Comments on: Dried Flower Jewelry Bead Techniques, Plus Other Cool Inclusions

By: Phaedrakat

Phaedrakat — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:01:39 +0000

@TrudyM: Hi Trudy! If you decide to go with your "used" grounds, be sure to let them dry first. Moisture in translucent clay can cause plaquing & other issues. Sometimes it's useful (for faux stones, etc.)...but unless you're trying for a certain effect, you should ensure your inclusions are completely dry before adding to your clay... :D ~Kat PS: For more info on this effect, type "plaquing" in the search box, or check out some of the other articles on translucent clay!

By: Cindy Graveline

Cindy Graveline — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 15:24:48 +0000

@TrudyM: I use already ground coffee, like Maxwell House, because that’s what I buy.

By: TrudyM

TrudyM — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:32:06 +0000

@Cindy Graveline: I must have been channeling Ms. Cindy because in the middle of reading an art blog, I thought, coffee grounds! So, do you let them dry and then use them, or use them moist?

By: Cindy Lietz@Craft Glue for Polymer Clay Beads

Cindy Lietz@Craft Glue for Polymer Clay Beads — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:34:35 +0000

Does does sound a little too coincidental, doesn’t it? Maybe something in the peppers ate at the metal to cause it to rust? Or possibly the peppers, weren’t as dry as they seemed?

I have never heard of anyone else having this problem, so I’m not positive what the problem was. You could try those beads on a material that doesn’t rust, like stainless steel, silver, gold or copper. That might help. Hope you don’t run into that problem again… sounds like a pain!

By: Maria

Maria — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:57:04 +0000

I had about 30 pendants on a felt board hung up by metal brackets. The findings were headpins from a local craft store. This was the only pendant which had rust on it. The others were made without using spices and look fine. Maybe a drop of water did get on just that pendant? I’m sure weirder things have happened, (ie water drop on that specific pendant and none of the rest)

By: Cindy Lietz@Translucent Sculpey Clay

Cindy Lietz@Translucent Sculpey Clay — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:22:58 +0000

That sounds a little strange Maria. Sounds more like it was an issue with the findings and not the peppers. Was there any moisture near your piece? What kind of metal were the findings?

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:46:04 +0000

Hi Cindy,
I actually had a bad experience with my inclusions. I used red pepper with translucent clay on a pendant last year. I came across it this year and found that the metal jewelry findings had rusted on it! The spice seemed dry when I used it. What do you think could have gone wrong?

By: Cindy Lietz@Creative Tips For Polymer Clay Artists

Cindy Lietz@Creative Tips For Polymer Clay Artists — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:24:46 +0000

Love the coffee grounds idea! And yes I saw you there on Face book. So many ways to connect these days! Very fun.

By: Cindy Graveline

Cindy Graveline — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:09:59 +0000

I love to add inclusions to polymer clay! Ground coffee makes a really cool stone effect and smell great too. I tried also many spices, black pepper, metallic crayons shaving…

I just add you on Facebook :)

By: Cindy Lietz@Storing Polymer Clay

Cindy Lietz@Storing Polymer Clay — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:31:54 +0000

Tweet to your heart’s delight! Feel free to friend me on Facebook if you like. You’ll find be listed as Cindy Lietz (go figure :)

And on Twitter, I’m just now getting started. You can follow me here: http://twitter.com/cindylietz … and I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Talk soon…