Auction for Ada

I am running an Auction for my daughter, Ada for 2 weeks starting on Saturday, September 25th, 2010 till Friday, October,8th, 2010. Please check out my other blog for more details.

CUTE AS A BUTTON RING

I am re-thinking the way I do my work. I get bored easily so to do things over and over is not my cup of tea, but when it's time to do shows, I need a lot of goodies to fill up the table. So I decided to try this method. Nothing new, I am not re-invent the wheel, just different way to work. So I made rings out of some wire. (I will show you how later, I promise) Then made a round base, covered with some canes then insert the ring into it. You can use store bought ring blank, the one with round base. Here's how.

Material
Black clay, ring base, several canes, copper mesh, circle cutter and plastic wrap.

1.Make rings from wire.

2. Run 2 sheets of black clay at thickest on PM. put on top of each other, cut out w/ cutter. Make several of those.

3. Cut small pieces of copper mesh, put them on top of the discs.

4. Run another sheet of black clay at thickest, cut out w/ round cutter. Put them on top of the copper mesh, press lightly make sure it stick together.

5. Put plastic wrap on top of each disc, cut out w/ round cutter, bake for 10 minutes.

6. Prepare the cane sheets, make sure they are big enough to cover the disc. Cover the discs with them, trim the edge, then decorate with other canes or what ever you want. Bake.

7. Turn the disc up side down, carve the deep channel with carving tool, deep enough that the ring can be embedded into it. Cover the channel with some clay. Press the ring into it, then cover with more clay, bake and put varnish on them.








If you have the ring blank with round base on it, just carve the circle out of the back to embedded the ring in it. The possibility is endless, you can make different shapes too.

Round beads with Chinese word in the middle

I bought the Metal stamps with Chinese word on them a while back from somewhere I can't remember (Sorry). They are not as big as I expected but using them this way might work out fine.

So, what you need is some Black Clay, stamps, plastic wrap, texture tool, copper mica powder, clear varnish..

1. Make a sheet of black clay. Run it through the thickest setting on PM.

2. Stamp the words on to the clay. Leave enough space in between words

3. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap over clay. This way when you cut out with the round cutter, the wrap will round up the edge of the cut out pieces.

4.Press the cutter lightly on the wrap, enough to see if the word will be in the center, then press the cutter down.

5. Peel off the wrap, and excess clay.

6. Texture the discs lightly if you want then cover the surface with copper mica powder. Apply it with your finger so it only stick to the surface, not in the words. Baked.

7. Prepare the base clay for beads. Make a round shape clay about the size of your thumb., press down to almost flat. press a disc on both sides, make sure they line up at the middle. This might need a few practice. Press the discs down between your finger, like so.

8. Make texture with a needle tools, then bake. After that, put a few coats of varnish on the disc. Mica powder do rubbed off through time.

I made a few beads and a flat disc with one side. Those I will use to make rings.

Don't forget to check out my project with "Ring a day" group on Flickr. We have to make one ring each day for a year (365 totals) and post the picture on Flickr.

Square Flower Beads

I always looking for the way to use scrap clay. I don't have much because I don't make a lot of canes. Sometime my friends just gave it to me.

Now that we all know how to make flower canes, let's put them to good use. I also make some simple leave cane and tiny flower canes in different colors.

1. Cut small pieces from scrap clay pile, roll it into a log about 1 cm. in diameter and about 6" long. You can make it longer and bigger. I like to make smaller size beads. Twisted the log till you get a nice pattern.

2. Cut thin slides off the canes.

3. Put the can slides on to the log, either in random or in pattern. No need to cover the whole log. Press them down lightly. With both hands, roll the log back and forth till the slides blend into the log. Try not to stretch the log too much. You can press it inward while rolling.

4. Cut the log into 1" pieces. First pinch both ends down, then press the middle part down so it turn into a puffy square shape. Adjust the shape accordingly.

5. Poke the hole and bake.

Sometime I used a few solid color clay, roll them into fat snakes and make a log, then added the scrap clay. Add translucent clay will give some dimension to the background. Also make sure you have some flowers on both side of the beads.

I like this flat square and flat round beads because I use them to make bracelets and ankle bracelets. The flat bead will lay flat against the skin, make it more comfortable to wear than the round bead.

I am sure you have your own flower canes you can use for this project.

Happy claying :)

Ebay auction - benefit Ada starts today. We received more than 80 items donated from Polymer clay artists around the world. Kathy Stuart had finally put some of them on Ebay today. Thanks Kathy. There will be more to come but check out www.ebay.com and put "benefit Ada" in a find box.

Star - Christmas Ornament

I bought a necklace a while ago that has 2 star shape pendants, one gold, one silver. It has a face impression on it and the idea came after I made the snowmen; to put a hat on it.

1. Make a mold using 2 part epoxy mold

2. Using 2 sheet of white clay running at the thickest setting, put the pendant on top of the clay and cut around it.

3. Press the clay into the mold, using texture tools to make texture on the back.

4. Take the clay out, trim, and bake.

5. Using a small piece of wire, bend one end then insert a small white ball on there. The wire will help secure the ball to stay on top of the hat. Cut out 2 triangle from red clay and cut a strip of white clay about 3/4" x 3".

6. Wrap the red clay around the top part of the star, insert thewhite ball on the top, wrap the strip of white clay around the red, tuck in the seam, then texture the hat with needle tool of you choice.

7. Bake and decorate as will. You can use paint or glitter. I was using the diamond dust w/ glue. Rhinestone and crystal can be use to decorate the hat too. Enjoy.

Here are more ideas. Rhinestones on the left and Colts Hat on the right. make one with your favorite football color.