Vol-021 Feb'2010 Back Issues Now Posted in Polymer Clay Library

An awesome month of tuts! Aren't they all?

thanks go to Cindy and Doug for a wonderfull month of tuts;

Here's to our Tutmeisters, Cindy and Doug !!! Hooray!

Yes indeed quite the husband and wife team or wife and husband team either way a great team the two of you make. Thank You for another great month I can't wait to start working on.
Uuuuuugggggggggs, Peggy

Just want to brag a minute. I made a necklace from a piece of my faux crackled raku (forgot to take a pic) and donated it to our Salvation Army silent auction. It was just the rectangle of raku with a little black bead and a little silver bead on top with a black satin cord. It went for $75.00. I was thrilled. The most I've sold a necklace for is $35.00 and that's the price I put on this one. They always list the value of the items in the auction. Every time I looked where the piece was on the table, someone was touching it.
Thanks to Cindy!!

Thanks guys! Tutemeisters… that's funny! LOL

@Freda K: Freda that is incredible! I am so proud of you! You must feel great. Maybe you have been undervaluing your work and can start charging a little bit more?

Thanks so much for sharing this with us. I LOVE hearing your success stories. I don't get to see most of you guys' work and as a teacher, knowing that you are learning and succeeding at making beautiful things makes me very happy!

Congrat's on that sale, Freda! You got the thrill of knowing your work is well-valued and were able to give to charity at the same time!

Yes, I agree it's been a great month of tutorials. So many great techniques and inspiration for projects — I really, really need to get busy. Thanks for creating such wonderful videos, Mr. & Mrs. Leitz!

Yay Freda!! Cindy's right, it can be easy to undervalue your work – especially as PC's such a cheap material. But all the time you spent making it, and all the time you spent learning to make it, add a lot of value to the finished piece.

Great that you made so much money for a good cause. :)

Absolutely. We need to do all we can to help Rosita & her people. It's difficult, because lots of people still have their hearts & minds on Haiti. I hope that the Chilean people aren't overlooked because people feel they've "already given." When a disaster happens, (some) people donate, feel like they've done their part, and move on. It takes so much time, money, effort — everything — to assist people in getting to even a small semblance of order. I fear that people forget long before the needs come even close to being met. With Chile, I fear they aren't even getting that good "initial burst" of goodwill, because what happened in Haiti is still so fresh in our minds. I hope that Rosita's plea will be answered. I will be praying for the Chileans, and remind everyone I know to help all they can. Thanks for posting the email, Cindy.

Hi Cindy,

I have been a member since November 2009. I am enjoying all the projects you have brought to all of us. I have a request…would you teach us how to put a ball at the end of wire. It would be nice to be able to use it as a stopper on the bottom of a bead when you attach it to a bracelet or earrings. I understand you need a butane torch or something like it. Just a suggestion. I am very interested. Thanks.

Carolyn

@Carolyn Keller: Ooooh, that sounds interesting. It would be a lot cheaper not to have to buy headpins. I think you can only do it with certain "pure" metals. Like fine silver instead of sterling. I wonder about copper. Hmmm, I think I'll research this, thanks for bringing it up! If Cindy did a video on it, with cheap ways to make headpins, I'd be for it!

@Carolyn K.: I did a google search to get some info. Looks like you can also make the headpins with sterling, copper, and even gold filled wire, but they end up with firescale. So, you have to clean them with steel wool or use a pickling solution to get rid of it. Apparently with the fine silver, they ball up easier, and they come out nice and shiny after torching, with no need for the extra step. The only other (optional) step is to work-harden them in a tumbler — or you could use another method.

@Carolyn Keller: I have put headpins on the list but I haven't pushed it forward yet because I wasn't sure if there was enough interest. I've linked my name to an article where others were requesting this tute. I think it is a very handy thing to be able to do and if enough people are for it, I'll teach it.

@Phaedrakat: Thanks for passing this info along to Carolyn, Phaedrakat! You are exactly right in the advice you gave. Making your own head pins is not only a great way to save money on headpins, but I also think they look a lot cooler than the store bought ones. Much more artsy! Which is a nice touch for your handmade beads!

@Cindy: That is one wire technique I would be really happy to learn! Usually when it comes to videos, I would prefer to have "all polymer, all the time" (lol). You can learn wire techniques all over the web, books, magazines, etc. It's the polymer techniques that are harder to come by. But when you throw a torch into the mix, I think I need a bit of video guidance. Although I did come across some, I would prefer a Cindy-video, since your tutorials are the best! Every video you produce is so well done. You cover every aspect of the technique, and throw in tips, tricks, money-saving ideas, etc. That's why I'd put my faith in you when playin' with fire!

I have tried making headpins & have had limited success with fine silver & no success with copper. I have vision problems & think I just can't see to get the wire centered correctly in the flame. Anything you can say or show to help line up the wire & flame would be much appreciated. I took a workshop where the instructor said that getting copper to ball up is more difficult. So…since you're having success, it must have to do with the type of copper wire that you use (as well as your method) or maybe the torch. I'm using one of the small kitchen type torches. Also, I'd like to learn what you do to harden them after the wire has made them soft (do you use your rock tumbler with stainless steel shot?). I would love to make my own with different sized balls at the end. I've been buying copper headpins thru etsy, but the ball at the end is smaller than I'd like.

Well it looks like the the topic of making your own headpins needs to be bumped up a bit on the priority list for filming. Thanks all for posting your thoughts on this topic. The tutorial videos I create are for you guys. So it's important to always be letting me know what you want to learn about next… just as Carolyn-K, Phaedrakat and Rose-M have done in this thread. Stay tuned… and please do keep those requests and suggestions coming!

Hi Cindy,

I just wanted to let you know that your Polymer Clay Beginners Course is very informative… a lot is basics but still those basics are very important to get a product that is a lasting one. As with all your videos, very concise with no frills and time consuming talk that is just not necessary. I do love your videos.

Cherie

Hi Cherie – Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts about the videos. Sharing feedback like this really gives others great insight about what they can expect from the Beginners Course as well as the weekly library video tutorials. I truly appreciate your help.