Comments on: Polymer Clay Inspiration is Everywhere – Clouds Raindrop Earrings

By: Phaedrakat

Phaedrakat — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 11:16:35 +0000

Cindy, your raindrops earrings are so pretty! It’s so nice when we get “inspired” and the creation turns out great. (If you’re like me, you’ve had some that DIDN’T work out, as well.)

I enjoy using colored wire on certain projects, it can add a little flair & color. You really do have to be careful with this wire, though. I used it for some earrings last year with homemade earwires and matching hoops. While I couldn’t hammer them for texture or anything, I was able to gently pound them to work harden the wire a little so they wouldn’t lose their shape. I used my cheap dollar store rubber mallet, and covered the ear findings with a thick washcloth (for added protection of the colored coating.) I tapped ever so gently, just enough to stiffen the wire inside the coated outer wire. It worked well (in fact, one of my sisters calls these her favorite earrings. Go figure, I’ve made her lots of sterling silver and more expensive metal jewelry & she wears the “craft wire” earrings the most!)

By: Phaedrakat

Phaedrakat — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:40:34 +0000

How funny to hear that so many others get “the groans” from family members over what you can do with PC. Back when I first discovered it, I was super enthusiastic and had a list a mile long of the things I wanted to make (and learn.) I’ve always been fairly crafty, so I wanted to make everything out of polymer. My nephew wanted an overpriced, poorly-made accessory for an action figure, and I could see it would be easy to make an even better one with PC. I told his mom, “Oh, I can make that with polymer clay.” I ended up saying those words fairly often, so that it very quickly became the family joke. If a kid lost a toy, it was, “don’t worry, Auntie can make a new one with polymer clay.” Lost cell phones, can’t find your keys? You guessed it–”Don’t worry, she’ll make new ones with polymer. After I boxed it up, the jokes faded away. But now, I have a feeling they’ll be coming back. My poly radar is back up!

By: Linda K.

Linda K. — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 18:46:24 +0000

@ Carolyn: Oh, I didn’t think you were fishing for a compliment. I just didn’t word things very well, and I can see why you would be concerned that your website was hard to navigate. Well, you don’t have to worry about that!

By: Denise S

Denise S — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:35:35 +0000

I think that most of my inspiration comes from two areas; 1) not liking to pay for cheap plastic stuff with no real flair except for fad, and 2) everything / anything around me. But recently i am in LOVE with the traditional art of Kanzashi flowers. I found a 5 part video collection on youtube ( youtube.com/watch?v=xWO7vtkbHPM ) that has inspired me to not only try the real thing but the play in clay with it too. I adore the fact that polymer is the medium that it is. My family groans too, when i get that look, break out the purse note pad, and start sketching and jotting away. ^.^ Poor babies.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:20:44 +0000

@Linda K.: Linda – I really was not fishing for a compliment, but like Cindy says: It sure feels good! Thanks!

By: Linda K.

Linda K. — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 01:14:28 +0000

@ Carolyn: It certainly was a good thing! I couldn’t tear myself away. I can’t think of anything I could tell you that would make it better.

By: carolyn

carolyn — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:37:15 +0000

@Linda K.: Hope that ‘getting lost’ was a good thing. I do want my site to be as user friendly as possible. Any suggestions would be most welcome. Anyone else who wants to take a gander and what you can do with wire, visit lordstreasures.com.

By: Linda K.

Linda K. — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:00:11 +0000

@ Cindy: Thanks for the info on the colored wire. I was pretty sure that none of them could hold up to hammering, but I was hoping that you had found a brand that would. :)

@ Carolyn: I just got lost on your website! You are so talented at wire-wrapping and all the other techniques you use. I do remember you telling me about Parawire.com before. I’m definitely going to order from them in the future. For now, I have quite a bit of copper wire, so I think I’ll practice with that for a while.

By: lynn watts

lynn watts — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:39:26 +0000

My family knows what is going thru my mind when I stop by things and run my fingers over stuff to see if it has a texture and how deep it is. And they say we know” Polymer Clay and can I get a mold of this.” They know me so well. I look every where even in the kids aisle where the toys are. There are some neat things that have so much texture in that aisle. I have not got to see the Avatar movie, the previews looked awesome.

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:08:30 +0000

I totally agree. There are so many things around us and i specialy love tolook at nature for inspiration. At the moment i am playing around with an idea for snowflake earrings; will have to see what i come up with.