Polymer Clay Canes & Things

While waiting for my order of white Pardo Art Clay to arrive I made a few canes using a variety of colors. I got the colors for this one by adding a little brown to orange,  a touch of black to yellow to get the lime and a touch of brown to yellow for the mustard yellow.  

Click on the photos for a closer look. 

Until now I've found the Art Clay very easy to condition however I ran into a problem with the black clay. I opened a new package of black clay, cut slices a little wider than the #1 setting on the pasta machine.  When I ran it through the PM it was very crumbly and got more crumbly each time I put it though the PM.  I then put it in a plastic sandwich bag and tucked it in my bra to warm it up.  The warming up helped but the rollers on the PM were cold.... my craft room was a little chilly ( I'm being stubborn about turning on the furnace)  and once the clay cooled off it was crumbly again... weird huh? I finally coated it with a little Kato liquid clay, let it sit overnight, and tried again. Much better but still a little crumbly.  When I conditioned the rest of the block of black clay I added a slice of translucent and that made a big difference. Now I'm wondering about the shelf life of this clay or if it may have been partially cured in the mail.  I would love to know if anyone else has had any problems conditioning the Art Clay and if so, how you solved the problem. 

This is a pendant I made with the cane ends.  

For this cane I tinted translucent Art Clay with alcohol inks.  The cane is cool looking but when I baked a couple tiles the colors didn't show up very well, they were way to dark.... I forgot to take a photo of the dark tiles.

I cut a couple thick slices of the cane and ran it though the PM to the #6 setting to make the tiles for the earrings. Since they are thinner and the the pattern is bigger the colors are more pronounced.  For the pendant I backed the cane slices withe crackled silver leaf over black clay. 

This is how the earrings look with light behind them.

I got the colors for the  stripped cane by mixing left over clay from the other canes and then outlining in black.  The colors for the cane on the left are mixes of blue, magenta and violet added to beige.

These pieces are made with the cane ends and left over pieces from the striped cane.

I still had small amounts of the translucent clay that I tinted with the Pardo Metal paints. I made a small cane and used it to make these.  I like the shimmery shine.

I am very happy to announce my white clay has arrived... amazing how hard it is to work without white. 

More Pardo Experiments

I am almost out of the Pardo Art Clay that I purchased at Hobby Lobby so I placed an order with Poly Clay Play and am now anxiously awaiting it's arrival. Unfortunately her supplier is out of white so the white I ordered is on back order..... hard to do much without white but I will do my best.  

As you can see the translucent that I tinted with the Pardo Green Metal Paint is no long translucent but it is a pretty pearly green. I put it though the pasta machine to the thinnest setting (#9). I wanted to see how stamping with ink would work on the clay. The larger one I stamped before curing and the smaller one with the bird I stamped after curing and then put back in the oven for 10 minutes to heat set the ink.  The one I stamped prior to curing shows up the best.  

Click on the photos for a closer look. 

And I did have success making swirlies with the art clay.... although I did have to swirl twice as long as with Kato or Fimo Classic.  

I made a couple more canes. My flowers are always a little goofy looking but as you can see the art clay holds up well to reduction.  I like the funky cane I made in black and white. 

And here are a couple pendants I made with the canes. I was going to remove the eyelet before I sanded but couldn't get it to pop out so I sanded over it.  On the first one I used silver PearlEx on the top and lower edges and sealed with a thin layer of Kato liquid clay.  I wanted to see how the Art Clay would hold up to the heat gun and it did pretty well. It did start to bubble a bit on the blue striped area on the left side so I stopped as soon as I saw the bubbles forming and was able to sand them off.  I sanded and buffed both pieces and I got a better shine on the one where I used the heat gun.

Hope you found the information helpful. Please feel free to ask questions. If you have been working with art clay I would love to see what you've done with it. 

Polymer Clay Steampunkery

My version of Steampunk. 

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I made a Skinner blend sheet in soft pearly colors, stamped with one of my favorite texture sheets, added a little PearlEx and then decorated with watch parts and wire. I'm not to fond of the coiled wire on the second one, I may take it off and try something else. 

 This one is my favorite, I haven't decided if its a bug or an alien.

 And this of course is an mirror image elephant.  his trunk was inspired by creatures in CF's book. I added some vintage chain, watch gears and Swarovski rhinestones.  He is quite a handsome fellow.

 I liked doing these. I have ideas for more. 

My Canes & Heather's YaYa Creations

Summer has arrived bringing high heat, high humidity and summer storms. I've had to adjust my schedule. I get up early so I can do yard work before it gets to hot. I do a little weed pulling and water when necessary, Mother Nature has been doing a pretty good job with the watering. I then have an early lunch and take a mid day nap. Afternoons and evening are free to clay and do a little cooking. I try to plan meals that won't heat up the kitchen. Yesterday I cooked up a pot of Green beans and ham with potatoes and baked a big old pan of macaroni & cheese. I put ham in my mac and cheese, it's Brandon's favorite food. I was hoping it would last for a couple days but it's almost gone. Amazing how much teenage boys can eat.

I made a couple canes from scraps and I used my extruder to make the black and white cane. The black and white clay was really soft so I anticipate problems when I try to slice that one, maybe if I let it rest... and hopefully firm up... for a few days.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

And here are the things that Heather made at the YaYa retreat. She had a good time teaching and learning, she has little experience with clay but I think she's hooked now.

She sculpted the raven and then made a mold which she used for the raven on this piece. She is very good at sculpting little critters, she made several to use with her silver clay pieces.

These are made from the sheets she took with her. She made the retro cane in matching colors. As you can see she likes freshwater pearls and wire too.She took a couple books with her, one by Donna Kato and one by Carol Blackburn... the squiggle is from the Kato book.
She took the face molds with her. She got the aluminum wire at Hobby Lobby, it's a softer wire than the copper wire I use. The piece on the right is from the Kato book.

I love these colors together. Heather likes scraps too, I like what she did with the cane end pieces.
Some MG tiles, a couple swirlies and some stacker beads. The pieces have been sanded but not buffed... she forgot to take her Dremel. One of the other YaYa's showed them how to make pendants from old domino tiles. They drew on them with colored pencils and decorated with beads and wire.
And they always make dichroic glass pieces. Do you see the ravens in the green ones? Heather love's ravens.
The polymer clay was a big hit with the YaYa's, I think we have several converts. Heather took photos of what the other ladies made, now all we have to do is figure out how to upload them onto my computer... so stay tuned... more goodies to come.