New Polymer Clay Tutorial Fall Leaves

Deeply textured and brightly colored polymer clay leaves look gorgeous as necklaces or brooches.  I just finished a new polymer clay tutorial for these projects.  It is available in my etsy shop.

The tutorial is on sale until Monday, September 28, 2015.

Openwork Pendants: Now in Color

 Experimenting with adding colors to my openwork pendants.

How to make these shapes is described in my tutorial Openwork Pendants: Under a Microscope.

I am using the coloring techniques shown in my other tutorial, Polymer Clay Cabochons Sea Creatures.

Cool Tool for Polymer Clay

One of the fun things about polymer clay is that many tools used for other arts and crafts can be successfully adopted for polymer clay projects.

For example, the tool shown here is actually used in cake making.  It is an embossing plate for fondant.

Can't you just see it being used for mokume gane?!

Polymer Clay Texture Ideas: Organic

Peach stones make excellent organic texture tools for polymer clay.

To transfer the texture onto the polymer clay, drape a sheet of polymer clay around the stone and press firmly.   When done, re-position the sheet of clay and repeat.  Actually, it is better to have a few of those peach stones to avoid obvious repetition of the texture.

To prevent the clay from sticking to the surface of the peach stones, spray the polymer clay sheet with some water first.  Other release agents could be used as well, such as mica powders or corn starch.  I personally prefer water.

Look for more ideas for various texture tools in my Faux Metal Necklace Tutorial.

Student's Work: Faux Cloisonne

Student work, Faux Cloisonne

 This morning, I received this lovely letter from one of my customers, Holly D.:

"I thought you might like to see my first cloisonné piece :) made this last night (it is with Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos, rather than with resin... I was impatient :)"

There were two pictures in this email; they are on the left and below.

Student work, Faux Cloisonne

Holly bought one of my polymer clay Faux Cloisonne tutorials the day before.  I take it as a huge compliment when someone is so excited about my technique or a project!  I am happy to see how Holly's faux cloisonne piece turned out.  The color gradation is lovely!

Trip to Trakai: Castle on the Lake

The last country on our trip itinerary (after Russia, Estonia, and Latvia), was Lithuania.  We briefly stopped in its capital, Vilnius, and then headed to Trakai.

Originally built in early 15-th century (ruined and rebuilt many times), this castle is like a time machine.

Trip to Riga: Art Nouveau

Riga is the capital of Latvia.  Very beautiful city, with its own Old Town.  I have to admit though, that Riga's Old Town was not that impressive right after seeing Tallinn.  What was really impressive for me, is Riga's own version of Art Nouveau architecture.

Again, for a polymer clay artist, a walk in Riga's neighborhood built in early 20-th century is a great source of inspiration.

I'll just show here a few (out of many) pictures I took there.  For more, do a google search for Riga Art Nouveau Architecture.