“Art frees the
mind to play in the
right side of the brain
where the magic of
humanity lives…”
~Melinda-H
The other day I showed you this polymer clay jewelry piece with the photo zoomed in on the main pendant to provide a close up of the faux bone inlay technique. Today I’d like to talk about the Softflex Wire I used to hang the pendant.
With this particular inlaid pendant I wanted the neck wire to be a little different than what I normally use. So instead of stringing it on a typical leather cord, the lovely SoftFlex wire seemed like a good option.
And instead of using only one strand of the Softflex beading wire, which would have been too fine for this substantial pendant, I used several combined together, to provide visual balance.
In fact I used one of each color from the SoftFlex Trios Sophisticated and Serenity sets.
The ends were fastened with handmade wire cord ends and clasped with a copper wire hook.
I am pleased with the overall look the colored wire gives the necklace and the way it nicely draws out the different hues in the pendant without competing for too much attention. I just thought you may enjoy seeing another way to use the wire.
Wow! Beautiful! I think art is one of the most therapeutic things in the world. It frees the mind to play in the right side of the brain where the magic of humanity lives and you can find that so much is possible. Love your pendants! Fabulous. ~Melinda-H
The remainder of this article will be for Q&A. I’ll be working this format into other upcoming articles as well, so that everyone gets their questions answered effectively, and in a timely manner.
Q&A: Studio by Sculpey Bake and Bond Too Syrupy:
Hi Cindy, I just purchased some “Bake and Bond” Studio by Sculpey. I could hardly get it out of the bottle. It was way too thick and stringy and syrupy. More like a very thick Karo syrup. I think there may be something wrong with it. It was extremely hard to spread too. You remarked that it was similar to TLS in consistency, but not this batch. What do you think? ~Bette-L
Good Question Bette! Although Studio by Sculpey Bake and Bond has similar properties to Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS) when it is baked, they are a little bit different in the bottle.
Bake and Bond has added binders in it to make it a bakable adhesive and therefore is thicker, stickier and more ‘glue’ like to work with.
I still like to use it in replace of the TLS in certain circumstances like I mentioned in this post: Liquid Sculpey vs Studio by Sculpey Bake and Bond Test Results
If you are having trouble getting it out of the bottle, you may just want to snip a bit larger opening in the top of the bottle to allow the liquid to come out easier. Other than that, everything is probably fine with your bottle and once you get used to it, I am sure you will enjoy working with this product.
If anyone else has other ideas, answers, tips or stories to share in regards to the questions or topics above, definitely add them to the comment section below. Everyone’s input is appreciated!
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| ** Win Some Polymer Clay Beads: Handmade by Cindy Lietz. Time to send in your photo entires: Polymer Clay Giveaway Contest For anyone who wants to follow along from beginning, the following link will take you to a summary of all the articles in this fun and educational Polymer Clay Bead Giveaway series. |
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I think the softflex wire is so cool looking on this pendant Cindy i am looking forward to the video it will be nice to try something a little different my brain seems to need a boost at the moment. I have taken so much in since joining you i am growing more brain cells or maybe my head is getting to big LOL. Ritzs U K
Off todays topic, but I just had to share… I bit the bullet and bought some Premo so I could make the Tribal Cane. (Michaels had it on sale.) I can’t believe how soft Premo is, so much different than Kato! Anyway, I made the Tribal Cane and it was a success!!! It turned out ok!! Today I will make beads with my new cane… Yipee!! (Can’t tell I’m just a little excited about my success, can you? *lol*)
~Lisa :)
Welcome to the world of Premo, Lisa! It’s nice, huh? I know you probably will stick to your Kato for most canes (or will you? hahaha…) but it’s nice to try another clay sometimes. Congrat’s on your success with the Tribal Cane. Sounds like you have plenty to be excited about!
Hi Cindy!
I love all the colors you combined for your soft flex necklace. I remember when there was just a gray color that always showed in beaded designs! Now it can be used to really accent a piece without a huge cost.
I wasn’t sure how to respond to your comment, so I thought I would come here (God knows, your husband has enough to do! lol).
I hated uv curing, I found this extremely inconvenient to work with and I just do not want to invest in a special lamp!
It does not pull away from the sides (I know exactly what you are talking about!) nor does it get sticky around the edge where the resin meets the polymer.
I forgot the other questions so email me if you want to talk more! I am eager to see what you do with it.
Shannon
This is a pretty necklace, Cindy! I really love the multi-colored Soft-Flex. What fun! I have the basic “metal” colors of jewelry stringing wire (gold, silver, copper, brass, etc.) as well as a huge roll of Beadalon’s regular gray “stainless” color. After 5-6 years, I have finally used all but a couple of bracelets worth of this huge spool. This gives me a wonderful opportunity to buy some of these pretty Soft-Flex colors in it’s place (I still have plenty of all the other metal colors for when I want the classic look.) This is gonna be a blast!
I love the idea of multiple Softflex strands with all the gorgeous colours, Cindy!
One question – re Bake and Bond, did you try sanding it yet?
@Caroline: Yes Caroline, Bake and Bond sands beautifully. Much better than the rubbery TLS!
Hi Cindy,
I’m loving getting my weekly ‘fix’.
I’ve been thinking – I love lampwork beads… but can’t hope to recreate them properly in polymer clay…
In the past I’ve made some quite detailed beads, with lots of attached bits, but which would actually be very impractical to wear. (Hence thy’re still sitting in my ‘now what shall I do with these?’ pot.
So I have been wondering whether you or anyone has tried embedding in cold cast resin? I can see all sorts of issues, but wonder whether it is worth exploring to make focal beads.
Judy
(UK)
Melinda – I really like the quote from you that Cindy used as the lead for this blog!
Boy, I just love that softflex wire!! What a GREAT way to use it and cool way to combine colors!! :)
@ Cindy: I love how you used the Soft Flex wire in this necklace–I didn’t even know that it came in colors. Sheesh, I need a shopping trip to New York City to catch up on what’s out there! I love living in Vermont, but the shopping is just terrible.
I have a question about your clasp. I tried your wire cord ends technique for a ribbon, so I know how it works. I’m just not sure about how it holds in multiple cords. Did you do anything special to the cord ends before enclosing them in the clasp?
I’m curious about this, also. I usually use crimps with Soft Flex, but I’ve never used that many strands together, either (3-stranders are my max, thus far!) Those cord ends are gorgeous, and have such design potential (being able to match metals & all.) But I thought they were mainly for thicker cording, ribbon, leather, etc. Just goes to show, my imagination isn’t stretching as far as it should!
I’ve heard Soft-Flex can be knotted, but I’ve never done it. Perhaps Cindy knotted the ends together, then covered them with the pretty cord ends. (But it doesn’t look like that’s what she did.) Or, she could have used a large crimp, then again, covered it with the prettier cord ends. Or, she … Maybe I’ll just be quiet & wait for Cindy to tell us how she did it!
I just flattened the end like I normally do with one strand. I thought I was going to have to use a knot or crimp or something but it held all the strands really well!
Maybe it’s because of the coating on the wire being soft enough for the wire cord end to grab onto, or maybe it is just ‘sticky’ enough to grab onto it’s neighbor, but what ever it is, it worked beautifully with the 6 cords for me.
If it didn’t for you, you could always sneak a small crimp or two in there (maybe staggered, 3 wires on each crimp) and use a larger cord end. But I didn’t find that necessary at all.
@Cindy L: Wow, that makes your tut even more useful! I never gave much thought to the nylon coating on the Soft-Flex, but it makes perfect sense that it would give the cord ends something to grab onto. Now I know I can use your tutorial to make Wire Cord Ends for my daintier jewelry, as well.
Ooops I missed responding to some of the older comments… Geez there’s a lot going on around here! Getting pretty exciting! Thank you everyone for being such great sharers and supporters of each other. This blog is becoming, one ‘happening’ place!
@Shannon: Thanks for the Ice Resin info! You’re so awesome the way you test things, so if you say it good, it has to be! Looks like I’m going to have to try it my self and see what I can come up with.
@Judy: Maybe the Ice Resin, Shannon speaks of would work for your beads? Haven’t tried it yet myself, but Shannon knows what she’s talking about. Try iceresin.com for more info on that.
@ Cindy L: Thanks for explaining how you enclosed the multiple cords in the cord end finding. I never would have thought to use more than one without attaching them together myself!
Thanks Cindy :-) Bake and Bond sounds really useful!