Polymer Clay Tutor Cindy Lietz Product Review Videos

Cindy has very recently done 2 videos which review my products. 🙂 The first shows you how to do the Sutton Slice technique with one of my clear stamps called Round Design Patterns #2 .


The newest video shows how to silk screen using dry ingredients like Pearl-Ex and pastel chalks. The look it creates is wonderful ! This is a list of the silk screen names that Cindy uses in this video 🙂 – Tribal Dance, Microbial Doodles, Retro Circuit Board, Stonewalled, Tapestry Flowers, Tile Mosaic #1, Mehndi Doodle.


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You can find all my silk screens and stamps in my Etsy Shop Tonja’s Treasures.


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Please check out Cindy’s site Polymer Clay Tutor ! She has so many wonderful video lessons and you can sign up for her monthly club which provided new lessons each month that will keep you creating and having fun.

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Iris Mishly’s Cosmic Ceramic tutorial & My Fossil Stamps

What a great pairing !!! Iris Mishly of PolyPedia used my 2 ammonite stamps from the Fossils stamp set to make these AMAZING polymer clay beads following her tutorial called Cosmic Ceramic: faux ceramic !!!!!!!!! The technique is stunning and a must have for your tutorial library. 🙂

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My personal Mike B crusade

A few months back I get a message asking if I could help someone find copies of Mike Buesseler’s old polymer VHS videos. They haven’t been in production for MANY years and have become impossible to find. I have felt for a long time that it was a crime to just let all Mike’s amazing talent and teaching ability fade into the past. The new generation of polymer clay users would never know what they were missing !!!

I sort of took it upon myself to find out who holds the copyright to the videos now. After much Googling and asking around the polymer clay community, it turned out that person was Tory Hughes. 😀 After some emails back and forth, it was decided to take the old videos and create digital copies that could easily be distributed.  Next was trying to find a place to host the videos. I tried a couple file sharing websites, but that was not working. Luckily the IPCA (International Polymer Clay Association) stepped up and was able to use their verified YouTube account to upload the huge video files. They videos are FREE for everyone to enjoy. They will always be free of charge.

Landscape Canes

 

All Polymer Metallic Clay

 

Quick Christmas Star Ornament

I know it’s been ages since I posted anything, so here is a free tutorial. 🙂

I used Sculpey Ultralight clay.

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a silicone mold from First Impressions called Filigree Star,

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leafing pens made by Krylon (available in Silver, Copper and Gold)

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The oldest dullest clay blade I own. 🙂 A dull blade will trim excess clay from the mold nicely without cutting into the soft silicone mold. Plus a way to drill a hole (I prefer a push drill like the one pictured below). I don’t recommend trying to put holes in the raw Ultralight clay. It is very soft and likes to squish easily.

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Condition a small ball of Ultralight and press it into the mold. I like to shape it to fit so I can see what I need to trim, but that’s just me. 🙂 I’m not going to go into deep detail on “How to use molds” because there are a bunch of tutorials & YouTube videos already available on the internet.  Trim away the excess clay with your dull blade.

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Slowly bend the mold to pop out the clay.

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I ended up with 27 stars from one pack of Ultralight with just that tiny ball of clay left over. Now bake your stars according to package instruction.

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Once baked and cooled you will need to drill a hole.  The drill bit goes through very easily. FYI: did you know Ultralight clay floats? 🙂

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Now pick your favorite color leafing pen and have some fun coloring. Drag the tip of the pen along the raised areas of the Filigree Star design. The paint dries quite quickly. Add a string to hang in on your tree and enjoy !

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Here are all 3 colors – Silver, Gold and Copper. I think my favorite is the Copper. 🙂

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MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!!!

So, you have liquid polymer clay. Now what ?

Liquid polymer clay is more than just a bonding agent for 2 pieces of baked polymer clay or attaching finding. It can be used to do image transfers like I did on this candle screen. I tied for 1st place in a contest hosted by Amaco. 🙂 The pictures I used were taken in my garden. Here is the Candle Screen Project written up on their website.

Here is a short tutorial I wrote many years ago that shows how to do liquid clay transfers.

Here is a video that is great too 🙂 Foolproof Image Transfer by Willowbird Studio

Liquid polymer clay can be tinted with various mediums to be used as glazes or grout in your projects. These mediums include oil paint, mica powder, pastel chalks, powdered pigments, and alcohol ink. Alcohol inks must sit on top o the liquid clay until the alcohol evaporates before you mix the color. You can also mix in glitters, embossing powders, spices, or anything that is oven safe. Just keep in mind you don’t want to mix too much of any medium into your liquid clay, because it can change the basic properties of the clay and may not work as expected. I personally like to keep it to to no more than 3 parts liquid clay to 1 part other medium.

When tinted with opaque mediums like the chalks, alcohol ink or powders pigment you can use liquid clay to do glazing techniques like faux ceramic. This is my favorite tutorial to make Faux Ceramic.

If your glaze seems a little too thick , you can use diluent to thin it to the consistency you need.

This is another example of the same project above created by another artist, Valerie Brincheck.

Liquid polymer clay can be made into a grout for your clay project in 2 ways that I am familiar. First is to mix a thick paste made of regular polymer clay and liquid clay. Keep adding liquid clay to the polymer clay and working them together until the clay turns into a paste. The second is to mix in a powdered medium like pigment powders, mica powders, or pastel chalks. This will thicken the liquid clay, but it will still flow. Squeezing the thickened liquid clay out of a fine tip bottle is the easiest way I have found to use it. Fill the gaps in your mosaic and then wipe away any excess “grout” with a paper towel and bake. This next picture uses the paste method.

 

You can use tinted clay to do faux combed paper. The mica powders are especially nice for this technique!

Here is the tutorial from Fire Mountain Gems

This is a more intricate example of combed liquid clay created by Linda Heins.

Liquid Polymer Clay can be used to make window clings.  I have done this and it is so much fun ! Great project to do with the kids. The key is to bake the liquid clay on a piece of glass or smooth ceramic tile. After baking and it’s cooled off enough to safely handle, peal the clay off the glass or tile then stick it to a window. Many years ago I made some dragonflies for my bathroom window. Wonder what happened to them ?  Hmmmm. Here is the only example I could find online, also made by Linda Heins.

I almost forgot about making Faux Enamel Cloisonne. I tried this technique a few years back, but I no long have the pictures of what I made. A computer crash ate hundreds of pictures. 😦 Back up your important stuff regularly !  But back to the subject. 🙂 I did find some pictures online to show you what I mean.

I found a tutorial by Crafty Goat which may help you get the idea of how it works.

I’m sure I have forgotten some great technique liquid clay can produce. If I have please let me know in a comment and I will add it to the list 🙂

 

Read All About It: Polymer Clay Magazines

Can you believe it ? There are now 3 magazines on the market completely devoted to polymer clay. This is an amazing and wonderful thing!!! Not that long ago you were lucky to find a single article in a craft magazine that used polymer clay.  If you don’t subscribe you should. It not only supports the clay community as a whole, but you can learn from some amazing artists and stay informed on the latest product releases, newest techniques or just be inspired.

I can’t say I have a favorite among the three publications, because I like them all. Each has it’s own personality and place in my library. My only preference is that 2 of them I can purchase digitally. They are The Polymer Arts and From Polymer to Art. Polymer Cafe still comes the old fashioned way, in the mail, but I am sure it won’t be long before they join the digital revolution. I hope.

It has been brought to my attention that there is a 4th magazine published in French. It is available for digital download or print purchase.

When Is Viral A Good Thing?

When it’s Bettina Welker’s Pixelated Retro Blend Cane that’s gone viral!

In a recent post I listed several free tutorials you just had to try. One of those tutorials was Bettina’s Pixelated Retro Blend Cane. It’s one of those technique that just screams “Try Me !!” Even I was enticed into making a couple canes and turning it into some jewelry. It seems the tutorial has gone viral in the polymer clay community. It’s a world wide phenomenon. Just Goggle the title and you will get many links, plus there is now a group on Flickr specifically for the technique.

I found a few special pictures I wanted to share in this post that really highlight the beauty of this canes possibilities.

Free Tutorials You Just Have To Try !

First on my list was Bettina Welker’s cane she calls “Pixelated Retro Blend Cane”. It’s a twist on the extruded retro “Klimt” cane that has become so popular. Here is what I made using her tutorial.

Next I want to try Marie Davis’ border cane


The next is a fun, funky bracelet and I believe was written by Anna Anpilogova. It’s in Russian ) I think) but the pictures say it all 🙂

I use this tutorial by Valerie Wallace to make tile beads a few years ago. It sure helps keep the bead holes even!

I recently did a variation on this tutorial to make a quick and easy pendant. The tutorial will soon be on the Polymer Clay Central website.

A great faux bone or ivory tutorial written my Desiree McCrorey

This is a really cute way to make faux denim. It’s also in Russian ( I think LOL) But he pictures are great.


Yep, another one I can’t read. Good thing the pictures tell me what I need to know to make this fabulous extruded bracelet.

It’s a Russian invasion !!! Just kidding 🙂 But these gals are so talented. Just saying 🙂 Here is an amazing Poppy cane

Last but not least, I love this use of scrap clay to make a Magic Swirl Cane

If you want to see more great polymer clay tutorial both free and for sale join us over at the Facebook Group “Just Polymer Clay Tutorials”.

Fun polymer clay projects to keep you busy this Winter

Golden Polymer Clay Beads

Golden Polymer Clay Beads

Spring Bouquet Tutorial

Spring Bouquet Tutorial
Songbird Eggs

Songbird Eggs

Rough And Tough Polymer Clay

Rough And Tough Polymer Clay

Radiant Mica Shift

Radiant Mica Shift

Persian Beads

Persian Beads

Faux Enamel

Faux Enamel

Butterfly Cane From Basic Canes

Butterfly Cane From Basic Canes

Earth Toned Mokume Gane Beads

Earth Toned Mokume Gane Beads

And a cool tip :) Inside of pop can bottom makes a great curved surface to bake on. Just be careful of the sharp edges.

And a cool tip 🙂 Inside bottom of pop can makes a great curved surface to bake on. Just be careful of the sharp edges.

Faux Mother of Pearl Tutorial

faux mother of pearl

Check it out over at Parole de Pate’s blog !!!!! Love this technique. It looks so real.

http://paroledepate.canalblog.com/archives/2011/05/16/21026713.html

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