Polymeri Online 9.1.13 | Big sized polymer clay purses, Glasses and phone box, Joyous necklace and Cube stamping tutorial

Polymer clay purses

While working on my new sample purses for CFCF 2013, I found this great link - The girls from "Parole de Pate" made a purses challenge among themselves, this time, not a miniature - it's a real size bag mostly made of polymer clay, additional materials are allowed. They did a fabulous work!
http://paroledepate.canalblog.com/archives/2012/12/04/25727648.html

Polymer clay box

and another purse-box item made by Liz and Frog, beautiful created, those fine details! People think I have the patience to work with tiny pieces but I think Liz deserves a medal!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizandfrog/8242882933/

Don't miss her super cool "I'm so sexy" millefiori cane

Joyous Necklace!

VeruDesign joyous necklace reminded me of my recent Extruder experiments, these wrapped beads create such a fun piece!
VeruDesign is Veruschka, the creator of beautiful one-of-a-kind polymer clay jewelry, she is a Bolivian girl, raised in Germany and Bolivia. Her flickr site is full of color and movement - love it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/veebeads/8272015963/

and her FB and website.

Pastel Chalks Fimomaus Tutorial

Fimomaus - Veronique Hoffmann posted a fun free tutorial of cube stamping using pastel chalks. Veronique is a student of mine and is known for her speedy pace and fast learning.
Now, she is offering us her knowledge in this elegant pattern.
Thank you, my friend :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fimomaus/8273588456/

My US trip is getting closer, 1 month ahead for planning, samples and swap gifts, I am off to my studio for more work, photos will be posted in a couple of days. Have a warm day! it's freezing here these days!

INKredible Polymer | NEW Alcohol Inks Polymer Clay Tutorial

Long before the era of digital age, with laptops, ipads and smart phones, there was only INK.
Incredible, isn't it?

INKredible Polymer!
Alcohol Inks Polymer Clay Tutorial

Can you imagine how the world would look like without INK?

Books, newspapers, love letters, piano notes, symphonies and art paintings might look different from how you know them theses days.
INK made the whole difference.

Thousands of years ago, the human kind began using ink for writing.
This was the beginning of a wonderful journey for this fascinating material, and for the last months, also for me.

My new tutorial is dedicated to a unique relationship between polymer clay and INK -
INKredible.

INKredible Polymer!
Alcohol Inks Polymer Clay Tutorial

I am happy to reveal my quest discoveries, while exploring, using, mixing, nearly fighting to turn Inked polymer clay into a new chemistry element :)

Although I was a complete beginner using alcohol inks 3 months ago, a special request by a friend introduced me into a new adventure.

Studying, researching, experimenting, practicing, mixing, and learning all about Alcohol inks, head to tow, top to bottom.

INKredible Polymer!
Alcohol Inks Polymer Clay Tutorial

My 3 months journey and insights are offered to you in these INKredible classes.

Click here to reveal the INK secrets...

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/inkredible_polymerclay_alcoholinks_tutorial

The complete package includes -
3 INKredible classes; 15 exciting projects, 8 videos and 40 giveaway pendants to celebrate my 40th tutorials anniversary.

Special promotion offer expires on June 30th!

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/inkredible_polymerclay_alcoholinks_tutorial

The Skyscraper and Flakes Techniques! New PolyPediaOnline Tutorials

111 comments! 111 of you played along with my guessing game and guessed right!

The photo was the wonderful New-York New-York hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA!

Thank you for your tips and blessings! Don't worry! I'm too scared to even try gambling!

I picked 2 as winners of my 2 new tutorials -

Comment no. 109 Jen Neff winning Vol. 38

Comment no. 48 - K winning Vol. 39

Congratulations to the winners!

For some reason all the numbers in my blog comments disappeared so I had to count...!

If you are wondering what the new tutorial is all about, it's not enamel and not glass - It's polymer clay!

and what if I tell you that in my new tutorial "show-time" starts AFTER baking?

I give you! The Skyscraper technique.

In this new class we will use liquid polymer clay to create exquisite, irresistible designs anyone looking at it won't believe it's clay.

You will also learn how to extract the best of liquid polymer clay and use it for more than just merely an adhesive or a transfer assistant!

The name "Skyscraper technique" popped in my head in association to the tall, impressive and sparkling buildings seen in big cities worldwide.

The long, narrow, sparkling beads reminded me of the wonderful New York skyline, the sparkle metal look of the skyscrapers is also a main characteristic of this technique.

This class is all about challenging yourself and upgrading your polymer clay work, making it more sophisticated and stylish then ever.

In the new Skyscraper tutorial we will NOT follow the regular procedure of creating and curing.

In this technique we will FIRST cure our materials and only then, work and design our final product.

Sounds crazy? Yes! but possible.

Click here for more details -

2 tutorials for a great price!

The special promotion offer expires on March 25th!

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/polymer_clay_tutorial_skyscraper_flakes_technique

Polymeri Online 14.3.12 | Dots and circles, Manicotti beads, Jungle bangle and Little red riding hood necklace

Nataliya Solonchuk's tiny dots and circles are so sweet and naive, she is all into small microscopic details that makes a larger design. She recently joined Flickr so I am guessing her photo stream will be soon filled with more goodies.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/natashka_ribkin/6835467996/in/photostream

MaryAnne treats her jewelry designs as if they are canvas and paints. The richness in details is wonderful. I loved her journal covers, and take a look at her "Manicotti" beads! a piece of art!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28608662@N04/6214124046/

MariaEva - Niná Ramos is in her personal imaginary zoo - blue and purple leopards are a part of her jewelry line! Jungle-Bangle!

She is from Venezuela, her daughter gave her clay and materials for Christmas, her brother sent her books and that was a start of a great journey!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ninanefertiti77/sets/72157628041520485/

Filoecoloridiila from Italy creates whimsical costume jewelry, full of color, irony and craziness here and there and uses resin, polymer clay, pannolenci, felt and upcycled materials to create unique and often one-ok-a kind accessories.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Filoecoloridiila

Get ready, tomorrow I am posting a new guessing game for my upcoming tutorial, this time I promise - no tiny photos! See you soon :)

Donations to the 2nd Annual OK Poly-Clay Twisters Retreat

Several weeks ago I got an email from Angela Mabray, the VP & Webmaster of the Central Oklahoma Polymer Clay Guild telling me about their 2nd Annual OK Poly-Clay Twisters Retreat, to be held April 19-21, 2012.

The event will feature Christi Friesen, who''ll be teaching classes, and claying along with the participants, in addition, they will have demos, vendor tables, free breakfast/lunch and in short - 100% polymer clay fun!

Like I did in similar retreats I sent Angela 2 of my new "Disc-Chic" necklaces as donation for their raffle auction.

The new necklaces were using my recycled discs along with stamps, ink and millefiori canes left from my pen designs.
These necklaces are always fun to create as they are so easy and every combination is a sure hit.

While I was playing with the designs, I made additional necklaces and a belt with the new FIMO colors (pastels and sparkled blue), that were given to Staedtler's private collection when I was their guest in Germany 3 weeks ago.

Several of these sets are also offered for sale in my Etsy store.

I am sending my wishes to all the retreat participants and know they will have a great time! (Certainly when Christi is around!).

Happy claying!

Ready, Set, Fold! & Guessing game winner!

66 comments! Wow!

I just love giveaways both as a giver and as a winner ;) LOL

Congratulation Ms. Small Idea! You've won my new tutorials!

Want to know what you won?

What those mysterious tiny pictures are?

Well, the story begins 2 months ago, I was invited to my friend's daughter birthday party: "Come join us, Iris, Let's drink a cup of coffee", said the mother, "I have invited a wonderful entertainer - she makes paper folds! You'd love it!"

So I came. and... I was fascinated!

Remember when we were kids and made scoubidou strands and friendship bracelets? That was it, only with paper - the kids LOVED it!

It took me a while and I decided to take this idea, adapt it to the polymer clay world and create a more sophisticated technique using polymer.

Being a long time blogger, knowing many of the polymer clay artists around, I browsed and looked for more info about folding techniques in polymer clay and didn't find any, so I took the time to experiment and learn more about it.

When I started experimenting, I found that folding with polymer gives our designs a very special 3 dimensional effect achieved by the special characters of the material, the special colors - solid or marbled, metallic or glittery, skinner blended or extruded.

The adhesiveness of the clay makes it very easy to fold and to compress the folds - bead or jewel - these techniques are turning any piece to an intriguing, attractive, interesting and almost impossible to believe it is clay.

Although not as stretching as ribbon or flexible as paper - polymer clay with it's wonderful color palette, patterns and textures take these techniques into a whole different level.

Looking back at the history of weaving and folding, weaving was used by our prehistoric ancestors as an aid in their quest for basic needs of food, shelter & clothing, and folding, especially paper folding (japanese Origami), is an art of folding objects out of paper without cutting/pasting - that's perfect for clay! the clay will stick to itself!

These ancient techniques soon became very popular and moved to the modern era in the shape of recycled and found materials.

So, why not use use traditional folds to create entirely new and exciting designs?

After 1.5 months of work, trials and error, investigating these techniques from every possible angle - It's finally ready.

In this new set of PolyPediaOnline tutorials I chose to use our medium - polymer clay - to create folded, weaved and rolled fine jewelry and accessories.

Polymer clay folding, weaving and rolling are new techniques you'll want to add to your skills repertoire!

Want to read more about it?

Click here for more details!

Polymeri Online 6.8.11 | Special cake toppers, Crayon's necklace, Spoon bead core and Polymer clay horns

With a degree in Sociology and Psychology, Christina Robinson worked in the mental health field, and pursued various avenues of careers. Before finally settling on the fact that she wanted to work

full time on her art, she took classes toward finishing a degree in Biology in hopes to do research in genetics and nutrition. Her current interests include creating beautiful accessories, oil painting, and sculpting art dolls in her own unique style, with a special face expression I can't really describe in words....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OhMaudlinMe

http://www.christinazimmer.com/dolls/

Don't miss her "in process" photos of one of her pieces -

http://christinarobinsonblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/mr-modesty-in-progress.html

Dany Teysseire-Mlanao is a graduated from the Regional Academy of Fine-Art in Valence (France) specializing in painting. his (I hope I'm correct) artistic expression goes in three diverse directions: paint on textile and creation of clothing, plastic animation and dressmaking. He has been creating jewelry since 1994 and produced costumes for shows and the

theatre. In his free time he enjoys 7 hours per week of kick-boxing and 800 sit-ups later (Did I mention I walk the dog??) :) In this piece he is using resin, paper, drawing crayon and of course polymer clay.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/64316503/girls-and-eyes-polymer-clay-necklance

Galina (Grgalina) has posted a cool tutorial for creating a a bead core made of aluminum foil and... spoon! It's a bit of an oldie but who's counting?

Galina was a guest in my blog but was not introduced in full in my previous post (here) - she was born in Russia, but since 1998, lived in different places around the world, from Singapore to Ireland. At present time she lives in Dublin, Ireland. For many years she worked as a computer designer, but discovered polymer clay few years ago, and since then her soul & mind are into it.

http://grgalina.livejournal.com/38490.html

I found these polymer clay costume horns using aluminum foil in cut out and keep website which is full of simple projects using polymer clay.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/clay-costume-horns

Have a great weekend! I'm off to my studio planning my next project :)

Playing with Cubes!

Several weeks ago I was walking at a fair and saw this guy creating wood mind games, one of them was a 3*3 cube challenge. I was immediately hooked and couldn't rest until I solved the whole cube. THEN I figured I must create one with polymer clay!

My cube is just one option among many!

Now you can play with your jewelry while you're waiting at the dentist's reception :)

Here is a free video tutorial - How to Create Polymer Clay Cube Puzzle Necklace including a diagram for stringing and it's solution!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIZrSHxFv9k

Have fun! :)

Polymeri Online 28.7.11 | Mosaic with 6 kids, Carving beads, Carnivorous beads and Egypt god decoration

Sandy loved polymer clay ever since her daughter introduced it to her quite a while ago, she is creating one of a kind pieces, faces, masks and wall decorations (photo: Solar God of Ancient Egypt), in addition to cute small figurines.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mstp

Kael Mijoy, a mother to 6 kids ages 2-14 and a cat, is running a home computer repair business with her husband, homeschooling the older kids, play with the younger kids, and pretty much ignore the cat, BUT she has some time to clay!She has generously shared her cool mosaic technique with us, I think she has more than 24 hours a day! :)

http://kaelmijoy.blogspot.com/2010/10/cured-on-raw-mosaic-tutorial.html

http://www.etsy.com/shop/kaelmijoy

Elena Aleshina is a lawyer from Moscow, Russia, her wonderful looking polymer clay beads look like carved using a lathe but I'm not certain that is her technique. very interesting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tavostia/page4/

Denise Scheiben is from Switzerland, working with polymer clay since 2007, when I first saw her red necklace some how I was thinking about Carnivorous plants! The red halves of the beads seemed like they are planning to take a bite! :) I loved the colors and combination of beads & wire!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827047/in/photostream

Check out her mesh jewelry too, as you know I love mesh with polymer clay :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nislia/4423827045/in/photostream

Polymeri Online 19.7.11 | Walk on Clay, Talking Faces, Hibiscus Flower Tut and Graphic Necklace Design

Violette Laporte from Canada has a great tip for softening very very old clay.

Even after you roll it in the pasta machine, If it is still crumbly, we are moving to the heavy artillery ;) take your clay, place it in a plastic bag with all the crumbs and pieces, form a ball inside the bag, take a good pair of shoes and yourself in the shoes (the heavier the better!) and squish the ball to flat! after several times (from ball to flat) you are done with your daily exercise and the clay is ready to be inserted in the pasta machine! how about that?!

http://violette-laporte.blogspot.com/2009/11/tip-11.html

Violette has some other interesting experimental designs in her blog, take a half of hour (or more) to browse it.

If you are looking for more tips for rolling stiff clay, you can see my tip as well in PolyPediaOnline TV in YouTube.

A mans face appears out of the tile; A face emerging from a leaf; Face Pendant - ReedDesigns Etsy's gallery is "telling us something", the faces expression, colors, eyes shape - talking faces.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ReedDesigns

ZudaGay posted a tutorial on how to create a hibiscus flower using main polymer core and petals around it, Thank you Tonja for this link!

http://clayinthehands.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-make-hibiscus.html

Polyette's graphic necklace has beautiful color combination, dots and shapes. I can imagine how stylish it will look on a white dress!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/polyette/5574017229/

What Will Those Mosquitoes Do Next?

Ever wondered If it's possible to create very thin polymer clay beads and forms that are strong, durable, flexible and light weight?

Actually, It's (almost!) impossible!

Guess what?

I developed a special technique allowing YOU to create the impossible!

When we were building our home several years ago, I noticed that the builders used a simple technique of pouring concrete to form walls using a metal mesh inside to reinforce it.

I watched them, not realizing that one day I’ll be using another form of that technique on my polymer clay creations.

A few years later I was looking for something to help me create a thin yet strong polymer clay piece that will not break after the first time it falls out of my hand. This was the result of my dropping a few delicate polymer clay beads on the floor, and being very upset because they broke could not be repaired.

As you probably know, polymer clay does not handle breakage well, and it was not bad luck on my part having those beads shattered to pieces, just a disadvantage of polymer clay. A disadvantage that caused me and many polymer clay artists to avoid creating delicate and thin pieces.

This really got me thinking, I wanted to find a way around the problem, not to avoid it.

Eventually the technique the builders used crossed my mind.

Click here to read on about the Mosquito Technique...

http://www.polypediaonline.com/133688/mosquito_technique_tutorials

Bzzzz here....

Polymeri Online 7.5.11

Mags Bonham has been working with polymer clay since 1999. I couldn't agree more with her say that "the special properties of polymer clay allow for an infinite range of techniques and final outcomes and each day in the studio is a revelation of what can be done with this medium".

Take a look at her purse necklace and other goodies in her site and flickr gallery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonkos/4637107670/in/photostream

http://vtcrafts.net/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/magsb

Celine B. from France has a beautiful collection of designs in her flickr gallery - jewelry, pins & beads in wonderful colors, some millefiori based, some with an organic "touch", rounded, soft, with a perfect sense of color.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/celinefabrique/5676511724/in/photostream

Ravit, a fellow polymer clay artist from Israel, recently got married and made herself a wonderful polymer clay flower bouquet! What a brilliant idea! This one will last forever!
I loved the design and wish i worked with polymer clay 20 years ago... :)

http://www.tapuz.co.il/Forums2008/ViewMsg.aspx?ForumId=1484&MessageId=152052364

Pilar (amatista) created a cool variation of retro canes, combined with sheets of clay in between, all made into round millefiori canes, she also made disc beads using the same canes or oeftovers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amatista/5683507769/in/photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/amatista/5676199030/in/photostream/

Have a great weekend!

Polymeri Online 18.3.11

Amber Elledge working with polymer clay since age 11, but still discovers new things every time she picks up a block (like all of us, I guess). She makes unique and fun pieces that are also useful. Her favorite technique is "filigree", a process of coiling, placing and cutting individual strands of clay by hand.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/starless

Kristie B Kristie-Lou is a full time artist with a split personality. Her two passions include creating wire wrapped jewelry and polymer clay faces. She never knows what the day will bring and let her hands guide the way.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sculptedwindows

I've stumbled across Anna Shchelkunova flickr gallery and loved this pendant! the mix of flowers, coiled clay and the pearl look was so nice and delicate.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/59089123@N06/5532744503/

Here is more of her interesting pieces made into beads

http://fenek.gallery.ru/watch?ph=qim-bV9JT

Katrin Joonas from Estonia posted a magical poppy pendant with a necklace inspired by Estonia's ethnic embroidery. She is using Premo! Sculpey, Sculpey Ultralight & Sculpey III, Acrylic paint, brown antiquing medium & glossy glaze

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8304472@N02/5519443770/

https://picasaweb.google.com/olikolm/Kati#

Polymeri Online 13.2.11

DesignTheory is a curator of contemporary art (as well as former visual artist and chef) who is obsessed with great design, in all its forms.

This piece is a real statement one, the organic forms of this necklace were inspired by the modernist sculpture of Brazilian artist Sergio Camargo and the song 'Fire of Love'.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59120508/fire-of-love-necklace

Jessica made a beautiful christmas ornament which is perfect for valentine as well :) this golden heart cupcake is made of polymer and painted with acrylics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicajanelove/5257113386/in/contacts/

and a group photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicajanelove/5249487503/

Kindred Spirit Studios / Michelle DP's work is inspired by African tribal colors, patterns and motifs and the natural world. She works with paper, ink, stamps and her mix media work is full of color. I am almost certain i can see polymer clay in her pieces.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kindredspiritstudios/with/4314307768/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/camida

Supplies! I am always fond of goodies shops - In whysperFairy store you'll find silicone molds for wonderful quick and easy pieces -

http://www.etsy.com/shop/WhysperFairy?ref=pr_profile