Tutorial Signature Stamp

Hey there :)

Today I want to show you how you can make a very simple signature stamp. You can add your signature to your pieces by creating a cane for example but I never tried this because it seemed so stressful. That's why I created a stamp.

Materials:

scrap clay
blade or x-acto knife
roller or pasta machine
small dotting tool, needle tool or tooth pick
water, baby powder or flour
(liquid clay)

Instructions:

You can use some scrap clay for this project, you won't need a lot. Roll it out evenly. Take your dotting tool or needle tool and trace your initial(s) into your clay. I also decided to have a flower as my personal sign. Trace it first and then deepen the lines so you can see it better. Once you're done, cut your design to size. Bake it according to the instructions on your clay package.

Tutorial Signature Stamp

Roll out some more clay. Mist your baked piece with some water or baby powder or something and press your raw clay into it. The water or powder is so they don't stick together. Cut your stamp to size again and bake for a couple of minutes.

Tutorial Signature Stamp

Now you only need to add a handle at the back. Just take a bit of clay and roll it into a cone. Press it onto the back of your baked stamp. You can use liquid clay to attach it to make it easier. Smooth it on really well with your fingers or some tools so that it doesn't come of again.
Bake again and that's it.

Tutorial Signature Stamp

Here is an example of how it looks like:

Tutorial Signature Stamp

So what do you think? Easy right? So let me know, are you gonna recreate this? 

See you soon

Tutorial Faux Patina Metal

Hey there :)

This time I want to show you that I tried something new.
I'm thinking about getting Swellegant by Christi Friesen because you can achieve really amazing effects with it. But first I wanted to try if the whole patina thing is something I want to invest more time and money in. So I made some experiments with trying to achieve it without real patina.

Materials:

polymer clay
semi-precious stone
blade
roller or pasta machine
needle and other sculpting tools
sand paper
wire
pliers
metal powder
acrylic paint

Instructions:

I will show you two ways of creating this effect. For the first I used scrap clay and paint. It's best to use a clay colour similar to the  colour of your metal, so that no other colour shows through.
Choose a nice stone you want to sculpt your faux metal on.
You first need to cover the back, so the hook we create afterwards has something to hold onto. For that roll out your clay quite thinnly (I used setting 5) and place your stone on top. Cut around the stone with your knife and then press the cut-out piece onto your stone. 

Smooth down the edges with your fingers and push the clay a bit up the stone, so it becomes a nice case.

You can texture the clay with sandpaper or a toothbrush to give it some more interest

Now we create the loop to hang it. You could use only clay for this but I was scared, it would break off, so I always put wire underneath.
So bend a wire loop with your pliers and bend the ends to the sides but with the loop's eye facing the sides so that you can string your pendant later. Now place your loop onto the back of the pendant.

First cover the two parts that stick out, those are only there so that the clay has something to grab onto.

Then cut a strip of clay and place it over your wire, around the loop to cover it.
Take a tool and push the sides of the clay strip inside to cover the whole wire. This might require some practice.

Smooth everything out and texture again.

Now the front. For a very simple leaf design, cut out some leaves either with a cutter (see tutorial) or by hand. You can texture them for example by pressing them into the ridges of a razor handle. I have made a mold from this to use over and over. However, you can also make a design with a needle tool for example.

You can also roll out some thin snakes of clay and place them on your stone as vines. Start at the top of your pendant and position them downwards and around your stone. Don't put on anything that stands by itself because it will just fall off after baking. It's best to connect every element if possible. However, if anything should fall of, you can glue it back on with some glue.

Here I put on the leaves (without vines, I changed my mind later). I positioned them like they were growing out of the bail at the top and smoothed everything together carefully.




I also made a simple cat design on this black and white stone.
For that cover the back and create a bail as before. Then take a little ball of clay and shape into a rounded triangle for the cat's head. Make two really small triangles and smooth them on as ears.


Draw in the mouth and eyes with a needle tool and put on a very small piece of clay as the nose. I also pushed in some nostrils with a needle tool.
For the body, form a long triangle and cut away the top. Check if the proportion is correct.

Take a ball of clay and flatten it. Place this as the upper part of the leg (the cat is sitting). Then make two snakes, one a bit longer than the other. Position the shorter one as the front leg and blend in the top, so you don't see the seam. The other one is for the tail. Attach that and smooth the seam and curl it to your liking.
Now you can put your cat on the stone. I created a ground for her to sit on, so she doesn't fall off after baking. I also made some vines.

The possibilites are endless here. You can create whatever you like.
After your design is finished, you can cover the whole piece in the metal of your choice. I like to use a copper powder for this which I brush on. Then bake it according to the instructions on your clay package or at 100° C for about 20 minutes.
After baking you can paint on your patina with acrylics. Of course, if you don't have any metal powder, you can also paint on metallic acrylics after baking.
Find some pictures of how your chosen metal would oxidise. For copper that's blue and green shades. Mix some acrylic paint in that colour and brush it into all the crevasses and low spots of your design, also at those spots where clay touches stone. Then carfully wipe away the excess paint from the higher parts. You can repeat this process until you're happy with the result.
Then don't forget to put some varnish on to protect your creation.

As I said there's another way to achieve this effect. You can also mix your clay in a patina colour (for copper that's bluish green) and sculpt from this. Then apply your metal powder with your finger, so it only stays on the high spots. Someone on Facebook suggested this technique. However, mine didn't turn out the way I intended it. Maybe you can do better ;)

Here are the results. The first two are done with the first acrylic technique, the third one the other way.

Tutorial Faux Patina Metal

What do you think of these? Do you think they look like oxidised metal? This just reaffirms me in wanting to get Swellegant :)

Spring Creations 2015

Ciao a tutti :)

Today, a little bit of Italian for you ;)

I'd like to show you some of my creations for spring from 2015.
Spring is really my favourite season because I love how everything wakes anew and blossoms and smells and sings.

As you can probably tell from my name I absolutely love flowers and therefore they are also my favourite things to craft. They are also quite hard to craft if you want them to look realistic because they are so delicate. If you are making them from polymer clay you need to be really careful with baking them at the right temperature and for the right amount if time. And even then it's possible that some parts break. Therefore, sometimes it's wise to support the delicate parts with a bit of liquid clay or maybe glue after baking.
I also stopped pre-heating my toaster oven because I found that the clay is not as brittle if I don't do that. But it probably also depends on the clay brand. I use mainly Fimo.

Firstly, I want to show you my jewellery for spring and then some decor items and sculpts :)

Here are my snow drop earrings and necklace I made. They're made from two canes. One for the outer petals and one including a heart shape for the inner ones. There's an eye pin going through the earrings with a green translucent clay bead at the bottom.

I also made a necklace with some leaves and some wires with beads on it.

Snow Drop Jewellery

Here my apple blossoms collection. For the necklace and earrings I made branches and put the leaves and flowers on. the flowers are cut out from one of those bakery cutters. You can buy them quite cheap on eBay or AliExpress in sets. I made the blossoms as 3D as possible.
The bangle is made from air-dry clay underneath but I wouldn't recommend it as it's not as flexible as polymer clay. I covered it in light green pearlescent clay, then put some branches on and more flowers. For the bangle I made everything flatter, so the flowers wouldn't break off (a bit broke off anyway and I had to fix it).

Apple Blossoms Jewellery

This is my set of forget-me-not jewellery.

The necklace consists of a grass and a water part. I made the water with the mokume gane technique. I layered several shades of blue and the pressed in dotting tools and other round objects. Then I made slices from it and put them on my prepared shape. I made some small stones from Fimo marble and granite. I cut out some very small flower shapes with the smallest cutter from my set (eBay or AliExpress) from two shades of blue and placed small yellow and white balls in the centre. There are also some real pressed forget-me-nots underneath but you cannot really see them. The dragonfly wings are made from a cane of white and translucent. The water was made with liquid clay but I went over it with resin later because it didn't shine enough.
I made some beads from some of the flowers for the earrings and bracelet. I also cut out leaves and bent them a bit. The light blue beads are also from clay, only the translucent ones are from glass.

Forget-Me-Not Jewellery

These bellflowers are made from cane slices. If you want to know how to make this cane check out this tutorial until picture 3c and then form into a petal shape. The tutorial is not in English but the pictures are sufficient. I then cut four petals and attached them into a bell shape. I added some green petals on top and a long snake of green which I bent into a bail for hanging it. Inside they also have thin snakes of clay for stamens.

Bellflower Decor

I also made some tulips. The canes are made with a different technique but you can also use the one from above. The stem has some wire inside to make it more sturdy. On the inside I added some yellow and black stamens. You can bake the petals first with some paper or foil inside to protect them and then add stem, leaves and stamens and bake again.

Tulip Decor

Here a spring candle holder I made for my mum. The flowers are made from cane slices (among others the ones above) as well as the butterflies (let me know if you're interested in a tutorial for that) The orange wavy strips are cut out with a wave blade, the spirals are made from red and yellow clay, pressed through an extruder and then rolled into a spiral. Then I made slices from that. The grass is just two layers of waves cut out and textured by dotting it with a needle tool. and the yellow parts are just white and yellow mixed together randomly.

Spring Candle Holder

This is a tea light I made for my mum, too. I first rolled out snakes of brown for the branches and then attached flowers, cut out with my smallest flower cutter (eBay or AliExpress) and leaves, cut out with my home made leaf cutter and textured with a needle tool. I also added some pink chalk pastel to the insides of the flowers.

Cherry Blossoms Tea Light Holder

Horrible picture but pretty tea light holder with lilys of the valley ;)
I cut out large leaves, textured them and placed them on my tea light holder. Then I rolled out snakes of green for the stems and put them on. The flowers are cut out with a little star cutter (eBay or AliExpress) and then folded carefully, so they look like the little bells. I also strung some matching beads on wires and curled up the ends. I stuck them into the clay but had to glue them on after baking.

Lily of the Valley Tea Light Holder

This little sheep has a paper and tape core to reduce weight. The fur was made by pushing a tan colour through a sieve. 

Sheep Decor

These creations were all made after I had been working with clay for about six months. So they're far from perfect. I still wanted to share them with you :)
What do you think about them?
Have you got any questions on any of the pieces?

Let me know in the comments :)

See you soon

Tutorial Flower Pendant

Hey crafters :)

Today I want to show you how you can create a very pretty flower pendant with a colour blend.

Materials:

polymer clay colour blend
pasta machine (roller also possible)
blade or x-acto knife
needle tool or toothpick
sandpaper
(leaf cutter)
ball tool
pliers
eye pin


Instructions:

Tutorial Flower Pendant

You'll first need to create colour blend sheet. If you don't know how to do this, check out my Colour Blend Tutorial.
Fold and roll out your clay sheet very long like on the picture. Make sure that the colour blend stretches out.


Roll it out really thin and long through your pasta machine or with your roller.


Then start folding the sheet as shown in the picture back and forth.




Your cane should then look like mine.




Now you need to form and stretch your cane. Take it into your hand and carefully press it and gently pull on it. It's faster if your hands are warm and the clay is soft.


Continue lenghtening it until you have your desired petal size. Roll the cane on your work surface. Make sure, the colours stay lined up.


Leave the cane as it is to have round petals or pinch the side which you want to be in the middle of the flower (for example the lighter side of the blend)

Tutorial Flower Pendant

Then cut five or six slices from your new cane for the petals.
Here I placed them into a circle to see how it looks.
At this point the petals have these sharp edges which make them look cut out.




Therefore, flatten their sides by pinching them with your fingers and you can use a ball tool to make the petals more 3D. For that, put one into your hand, press your ball tool into it and carefully wiggle it and roll it on your petal.



You can give them even more interest by creating an indent at the top. I did this with a simple toothpick. Just take a petal in your hand with the outside edge upwards and press in the toothpick. Flatten out the area with your fingers and you get a sort of heart shape.
You can also add texture with a toothpick or needle tool by dragging in some lines.

To assemble the flower, take a piece of scrap clay (like from the rest of your cane), roll a small ball from it and press it on your work surface. Then place the petals on it.



I created more indents in the middle of each petal with a tooth pick.

Tutorial Flower Pendant

Then I made some leaves to go underneath. I used my home made leave cutter (see tutorial) for this but you can also cut them out by hand. Texture them by making some lines with a needle tool or toothpick.

Roll out a sheet of clay in a colour that goes with your flower and texture it by pressing sandpaper on top. Choose a circle cutter that's big enough for your flower to fit inside and create an indent on your clay sheet as a guide. Place your leaves onto the sheet inside the circle and cut it out (you can also cut it out before).

Position your flower on top and create and indent with a smaller ball tool in the centre. Put a little ball of yellow in the centre and texture it by dotting it with a needle tool or tooth pick.

I also pressed in a swarovski crystal. Make sure that the clay around it encases the crystal, so it doesn't fall out. Or glue it after baking. Make another circle of the same size as before and texture it with sand paper. I then pressed my signature stamp into it.

I turned it around, cut an eye pin to size and bent the straight side to another eyelet. I pressed that into my back piece, added some liquid clay to bond the pieces and placed the flower circle on top.
One eyelet is for hanging the pendant and the other to attach a bead underneath.

I also made three beads to function as a closure. I used my own circle cutter to cut equal parts from a clay sheet and rolled them into balls. I pierced those with a needle tool and baked everything.

I put a cone-shaped swarovski bead on a head pin, cut the excess and bent a loop with my pliers.
This dangles underneath the pendant.
When you open the loop, or if you open a jump ring, always make sure you do this with a twisting and not pulling motion or the metal might break.



I also brushed on some white paint into the crevasses and wiped away the excess. I glazed it to protect the paint

Tutorial Flower Pendant

I threaded the pendant on a piece of satin string to be a necklace together with two other beads at the sides. Then I threaded the ends through one of my clay beads from each side (see drawing). I threaded on another bead on each end of the string and tied a knot.


If you have any difficulties of threading the cord through you bead, try bending a piece of wire and using it as a needle (see picture). You might need to use pliers to pull it through but it works :)





And here is my finished pendant. I made it for my sister :)

Tutorial Flower Pendant

So do you like this pendant? Are you gonna make one yourself? Let me know :)

Se you soon

Tutorial Colour Blend

Hey guys :)

Today I want to show you how you can make a very basic colour blend to turn into something fabulous like a flower cane (following soon) :)

Materials:

polymer clay (two colours)
pasta machine or roller
blade or x-acto knife

Instructions:


It's easiest to simply form some tear drops to start your blend.
First take equal amounts of clay and roll each into a ball between your palms. Then put your hands together at a slight angle and roll again to get a tear drop.
Place them like on the picture.

Put the tear drops next to each other and then take your rolling pin (or another cylindrical shape) to roll them out and together to create a sheet.
Fold that sheet horizontally and roll it out again.




Fold it horizontally again and roll it out again. Always fold it so that you put the same colours on top of each other, so they are in a line.


Here you can see the blend starting.
Roll it out some more.
If you're using a pasta machine (which makes your life so much easier), start with a thick setting for me that's 1) and slowly turn it thinner and thinner.

Once you have rolled it out once or twice you will (hopefully) get straight borders at the sides. Always make sure that those straight lines lie on top of each other when you fold it, this way it blends much easier and faster.

Here it already looks pretty good. I've folded it for about 10 - 15 times.


If you roll the sheet through your pasta machine, make sure that the fold is always at the bottom like on the picture.


This is my finished blended sheet, ready to use and create something pretty :)




I hope you could follow my instructions. If you have any difficulties, don't hesitate to ask me in the comments or per mail :)

See you soon