Scrap Clay

Each month at the Austin Polymer Clay Guild meeting, we enjoy a project presentation by one of the guild members.  For one of the first meetings I attended, I was instructed to bring some “scrap” clay.  I was new to working with polymer clay and I had no scrap clay like the others.  Did that mean I had to use “good” clay? At about seventy five cents an ounce, I couldn’t imagine the harm.  And I wondered, how do you end up with scrap clay?

After a year of trying to make all the wonderful things I saw on the internet, flower canes, mokume gane, etc. and experiencing several failed attempts, I watched as my stash of “didn’t quite work out” grew into a pretty sizable hunk of scrap clay.  And there’s all those little bits we cut off the ends of canes and sheets.  Now I see the problem, not how do you get scrap clay, but how do you get rid of it?

First, don’t hide it away like some ugly step-child --see it as a challenge and not as evidence of your shortcomings.  See it with a fresh perspective.  The really nice thing about scrap clay is that it’s already messed up and you can’t mess it up any more than it already is, so play!  Here’s a few suggestions:

1.        Mush all the dark clays together until it’s a solid, sort of a purple grey, color.  Shape it into an Easter Island man (or woman!), give them hair, make them smiling or singing, or playing golf, whatever.  Roll the whole thing in sand before baking and vollah, you have a lovely “stone” garden statue.

2.       Mush it all together like in #1 and then thin it slightly with some liquid clay.  Roll it into medium width sheets and spread it on a planter.  Now, run a sheet of any other color clay, slice up some small squares as tiles and imbed these in the clay on the planter. Once covered, bake it.  If this is too large for your small craft oven, you can bake it in a roasting bag in your regular oven.  Now you have a beautiful mosaic planter.  Oh and don’t forget, you can cover you tiles with emobossing powder or glitter.

3.       Scrap clay can be used to test various glazes and varnishes to see which are easier to use, produce the most uniform and smooth finish.  Simply make a few disks, bake them, paste them to a piece of cardboard and then try all your different glazes.  Just make sure you label each one.

4.       Take similar colors of scrap clay and mix them together.  Now use this new color as though it was new clay.  Those dreary, grey greens can make wonderful leaf colors.  Or how about that hideous orange, maybe it’s a terra cotta?

5.       Use it to make molds for pendants or your own unique texture sheets or stamp pads.  Just spray your model with water and spread the clay on the model to make the mold.

6.       Make your own wall art by collaging many colors together or how about a big sun/moon face that you can hang outdoors.  Polymer clay is really durable outside and won’t lose it’s color in the sun.

7.       Make a 3/8 inch to ½ inch sheet by rolling several sheets at the thickest setting on your pasta machine and stacking them together.  Cut several rectangles from this sheet about 3 by 5 inch.  Use this piece as a canvas and some scrap clay to form any vegetables or flowers you may have in your garden.  You can even extrude a small snake of black to write the name of your flower or vegetable.  You can make rust proof ground stakes from cutting up old tomato cages.  After your clay is cured, drill a small hole into the bottom edge to accommodate the metal stake you just cut. Use some epoxy to glue your stake into the hole you drilled.  Now you have a lovely garden marker.

There’s an uninhibited joy in scrap clay that can’t be found in a pristine block of Moss Green.  There are no preconceptions of what it should represent like “moss” or “something green.” So drag that box out from the bottom of the closet and look again.  You see, what I have really learned after this year is that there really is no such thing as scrap clay, there is only the clay, you, and your creative spirit.

Happy claying.

Namaste

Cherry Taylor

Polymer Clay to the rescue!

In addition to being a polymer clay addict, I also have an addiction to beadweaving. I love beading around cabochons, and ammonites are one of my favorite things to work with. Imagine, I can hold in my hand an actual fossil that is aged to 360 million years ago! The problem that arises is that the ammonite is not flat.

As you can see from the photo, the ammonite sits at an angle. In order to bead around it, I would like the darn thing to be level. How to fix this? With polymer clay, of course!

I condition and run it through the pasta machine to a thickness that comes close to leveling out the piece. Next, on a tile, I squish the ammonite into the clay and keep playing with it until it is level. Next, I take out an exacto knife and cut around the ammonite, keeping the blade straight, not at an angle. Bake the piece on the tile. After baking, test to see if the clay is firmly attached to the ammonite. If it isn't, use a little E-6000 to glue it in place. And Voila! you have a level piece that can easily be beaded around!

Happy Claying (and beading!)

Nora Pero
President, Austin Polymer Clay Guild

Polymer clay is the Rodney Dangerfield of the art world. Sad, but true: it gets no respect.

Most of the time, even people who have heard of it will often say, "oh, you mean that stuff that kids make refrigerator magnets from?!"---And those of us who love the medium and think it's the most exciting art form of the last century try to turn our pained winces into smiles.

And let's not even detail the dissing that it takes from artists working in other mediums; the painters and printmakers and yes, even the ceramicists, whose eyes glaze over when they hear that we work with the stuff. It's taken decades for it to be even considered worthy of museum and gallery exhibits--this despite the constant promotion of the luminaries of the of the craft--The Kathleen Dustins, Elise Winters, the Jeffrey Deavers. (See the top two illustrations: 1st is Kathleen,, 2nd is Jeffrey Lloyd Dever--they're like, demi-gods).

Polymer clay is the redheaded stepchild, relegated to leftovers in the kitchen.

Part of this is of course the fact of its youth--though the material itself has been around since the thirties, it has only become the voice of talented artists in the last twenty years or so, with the explosion of new colors and varieties. The internet has allowed the sharing of techniques and ideas, and the more people work with it, the more the knowledge of its infinite possibilities grows---it is fair to say that new ways of working with polymer clay expand at about the same rate computers shrink--my son carries the capabilities and capacity of my 2001 desktop in the the palm of his hand. Image sharing sites like Flickr allow artists to see what other artists are doing--and the ideas generated, the tweaks and variations on technique enrich us all.

In many senses, polymer clay is just like paint: the same materials go into the Picasso as the $19.95 sofa -sized genuine oil painting available this weekend only! What matters, of course, is who's wieding the brush. And yes, a lot of PC offered up every year is lamentably tacky--it is both the blessing and the curse of the material that literally anyone can produce satisfactory results without training or special tools. The skills needed to work with polymer clay are those from dozens of different disciplines that are already second nature to most people. Rolling, stretching, poking--we all know how to do this. Its basic simplicity is a big part of its problem--you don't have to suffer for this art or take years of lessons before you can produce recognizable work; it's just too easy, perhaps.

And like all simple things, it can be easily generated into incredibly complex forms--Just take a look at the canework of Carol Simmons, or Sarah Shriver. It's a lot like nature itself, a single cell mutliplied over and over; and that is one of the most exciting things about it--very often those of use who wake up every morning itching to get into the studio have no map of where we're going----we just follow the muse.

Which brings me to a point; polymer clay is above all things a delight to work in--it's colorful and sensual and fun. And even as we struggle to get the art the respect it deserves, we need to remember to not take ourselves too seriously. The act of creation should never be grim.

And every once in a while, we should allow ourselves to make the durn refrigerator magnet.

Namaste,

Randee

May meeting

This month we worked on a fun little project- Framed Flower Pendants, presented by Cherry Taylor. You can see that Nancy was having a great time! Cherry is giving some pointers to Jaynee.

Here is a finished example of the project made by Cherry.

In case you missed the meeting, a copy of the instructions will be uploaded to our Yahoo! group.

Cherry shared several good tips for this technique, here are a few that I overheard:

-when applying the border, start at the point you will be attaching the bail.

-instead of a bail, use a 3 to 1 necklace connector and sink the three loop side into the top of your pendant (she used one on the example). Then you can use 2 of the same connectors to make a matching pair of earrings.

-after stamping your ink image, lightly heat with a heat gun to dry the ink a bit so it won't tend to smear so easily.

- Swarovski hot fix crystals work really well with the clay. They have a heat activated glue on the back, so they glue in when you cure your pendant.

- to get the look of canvas, imprint the top layer with a piece of cloth with a coarse weave, or a fine mesh screen.

Other news: we are still finalizing the details for our next clay day- we'll keep y'all posted through our Yahoo! group. Next month, we will be working with wire- how to make your own clasp and ear wires, and a beaded link. Supply list will be posted- you guessed it- on our Yahoo! group, closer to the meeting date.

Happy Claying Everyone!

Nora

Guild Meeting this Saturday

The May meeting of the guild happens this Saturday at the Yarborugh Library, 2200 E Hancock, 2:15--4:30.  


The program this month will be presented my member Cherry Taylor.  Cherry is going to teach how to make a beautiful flower pendant.  Feel free to join us.  Non-members are welcome to participate or to just observe.


Supply list for Framed Flower Pendant
Demonstration by Cherry Taylor

Small amount of liquid clay TLS, Kato Clear medium, etc.
Heat gun
Stamp (your choice)
Stamp pad (black or other dark color)
White clay
Black Clay
Colored clay (your choice)
Small amount of different colored clay for the flowers—your choice
Hot fix crystals
Krylon gold or silver leafing pen (optional)
Gloss finish (any brand, optional)
Bale for pendant (or make hole in top)
Tools:
All the usual clay tools pasta machine, blades, work surface, etc.
Additional: Clay extruder with all discs


Kim Schlinke
Vice-President

A Trip Back in Time

 Faux Carnelian

Faux Faience with Faux Carnelian

Last month, when I borrowed the book Faux Surfaces in Polymer Clay, by Irene Semanchuk Dean, I had no idea where it would lead.  As I flipped through the pages of techniques, I was particularly intrigued by the chapter on Faience.  Since I had never tried this technique before I decided this would be my first project.  Whenever I try a new faux technique, I turn to the trusty internet to get a look at the real thing.  Well, I hit the motherlode.  I have always been interested in all things ancient Egypt and when I found this page I knew how I would use Ms. Dean's instructions.  Go here to see what I'm talking about.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the necklace that inspired me.  http://www.ancienttouch.com/egyptian_faience.htm

I was completely enchanted by what I found.  I've spent hours looking at ancient Egyptian jewelry. It's all so beautiful and historically significant AND prohibitively expensive.  As much as I would love to own the real thing, they are out of my reach.  I'll  have to be content with the ones I make.

It was so much fun sculpting the faience beads and figuring out how to recreate the carnelian beads.  I loved how the carnelians looked so much with the faience, I had to make one that was all carnelian.  I've worn that one a couple of times already and it has fooled people until they touch it.  Success!!

I have a couple more similar ones in progress.  In fact, I'm off to the kitchen sink to sand a batch of beads now.
Kim Schlinke
Vice-President