Moving Away From Etsy

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 🙂

Just a few examples of what’s new.

 

Advertisement

Polyform has a new line of products for 2014 !

I am totally drooling over some of the new products in the Polyform 2014 product line !

 

On my wish list are the 2 silicone molds – you can bake with your clay in them ! One has cabochons, while the other has matching bezels. I know, right !! How cool is that?

 

Also the Hollow Bead Maker has different size domes to create different shaped beads.

 

The Silkscreen Kit also look like fun 🙂

 

Plus there are 4 new  graduated shape cutter sets, a Bead Maker the creates 3 different round beads – 13mm, 16mm, 18mm – with a measuring tool so you always have uniform size beads and a Bead Making Kit with all the tools you need. Oh, and they have a new sandpaper kit.

 

I saved the most interesting one for last. 🙂 There is a new clay called Souflle. It is light weight, but very strong. This quote is from the web site – “Experience a different kind of polymer clay.  Souffle is an innovative lightweight clay perfect for jewelry making! Its strength and ability to hold detail makes it an excellent clay for advanced techniques such as mokume gane, bargello and caning.   It is strong and self supporting and doesn’t crack in large pieces which makes it great for larger clay projects as well.  Beautiful suede finish when baked.  Comes in 22 fashion forward colors.”  I hope it makes it onto the nearest Michael’s craft store shelves soon, because I an just dying to try it !!!!

There is a great blog post about Souffle here that you can read. http://thebluebottletree.com/sculpey-souffle-introduction/

 

You can also sign up at http://university.sculpey.com/

“Free Registration!

Get access to the latest courses for free! Sculpey U provides monthly informational videos for registered students. Follow along as experienced designers demonstrate techniques and corresponding projects. Each class includes an in-depth video and printable instructions that include a shopping list. Sign up today! Happy claying!”

 

 

Silk Screened Clay

I used to make and sell screen print stencils. I loved the process of designing them. Now I find that I am now hooked on making clear stamps to use in my scrap mokume gane experiments. 🙂

I used 2 stencils on these dragonfly wings

Silk screens are very easy to make since a fabulous product hit the market a few years back. It’s called Photo-Ez. You just need a black & white image, sunshine and a few other supplies to make the screens.

You should check out Desiree’s web site for instruction on making and using silk screens. She very kindly created a tutorial that was very helpful when I began using Photo-Ez.
Part 1
Part 2

Three well known polymer clay artists that use screen print stencils and teach classes with stencils are
Seth Savarick
Martha Aleo
and Gwen Gibson, who has a great video called Creations Du Jour 2.

Some Helpful links:
Diane Villano has a nice picture tutorial you might want to check out.

Janice Abarbanel shares a way to make a light table for exposing the stencils.

Lisa Pavelka was on Carol Duvall and made the pretties journal cover. Here are the instructions.

You can see some of my silk screens in action in this Polymer Clay TV Epiosde

If after reading all this great info you have decided you want to try your hand at making silk screen stencils I suggest you buy from one of these two places
EZ Screenprint
Ginny Eckly at PhotoEZ Silk Screen
I have purchased from both places and recommend the sellers.