Crayons in clay!

One of the techniques I've played around with over the past month or two is using crayon shavings as inclusions in translucent polymer clay. It's lots of fun and extremely easy-- a great project to share with kids (though you'll want to chop the crayons for them, if they're very young).

I first read about this technique on Lindly Haunani's website. Here's a link: Altering Polymer Clay with Inclusions. She discusses a variety of other inclusions, too, so it's a good read if you're new to the idea.

Here are a few things I noticed and/or did when I made my crayon-inclusion beads:

• As Lindly points out, some of the colors can be unpredictable. They may not come out of the oven exactly the same as they went in. Some intensify; others seem to fade. This isn't a problem if you're just having fun, but if you require specific results, you'll want to bake some test chips.
  
• I used very cheap "off-brand" crayons bought on sale. They're pretty worthless as crayons-- very poor performance in coloring books, etc.-- but they still make good inclusions. So if you have a box of poor quality crayons, you might consider trying this technique with them.
  
• I took shavings from the crayons, then chopped those into small bits before mixing into the clay. I then used a craft knife to further chop any larger pieces of crayon in the clay mix. It's not always necessary to chop the crayons that much, but it is the look I prefer. However, all that chopping can be time-consuming and tedious. I don't know how well a food processor would work with crayons (seems a bit messy), but it's an idea, if you need a lot of crayon chopped finely.
  
• I added some embossing powder into my mix for a different look. The beads in the photo above have seafoam white embossing powder as an inclusion in addition to the crayon shavings.
  
• Maybe it was just a lucky chance-- a good batch of clay, cool/dry weather, a fortuitous alignment of the stars ;o)-- but it seemed to me that these mixes of clay were slower to take fingerprints than regular ("inclusionless") clay. Adding certain inclusions (especially powders) does seem to "dry" the clay out a little, which makes it easier to avoid fingerprints-- and the slightly uneven surface resulting from these types of inclusions may make it less obvious if there are prints.
  

If you haven't tried combining crayons with clay, maybe now's the time. Those tantalizing boxes of color are perfect for getting you in the mood for the approaching summer-- and you probably have everything you need already on hand.

Studio Friday: Brand New!

I haven't participated in Studio Friday for a while, but this time I thought about it in time (and had time to respond). :o)

The topic for this week was as follows:

A new year!!! Exciting! All new things, experiences, flavours, people and things are waiting for you to be met and greeted.How about your studio and creative space? Are there any brand new items, materials, colours, paints, papers, wooden logs, clay, journals... waiting for you to be unwrapped or unpacked?? Maybe there is a new project or idea waiting to be polished and executed? Or you may have set a new goal for yourself or a resolution?

Ah, new supplies! A subject so very dear to my heart!! ;o)

Because I have the unfortunate combination of a slight addiction to art supplies and a hesitation to actually use most of them (for the first time), I actually have a quite a few things waiting to be unwrapped-- or used. But for this post, I'll focus mainly on the things that are new since Christmas.

Here's a photo of some (but not all, if you can believe it) of my craft-related gifts this year:


In case you can't see everything: new packages of polymer clay (You can never have enough!), eyelets, three colors of embossing powder, little shape cutters, a texture sheet, Amazing Mold Putty, blue-toned confetti-style glitter, and a watch (of the type that you make your own wristbands for). :o)

I'm going to have fun with all this! With the exception of the watch, everything there was on my pc-related wish list this year. And I could use some pc with that, too, if I really wanted to, by using polymer clay beads. (g) This'll be a good opportunity to use some of my stash of storebought beads, though. :o)

I'm excited to try everything in the photo. (In fact, I've already tried the embossing powders!) I'm holding back on the mold-making putty-- want to make sure I use it on something that's "worth" it-- but I'm really looking forward to using that, too.

I bought the confetti glitter for myelf, with a coupon. I thought it looked a lot like the colored Arnold Grummer flakes. I have plenty of the regular/clear iridescent flakes-- though not the AG brand-- but I haven't seen any colored ones around here before, so I was happy to find them. If only they'd had mint green. . . But the blue is gorgeous, too. I'm going to give Donna Kato's liquid-based faux opals another try, one of these days, and these beauties will come in handy then!

I just remembered that when I took the photo I forgot to include the lovely "queue" of rose petal-themed fluid chalk inks I received (Clearsnap brand, I think). They're wonderful colors. I have no excuse not to try some of the inked beads in Donna Kato's book, now. ;o)

In addition to the clay-related supplies, I now (since the great day after Thanksgiving sale at JoAnn Fabrics) have a stock of pretty flannels that I need to use. I'm venturing into the world of sewing/quilting, starting with flannel rag quilts. I've already made one rag-quilt-style bag and started on a flannel and denim rag quilt, but I have many more projects lined up-- and plenty of flannel to keep me busy for quite a while!

Here's a photo of some of my favorite prints:


Such happy, pretty colors! I love the colors in the polka dot fabric, and the floral print reminds me of the illustrations in William Steig's The Amazing Bone (which I used to read to my youngest sister). It makes me happy just looking at it. :o)

So I have plenty of new supplies to kick off the new year creatively! Now it's just a matter of deciding what to do with them all! :o)

ETA: Sorry about the disappearing photos. I don't know what happened. I guess Blogger ate them, somehow. Hope these copies stay in place for a while! (g)

PolymerCAFÉ -- the summer issue

The latest issue of Polymer Cafe arrived over the weekend, and of course it's been "gone through" several times, by now.

Here are a few things that caught my eye:

Page 10-- the Ranger ad regarding the use of embossing powder with polymer clay. (I have to admit, I like looking at the ads in this particular magazine almost as much as the content, sometimes! As I've said before, I "suffer" from a severe craft supply addiction.) I've been interested in trying out embossing powders with clay for a while, and this ad just puts more fuel on the fire! Clever trick, too, the way they force you to go to their website to find out whether the powders are on or in the clay. (g) I penned in the "answers" in my copy, for future reference.

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Inside the front cover-- the ad for Liquid Fimo. It showcases a jewelry design by Karen and Ann Mitchell (the authors of the liquid clay "Bible") and gives the basics on how to achieve similar results. It sounds pretty simple-- just mix the liquid clay with a couple colors of glitter (separately), then spread the tinted clay on a bakeable surface, marble it, bake it, and cut it with paper punches. (You could also use scissors or a craft knife, I'm sure, but if you have the punches, they'd make it even easier.) It's very glitzy, and there's no way I'd ever wear this much glittery stuff all at once-- but scaled down a bit. . . quite pretty! Another thing to keep in mind when I'm playing with the liquid stuff. . .

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Page 13-- a clay tip from Dotty McMillan, explaining how she uses eyelets "to enhance those special beads". Fun idea-- especially for bright, playful beads. Wouldn't look right with much of what I'm currently doing, but still something to remember.

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Pages 44-47-- Lapel Pin Vase. I'm not really the type to wear a lapel pin vase-- wouldn't like right with my casual tops and jeans!-- but I do like the look of it, and this technique can be applied to anything, really-- especially something flat. It's not that different from some things I've tried before, except for the use of the metal leafing pen instead of actual metal leaf. I'm definitely putting this on my "try it soon" list. (More liquid clay projects!)

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Page 48-- "Beaded Extruded Cane Bracelet and Earrings", by Francie Owens. That bracelet is so cute! I love the colors, too. (And it uses an extruded cane-- something I've been wanting to try, now that I have one of those homemade "leverage" thingies to use with the extruder.) I can't really see myself learning the bead weaving part right now-- no time to learn yet another hobby-- but this is one of the few times I've ever felt interested in bead weaving, so good job, Ms. Owens. ;o)

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Page 51-- "In Search of the Perfect Mica Shift", by Velina A. Glass. This is an interesting approach to mica shift. It eliminates the need for making a careful cut to achieve the mica shift effect. Ms. Glass refers back to an article by Arlene Schiek, published in a previous issue of PolymerCAFÉ (Fall 2006, if you're interested). However, she changes something from Ms. Schiek's technique, so it's a bit different. The benefit of this technique-- no persnickety shaving with a tissue blade. Particularly helpful for people who have difficulty making a nice, even slice, or for someone who hates handling those sharp blades. The drawback-- you have to do more sanding. It's definitely a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. You just have to decide which thing you hate worse, shaving or sanding. (g)