First Button Test -- Results!

A looong, looong time ago ;o) I wrote about the fact that I was learning more about making buttons with polymer clay. Initially, it was to prepare myself for any questions some family members might have if/when I taught them how to make buttons for their quilts. (Still haven't done that. I'll have to check and see if they're still interested.) Now I've gotten more interested in the buttons for my own sake. Actually, I'm kind of obsessed with buttons, for the time being. (g)

Anyway, I made up a few test buttons and decided to put them through some tests. I wanted to see how different "finishes" would hold up through multiple washings and dryings, so I sewed them to a scrap of fabric and tossed them in whenever I did a load of laundry. They've been through many washings and heated dryings, by now. I stopped counting at around ten, but I kept putting them in with the laundry. It's probably more like fifteen or twenty, total.

They've been swirled around in the washing machine and knocked about in the dryer. They've been in repeated contact with regular detergent and fabric softeners (both liquid and sheets)-- but I kept them out of loads I washed with bleach. (The bleach might not have been a problem, but I didn't want to be too hard on them, and bleach isn't something you have to use with most laundry.)

And the results?
For the most part, they're fine. In fact, with one exception (which I'll get to in a minute), they're perfect!

Here they are-- the cleanest buttons this side of the Mississippi! ;o) (As usual, you can click on the photo to see it bigger. It's not a fabulous photo to begin with, but it gets the point across. (g))


Starting with the top left and working clockwise:

1) Plain, unvarnished clay.

2) White clay highlighted with mica powder, then glazed with tinted liquid clay.

3) Acrylic paint crackled on metallic clay. Only the top was coated with clear liquid clay.

4) Acrylic paint crackled on metallic clay. Nothing on top of crackled paint.

5) Acrylic paint crackled on metallic clay. MinWax Polycrylic over the whole button.

6) Acrylic paint crackled on metallic clay. Clear liquid clay over top and sides of button.

I had feared that the unsealed crackled paint might begin to loosen or flake away, but it turned out that the only button I had a bit of trouble with was the one coated in Polycrylic (a product similar to Varathane)-- and even that one isn't too bad (as you can tell from the photo). It just began to peel very slightly on one side. I can think of a few possible explanations for this problem. Maybe it needed longer to dry (or go back into the oven for a little while). Another coat might have strengthened it. Or it could be that it just isn't the best product to use on something that's going to be put through the washer and dryer. I'm not a big fan of varnishes to begin with (I usually only resort to them when I "have" to), so I'm not likely to run more tests with Polycrylic.

Today, I started another test with a few different buttons. I'm curious to see how that'll turn out. . . Two loads in, the "subjects" are still looking good. Who knew laundry could be so interesting?! ;o)

Edited to add:
Treasurefield wondered what brand of clay I used for these buttons. (Thanks for asking! :o))

Oops! That might have been worth mentioning, huh? ;o) I used Premo for all the "regular" clay. The liquid clay I used was Kato brand. I imagine TLS would have produced similar results (as far as durability goes), but I wanted the best clarity I could get-- thus the Kato. (For European clayers or anyone else who can't find Kato-- Fimo Decorating Gel/Fimo Liquid is supposed to be comparable to Kato for clarity-- maybe even better.)

I haven't tried making buttons from any other clay, yet. I would expect Kato to yield buttons at least as sturdy as these. Fimo Classic would probably be fine, too-- but I have to admit that I'm a little wary of Fimo Classic after all the talk (a year or two or three ago? (g)) about the new, softer formula. However, we all know that Premo's been reformulated into mushiness, too, so. . . *shrug* When in doubt, it's always best to run a small test first.

Faux Ceramics Experiments

I wrote earlier about the toner transfers I've been playing around with. One other thing I've been trying is different variations on faux ceramics.

I think I mentioned that I tried the "put tinted liquid clay on beads covered in extruded clay" technique with less than stellar results. (It dripped a bit so that there was very uneven coverage, even though I thought I'd heat set the liquid clay.) I may give that another try sometime, but not for now.

I also tried the "use a black clay base with opaque liquid clay" variation. Again, not the results I'd hoped for-- partially because some of the liquid clay I thought would be opaque turned out not to be. I used oil paint to give it more opaque color, but for some reason it just didn't work that well. Probably not enough paint in the ratio-- or maybe I should have included some white paint. . . I guess that next time I ought to test-cure a little drop to check for opacity. Anyway, the ones I made that were opaque still didn't thrill me, so I decided to go back to the more translucent liquid mixes.

These two were the result of making a base bead (in plain white clay), adding some appliqué flowers (also in white), texturing, and glazing with alcohol-ink-tinted Kato. After curing, I used a heat gun to bring out the shine in the glaze.


I liked the way those turned out, but before I could give it another try, I came across that interesting idea in Tina Holden's blog (which I posted about before). She uses mica powders under the glaze. I'd thought of mixing the powders into the glaze-- haven't tried it yet, though-- but not of just touching them to the clay base. That uses less powder, lets you combine different colors of powder (and gives you more control over where they go), and probably adds more depth to the piece than if the entire glaze is full of mica particles.

First, I tried it on a couple of flat pendants. The leaves are just white clay stamped and touched lightly with a couple of metallic colors of Pearl-Ex. I then glazed the piece with Kato liquid tinted with Lettuce alcohol ink. (All the colors of alcohol ink I mention in this post are Ranger Adirondack brand. I like the muted earthiness of the Adirondack line-- plus, because I can get them at the local craft store, I can use a 40%-off coupon on them. Brings the price down nicely!) The butterfly was pearl clay stamped and touched with duo red-blue Pearl-Ex and topped with Eggplant-tinted Kato. You can't really see the mica that well in this photo, but it does show up in "real life"-- especially when the light hits it from certain angles. (This is one of those times when using a more translucent clay is probably a good idea. I'm not sure how well the mica would show through tinted TLS. . .)

I'd like to play around with this some more, too. Different "themes"/patterns-- different color combinations. Paying close attention to the compatibility of the colors (of the mica powder and the tinted liquid clay) seems pretty important with this technique, since you're seeing the powders through the filter of the colored liquid clay. I don't know if any of the combinations would ever be exactly ugly, but I imagine some are more pleasing than others.

I took the technique one step further and applied it to the flower-appliquéd pendants. (I want to improve my appliqué skill, now. I'd like to expand my repertoire of flower shapes beyond what I've done so far. (g) I have a flower catalog-- I just need to sit down and study it.)

All three (in the photo below) started with a base of pearl clay. The butterfly pendant is duo blue-green Pearl-Ex under Stream-tinted Kato. Because the powder had a blue color, it's more subtle under the similarly-colored liquid clay. I dusted the same powder over the rectangular pendant, but because I used a green liquid clay (Meadow, I think), you can detect more of the powder on it. The heart had interference gold powder (I think. . .) topped with Currant-tinted Kato. Again, the effect is subtle, but it's definitely there.


There are so many possibilities! What am I doing here at the computer when I could be experimenting?! ;o)

Pretty Things

I've been trying to catch up on a few months' worth of blogs. It takes time, but it's certainly a pleasant way to pass an hour.

I recently came across these beads by Mariane S., who describes them as being inspired by Donna Kato. Yes, I see the Kato influence-- the stripes and general shape-- but the "curlicue" and the interesting series of holes are something new to me. Very pretty!

I was also interested to read this entry on Tina Holden's blog. (Another blog to add to my list! And I found two others, as well, while reading other blogs!) Tina put another twist on the faux ceramics technique. Before adding the glaze of alcohol ink-tinted Kato liquid, she touched the clay with mica powders. Great idea! I'd already tried a light sprinkling of embossing powder, but I hadn't been thrilled with the results-- too bumpy for my tastes. (It might look better with different embossing powders. . .). After seeing Tina's lovely examples, I gave the more finely textured mica powders a try last week. It was fun to play around with the powders, and I'm looking forward to doing it again! There are lots more colors combos to try! :o)

One of these days, I'll make myself get out the ol' digital camera so that I can post pictures of my own "pretty things". ;o)

Various & Sundry

A little bit of this, a little bit of that. . .

First-- a little extra information on the faux ceramic technique. (If you've looked at the Polymer Clay Web forum thread on this topic, this won't be new.) I'm still learning how the Kato Liquid works, compared to TLS. One thing I've always heard (and have proven to myself to be true) is that if you hit the Kato Liquid with a heat gun or embossing gun after curing (or bump up the temperature in the oven, briefly), you'll bring out the greatest clarity. It's pretty amazing how well that works. It takes a little while for me, using my little embossing gun, so be patient. Just keep moving the heating tool around, and eventually you'll see a big improvement. Once it starts to happen, it's fast.

Well, anyway, I knew about the heat gun improving the clarity. What I didn't know is that it also changes the finish of the Kato Liquid. I've done a comparison of pieces cured normally and those that I've given the "extra heat treatment", and there's a definite difference. The "extra-heated" ones have a much shinier finish than the others. (I hope this doesn't mean that I've been under-curing the others. . . I'll have to recheck my oven's temperature, just to be on the safe side.)

Here's a photo that (kind of) shows what I mean:

All of these pieces have a Kato-based glaze, but the top two were heated with a heat gun, while the bottom two were not. (The bottom two have more of a sheen than you can tell from this photo, but it's much softer than the shine on the other two.) I think both effects are attractive; it just depends on whether or not you want lots of shine.

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While looking around at Parole de Pâte the other day, I was very impressed by this entry. It's been put through a translator, from French to English, but those translating programs leave something to be desired. The translated version refers to powder (Pearl-ex) and resin. Based on the comments, I think they really did use resin (two-part epoxy, such as Envirotex Lite) for the clear coating over the powders, though at first I wondered whether the translating program got that part wrong. (I thought maybe the French word for resin tricked it, as so often seems to happen with these programs.) In any case, I decided to use Liquid Kato, as I'm more familiar with that medium and knew I could get it pretty darn clear with a heat gun.

There's still the slightest bit of a haze in one or two parts of this heart, but it's not bad at all, and I might be able to get it to go away, if I gave it a little more heat. (You could probably also eliminate this problem by doing two thinner coats and clarifying between them.)


It's a simple technique, but the result is very nice. I'm going to have to give this one another try. :o) (And don't forget to follow that link and look at the photos on the other site. They're gorgeous!)

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There's another (more recent) topic on Parole de Pâte that also interests me. It's a new take on Jennifer Patterson's "Hidden Magic" technique. Very pretty!

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A few days ago, a customer asked me if I "do pizza". Not yet, but it had been on my wish list of mini foods for a long time. I'd been drooling over Milo's mini pizzas only days before-- we got pizza over the weekend-- and now comes this question. . . It must be fate, right? ;o) I decided to give it a try:

There are a few more mini pizza photos on my flickr.

It was rather time-consuming. Miniatures often are, particularly when they're comprised of detailed layers-- and of course I had to figure everything out as I went along, so that took some time. But it was fun, and I definitely see more mini pizzas in my future. :o)

Oh, and for those interested in size, each slice is roughly an inch long. Way too big for 1:12 scale, but ok for "Barbie scale" (assuming that your Barbies like large slices of pizza). Since they have eye pins sticking out of them, I suppose it's obvious that they're really meant more for jewelry than doll houses. (g)

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Faux Ceramics

A while ago, I posted a link to a blog that featured lots of photos of beautiful ceramic pendants and charms. If you missed it before, or have forgotten about it, here it is again: http://bijouxdiva.canalblog.com/
There are links to several albums of "the Diva's" work along the right side of the page.

Those photos-- the luxurious glazes-- reminded me that I'd been wanting to try my hand at a faux ceramics effect. So I did-- and it was fun! :o)


Go to my Flickr account to see a few more photos of my first attempts. I also have a new batch waiting to be properly photographed.

It was interesting to note, during those first tries, that some of the colors I was least enthusiastic about to start with turned out to be my favorites. You never can tell about those things, which is why it's so important to experiment and step outside of your usual routine (as I need to remind myself from time to time). For instance, if I stick to the same color schemes every time, I'll never learn about the other combos that I could be enjoying.

It was also amusing that my favorite texture tool wasn't a texture sheet-- or a stamp. It was something I bought, but I only paid .25 or .50 for it (can't remember which it was, now), and it wasn't even meant to be used for applying texture. It was originally a medallion on a necklace at Claire's, but it was so huge that it made a hideous pendant, which is probably why it was on sale. (g) I bought it with texturing in mind, though, and it was definitely worth the price!

Anyway, I've put up a tutorial for the technique I used. It's nothing very complicated, and I like the fact that it doesn't require much "finishing". Well, you might want to do some extra finishing to yours. . . and I might give one of them a sanding and power-buffing, sometime, just to see what happens. . . but they look perfectly fine as they are, I think.

Here's the link: Faux Ceramic Pendants Tutorial

If you like it and give it a try, feel free to stop by this faux ceramics thread of our forum and post a picture or two-- and a link to your own blog or Flickr albums. :o)