.
Another rather nice opportunity CHA was doing this year was the Annual Business Meeting & Thank-You Breakfast and the Winter Show Event: Moonlight Mixer, both wonderful networking opportunities, alerting members of upcoming trends and great food.
Hats off to CHA for another wonderful Winter Show!
One of my jewelry pieces that was on display at the Alumilite Corporation booth, makers of the Amazing Mold Making and Casting Products. This necklace was made by making molds of Trilobite fossils (extinct marine arthropods) and then making resin replicas.
One of my other pieces that was on display at the Alumilite Corporation booth. This necklace was made by making molds of Trilobite fossils, then making resin replicas and then embedding them into clear resin to replicate fossil beds.
The full set that was on display at the Alumilite Corporation booth.
Safe Travels….
The joys of glitter, glue and old cataloges.
An industry buzz word being thrown about rather heavily lately is “Indie Crafting” : Art that is not standard or common, using everything including the kitchen sink and maybe even a good dash of recycling. Oddly enough most artists were already doing these things before it was trendy because we didn’t like doing cookie cutter art, were/are on a budget and honestly like nature.
Which brings me to a problem I have, I go to a lot of conventions and events, receive oodles of catalogs and paper, often when I don’t even ask for them. The ones I can I shred into animal bedding or for making homemade paper. But often there is a design or pattern I like, so I save the best for cutting up to apply to wood and in this case DIY Bangles. The people at DIY Bangles are very friendly and honestly listen to consumer requests, such as making bracelets in larger sizes, they also carry many shapes and cuts to the bracelets which makes them very easy to stain, wood burn and attach small objects to.
In this selection I have used acrylic paints, mica powder, glitter, wood burned, Pentel Arts pens and even used Washi paper scraps. All get many thin coats of Mod Podge as all purpose glue for paper and small objects or Diamond Glaze for anything I want to have a glass like finish (remember thin coats with a touch of water make it go on even smoother). Always let the first coat dry, be it paint, glue or glaze, before doing another coat, this way you make sure nothing moves, smears or gets wiped off.
This selection I have used acrylic paints, glitter, wood burned, Pentel Arts pens and cut panels from scrapbooking cataloges. Same coats of Mod Podge and Diamond Glaze as before. The key element is to really work with any paper you apply, carefully getting all the creases out and cutting small bits of the paper, like cutting darts in a gown, to make it fit better on the round curves.
The fun part is by using scraps, small treasures and saved items makes sure it will be a fun and different look every time you make one. 🙂
Until next time, safe travels!
Ancient and Contemporary Inspired Artistry
