Polymer Clay Bead Giveaway Update – Happy Dance Side Effects

Congrats on your sale, Silverleaf! Your execution of the watercolor beads is beautiful! Mine did not turn out so nice, you can barely see the contrast :( I think I need to let my clay cool down more.

It is SO fun to look at all your beads on Facebook and see how someone has used the lessons we learn here. Great work!!

I am using artfire.com for my work (I won’t post a link yet – my work needs some work LOL!) but..it is so cool because they have a widget that connects into Facebook. Create an FB biz page and add the widget to your arfire account and you can process sales! Good luck! And keep up the great work.

Malinda

Indeed Cindy G, I’ve put some work and canes on Facebook and the canes amaze and baffle people.
I’m so happy for you Silverleaf. It’s always exciting to get that kind of response.

@Carolyn and anyone else who is interested. I’d be happy to be your friend on face book. You can click the link by my name to get to my Facebook profile, where you can then send me a friend request.

When you send your friend request, it would be helpful to mention polymer clay in your “hello” note. This will make sure that you get included in my “Polymer Clay Friends” list on Facebook.

@carolyn: Hi Carolyn When I first started with polymer clay I saw a show on HGTV Thats Clever I think. To get to the point they made a pendant with translucent clay. She shaped her bead then baked it after baked and cooled Ithink she sanded then used oil based color pencils to draw a profile of herself. Colored the hair in and eyes, blushed cheeks and red lips. Then she took a very thin coat of I think it was Kato brand liquid translucent baked and repeated this 6-7 times. I would have to look in a file where I download and printed out instructions from several shows to find out for sure. The pendant turned out beautiful with such a shine from the layers of liquid translucent. Anyway I use Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor – colored pencils. I also believe Walnut Hallow has the oil based pencils. You can buy them on the internet. I got a great deal on mine thru ebay. Hope this helps.
Love and Uuuuuuggggggs, Peggy

@Cheryl Hodges: Bummer! I bought a couple of those pens on clearance, thinking they would work. Oh, well, they were cheap and good quality, I’ll find a way to use them. I’m sorry you’re having such a hard time finding something decent to draw with! Did you ever try the pencils that Peggy Barnes mentioned above? The Lyra Rembrandt are oil pencils. I’m not sure if Peggy’s actually done the project yet, though. (I’ll ask her…) BTW, I also bought some oil pastels on clearance at the same place I bought the Creative Memories pens. Haven’t tried them yet, but I think they’ll make some cool effects if I use them like Penny suggested (above.)

Peggy, have you tried using your Lyra Rembrandt pencils yet? Poor Cheryl is eager to find something to write & draw on her polymer clay with.

Wow Cindy, thanks for mentioning me and for being so nice about my beads. I can’t wait to see what everyone else has made!

So far Facebook has generated quite a bit of interest… one sale, several people saying they are thinking of buying pieces as birthday presents, and one person wants an “Anna Roberts original” as he put it, he just hasn’t decided exactly what yet but it will be a custom-made piece. So yay! It’s such a boost to my confidence that people have been making nice comments as well.

This whole thing has spurred me on to actually get on with finishing some pieces – I assembled 24 pendants today and have another 33 to do later. I’ve decided if I can get 60 pieces assembled, photographed and listed in my shop by the end of the weekend I’ll reward myself by ordering some more clay from Penny, and playing with the faux raku technique.

Oh and I’d love it if we could all link up on Facebook! My profile is at facebook.com/silverleaf79 so please add me if you’re on FB as well. And I’m also silverleaf79 on Flickr.

GREAT JOB Silverleaf and everyone else who has been working so hard to enter this contest. Most of all, SUPER JOB CINDY for showing all of us how this can be done.

The crackle faux raku cost me my heat gun. It was the first time I used it and the whole front melted. I’m taking it back to Michaels tomorrow!

I stayed a good 1 1/2 – 2″ away from the clay – and the heat gun didn’t damage the clay – and it didn’t feel hot to the touch. Then I turned it off and propped it on it’s little stand on a wooden cutting board on the kitchen counter. I smelled something weird and heard a crackling, but just figured it was cool down noise. After I finished what I was doing with the clay, I went to check to see if the heat gun was cool enough to store away – that’s when I saw that the stand had melted into the housing and the entire front was melted and warped. I was going to take it back to Michael’s this afternoon but it’s been snowing off and on all day so I stayed snug in my home. Tomorrow is another day!

Can a torch be used for embossing? Or would that heat the powders too hot, too fast?

@Cindy Lietz from Kaleidoscope Canes: I took the heat gun back to Michaels. They looked at it like they had never seen such a strange creature before! I got my money back, and while at Lowe’s for bird seed I wandered the tool aisle – should call them treasure aisles: I got the 120 grit drywall mesh for sanding, a small butane torch, and a heat gun! The mesh and heat gun were actually in the paint section but you get the idea. It was really exciting! Don would have directed me to Lowe’s in the first place – I just wasn’t listening with that inner ear! These things were almost like gifts from him.

@Penny: Are pigment pencils the same as oil pencils? Maybe pigment pencils would be the way to go. I saw some at Michaels yesterday but didn’t buy them because I really didn’t know what they were – except that they were quite expensive!

@Linda K.: Haven’t tried this trick yet – in fact haven’t tried anything with this new torch yet, but it did only cost $15.

@Helen (honeyclay): Well, apparently you didn’t need me after all! I looked up your facebook and saw your jewelry! Congratulations! You’ve got some beautiful things…

@Helen Sperring (honeyclay): Of course! Don’t worry, we’ll get it figured out, okay? (At least I hope I can help you ;-) Tell me what you’ve done so far, though. You were able to get to the “Photos” tab, right? And you saw the “Create a Photo Album” button?

No problem, Helen. Actually, I’m still nursing my back, so I’m not going to be able to get anything done before the deadline. It’s going to have to be “next time” for me. Anyway, I’m glad to help. There are instructions on Facebook, as well. I’ll tell you where they are, and then give you any additional insight I might have. Help is up at the top of the page under “Account” (where it says “Home” “Profile, etc.) and it’s called “Help Center.” Go to that, then find “Photos” which is in the second help group called “Facebook Applications and Features.” Click on the Photos help, then there’s a list of different things you can do with the photos. You would start with the first, which is “Creating and uploading.” Click on that. The first item is “How do I add photos and create an album?” Then, you’ll see the steps I’ve shown you so far. Okay, do that, and I’ll be back!

@Cheryl Hodges: I have not received them yet. I ordered a set on eBay since that was cheaper than any if my other sources.

@Cheryl Hodges: Hi Cheryl, I’m so glad you found a good price for the pencils! I did some research—Bake & then Write is how it’s done! I googled “Walnut Hollow Pencils Liquid Clay”, thinking in the video I’d seen (the one with the woman doing oil pencil portraits,) the woman had used liquid clay over the pencils. I ended up finding a few references, and they all mention oil pencils used on baked clay, with a layer of liquid clay covering them. Then the liquid clay is cured.

The “portrait woman” uses the Walnut Hollow oil pencils you bought, although she sometimes uses the ones that Peggy mentioned–Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor–too. (It’s strange—this woman’s name is Penni-Jo Couch, according to the video. But the blog owner, who describes the process as her own & points to the video, is named “Ellie, aka Claylady.” Confusing! I must be missing something, but that’s why I keep saying “this woman”!) Anyway, Penni-Jo says that they’re both good quality oil pencils and they work on polymer clay. She also uses a “Pitt Artist Pen” which supposedly works great to outline her drawings (very fine tip.) She says the Pitt Artist pen is perfectly compatible with clay, as long as you let it dry completely first, then cover it with Kato Liquid. I went to a website where the pens are sold, and it says they’re “extremely fade-resistant Indian ink…waterproof when dry.”

That got me thinking about our Creative Memories pens. I wonder if they might work okay if we let them dry on baked clay, then cover with Kato liquid. If they survive that, we could then gloss with Future or Varathane, without worrying about smearing…

Anyway, regarding your pencils, it appears that you use them on baked clay. Then you cover them with Kato Medium (or any liquid clay, but Kato can be made really clear.) Cure the Kato liquid at 275F, about 10 minutes. When it comes out of the oven, blast it with a heat gun until it’s clear (keep the gun continuously moving over the surface so you don’t scorch or mess-up the finish.) You can build up several layers of Kato liquid for a nice, glossy finish. To do that, make sure you let each layer cool before applying the next. Then cure with the heat gun, and repeat. Or you can use Future or whatever other finish you like over that first layer of cured Kato. Or you could even use a different liquid clay, for a different effect.

Good luck, Cheryl. I wish I was able to experiment with the pens right now, but my room’s a chaotic mess, and my back is extra sore from all the moving stuff around. I’ll try it as soon as I get a chance, though; I’ll let you know (the CM pens with Kato.) If you get to it first, please let me know. I also want to hear how your new oil pencils work out. It’ll be great to see what you can do with them! Have fun! ;~D

@carolyn: Hi Carolyn, after using your pencils, you probably need to pop your piece in the oven or blast it with the heat gun. I’m not even sure that would work, but if these pencils have oils in them, it could eat into the clay over time. Of course, it might not be the case. They could be perfectly compatible. But in every example of oil pencils used on polymer clay that I’ve seen, a final cure is done, or liquid clay is placed over the pencils, and then cured, either in the oven or with a heat gun. I could be a coincidence, but it might be necessary! You might want to do it, just to play it safe.

I wish someone who has used the oil pencils sucessfully without a heat cure would pipe up so that you guys know it’s safe! You can do a test, but it could take months for the oils to “eat” into the clay, ruining your piece. We need someone with info! Perhaps Peggy tried her Lyra Rembrandt pencils, after all?? Or maybe the woman who does the face portrait video will be willing to provide info about compatibility issues??

As for the PYM II, I’m sure that will make a lovely finish, as it seems to work for so many things. I want to get some for myself, eventually. I know where to get it, too… ;-D Have fun with your new pencils!