Crayons in clay!

One of the techniques I've played around with over the past month or two is using crayon shavings as inclusions in translucent polymer clay. It's lots of fun and extremely easy-- a great project to share with kids (though you'll want to chop the crayons for them, if they're very young).

I first read about this technique on Lindly Haunani's website. Here's a link: Altering Polymer Clay with Inclusions. She discusses a variety of other inclusions, too, so it's a good read if you're new to the idea.

Here are a few things I noticed and/or did when I made my crayon-inclusion beads:

• As Lindly points out, some of the colors can be unpredictable. They may not come out of the oven exactly the same as they went in. Some intensify; others seem to fade. This isn't a problem if you're just having fun, but if you require specific results, you'll want to bake some test chips.
  
• I used very cheap "off-brand" crayons bought on sale. They're pretty worthless as crayons-- very poor performance in coloring books, etc.-- but they still make good inclusions. So if you have a box of poor quality crayons, you might consider trying this technique with them.
  
• I took shavings from the crayons, then chopped those into small bits before mixing into the clay. I then used a craft knife to further chop any larger pieces of crayon in the clay mix. It's not always necessary to chop the crayons that much, but it is the look I prefer. However, all that chopping can be time-consuming and tedious. I don't know how well a food processor would work with crayons (seems a bit messy), but it's an idea, if you need a lot of crayon chopped finely.
  
• I added some embossing powder into my mix for a different look. The beads in the photo above have seafoam white embossing powder as an inclusion in addition to the crayon shavings.
  
• Maybe it was just a lucky chance-- a good batch of clay, cool/dry weather, a fortuitous alignment of the stars ;o)-- but it seemed to me that these mixes of clay were slower to take fingerprints than regular ("inclusionless") clay. Adding certain inclusions (especially powders) does seem to "dry" the clay out a little, which makes it easier to avoid fingerprints-- and the slightly uneven surface resulting from these types of inclusions may make it less obvious if there are prints.
  

If you haven't tried combining crayons with clay, maybe now's the time. Those tantalizing boxes of color are perfect for getting you in the mood for the approaching summer-- and you probably have everything you need already on hand.

Flocking as an inclusion?

Are you a bargain hunter? I am! There's a definite "rush" when you get something for next to nothing. Have you ever bought something not knowing whether or not you'd actually be able to use it, but just because it was so darn cheap you couldn't pass it up? (g) I try not to do that, but sometimes I'll still get things figuring that I'll find a use for them, sooner or later.

Yesterday, I was looking through Hobby Lobby's marked-down Christmas stuff-- all 90% off-- when I came across these:

Plastic bottles of colorful flocking. Originally $1.99 for two bottles; at 90% off, about 10 cents each (not counting tax (g)). I wasn't sure if they'd be useful with polymer clay, but I figured I could use them for card-making or scrapbooking, if they didn't "go" with the clay. At that price, I decided to get all the colors I could find, so I now have 8 grams each of dark blue, white, red, dark green, light green, and pink.

I was thinking mainly of using the flocking as an inclusion in translucent clay. I think I've read about people putting dryer lint into clay to mimic Granitex polymer clay (albeit with mixed results), and I thought this might be an interesting alternative. Now that I google it, I see that I'm not the first to have this idea: Gale Ann Hartman's lion figurine. Even more people have written about using flocking as a surface treatment on cured clay: here and here, for instance.

I've given the inclusion method a test run already, earlier today. I put a mixture of the dark green and blue flocking into translucent Premo. I haven't used Granitex (yet), so I can't really compare my results with that. One interesting thing was that a few bits of the blue apparently didn't mix in completely, so there are a few flecks of very dark blue here and there. Over all, though, the color is fairly uniform-- not quite as different from "regularly" tinted translucent clay as I'd expected/hoped. Of course, I'm sure you can vary the look in any number of ways-- for instance, by using a greater or lesser ratio of flocking to clay. Sanding and buffing would probably improve the translucency, too.

I took a few photos of one piece, but they were all too poor quality to bother uploading. Once it's been completely finished and I'm taking the time to take decent photos, maybe I'll have something worth showing.

(On a side note, I think I may have gotten a speck of flocking in my right eye. At least, it feels a bit irritated . I'll have to be more careful next time!)

Until next time, then!
Good luck in your own bargain hunting! :o)

Translucent Layers

I've admired Kathleen Dustin's incredible layered translucents ever since I first saw photos of her work. I love the way she incorporates so many different techniques-- many of them involving translucent clay-- into one cohesive whole.

Today, while taking a look at Elise Winters' new website, Polymer Art Archive, I was interested to see a post from Kathleen herself. She writes about how her work evolved into the style that is today so easily recognizable as her own. Very interesting stuff-- and some great inspirational photos, too. I love the elegance of the bead by Lori Feiss, and I'm fascinated by the possibilities demonstrated in the layered clouds in the larger bead in this photo of Dustin's first experiments with layers of translucent clay.

I'm amazed all over again by the versatility of polymer clay. Such scope for the imagination!

Ten on Tuesday: ten ways to use translucent polymer clay

If you've been working with polymer clay for a while, this list might not be of much interest to you. (Sorry! Maybe next week. (g)) However, if you're new to clay, you may be perplexed by the "color" of clay called "translucent" (or "frost"). What's it for? Does it turn clear when you bake it? Well, no, unfortunately there is no perfectly clear polymer clay. (Wouldn't that be great?! So many new possibilities!) Even though it's "just" translucent-- not transparent-- there are still many ways to use it. So many that it's usually at the top of my shopping list when there's a clay sale. I love the stuff!

Ten on Tuesday: Ten Ways to Use Translucent Polymer Clay

1. Faux effects
This is probably one of translucent clay's most popular (and recognized) uses. Many natural stones (and other materials) are not completely opaque. They frequently have some degree of translucency, so translucent pc is the obvious choice when imitating them. Lightly tinted and glittered translucent clay makes faux opals or faux rose quartz. Many layers of translucent and gently tinted clay create the illusion of agate or ivory. Faux versions of jade, marble, amber, and more all utilize translucent clay.

2. Inclusions
Closely related to item #1 is the use of inclusions with translucent polymer clay. An inclusion is anything that may be blended into the clay body. It must be able to withstand curing temperatures, but other than that, there are few limitations. Spices, metal leaf, glitter, sand, embossing powder, dried flowers-- even soil can be used as an inclusion. Faux effects frequently call for one or more inclusion, but inclusions need not always imitate a natural material. I like the sparkle of colored glitter in translucent clay. It doesn't look like anything in particular-- not opal, for instance-- but it's still very pretty.

3. Infusions
Since "inclusions" are usually listed as solids (glitter, sand, etc.), I like to refer to liquids mixed into clay as "infusions". Most infusions are inks or paints. Technically speaking, they aren't liquids when they're mixed into the clay, as they are allowed to dry first-- but let's not be too fussy. (g) Alcohol inks are my favorite infusions, as they lend brilliant color to translucent clay without decreasing the translucency much, as can happen when you add much colored clay to a mix. Translucent clay tinted with alcohol inks can appear almost to glow in good light. You can also use acrylic paint as an additive, though this will decrease the translucency. I like the effect of metallic or iridescent paints mixed into translucent clay. It's important to let the paint dry thoroughly before mixing it in, and it's safest to make a small test batch first. You can also mix scents into polymer clay. They will eventually fade, but some people report that rubbing or gently warming the cured piece temporarily revives the aroma. Try essential oils, perfumes, or soap-maker's scents. Fragrant inclusions, such as certain dried herbs and spices, do double duty, adding a slight scent in addition to an interesting appearance to translucent clay.

4. "Stretch" (and Soften) Your Clay
Let's say you need more of a particular color of clay, but can't make it to the store. If you have translucent clay on hand, you may be able to stretch your supply just enough to meet your immediate needs. Translucent clay can be mixed thoroughly into opaque, colored clay, and as long as you don't add too much, it shouldn't noticeably affect the color of the clay. What is "too much" is open for debate and may vary by brand and color of clay, as some colors are already composed of large amounts of translucent clay. The more translucent a clay is, the more risk there is of an extreme color shift. (This is why it takes only a tiny bit of color to tint translucent clay. The color of the clay, pre-curing, seems to be amplified when the piece is baked.) If you're particular about the color, it's best to test your proportions before committing to the whole batch. Softer brands of translucent clay may also be added to hard or crumbly clay to improve its workability.

5. Get Your Glow On (without glow-in-the-dark clay!)
Premo "Frost" (aka "bleached translucent") glows under a black light. It will not glow without a UV lamp, as glow-in-the-dark clay does, but if you have a Halloween party coming up-- or some other event where you'll be partying under black lights-- you needn't make a special trip to buy G-I-T-D clay. ;o)

6. Mokume Gane
I know, I know. "Here she goes with the mokume again!" ;o) But it's true! Mokume gane is an excellent technique to try, if you're wondering what to do with translucent clay. There are many versions of mokume gane-- so many that it can be pretty much whatever you want it to be and include whatever you have on hand. Read more about mokume gane elsewhere on this blog: Top Ten Products to Add to Mokume Gane.

7. Millefiori Canes
Another very popular use for translucent polymer clay is canework. Used throughout a cane, it can give a dreamy, watercolor-like effect. However, it may be even more impressive when used in combination with opaque clay. Typically, these canes are composed of an opaque (or partially opaque) design-- such as a flower-- surrounded by untinted translucent clay. The cane is then sliced as thinly as possible, and the slices are layered onto a base of clay. When cured and finished properly, these pieces can have wonderful depth. The flowers (or whatever other image the cane contains) appear to float one atop another.

8. Skinner Blends
Skinner Blends can be used in a multitude of ways. Don't forget, when you're busy making these beautiful gradations of color, that the Skinner Blend works just as well with translucent clay as it does with opaque. Try it with two (or more) shades of lightly tinted translucent clay. Blend tinted translucent clay with untinted translucent clay-- or try an opaque clay with plain (or tinted) translucent clay. The options are endless, as are the possible uses of the finished blend!

9. Miniature Food
Many foods are not completely opaque. (Go look in the kitchen, if you don't believe me. Hold up a grape-- an orange slice-- a thin slice of ham. See how the light comes through in spots?) Recognizing this and varying opacity can mean the difference between a stunningly realistic miniature and something that's, well, not. I'd say that translucent clay is a must for anyone serious about making miniature foods with polymer clay. (Read more tips for making miniature foods in this blog entry.)

10. "Encasing"/Protected or Softening Images
An ultra-thin sheet of translucent clay (later sanded and buffed, usually, for optimal clarity) is sometimes used to seal (or "encase") and protect something, such as a toner transfer. You see the image through the layer of translucent clay, which softens the image-- an interesting way to create a dreamy effect. See Donna Kato's new book for examples of the "encasing" technique, or read more on this page of GlassAttic. You can also use this technique in other ways. Paint, ink, glitter, etc. can be sealed beneath a sheet of translucent clay. Or cut shapes from the sheet of translucent clay and apply them to a base of colored clay, as in the Crackled Inlay tutorial.

Obviously, this is just a start. There are more ways to use translucent polymer clay, and you can read about some of them at GlassAttic.

Pullin' out the ol' electric buffer. . .

I haven't used my electric buffer (a bench grinder fitted with buffing wheels) for quite some time. (One of the major benefits of making miniature food is that you don't really have to sand or buff that much.) So when I set it up and switched it on again, I had to remind myself how things worked. I was a little nervous. It didn't take long to get back into the groove, but even "the groove" isn't very groovy, when it comes to buffing. ;o) I love the incredibly glass-like shine you can only get by "power-buffing"-- and I like doing a piece now and then just for the fun of seeing the shine pop up-- but I wouldn't mind passing off the bulk of my sanding and buffing to someone else!

So, now that I've gotten the whining out of the way. . . ;o) . . .you may be wondering what I was buffing.

I started working my way through a small pile of mokume gane beads. I've had these things sitting around for I-don't-know-how-long. I know it's been over a month, maybe two. (They were probably sitting on my clay table for a month before I even got around to curing them!) I used a ripple blade a lot in this batch, as you can see from the rippling pattern in some of them. . . What else? I'm pretty sure this batch didn't have any leaf in it-- just various types of paints. The golden-green must be Dazzling Metallics-- Festive Green-- because I got that as a gift back at Christmas, and I wanted to try it out. As for the other paints, I don't remember which I used. Probably Blue Topaz from the FolkArt line of metallic craft paints. . . and a blue-green from Posh Impressions' Luminous Metallic Inkabilities. Oh, and some of my trusty four-colors-a-dollar glitter. (g)

Some turned out better than others, as usual with mokume gane. Maybe the colors were a bit too similar for maximum impact, but I do tend to like monochromatic and limited color schemes.

I also buffed a few "shell-shaped" beads I made a few weeks ago. Well, I call them "shell-shaped". A couple of them are nautilus-shaped pendants (with the wire bit taken out for the sanding and buffing stage), but the first one just makes me think of spiral seashells.

This is my first attempt at a bead shape I admired in Making Polymer Clay Beads. It's pretty simple to get this shape-- just make a snake that's relatively "fat" in the middle and "skinny" at both ends, then wind it around a skewer or rod to shape it. My technique still needs some work, but I had fun playing around. I used scrap clay-- a mostly opaque pale blue with flecks of aluminum leaf in it and a mostly translucent aqua with lots of glitter in it. (Aqua is one of my favorite colors, these days. It's perfect for summertime, I think, and a fitting color for sea-themed pieces.)



Next, here's one of the nautilus-shaped pendants. Again, I used the aqua-translucent clay with glitter, this time paired with a Skinner blend that goes from aqua to more of a periwinkle blue.


One last photo-- another nautilus pendant. This time, I used the same Skinner blend from above, but I switched the glittered clay out for pearl.


Incidentally, I think this was the first time I made a Skinner blend that I was actually happy with. I think I've only tried it once-- maybe twice-- before. (I know, it's shocking. How can someone have used clay for a couple of years without blending?!) Now that I know how to do it, I'm going to have to give it another try. I'm thinking of peachy-orange and pink-- or sunset pink and purple. . . more beachy colors for seashells. :o)

"Crackled Inlay" experiment #1...

So, a couple of weeks ago I tried out one of the alternative ways I'd brainstormed to do "Crackled Inlay". (The link takes you to the tutorial for the technique.) The results were... well, not quite what I'd expected.

The idea was to paint a thin sheet of translucent clay with alcohol ink, let the ink dry, apply metal leaf to the inked side of the clay, and cut shapes from this sheet to apply (leafed side down) to base beads.

I ran into two problems.

First problem-- The metal leaf didn't adhere as well to the inked clay as it does to uninked clay. (I'd wondered how this would work. Turns out the answer is "not so well"!) Now, there may be better ways to do this than what I tried. Maybe it sticks better if you adhere the metal leaf before the ink is dry. I doubt it-- it sounds kind of messy, actually-- but I suppose it's possible.

Second problem-- Once I got the metal leaf kinda-sorta on the inked clay and tried to cut shapes from the sheet (using a wavy blade, mostly), I saw that the metal leaf didn't cut as cleanly as I'd hoped. Meaning there were tiny bits of metal leaf sticking out from the sides of my shapes. (The leaf was tearing loose from the clay in places, so parts of it had no leaf and other parts had loose bits of leaf sticking out randomly.) Now, this did vary somewhat. I tried three colors of ink, so I had three inked sheets of clay. One sheet seemed to cut more neatly than the others. (Not sure what was going on there...)

I made one focal bead with "inlay" from the best sheet of inked and leafed clay. I think it turned out nicely. At least, it looked good enough that I gave it away as a gift before I had a chance to photograph it. But overall, this twist on the technique just didn't work for me. It was such a pain trying to get the leaf to adhere to the inked clay.

I hated to waste that metal leaf and translucent clay, so I came up with another idea to use my left-overs. I reconditioned each sheet of clay separately, breaking up the metal leaf and working the ink into the clay. Then I fed each sheet through the pasta machine and cut my shapes from them. (And applied the shapes to the base bead, etc., etc., according to the original technique.) This was much easier to cut into shapes! The results were a totally different look, too.

So far, I've only photographed one bead from that set, and I don't have the photo on this computer, so I can't upload it here, but if you're interested, just go to my Flickr page. Or better yet, here's a link to the exact photo. It's not the best photograph (and it seems to look worse on this monitor than on the one I normally use!), but it gives you an idea, at least. (For future reference, I used aluminum leaf, Premo Frost and Black, and two shades of Adirondack Alcohol Inks-- Lettuce and Stream-- for this bead.)

So. I was disappointed with the failure of my initial idea, but the lemons made a pretty decent glass of lemonade. ;o) And I have another idea for how to get the more traditional crackled look from the metal leaf. (It's one I've seen in others' work before. I thought my way might look better, honestly, but it turns out that "my" way doesn't really work, so... (g))

Instead of painting the surface of the translucent clay with ink and applying metal leaf to that, try this: Drop the ink onto the translucent clay (or paint it on, if you really must, but it's not necessary). Let the ink dry thoroughly. Mix the ink into the clay. You can either mix it completely or leave some marbling (streaking). And if you don't have alcohol ink, you can also use a tiny pinch of colored clay... or possibly a little acrylic paint-- just don't over-do it, as you want lightly tinted translucent clay. Roll the clay through the pasta machine (or by hand, into a thin, uniform sheet). Apply the metal leaf. Turn the sheet with the metal leaf down and cut your shapes from the sheet.

Now, I haven't tried this yet. It may turn out that it gives you the same problem with the leaf wanting to tear when you cut your shapes, but I think the problem I had was due to the fact that the leaf never really adhered to the inked clay the way I had hoped it would. If you do have problems with tearing, you might try cutting out your shapes with a very sharp craft knife (rather than duller shape cutters and such).

I'm looking forward to trying this new twist on the technique and seeing how it works... :o)

Mokume gane tutorial up and running!

My DH, Donald, has uploaded the latest tutorial to our clay website. The tutorial is for one version of the mokume gane technique. I call it "This 'n That Mokume Gane", because it uses a little of this and a little of that-- just whatever you have on hand, really. It's one of my favorite techniques. I think the results can be stunning-- certainly a whole new look for those who are more familiar with polymer clay techniques that don't involve lots of translucent clay.

Here are a few beads made with the batch of MG I created for the tutorial:

Now I need to start thinking about what to do for the next tutorial... ;o) Oh, and write about tons of other things for the "techniques" section of the webpage!

Still waiting...

Here it is the next day, and still no new tables. :o( Well, they're sure to get here sooner or later, but it looks like it's not going to happen today.

In other news... ;o) ...I buffed up a few of the beads I made a week or so ago-- the ones with crackled paint on translucent clay, placed paint down on black clay. I only buffed three of them, because so far, I've only sanded three of them. Oh my gosh, how I do hate sanding round beads!! It's so much worse than sanding other shapes of beads-- not that I love love love doing that, either. Maybe when we get the tumbler tumbling, I can leave the round beads for it to handle. :o)

Anyway, the beads buffed up beautifully, if I do say so myself. They have a gorgeous glossy finish-- without a finish. I do prefer to leave my clay "naked" whenever I can. The finishes just take more time (and trouble) to apply, and I don't like the feel of the finish as much as the feel of the polished clay.

However-- I did learn a few things in this process-- things I hope to remember when I try this technique again. Namely, the following:

• Sanding round beads is a major pain (as previously stated).
• But on the other hand, round beads are nice for a change from my usual bead shape choices.
• The paint didn't crackle enough for my tastes. Next time, I need to start with thicker sheets of translucent, so that there's "room to crackle". That way, more black (or other base color clay) will show through the decoratives strips and shapes, and I think the beads will look better that way.
• I ought to also try this technique with metal leaf-- with the original colors of the leaf, but also with pre-tinted translucent clay to alter the color of the leaf. (Of course, this will tint the whole piece of translucent clay, but that might not matter so much against a dark background color. Or... I could try tinting the leaf priot to adhering it. I wonder how well metal leaf would "take" alcohol inks...)

While buffing, I tried putting the round beads on a rod (copper wire), holding either end of the rod, and letting the beads spin freely against the buffing wheel. (I did them individually, but come to think of it, I guess there's no reason I couldn't have put multiple beads on the rod at the same time.) One of them worked out well. The other seemed to buff more in one place than in another, which I don't quite understand-- unless the bead was just that uneven. Anyway, it made the bead easier to hold, that way, so even though I still had to buff the ends (near the stringing holes) off the rod, I'll probably use that technique again, the next time I'm buffing round beads. (Which, given what a pain they are to sand, might not be often. (g))

I'm still thinking about how best to display/store my finished necklaces and other pieces of jewelry... It would be nice to have a way to keep them so that I can see what I have and keep them from becoming tangled or potentially scratched or otherwise damaged. I think I have the supplies already around the house to make one or two strips with cup-holder hooks for hanging jewelry. They'll only hold a certain amount of items at a time, but that's better than nothing, for a start.

Testing out my texture sheets...

I've been testing out the mini texture sheets I made a few days ago-- using them to make small, textured pendants.

For the first batch of tests, I mixed up some faux stone (translucent clay with inclusions). I now have all of those sanded (inclusions sometimes make for rough edges when you're using shape cutters), antiqued with acrylics (mostly white), and re-cured to heat-set the paint. I'm going to try buffing a few of them to finish them off. Strictly speaking, they don't even have to be buffed, but I prefer that look, myself. Then, maybe, I'll get around to photographing them.

While antiquing them, it became apparent that some of the textures probably lend themselves better (or at least as well) to metallic wax, mica powder, or other "upper surface" highlighting than to antiquing. So I've just finished baking another batch with black clay, which I intend to treat with metallic waxes, once they've cooled (and I have time). To tell the truth, I had intended to touch some with waxes and others with mica powders, but I didn't realize until they'd been in the oven for 30 minutes that I should have done the powders prior to curing. Doh! Can you tell I haven't used that particular technique very often? Well, I'll just have to make another batch, sometime.

I've also started the first steps in one of the other projects I mentioned before-- the crackled paints on very thin sheets of translucent clay, applied paint-down to base beads. So far, I've just painted the clay and am waiting for it to dry so that I can crackle it. I used each of the three new Daler-Rowney acrylic inks I got for Christmas-- Silver Pearl, Birdwing Copper, and Mazuma Gold-- plus a new shade of Dazzling Metallics (Festive Green), FolkArt's Metallic Blue Topaz (a lovely teal color), and a color of my own mixing. The color is a pale sky blue mixed with a product that can be mixed with any acrylic paint to create a pearlized equivalent of the color. It was a bit thick and didn't go on very smoothly, so I may have to look into changing how best to use that product-- especially if it doesn't want to crackle very well. However, even with pre-mixed, store-bought paints, I've noticed that there is a wide variance in how well they crackle-- even between different colors in the same line of paints. I like to crackle, but it can be a bit unpredictable. That's part of its appeal, actually. If all else fails, I can always use scrap clay!

So much to do, so little time!!

I don't think I'll ever get around to using all the beautiful, exciting polymer clay techniques I've taken notes on! ...But it sure will be fun trying! ;o)

Here are a few items on my short list of things to try:

• Crackled/crazed paint on translucent clay. Something I saw in an ad in the latest issue of Polymer Cafe caught my eye and reminded me of something else I'd seen. Anyway, the basic idea is, I think, to crackle paint on an ultra-thin sheet of translucent clay. (I'll dip into my reserve of Bleached Translucent/Frost for this one, since ultimate translucence will help with the look of the finished product.) You may want to do this with a variety of coordinating colors of paint. Then you take a base bead (or sheet of clay or whatever) and apply bits of the crackled-paint-clay to the base, with the paint side facing down. Smooth seams, etc. and bake. Oh, and I'm sure you can layer as many pieces of the crackled-paint clay on the base as you like. Overlapping different colors might be a nice effect. Early in my "claying career", I was obsessed with crackled paint. I still like it, though I've wandered more in other directions. I think this technique might give more of the look of dichroic glass, which is why I liked the crackled paint so much to being with.
• Make texture sheets and/or molds from seashells, pressed glass, etc. I've been meaning to try this for such a long time. I have made molds of a few plastic beads, but beyond that, I've held off. There's really no reason to do so, though. I'm going to look through the house and yard for interesting textures to capture. I'm pretty sure I can find at least two or three in a couple buckets of seashells Donald and I picked up on Sanibel Island last year. :o)
• Make miniature foods. I've made mini sushi beads and tried some mini chocolates, but that's the extent of my miniature food experience. I'd like to try the chocolates again, as well as some cake slices and things. I'm a little less certain of where to start with this plan, since the minis I most admire have an unusual texture that really doesn't look like plain polymer clay. I probably need to mix something in with the clay to get the right texture, but I only have a few ideas as to what. Well, I can at least give those few ideas a try. :o)

So, even with just those three things, I could keep myself busy for a looong time.
Better get started!

Galaxy Beads

Take a look at my first attempts at the "Galaxy Bead" project in Katherine Duncan Aimone's new(ish) book, Polymer Clay: The Art of Jewelry. (The book was a Christmas gift from my parents. Thanks, Mom and Dad!) The photo quality's not much, but it'll have to do for now. It's too dark to take a decent photo (since I normally use natural light). At least you can get the basic impression:

The project was contributed by Jennifer Bezingue. I didn't recognize the name, but the beads (and another, similarly styled project she contributed to the book) are absolutely gorgeous, I think.

I had fun with the project, though it was a little bit of slow going at first. Even by the last bead I made, they're still rather time-consuming beads to make. I'm sure I could crank them out faster by pre-cutting the appliques, but I like to see what I need for each bead as I go. Besides, I don't really need to crank them out.

One thing I had a little trouble with-- in the book, many of the appliques are these darling little stars-- far, far smaller than the smallest star-shaped cutter I have (the Makin's Clay brand of cutters). I ended up using mostly the hand-cut swirls and drinking straws to cut circles and crescent moons. I think the moons turned out pretty well, but I really loved the look of the stars, so I'm putting that on my "Maybe Someday" wish list, assuming I can ever even find a place that sells such tiny shape cutters. Art stores on-line probably do...

So, anyway, fun project, beautiful beads. I'm looking forward to trying it again, maybe with a few twists on the basic idea next time.

Fabulous Faux Opals

I love the look of opals, so I was very excited when I learned that it's possible to make faux opals from polymer clay.

(Actually, faux opals were one of my very first projects with clay-- maybe even the very first. The imitative techniques were that convinced me that this polymer clay stuff might be fun to play around with. I loved the faux opals, mother of pearl, abalone, jade-- and so many others, too!)

There's an old legend that opals are bad luck. Some versions of the legend say they're bad for everyone, others say they're just bad luck for those who don't have the opal as their birthstone. (But I have heard that you can get around this if someone gives you the opal as a gift. Buying an opal for yourself is a no-no. ) However, I haven't seen anything about getting bad luck by wearing a faux opal. ;o)

While I'm not a particularly strong believer in most legends of this type, I am somewhat deterred by the price of some real opals. ;o) Plus, it's nice to be able to make "opals" in whatever size and shape you like. It's also fun to tell people who admire the "opal" that you made it yourself-- from clay, of all things! (Of course, they may not believe you...)

I've read about numerous techniques for imitating opals-- some in books, some on-line. My favorite opal recipe from a book can be found in Irene Dean Semanchuk's beautiful Faux Surfaces in Polymer Clay, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in imitative techniques. For free (yay!) on-line tutorials, my favorite two (by other people) are Linda Geer's and Barbara Reider's versions.

After playing around with everything I was able to find about faux opals and tweaking things according to my tastes (and what I had in my supply cabinet), I put my own version of the technique in an on-line tutorial, which you can find here at Polymer Clay Web.

Here's a photo of some of the faux stones I've made with this technique:

Of course, with something like this, with all the translucency and layers of glitter, it looks better in person than in any photograph. I love the way the "fire" in even faux opals shifts as you turn them in your hand.

As you can probably tell from the photo, I'm especially fond of the pinkish/yellow-green-tinted opals, but you can make them in any color you like. I've made them with cotton candy pink and blue, peach, and other colors, too.