“I have been at a loss
how to make embedded
eye pins more durable and
less likely to slide right out.
Looking forward to
this.” ~Ashlyn-N
On August 10th, I posted an introductory preview clip for the Embedded Links tutorial. Today, the full version of this video lesson (Vol-027-2) is available for viewing at the Polymer Clay Members Library. Here is the link: Embedding Wire Links and Loops Into Polymer Clay Beads
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: Buttercup (2A) from the Snapdragon Polymer Clay Color Palette.
Cindy, It never ceases to amaze me how you come up with your tricks to make things happen! I found your site a short time after I decided I wanted to learn how to work with polymer clay. I’ve been a teacher my entire adult life, so I know a good teacher when I see one. I also know an outstanding value. I watched your three free videos and immediately signed up for membership. You give us far more for our money than any other site… most single tutorials at other sites cost more than our monthly membership, which gives us 4 tutorials and 12 color recipes each month. After only a few months of using your techniques, I was already selling my polymer clay jewelry. ~Linda-K
I’m really enjoying the site and wish I’d become a member this last summer when I started claying. ~Rose-M
I held out for quite a while thinking it was an additional expense I could not afford. Finally decided that an extra $9.95 was not going to break me and I’m so happy that I did join. It is sometimes the little things you do that make your projects look so much better and Cindy gives us all her tricks of the trade. I’ve made buttons before but never made them using Saran Wrap over the clay. What a difference. Another favorite was using the Adirondack inks for the Jellyroll Cane. Nice to have another use for my craft supplies. I would urge anyone to give up one movie a month, or one magazine, or anything else that equates to about $3.50 a month and join in the fun. I’ve been following your site for quite a while now Cindy and thank you for being so generous with your free advice. It must give you a sense of great satisfaction knowing you are helping others enjoy their craft. You are much appreciated. ~Janet-A
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
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:
- Where to buy metallic leaf.
- How to upload project photos to the facebook gallery.
- Adorable little shape cutters.
- Which to use for lightening colors.. silver or pearl?
- The sheet got too thin.
- Shifting the grout lines.
- Another “Aha” moment with Blend & Switch Technique.
- Important Tip… watch the videos more than once.
- How to fast forward and rewind the videos.
- Watching with the sound off.
- Pine needle baskets and polymer clay.
- Making polymer clay look like stained glass.
- Porcupine quills and Sea Urchin spines.
- Keep those sheets thick.
- Covering wooden boxes with clay sheets.
- Sticky clays.
- Kato clay handling characteristics.
- Cooling your clay in the fridge.
- Fiddlier (not the someone who plays the fiddle)
- Choosing where you want your aggrevation.
- More Kato color recipes may be coming soon.
- Christmassy thoughts.
- Ceramic pellets for tumbling polymer clay beads.
- First bead giveaway contest… building confidence.
- Working on a cool marble tile.
- Polymer clay bangles… SOLD.
- New Kato Clay vs the original formula.
- Fingerprinty… another fun word.
- How to thicken up thin, patterned sheets of clay.
- Keeping your Teardrop Blends from getting too wide.
- The bra trick.
- Kato concentrates.
- Best clays to use in an extruder.
- More notes about Kate vs Premo.
- Discussions back on track with focus on pc.
- Possible Kato siting on the shelves of a NV Michaels.
- Hobby Lobby fine print.
- Condition kato with a bus… not the best idea. LOL.
- Pushing customer service to new heights.
- Clay sticking to pasta machine rollers.
- And much, much more…
If you need to catch up, here is the link to the article where last week’s topics were discussed in detail: Blend And Switch Technique
Otherwise, you can use the comment section below to start talking about some new topics and ideas. Happy Friday!!!
Yup…another “AHA! Now why didn’t I think of that?” moment for me! I thought about bending the wires to the side, but didn’t think that would be sturdy enough, so I wasn’t satisfied enough to attempt it. Cindy, you’ve done it again! Absolutely loved the colors of the the beads in the bracelet you showed and that silvery/pearly/mauvey/pinkish (?) heart! Everything else, too, of course. I always do. Great job on video as always Doug! Where else can we get so much for so little? A great BIG thank you to both of you for another job well done. There’s so much here that we can all take away from this and use – my wheels are spinning and I haven’t even finished my first cup of coffee! Have a great weekend guys!
Cindy, this is a great video. I knew about the wire, but I didn’t know how to get it into the clay neatly. I never would have figured this out on my own!
I did not get my weekly subscription e-mail with the recipes. I have become such a creature of habit I almost could not function.
@ Anna Sabina: I know! I looked in my junk mail folder (it’s always in my inbox!). I went into by “blocked senders” list. I repeated all the above. Twice. :) Figured it had to be me, that I just didn’t have enough coffee yet! LOL!
lol -I didn’t get mine either BUT, there is always a way to get the info !! Just logged on and -tahdah- there it was. So I didn’t withdrawal Friday !!!!!!!!! Loved the embedded wire links video -how simple and effective . Can’ wait to wrap some wire and push it in. Love,Love,Love Fridays…………..
Yeah, it is Friday the 13th and so maybe it was just a bit of bad luck!!!
We are getting a ton of rain and serious flooding here in Iowa. I have decided to use my scrap clay to make an Ark for my family, I think I will skip brining animals. I will post a TUT on my Blog once I able to float back to my computer.
Anna-Des Moines, Iowa
@Anna Sabina: I forgot about the date! It’s been nasty and raining here in PA, with flash flood warnings in my area anyway, since yesterday too.. Guess it’s not safe to head your way! :) Try to stay dry and load the computer along with the family! :)
Go figure… Friday the 13th and my Email Service Provider experiences technical difficulties. The following message was in my inbox this morning when I awoke…
“Overnight there was a power outage at our data center. Our team has been working on getting everything back up to 100% all night. At this point all of those issues arising from the power outage have been resolved, and your newsletter has now been delivered to your subscribers.”
So… all’s well that end’s well. Glad you guys are enjoying today’s tute :-)
Very cool! I never thought about buying copper wire at the hardware store. What else does everybody get at the hardware store for their beads and jewelry? USCGwife
@Kathy G: Oh, Kathy, you must have missed it … and your question is causing lots of folks to ROFL. Phaedrakat, where was that ultra-humorous string? And for more serious info about what you can get at hardware stores, just type that into the search field at the top of the blog.
Cindy – You now have TWO strings on this Friday posting … no fooling. There is this one, but there is another one when you get to this page by going to the tutorial list. Anne O and I both watched the video after midnight last night. For her it was already Friday morning and she was getting ready for work. For me, I had been working on PC and lost track of the time and ended up watching this at 1 a.m.
Also, just now I noticed that this string is not holding the ‘Notify me’ check mark. The other one does.
Poor Doug … he’s going to have fun figuring this one out and getting things straightened around after your power failure last night that messed things up.
Oops! That wasn’t Anne O … it was Judy who watched the video about the same time I did. My apologies to both of you!
And that time the ‘Notify Me’ held.
When we want to be explicit about Cindy’s techniques, we can (and should) go to the More Than Clay blog: facebook.com/group.php?gid=134566473251166&ref=ts . We don’t want to give away any of Cindy’s special techniques seen in her videos.
For some reason over the last 2 weeks, there have been a lot more comments going into a bit too much detail regarding the techniques taught in the paid member videos. For those who do not realize it, this blog is an “open” community that is free for everyone to follow. So as Carolyn so kindly pointed out, please do be careful about not giving away the special sauce :-) — thanks so much.
Now in regards to discussing the tutorials at the invitation-only, Facebook group that Carolyn mentioned, unfortunately, you will have to be careful there too. Please keep in mind that most members actually do not have full access to all of the videos in the library. Again, thanks in advance for your understanding with this matter.
This was great. I’d done something similar but this was sturdier it seems, Thanks
Andrea
well I will try this again, I wrote a post and submitted it , but it is not here. My question was what size do you make the hole and bar for a toggle clasp?
I have also come uo with an easy way to look back at previous video tutorials. In my works prgram I made a list of all the volumes and #’s and techniques. I went all the way back to the begining. I set it up like this:
Vol & # Tecqnique
027-2 embedded links
Now every time I get a new video I add it to my runnig inventory. When I want a certain video, I just refference the inventory, then go to the members video page and type it into the searc bar. To me that is much easier and quicker than scrolling through all of the pages.
@Tiffany: I am so sorry Tiffany, I just realized that I missed your question about the right hole size for the toggle. The thing is… that depends. The combinations of toggle sizes and the size of hole that will work is endless. The hole has to be big enough that the toggle will fit through and small enough that the toggle won’t fall out when in use. I do plan to do more tutorials on this in the future, since I really can’t explain everything thing in a quick comment. Until then, you really will have to experiment to find what works for you.
@Cindy Lietz from Faux Agates – Member Project Photos: Sounds like geometry to me. Generally, if you can put the toggle through the hole, without ripping it from whatever it is attached to, (part of what it is attached to could fit through that hole too, unless it was a bead that wouldn’t fit through the hole) it can be as long as is pleasing to the eye, as long as it is longer by half than the hole, so it won’t fall out. Well, I’ve probably muddied the waters here but thought I’d give it a shot while we await a toggle tutorial.
I have an easy way to find my videos too. For example, I click on the “embedded link” caption above the video which brings that video to a page of its own. Then I bookmark that under a folder I set up called cindi’s videos. It will show up as video 027-2 embedded links. Then I can just look in my bookmarks and open that video. You never have to scroll thru any pages to find it.
@fran: I have Cindy’s Category Archive bookmarked: beadvideos.com/category/video/
@fran: What a great idea!! I’ve been looking for an easier way to search. I’m going to start setting up my fills that way today. Thank you.
@Jeanne C.: I meant files :)
Boy are we SPOILED !!!! This is the first lesson that has been late. If it is past 1:00 am – we have withdrawl. Poor Cindy and Doug – they do their part but, as you have all found out -computors and outages do not mix. I had to laugh – we whine if things go wrong……….just kidding. I was there with you -waiting………..Glad the wait was short. Haha
@pattw: I was able to get it at 1 a.m. Pacific time by going to Cindy’s Category Archive for the videos.
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for another great video. I am getting behind in doing all the techniques and tips. Never thought of using Bake and Bond that way.
FYI for those that like 1 lb. blocks of clay. Polymer Clay Superstore has them on sale at 40% off until the 18th ($7.79) plus shipping. Mostly premo and sculpey brands. polymerclaysuperstore.com. If it’s your first order, you can get even more off. I’m getting 3 blocks, at about 11.69 apice including shipping. Thats a good deal for me because shipping usually eats up a lot, sometimes more that the item is worth.
@Bette L: I would love to get in on the poly at the superstore ,BUT, shipping to Arizona in the summer is a bad idea. I would end up with several pounds of poly ALREADY cooked !!LOL I have to order shipping stuff in the early spring or winter……hate to miss a good sale ;(
Above, Carolyn mentioned that there were two posts about this video. I’m not sure if there were technical problems, but it reminded me that there are indeed 2 posts each week for each tutorial. I thought I’d try to clarify that issue. Please forgive me if everyone already knows this & understands it!
OK — just in case:
After watching the weekly video, you can press the big yellow “Questions? Comments?” hyperlink to the right of the video. It takes you to the Tuesday “teaser” post, the one with the intro video on it. This week it’s called “Polymer Clay Tutorial | Embedded Wire…[Video]”.
Today’s post (Friday) is called “Embedded Wire…Now Playing…”. As you probably noticed, members tend to talk about the tute on both threads after the video has aired. The Tuesday Tutorial “Teaser” (call it the Triple-T?) and Friday’s “Now Playing” post. Anyway, sorry if I bored you here, but if I helped just one person…LOL!
*****
The “Notify me…” check box was also mentioned above, reminding me that someone just messaged me about this on Facebook. If you have questions about how to use the “Notify me…” feature (or edit/turn it off,) I left a little “how-to” comment about it back in Feb. It’s might be helpful for members with an “overflowing email” problem.
I hope this helps. Have a great weekend, everyone! Peace, Love, Respect! ~Kat
THANK YOU Phaedrakat for taking the time to add those notes. I know the information will definitely be helpful for more than just one person. There are always a lot of new people that need help with getting to know how things work around here.
Also thanks to others as well for the other “organizational” suggestions. It’s all helpful stuff.
Oh and the Cheap Premo heads up… always good to hear about sales :-)
@Phaedrakat: Ok, thanks Phaedrakat. Somehow it seemed different today than usual. Maybe because Cindy’s problem post was on both. Whatever, I sure am glad this wasn’t anything that Doug needed to handle. And I guess, after watching the video at 1 a.m. I’m the one who needed more sleep!
Jeanne – This way of accessing the videos works so well – hope it helps you too.
Hello,
I would like to ask you if you know any techniques on making realistic polymer clay icing/frosting for cupcakes, using tls. Also, would the makins clay extruder be helpful for me to do that? cause i’m considering buying it very soon and i wanted to know if it would be useful or not.
Thank you very much~
@Yara A: Hi, Yara, If you use the search at the top of this page you will find a few places that discuss polymer clay icing. Here is a link to one of them where Cindy talks about using Bake & Bond for icing.
I’ve never tried making frosting but if you ‘Google’ how to make polymer clay icing there are several hits … and one is a U-tube, that does use TLC.
In another one of the articles I found on Cindy’s search she talks about using an extruder for icing. Really the best way to find out about techniques is to start by doing a search on this blog. There is a tremendous wealth of information here. You can find these things for yourself and have your own ah-ha! moment.
fran – thanks so much for the way to go directly to the video you want. I’m always going all the way back, page after page, to find what I want – never get it on the search. Your way works and is so great.
Freda – glad to hear that finding your videos that way works for you too. I find so many helpful hints here and am so grateful that others share them.
I just have a bookmark to Cindy’s weekly video tutorials: beadvideos.com/category/video/ where they are all listed with a brief description.
Carolyn – that’s a great way to find the videos too. The reason I opted not to use that is because it shows all the videos and I am a late joiner so just have the newest videos plus a few other back issues and didn’t want to have to scroll thru all the issues. I hope to purchase more of the older videos as time and money allow.
@fran: That’s kind of what I thought … but at least you know where to look to find the ones you don’t have. You’ll love it when you are able to have all of them. I’m glad I bought them all when I did … I don’t know where I’d find the money to get them now.
I thought you were getting a well deserved sleep in day!!! You work so hard and I really love this site. I never thought to put my ring thing in my vise. (Tech term) loved the tute!! Thank you
I have been vacationing in the beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana and missed viewing the last two videos. My first task when I returned home today (after unpacking our car) was to pull up the videos. Once again you outdid yourself, Cindy. Loved both lessons and will put them to good use.
Yay! I found my Hexagon tin cutter set.. I know that I could use other cutters for this . But I just love ,love how yours turned out Cindy….