“It opens a wide
array of possibilities
for even more surface
treatments.” ~Koolbraider
On October 12th, I posted an intro preview clip for the custom Distressed Paint Finish tutorial.
Today, the full version of this video lesson (Vol-029-2) is available for viewing at the Polymer Clay Members Library. Here is the link: Adding a Distressed Paint Finish To Polymer Clay Surfaces
For anyone who is not yet a paid member, if you did not know, the cost works out to only $3.32 per month. This gives you 24/7 access to the full versions of my Friday video tutes. Plus you also receive four A-series color recipe cards. This week’s color is: Seaside (Vol-029-2A) from the Beach Pebble Polymer Clay Color Palette.
I want to chime in here and say I think $3 to $4 a month for the extremely high quality videos, the personalized help, the recipe cards, free tuts, the 24/7 access, and the list goes on.. is a bargain! All the work you and Doug do that saves US money is worth way more than that. I’m always singing your praises and telling people this is where I get my information and learn the things I do. ~Tanya-L
Overwhelmed after seeing the last three video tuts in a row, I can tell you. Cindy is the best teacher out there for my money. ~Jocelyn-C
Just want to say this site runs very, and I mean, VERY well! Cindy, you give more than our money’s worth! ~Catalina
If you want to become a paid member, here is the link:
Polymer Clay Video Library
Or if you are brand new to polymer clay, the best place to first learn all of the fundamentals is here: Polymer Clay Beginners Course
To browse other video tutorials that are available for purchase without becoming a subscribing member (in other words… just a one time fee), you can go here: Polymer Clay Video Back Issues
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Open Mic… Please use the comment sections of these Friday posts to discuss polymer clay challenges that you need some help with… success stories about your bead and jewelry projects… requests for upcoming video tutorials. In other words, it’s an open mic :-) .
Listed below are the topics that were discussed in the last Friday’s Open Mic comments:
- Amazing Mold Putty vs Sculpey Mold Maker.
- Stripping bark off trees.
- Robbing onions of their bag.
- Removing a casting before baking.
- Halloween canes.
- Molds with two halves for 3D projects.
- Silicon based molds.
- And more…
If you need to catch up, here is the link to the article where last week’s topics were discussed in detail: Texture Plates
Otherwise, you can use the comment section below to start talking about some new topics and ideas. Happy Friday!!!
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And now I know about the paints, and how little I really knew before! Looks like a fun “get paint all over yourself” technique (I love getting into the nitty gritty).
This technique is fun! Some real cool effects possible. Can’t wait to try it.
Another cool technique, explained and demonstrated by our beloved Cindy. I love this distressed finish she’s come up with…looks perfectly time-worn, aged — awesome! Thanks so much, Cindy… :D
Loved this tutorial. I can’t wait to try it. I just got back from a precious metal clay class that took all day. It was fun and the end result is beautiful, but overall it is very expensive and the PMC is not as forgiving as the polymer clay. I am thinking that Cindy’s distressing tutorial will be great to help cover those little flaws you miss until after you bake your project. The possibilities are endless with polymer clay! So many projects, so little time!
trying my avatar….
okay….now what….lol
Nice to “see” you, Pollyanna! Gravatar’s are cool… :D
My father passed away 5 years ago and someone as a gift gave roses off my dads casket to this lady and she made me a beautiful necklace and earrings. I have often thought about starting a business in our small town for people who have lost someone but as I noticed and didn’t really think of these necklace’s could be made for almost any occasion. I do have an interest but do you see this as a successful business? I would love to have a business that maybe my daughter’s and I could do together but if the trend is not there then I don’t want to invest anything financial or emotional. Please be honest with me would this be a good business?? Thank You, Monica.
AHHHH the magic of cyber space….lol.
Hi Monica,
Some things to think about…
* Would you want such a business to be full time and a main source of income, or just something part time for a bit of extra cash?
* Would it be the primary focus of the business, or just one aspect of it (e.g. memorial beads and jewellery forming just one “line” in a handmade artisan jewellery business)?
* And would you just be targeting customers from your small town, or would you be drawing them from a broader area (e.g. a nearby large city, anywhere in the country via mail, etc.)?
If you were targeting just your town, logistics would be simpler: the flowers (etc.) could possibly delivered fresh(ish) so that you could dry them in whatever way would give the best final result, rather than having your product dependent on how somebody else did that part of the process. It would probably also be easier to communicate about how the final products would look. But I really don’t know that there would be enough demand to base a business in its entirety around just this theme. Consider the population of the town; the proportion of that population likely to be interested in this kind of idea at all; the number of potential events that this could apply to, and the number of times the interested population proportion would want to get the same kind of thing in memory of one of those events.
For instance, some of the possible events such as births, christenings, weddings and funerals are naturally quite limited in number. And with potential recurring events such as anniversaries, would a customer want a piece of jewllery from every anniversary bouquet? For some people it might be nice to get one memento bead per anniversary to add to an evolving piece of jewellery, but would doing that be cost-effective for the customer? And personally, if I were doing that I’d prefer a different kind of bead each year to reflect some memorable aspect of it — a silver bead from a trip to Asia, a bone or clay bead from a holiday in Africa, a drilled pebble from a romantic walk along a beach, etc. — rather than the same kind of thing each time.
On the other hand, there would be more demand if you were planning on drawing customers from a wider area, but things like the responsibility for drying the flowers properly before sending them to you would rest with the customer.
If memorial jewellery is to be just part of a larger jewellery business, is it a good complement to the rest of that business? Are there other businesses that you’d need to compete with in that area? And is interest in these more sentimental ideas increasing, decreasing, static, or cyclical?
I hope all of that doesn’t sound too discouraging. I rather like the memorial jewellery idea myself, for a few very specific situations. But I do think it needs some proper analysis before, as you say, investing anything financial or emotional in it.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do! :)
Sue F
This is another awesome technique, Cindy, and once again my mind is whirling with all the possibilities. This is what’s so great with your teachings – we’re never limited to one finished product – we’re only limited to what our own minds can conceive! Thanks, once again, for another amazing tute!!
@Monica –
Your idea is very interesting. I just wanted to tell you about my brother who is a potter.
When our mother passed away – he took the cedar sprigs from the flowers and pressed them into a lovely box he made and then glazed it in Mom’s favourite colour. The box is lidded and about 6 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches.
The box sits in his gallery in a NOT FOR SALE display area.
I cannot tell you how many people go directly to that box and want to buy it. I tell them all the story about it and people are really interested in it.
My brother has made a number of urns for people and for animals too. He always includes something that is very sentimental for the people in what he makes.
Just a few different ideas for you.