“Oh, good! I’ve
been looking for good
directions for rings like
these ever since the Agate
tutorial.” ~Kristen-S
On August 17th, I posted an introductory preview clip for the Wire Rings tutorial. Today, the full version of this video lesson (Vol-027-3) is available for viewing at the Polymer Clay Members Library. Here is the link: Using Your Polymer Clay Beads To Make Simple Wire Wrapped Rings
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: Mossy Pathway (3A) from the Snapdragon Polymer Clay Color Palette.
Being a member on this site is the best thing I ever did. ~Helen-S
Getting the weekly videos is the best thing that I have done. Without those weekly tutorials I’d be nowhere with my polymer clay. I’m glad I joined when I did … and I also purchased the beginners course and all the back issues. It was a serious decision that I had to make because my husband had recently died and my income was extremely limited. It is, outside of contributing to my church, the best expenditure that I have made in the past year. You’ll really be missing out on a tremendous learning experience if you don’t join. ~Carolyn-F
Cindy, I absolutely love being a part of your community. You are the best business investment I’ve made in a long time! ~Deb-N
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:
- More “AHA” moments.
- Friday the 13th technical issues with newsletter.
- What to do when your Friday email is late.
- Making a polymer clay Ark for the Iowa Flood.
- Buying jewelry supplies at the hardware store.
- Being careful not to give away the secret sauce.
- Toggle clasp size considerations.
- Bookmarking and organizing the tutorials on your computer.
- What does Triple-T stand for? Hint… it happens on Tuesday.
- Two blog posts per tutorial to catch all the questions.
- How to use the “Notify Me” email feature.
- Issues with shipping clay in Arizona in the summer heat.
- Polymer clay cupcake icing / frosting.
- Bake & Bond, Makins Extruder keyword searches.
- 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: Embedded Wire Links
Otherwise, you can use the comment section below to start talking about some new topics and ideas. Happy Friday!!!
I KNEW you’d make this easy for us, Cindy! A super great tut – Thank you so much for showing us how to do this! And thanks, Doug, for your amazing filming skills. You guys have a great weekend and please, keep ’em coming!
Ditto! I would really also like to see the technique used for the stone that had the wire ‘frame’. I looked, at looked at a still shot in the vid but couldn’t figure it out…duh. ; )
@MalindaJ: Malinda, Did you by any chance look at this ring on Cindy’s faux agate tutorial? You’re a sharp cookie. I bet you could figure it out from that photo.
@carolyn: Carolyn, thank you so much! I do believe that vid will help ; ) BTW, I checked out your site, you have some really beautiful wire work!!
@MalindaJ: Thank you. I’ve been working with wire for quite a long time. What is really fun is combining the wire and the clay.
Fanastastic tute!!! I love all kinds of rings and now I can custom make my own. I have chubby fingers….lol
Thanks again Cindy.
Andrea
Good job, Cindy! I’d kind of recommend filing that final tail on each side, but that’s just me. I usually have that final bit on the inside so it doesn’t snag on my clothes or something else, so I’d want it to be quite smooth so it doesn’t irritate my finger. Like you say, play around with it and find your own way.
Oh, how great it would be to have such a grand selection of agate dome beads like at the end of your video! I’m just going to have to start making them.
I’ve never gotten this Friday e-mail that’s been mentioned a few times, though I’ve been a member for ages now. I sort of assumed the Friday blog post was our notice that the video was up. How would I go about getting the newsletter instead?
@Ashlyn: Ashlyn, This probably means you never got your three free videos either. Have I got good news for you … go to the top of this blog. See the categories in the bar at the top? Click on the one that says Polymer Clay Newsletter. Or … just click on the Click Here at the top of the right hand column where you are offered three free videos. Have fun!
@Ashlyn: I know you’re a member, so I wonder if you did sign up for the newsletter. If you did, but didn’t receive it, check your email settings — i hope these tips help! :D
Ashlyn…could it be that you’re a member of the blog but not a paid member where you would get the Friday videos? It is two different things. Anyone can become a member of the blog (free). But only paid members are entitiled to get the Friday videos (which means you get the Friday email). By the way, becoming a paid member is well worth it!
@Maureen: Sorry about that, trying to type on my phone and it does not mind well. Didn’t mean to butt-in like that; I remembered another post where Ashlyn mentioned her membership. Forgive me, please?
@Phaedrakat: No problem. We’re all here just trying to help each other solve our problems.
@Sue F, Do you have a Kato recipe for a denim blue or indigo color? If so, would you consider sharing it with me? I’m terrible at color mixing and can’t seem to get it right… :(
Thanks!
~Lisa :)
@Lisa Whitham: Hi Lisa, have you tried looking at the Premo recipes and using the ‘similar’ Kato colors to get close?Then tweak from there? All my recipes are on my laptop, so I can’t find a good color to point to. It probably doesn’t matter; Sue F. will almost surely have your color. That ring of color chips she posted looked pretty promising!
@Lisa Whitham: Hi again, Lisa! I was thinking, in case Sue F. overlooks this thread, or doesn’t read it for a long time…maybe you could put another request on one of her Kato recipe threads. She might have them marked so she gets a notification email, getting her attention faster — just an idea… ;D
@Cindy: So is there a new blog layout here, or are my eyes deceiving me? Everything looks a bit different. I thought it was this PC I’m on, but I can see definite differences in the location of things, like the “Notify me…” check box. The Gravatar images, the names, time, link symbol — they’re on one line so that they take up less space. The column width seems to be wider, as well. Anyway, just wanted to say I like it! Looks really great! You guys are amazing. You’re always trying to improve what is ALREADY the best PC site on the web! :D
@Phaedrakat: I thought it was just me..figured I had “fibro fog” again and things just weren’t clicking right in my brain, so I just waited to see if someone would say something ! Uh-oh Kat..What if my brain fog’s rubbing off on you??? LOL!!!
@Phaedrakat and Tanya L: Thanks for noticing and saying something about the recent layout changes. Along with the subtle visual differences, Doug is also upgrading stuff you can’t see… like the site security settings to keep you guys insulated from all those “Internet Nasties” that no one should have to see.
And Just A Quick FYI…. associated with the recent updates is a bug that Doug is still trying to fix. Some of you have already noticed it. The new moderation settings are causing all of the “Reply” comments to require manual approval. Arghhhhh….. I know it’s frustrating for you guys and it is definitely creating more work on our end. The work around right now that will make it easier on everyone, is to NOT use that “Reply” link. Instead, when you want to respond to someone specific, just type their name manually… like @Phaedrakat: [or] @Tanya L: [or] @Cindy: [etc, etc]. Hopefully Doug will be able to resolve this soon.
@Cindy: Thanks for the heads-up Cindy! Tell Doug to hang in there (you too!). Glad to know Kat and I aren’t losing it, and real sorry about the headache you guys are dealing with! And ditto everything Kat said about this site and you guys improving the best PC site on the web! She always expresses things so well, doesn’t she?
@Cindy: This new layout looks better on my phone; I don’t have to adjust the zoom so much (like I did last week.) It is great! Having another issue, but not sure if it’s the upgrade or just using the phone. Once I play the intro video, it repeats, although this seems to be an intermittent problem. Thought I’d let you know, JIK, and say, “Thank You” for taking such good care of us. Ditto what Tanya said about the “headaches”!
@Tanya: Thank You! Flattery will get you everywhere… ;~D
~Kat
I LOVE the new layout. I was wondering why nobody mentioned it, so I figured it was one of the weird things that’s been happening on my laptop lately. So glad it’s real!
Wanted to post a link here to a very funny posted by Elizabeth-S about unconventional uses for Kato Liquid clay… definitely worth a read (click link by my name).
Also, if you have not already done so, please read this post:
More Than Ever… Ritzs Needs Our Love and Support Right Now
@Lisa Whitham:Hi Lisa, Sorry for not replying earlier… I hadn’t been looking at this thread.
Anyway, colour names are a bit subjective, but the following “denim blue” is a pretty close match to the jeans I’m wearing at the moment:
8 parts Ultra Blue (Kato)
2 parts Violet (Kato)
1 part Turquoise (Kato)
2 parts Black (Kato)
1 part White (Kato)
I’m not sure if that’s what you had in mind — if I were matching my other pairs of jeans the mixes would be different! — so you could try mixing up a tiny amount using the smallest cutters you have to cut out the required numbers of parts.
Basically, you want a desaturated blue, so start with a grey that’s about the right darkness and add blue to it; use turquoise or violet to make the blue greener or purplier as required.
I hope that helps! :)
Hmm. I didn’t use the Reply function/link just now, but put the equivalent code in manually. That seems to have triggered the moderation requirement too (i.e. it’s the code, not the function/link). Sorry about that, Cindy and Doug!
ADDED “TECHNICAL” NOTE: Hi Sue… it’s the “href” tag that is causing any and all comments to require moderation. Now although “@Reply” comments do use the “href” tag, these “relative” links (onpage links) are supposed to be ignored. Moderation and spam rules are only supposed to apply to “absolute links” (offpage links or any link that uses a full http url path). This is a bug in the new WordPress 3.0.1 software that the developers are currently addressing. If they don’t fix it soon, I’m going to have someone to build me a workaround plugin to make this issue go away. It is causing me (and you and everyone else here) too much grief! Stay tuned… ~Doug
PS: I salvaged your original Kato Denim Blue color recipe from the queue, as you can see above.
@Sue F: Did you see Lisa’s request above for one of your famous Kato color recipes? Dated Aug. 22nd…comment #40510.
@Phaedrakat: Yes, but only a short time ago. That’s the post I was referring to above, where I didn’t use the Reply function but typed the reference to the originating post manually instead, which still sent it for moderation. I wanted to see if that would work around the problem, but obviously it didn’t. My other post, with a denim blue recipe, will show up eventually!
@Lisa Whitham: Here’s another denim blue (the first will show up when the comment it’s in has been moderated). This one actually might be closer to what you were after, since you also mentioned indigo blue. (And yes, I have a pair of jeans about this colour too!)
4 parts Turquoise (Kato)
1 part Red (Kato)
This recipe uses the muddying that happens when combining colours from across the colour wheel to desaturate the blue.
@Sue F – Thanks so much for sharing those recipes with me… I can’t wait to try them out!
Happy Claying,
~Lisa :)
@Doug: Thanks for the technical note, and for dealing with the errant comment! :)
@Lisa Whitham: You’re welcome. If they’re not what you’re after, describe what needs to be changed and I’ll have another go.