Happy Happy!

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, inspiration, Personal History, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay tutorials, , , 5 Comments on Happy Happy!

Happy Bracelets  combine beads with flexible tubes of polymer clay.  You can flex and bend the bracelets and the clay  doesn’t crack (Ok, OK,  it probably will crack if you go at it with a jackhammer or drive over it with a monster truck.  What I mean is that the clay in the bracelet won’t crack with normal wear.)

I made my very first Happy Bracelet at Clayathon   and was so excited to discover another side to the so-called flexibility of polymer clay that  I wrote a blog post about it.  People were curious about how I made them,  and I promised to write a tutorial.

And now I am happy to announce that a complete Happy Bracelet tutorial

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Is in the August 2013 issue of Polymer Cafe

Thank you Anne Huizenga and Polymer Cafe!

And last but not least,  the winner of  bead giveaway number three
(drum roll please . . . .)

is  ZanC! 

My Pivot Beads

By: ornamento.blog
Art, Lindly Haunani, Maggie Maggio, Pivot Beads, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Color Inspirations, Polymer Clay tutorials, Premo, S.L. Savarick, screen printing, Watercolor Technique, , , , 4 Comments on My Pivot Beads

Here are my pivot beads from the exercise in Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. The top pictures show the pivot color variations mixed according to the directions in the book. You apply thin sheets of the colors over thin sheets of the stripes. One of the purposes of the exercise is to show what effect stripes of black, white and gray have on the  layers of color applied over them. Even though I took a Watercolor Technique class with Maggie Maggio some time ago, what I learned there is starting to make more sense.  On to color collages!

To see some of my interpretations of the Watercolor Technique, press here, here, or here.

This just in!   I was thrilled to see that  Seth Savarick  has an article in the latest issue of  Art Jewelry Magazine on how to make his distinctive, lightweight bangle.  I have taken two classes with Seth and he has taught me so much about craftsmanship-an area where I can aways improve.  He also inspired me to learn how to burn my own screens for printing on polymer clay.  I wrote two articles explaining the process that appear in the Fall 2007 and Winter 2007-2008 issues of  Polymer Cafe.  You can order the back issues to  find out how to do it with a Speedball kit and some inexpensive equipment.   And if you have the chance to take a class with Seth, don’t pass it up!

I’m at Polydelphia!

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, beading, beads, blogging, Camera, Community Art Groups, Craft demonstration, Crafting Traditions, Design, Efaplast, Fimo, HGTV, history, Interweave Press, jewelry, Materials, mixed media, NPCG, Personal Growth, Personal History, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, Photo transfers, Photography, Polydelphia, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay conferences, Polymer Clay Express, Polymer Clay gatherings, Polymer Clay Guilds, Polymer Clay Photo Transfer, Polymer Clay retail, Polymer Clay Retreats, Silk Screening, silver plate, Silver Ware, South Philadelphia, South Philly, Television, Television Production, That's Clever, The Artway, The Clay News, UrbanLeave a Comment on I’m at Polydelphia!

I’m at Polydelphia this weekend!!! To check out my newly designed web site, press HERE. See ya later!

I’m Not a Real Artist but I Play One on T.V.

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, Blogroll, Craft demonstration, Design, Family History, HGTV, history, inspiration, Landscape, Personal Growth, Personal History, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, Photo transfers, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Photo Transfer, Polymer Clay tutorials, risk taking, screen printing, South Philadelphia, South Philly, Television, Television Production, That's Clever, Uncategorized, Urban Landscape1 Comment on I’m Not a Real Artist but I Play One on T.V.

Yes, I am a featured crafter on the third season of the HGTV show, That’s Clever, demonstrating how to make a polymer clay Keepsake Memory book and a polymer clay Festive Pen.  You can read the whole dirty back story in the Spring, 2008 issue of PolymerCAFE.  Ok, OK, so it’s not Britney running from the paparazzi while shaving her head, but it will have to do.

That’s Clever is known for having its crafters engage in  amusing physical antics in the first part of each segment.   They wanted me to do the same. I live in South Philadelphia where my garden is of a blade of grass growing under my front stoop, and drivers who barrel  45 mph down a one way street don’t think they have violated the law if their car is pointing backwards.    I wasn’t gonna be hula hoopin’ on my front lawn, that’s for sure. 

 

Here’s how this part of the production planning went down:

After we finished talking about the step outs, the producer started discussing ways to showcase me in wild and whimsical ways that have become the trademark of That’s Clever.

“We like to film crafters doing something physical for the intro,” she  explained, “Do you play a sport?”

Running from muggers, I thought. “No,” I replied.

“What about hopping on a pogo stick?”

I mentally flash forwarded into the future and had a startling vision of myself hanging over a hospital bed in traction. “I have a herniated disc,” I replied, “and the doctors have put me on a strict no pogo stick diet.”

“What about a scooter?” she pressed.

“Oh, no,” I gasped. If I didn’t fall and smash my head on the pavement, some driver would get me. Even if he had to come up on the sidewalk to do it. They make them tough in South Philly.

She paused. “Do you do anything?” she asked hopefully.

“I use to play jacks,” I offered. “I was pretty good, too.” In fact, I was even better than Margaret Mary who had hands the size of Montana and could suck up jacks like a magnet crane.

Maybe that will work,” she sighed, “I’ll see if I can find jacks somewhere.”

They never came up with anything physical for me to do which is how I lived to write this Blog entry.

To check out PolymerCAFE, press here. If you want to buy a pen like the one I made on the show, drop by  The Jurus Gallery in Baltimore, Md.

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More Ideas for Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

By: ornamento.blog
Art, art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, beads, Camera, Christmas, Christmas Gifts, Christmas Ornaments, Design, Materials, mixed media, Philadelphia Polymer Clay Guild, Photo transfers, Photography, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, Polymer Clay Photo Transfer, Polymer Clay tutorials2 Comments on More Ideas for Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Here are two more ideas for polymer clay Christmas ornaments.   I made the one on the left by covering a store-bought paper mache form with a leaf cane  made from a Skinner Blend of Pearl and Forest Green Premo Clay.  The veins are done in gold with a bit of red sandwiched between the layers for depth.  While there are many versions of this cane, I learned this particular cane from Leigh Ross.  You can find her  instructions at Polymer Clay Central. I used balls of red clay to make holly berries. After the ornament was baked, I attached a store bought tassel.

For the doggy ornament, I scanned a picture into my printer,changed the background and printed it out.  I made a frame to hold the picture, decorated it with simple canes and made two matching beads.  After baking the frame and letting it cool, I laid in the picture.  I used  a level to make sure the frame was perfectly level before pouring a layer Envirotex Lite over the picture.  A level surface is vital when using Envirotex Lite. You also need a barrier, in my case the edge of the frame, because this material is self leveling and will run all over the place without something to stop it. I sprinkled some glitter in the background of the picture and let it cure for 48 hours. Then I attached the beads, tassel and a hanging wire.

I could not make a photo transfer ornament with my ink jet printer like I did last year because I had run out of the old Epson paper. You might know from Donna Kato’s announcement that the new Epson paper does not work. There are plenty of new ideas for photo transfers on Donna’s siteand on the Philadelphia Area Polymer Clay Guild’s blog, The Guild Reporter.

Last but not least, I also have a project article on how to make a silk screened polymer clay pendant in the latest issue of Polymer Cafe.polymercafe2.jpg

Screen Printing on Polymer Clay

By: ornamento.blog
art, creativity, crafts, inspiration, beads, Gwen Gibson, Polymer Cafe, Polymer Clay, screen printing, Silk Screening, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments on Screen Printing on Polymer Clay

You can achieve beautiful effects by screen printing on polymer clay.  I was introduced to this technique several years ago when Ellen Marshall, who literally wrote the book on polymer clay surface design, Polymer Clay Surface Design Recipes,  encouraged me to take a  class with Gwen Gibson,    S.L. Savarick, is another polymer clay artist who uses screen printing with breathtaking results.

They all inspired me to create my own designs and see how far I could take this process.  You can find my article, Surface Techniques: Silk Screening Polymer Clay, in the Fall 2007 issue of Polymer Cafe Magazine.

In the meantime, please enjoy my slideshow.  It includes some things I have come up with while playing with screen printing and polymer clay.   This is a journey and I am just getting started!