Polymer Clay Tumble Chips

(I really wanted to show you my polymer clay covered Egg (warts and all) I made but the pictures are still in the camera and the camera isn't with me - I'll show you after Easter - late rather than timely but never mind. In the meantime I shall catch up with some other things I have been up to.)

You may recall a while ago I posted a picture of a polymer clay prototype I made for a flower pendant I intend to make in PMC. Here it is again .

I saw a project in a jewellery magazine and it had a Thai Hilltribe silver pendant that looked like this strung with turquoise and amazonite gemstone chips . I suddenly had the inspiration the other day that I could make my own faux turquoise chips. I haven't tried any faux techniques yet, there are several on my polymer clay to do list (which is about 3 pages long ;)

I had some translucent clay out the other day and had a bit left over and a spare few minutes so had a go at making some chip beads just to see how they would work out. I used a bit of blue alcohol ink mixed in and they came out looking quite a lot like the amazonite chips used in the necklace project.

The central bead  was a ball that I squashed and then imprinted with a textured button, a different one on each side. I need to add some sort of patina or something to bring the pattern out, again I haven't done any surface effects after baking so that will be another round of experimenting another day (all tips or ideas welcome for that!).

So I will have a go at the faux turquoise soon and will perhaps make some more of these - just making some variations in the colour a bit to make them look more natural. Think I will just not mix the ink so thoroughly. Then I can string a complete polymer prototype (hmm wonder if I would ever get round to making the real thing...)

Hope you all have a great Easter. I taught my kids (nearly 6 and just turned 4) to sew this week and they love it. They have made presents for everyone from some brightly coloured felt. I have been crocheting (to fill the gaps when I can't clay) chrysanthemum dishcloths for everyone which are probably too pretty for dishcloths but hey...

Fopals - Cindy Leitz

There has been a buzz of excitement recently on Cindy Leitz's blog about her Faux Opal technique.

 
I tried it the Friday I recieved the video but it didn't really work out at all and I was so disappointed I didn't even take any pictures! The bake and bond was so soft it wouldn't really sand at all.

Finally I found a moment to try again yesterday and baked them for much longer which has made them harder (and thankfully easier to sand) but I am still not happy with the results. I am posting some images here just in case anyone has cracked this technique can share some tips.

Here they are before sanding

 I knew sanding was a key part of making these look good so I spent ages sanding one. Gave it a good long time at 180 and 240 grits and then went through 400, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500 grits.

Here it is after sanding.

Not sure what caused the cracking on the bake and bond. My flake colours are still too bright but that isn't a huge issue on these cause you can't really see them.

I have reread some of the tips on Cindy's blog and I think perhaps I have some other ideas to try and also perhaps I ought to go back and sand some more. I will master this technique and hope to produce something closer to Cindy's beautiful sparkly faux opals!