Skinner Blend – Modified Teardrop Method Faster and Just As Good

The Skinner Blend Challenge: Will I Ever Go Back To Doing Polymer Clay Color Gradients The Old Way?

My husband Doug was really amazed when he saw the modified Skinner Blend technique that I now use exclusively, for doing ALL of my polymer clay color gradients.

“That’s way quicker and easier than what you demo’d in the original Skinner Blend video we filmed a couple of months ago,” he said. “Everyone is going to love this! Especially beginners! Is there any reason why someone would still do a color blend the old way? Where did you learn this technique anyway? It’s amazingly simple to understand!”

SIDE NOTE: Here’s a link to an article where I first introduced my modified Skinner Blend technique. By the way, it was my DH who insisted that I coin this as the Teardrop Method:
Quickest Skinner Blend You’ll Ever Make

It was very encouraging to see Doug’s enthusiasm. And to answer his question about where I learned the technique…

…I thought this one up all on my own. It just came to me one day when I was rolling tear drop shaped pieces of clay. Side by side, these colorful teardrops reminded me of Skinner Blend triangles.

Being an experimenter at heart, always looking for ingenuitive ways to get things done more efficiently, it didn’t take long for the concept to gel in my head.

Doug’s other question stumped me a bit though. “Is there any reason why someone would still do a Skinner Blend the traditional way… by taking the time to prepare, measure and cut out triangles?”

This got me to thinking… I suppose there could be an argument for the preciseness of how the original Skinner Blend technique works. Though personally, I have yet to come across one instance where it made any difference to my bead creations and projects.

With my modified Skinner Blend method, you can have as much precision as you want by simply controlling the size of the teardrop pieces of clay being used.

But in my opinion, handmade artwork is actually more about the one-of-a-kind thing that happens from piece to piece. Precision is much less important to me.

Some polymer clay artists like to have a bit of the pure, unblended color at each end of their gradients. It’s referred to as an offset when you are doing traditional Skinner Blends.

Well this can be done with my modified method as well, simply by offsetting the teardrops.

So I’m at somewhat of a loss. I honestly cannot think of a reason why I would ever go back to spending so much time doing things the traditional way.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this matter… especially from those of you who have been around a while… doing color gradients as Judith Skinner originally pioneered for all of us.

——————————————-

Links to all Articles in the Lietz Teardrop Blend Series:

Article 1:
Tear Drop Method | The Quickest Skinner Blend You’ll Ever Make
Get Smooth Polymer Clay Color Gradients 10 Times Faster. A preview video is posted at this article page.

Article 2:
Skinner Blend – Modified Teardrop Method Faster and Just As Good
The Skinner Blend Challenge: Will I Ever Go Back To Doing Polymer Clay Color Gradients The Old Way?

Article 3:
Modified Rainbow Skinner Blend Tutorial – No Measuring Required
The Lietz Teardrop Method – A Super Simple Way To Do Multiple Color Gradients.

Article 4:
Full Video | Lietz Teardrop Method | Polymer Clay Color Blends
Limited Access So Please Watch The Video As Soon As Possible. Thanks.

Article 5:
Beautiful Polymer Clay Canes Begin With Beautiful Color Blends
A Couple of Options for Blending Polymer Clay Colors to Use In Your Canes and Skinner Plugs.

Article 6:
Are Your Skinner Blends Getting Too Wide For Your Pasta Machine?
The Rolling Technique In My Teardrop Method Will Help You to Solve This Problem.

Article 7:
Vertical Pass of the Teardrop Blend Through Your Pasta Machine
Monica Stockton Asked A Great Question About Whether This Will Affect The Color Blend.