my favorite polymer clay creations (on Pinterest)

I love Pinterest! While browsing the web - you can "Pin" your finds to a bulletin board for easy reference. No limit to the number of boards you can have. Warning: highly addictive!

here's my board for Polymer Clay creations:

http://pinterest.com/jansart/polymer-clay-creations/

first curing samples!

Day one curing:

The little blue / yellow / black dots were my very first beads. I thought they would work clustered and dangling from earwires. They came out okay.

There are an assortment of red / blue / gold ones - some I cured with metal findings - pendant testing. The large pieces in red with gold should fit together on top of a backing bead. Will try this again.

The shimmery green / gold / blue are the ones I did using the layering technique - just testing.

Just found this awesome blog via Pinterest - Jewelry Tutorials - lots of them!

http://www.making-jewelry-now.com/

I'm on a roll - playing with textures and imprints

I'm now the proud owner of a "Collection" of Polymer Clay books! Three!

- Look, Learn & Create - Polymer Clay 101 - by Angela Mabray and Kim Otterbein

- Making Polymer Clay Beads - by Carol Blackburn

- Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques - by Julie Picarello

I have learned to do the Skinner Blend (I really love playing with colors - continually amazed by the variances).

I am working on layering colors. I stack the layers and then impress with various tools to make Abstract Art (ta da!!!) This is right up my alley....

You then slice the stack into thin layers - to create a series of beads or pendants in a series of colors that changes with every slice!

I recommend Patterns in Polymer - it describes this technique much better than I just did. I am also trying some strong color combos because of this book. So a big thank you to Julie Picarello for the inspiration.

Tomorrow is the day to cure my creations (it's been very hot here the last few days - tomorrow will be cooler and low humidity) - perfect!

wish me luck!

color wheels - done!

I'm really glad I decided to do a color wheel as suggested.

It really will inspire me to try different combinations.

I bought 5 colors from Dick blick

Yellow, red, navy blue, turquoise and purple as well as black and white.

Using 4 parts per sample I combined 1 to 3, 2 to 2, 3 to 1 and 4 to 0 (the package color).

Used my matrix ruler to divide up the clay, I rolled each combination and put them on index cards - labelled with the color combo! (don't drop these!).

Put holes for wire and baked at 275 for 30 mins. (only burnt 1 load....) I learned to preheat oven before putting samples in......

here is the result:

now I'm going to try Skinner blending!!!

Supplies arrived - stay calm, Jan......

My order arrived yesterday from Dick Blick.

Immediately started making notes of the colors I had bought - mostly 2 of each.

For some reason I bought only 1 each of the metallics (?)

Conditioned the primary colors - cad red, yellow and navy blue with the pasta maker and started my color samples. I'll string them on a piece of wire for now. I'm writing the formula for each color disk on the back in pen.

My oven is working well, and the good part is - I can leave the temperature setting where it is and just plug it in and turn it on when I am going to use it.

You have to have a oven thermometer! These ovens are very touchy. I spent most of the evening watching thru the little glass door to make sure the temperature stayed consistent. (Tenting with aluminium foil is recommended in the book - Polymer Clay 101 - to protect against heat variances.)

For my super sharp tissue blade - I made a holder for it with a sponge - that way I don't have to worry about picking it up the wrong way, or dropping it.

My biggest challenge will be cat hair!

Beginning with Polymer Clay

I'm getting set to use polymer clay for my jewelry. I can't wait for my supplies from Dick Blick to arrive!

Writing down ideas as they pop into my head - journal fashion has always been the best way for me to work. (I keep paper and pen beside the bed - you never know when a dream will inspire something wonderful)

Here's what I have so far:

project ideas for jewelry

- flat square links for bracelets
- bead frames for glass beads
- "goddess" pendants
- wire framed polymer clay beads
- make clasps, headpins, bead caps, cones and rings

I also plan on doing a color wheel as I go - (note to self: slow down - enjoy the process!)

I have been searching through my art supplies for embossing tools and cutters that could be used.

I've got the pasta maker all set to go.

Buying a toaster oven at the thrift store.

My first book arrived from Amazon yesterday: Look, Learn & Create - Polymer Clay 101 (with DVD) two more on the way!

Frank, our mailman just smiles......

I'm using Pinterest to post inspirational jewelry items I see on the web:

http://pinterest.com/jansart/polymer-clay-creations/

I will keep you posted on my progress!