On June 30th I will be removing my silk screen inventory from Etsy and moving to a group I created on Facebook . Etsy has changed too much over the past few years and no longer fully supports Handmade as was promised all those years ago. Very sad, but I need to do what is best for my business. Please follow me to Facebook and join the group 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/groups/silkscreens4sale/ I have many new designs available. Something for everyone 🙂
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.
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.
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. 🙂
I needed help choosing some new texture stamp designs, so I challenged my readers to choose for me. Here are the designs and winners ! A random drawing was done for a free stamp. The drawing for that free stamp was won by Patricia Roberts-Thompson, who has promised us pictures of what she makes with her stamp. 🙂
It seems I can’t stop digging up fun and unusual designs to turn into silk screens. I find I have a thrill for the hunt. This means I am gearing up for another sampler sale which will be held on my Facebook business page this time. I anticipate at least 50 new designs and only the most liked will make it into my Etsy shop, but all will be found for sale on my Facebook business page. Check this album for all the available designs. Be sure to check my Facebook page or here on my blog for updates on the date and time of the Sampler Sale Event.
Here are some images of what new designs to expect in the Sampler Sale. I’ve gotten requests fro smaller designs that would be a better fit for earrings and beads. So hopefully I have hit the mark with some of these designs. 🙂 Once I test them all for usability I will announce the Sampler Sale.
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.
leafing pens made by Krylon (available in Silver, Copper and Gold)
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.
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.
Slowly bend the mold to pop out the clay.
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.
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? 🙂
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 !
Here are all 3 colors – Silver, Gold and Copper. I think my favorite is the Copper. 🙂
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.
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!
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.
 
Silkscreens By Tonja's Treasures 