Video Tutorials:
1: Aurora Technique;
2: Metal Bracelet Blanks;
3: Bracelet Blank Add Clay;
4: Mixing Color Recipes:
Well another month has gone by and the Volume-033 Back Issue Videos have now been added to the Polymer Clay Library. If you missed your chance to see these tutorials as they were released each Friday during the month of February, now is your chance to add them to your collection as a convenient bundled package.
Today’s photo shows thumbnail images for the 4 videos included in this Vol-033 Package:
Video-033-1 Aurora Technique: Well I am beside myself with excitement to be able to share with you another of my Cindy Lietz Exclusives. In this tutorial I demonstrate how to do an amazingly awesome, yet surprisingly simple polymer clay technique. It is named after the stunning natural phenomenon known as Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights, which this technique mimics so beautifully.
Video-033-2 Hammered Metal Bracelet Blanks: In this tutorial, I teach you how to make Hammered Metal Bracelet Blanks… so easily and so inexpensively. For a few pennies and with just a few simple tools, you can turn any sheet metal into custom designed bracelet blanks… in any size you desire… whenever you need them for a project!
Video-033-3 Bracelet Blank – Adding Clay: In the previous tutorial, you learned how to make your own hammered metal bracelet blanks in any size and with any metal. Now in this tutorial, you will learn how to add polymer clay to the blanks, so that you not only have a cool looking bracelet or cuff. But you also have a piece of art jewelry that will be durable enough to enjoy for many years to come!
Video-033-4 Mixing Color Recipes: Many clayers have difficulties when it comes to creating custom colors. Each brand of clay has its own color lines. Some of them are very complex and they don’t always mix how you might expect. So… I have made things easy by creating designer recipes and color palettes you can use in all of your polymer clay projects. This video will show you how to measure out the parts of clay required for the recipes. I also provide valuable tips and tricks for getting the most value out of my recipe card system.
Also included in this Volume-033 back issue package, are the A-Series recipe cards from the Blushing Pansy Palette.
To read feedback from members who have already benefited from the videos and recipes in this Vol-033 back issue package, click here: Aurora Technique | Metal Bracelet Blanks | Bracelet Blanks Adding Clay | Mixing Color Recipes
And, Sneak Peak Preview Clips are available for viewing here: Polymer Clay Tutorials [Videos]
If anyone else would like to add a review for any of the videos or color recipes in Volume-033, I would love to hear from you. Or if you have not yet purchased this back issue and have a question, ask away. In either case, use the comments section below.
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A great month of videos!! Thank you Cindy and Doug!
If you are looking to join, this is a great month. Some great basics for color blending and awesome start to finish tutes for a gorgeous bracelet! It’s been an awesome start to the new year and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for this month.
Wow, did this month go by quickly! It was, indeed a great one, full of fabulous tutorials, and cool techniques. Cindy has brought it once again! Thanks, Cindy and Doug…you guys are so talented & hardworking. You make membership to your site SO WORTH IT!
I am new to polymer clay, and want to learn all I can. So now I will be able to do so with the help of your videos. They are so informative and the close-ups are super. I want to buy more of your videos for my collection. But the problem is, I want them all. LOL. I guess I will have to be patient and purchase what I can, when I can. Thanks for having it so back videos are available.
Esther
@Esther O:Hi Esther Welcome to the best Clay blog and tutorials you could ever find. Cindy and Doug are loved by all of us. Hope you enjoy it here as much as I do. If you need anything just ask someone will rescue you soon. Welcome to our clay family. So glad to have you here with all the rest of us.
Uuuugggs the painless hug, Peggy Barnes from Fort Madison, Iowa USA
@Laura Z and Phaedrakat… THANK YOU :-) :-) hopefully your comments will encourage other non-members to join in on the fun.
@Esther O: I’m so glad to hear you are enjoying the videos. If you did not already know, there is a standing 10% discount to all subscribing members such as yourself, when purchasing 6 or more back issues in a single transaction. If you (or any other subscribing members who may be reading this, for that matter), would like to take advantage of the 10% discount, just send me a message via email (use link by my name above) and I will provide you with special instructions. ~Cindy
Cindy – Your tutorials are very clear and every time you manage to come up with a new technique. Now I realize it even more.
And very important Cindy; your new technique, the aurora technique. I like it very much, you know last week I was looking at photographs from the Northern Light and I was thinking; I like to make this with polymerclay.
Isn’t funny?
Louise
Netherlands
Feeling better everyday and so thankful I have my clay but more thankful my ckay family to come home to. Loved this Months tutes just like every other Months and all the Months to come. No worries here. Thank you so very much for all you have given each and every one of us but most of all me. You two are the best Cindy and Doug!!
Hi Cindy,
Thank you for your videos. They provide a lot of information. I loved the basics course. It gave me everything I need as a beginner and I’ve been able to equip my “studio” with the tools you recommended! There is so much information in the videos that I keep going back to them as I progress because it is a lot to take in all at once. But that’s what is great about having them available! I want to progress to more back issue videos in your library as I get the basics down.
One of the the things I find with clay work that is different than with making regular jewelry is the various different stages of what is needed to get the work done. I enjoy making the beads for earrings and necklaces. That’s my favorite part. Then the “work” sets in with the baking, sanding, buffing, finishing, etc. And eventually making the finished product. I feel like I get backed up with a bunch of beads but it takes a while before I put everything together. Since I want this to be a business, when I get good enough at it, I know this process needs to move faster. I wonder if others struggle with putting the whole thing together. Don’t know if you have videos on how to get to that process more quickly. Maybe they’re not in the beginner’s course but I would find something like that helpful.
The other place I need the help is with embedding wire in pendants and anything else that would help string the beads besides just putting holes in them. More info on bezels, what to use to attach metal to finish clay, etc. Again, you probably have these videos but I haven’t had the chance to get to them yet. It’s all a bit overwhelming but a heck of a lot of fun!
I also appreciate your availability to be there for questions. That’s very helpful! Again, thanks for everything!
Pat
@Peggy Barnes: So glad to hear you are feeling a little better sweetie. It always makes me sad to know when you are having to battle health issues. If I had my way, there would be no illness or pain in this world, and I would start by with curing you!
@Patricia B: You have some very excellent questions here Pat. I know there is a lot of information here at my blog to absorb. So far it has taken more than three years to get it all posted, so it’ll take you some time to get through everything yourself.
Everyone tends to get backed up with unfinished beads. Myself included. You are right, the making tends to be the fun part and the finishing tends to be more like work.
What I suggest you do, is set aside a certain amount of time (1 day a week or month) where all you do is finish your beads. If you are going to be making beads and jewelry for a living, there are tools that you should invest in that will make the process go quicker and easier, such as a Rock Tumbler, a Dremel or buffing wheel, Micro-Mesh Pads etc.
If you click on the Supplies link as well as the Finishing Link at the top left hand side of the page, this will help you in your search for information on these topics.
Being organized is also very important. Set up your workspace so that your tools and materials are easy to get at and that there are separate areas for claywork, finishing, and jewelry design. If you don’t have very much space, at least group the materials together in separate organizers so that they can quickly be moved out of the way when you need to work on something else.
As far as learning skills such as embedding wire in pendants, I have a tutorial for that. Click the link by my name for more info.
Also, it just so happens that I just filmed a tutorial on how to fill bezels, that will be coming up soon… so stay tuned for that.
Use the search box at the top of the page, if you need to find anything in particular. Ask questions if you can’t find the answers and either myself or one of the other friendly members here will help. If you have any special requests for future tutorials, do let me know.
Good luck with your endeavor! Working with polymer clay is a very rewarding thing to do and I wish you tons of success!
@Cindy Lietz from Embedding Links in Polymer Clay: Cindy you bring me so many happy tears. This is such a love filled clay home. I am so very blesses to of found you and signed up.
Uuuugggs, Peggy
Cindy, I don’t post much here at the blog, but wanted to let you know how much I appreciate You and Doug for the time you all put into the blog and videos. I look forward to every Friday when I grab my coffee and head to the computer first thing for the weekly video tutorial. Your stories and Doug’s pictures give me a little piece of the world that I will probably not see.
Thanks,
Barbara Como
PS: I recently I saw some folded canes, well I think the beads come from canes or maybe not. I cannot recall the site right now. Senior moment I guess. I would like to see a video addressing the folded bead/cane.
@Barbara C: Hi Barbara! If you find a picture of the folded beads (or folded cane,) I’d love to see them. Your comment got me thinking about various beads I’ve seen that use “folded” elements…not to mention the canes I’ve seen that have folded aspects to them! So, I’m curious to see which beads have you craving a video (to settle the little bet my brain’s been strugglin’ over…hehe) ~Kat ;~D
PS: I have lots of “senior moments”…and I’m under 50!
@Barbara C: If you and I are thinking the same thing, these beads are made from a polymer clay log made in tripod shape, then brought together to make a bead. Pretty ingenious. If I am not mistaken, think Nan Roche describes the technique in her state of the art book, The New Clay.
Heard awhile ago that she was updating this book or writing a new version. Can anyone update us on her progress?
Hi Cindy
How you judge how much to charge for thing like pendants, simple to complex pins etc. I don’t want to under charge because then the person will think I don’t value my work. lately I have been selling my small heart pins for $5…I’m not sure what to sell the pendants like the Aurora ones. A friend said that I need to sell them on a necklace as a complete item. I have been looking into buying 2mm satin cord and my own lobster clasp to put on the end. but I would like to get ones small enough so that the buyer could interchange the pendant with others that they might be interested in buying….
I had another thought of making pins and selling a converter piece so that the pin could be made into a pendant , thus making it have a dual function….Not sure if I should just get pins that have the bali already attached…not sure how that would lay around someone’s neck. What is your suggestion??
Hi Natalie, If you do a quick search on ‘pricing’ using the search box at the top of the page, you can find some useful articles on pricing your work. There is a lot to consider when pricing your work. I think it is one of the hardest parts of selling your own work.