Rose Cane Tutorial in the Works.

I'm pretty excited to be able to share some of these instructions with you all very soon.

I've used some new STAEDTLER fimo effect colours in this cane. Can't wait to put some roses in my nail art. I mean seriously.... It's been months!!!!

More Project Sneak Peeks.............

More things we can't eat. 

Treats for the eyes only.

These are STAEDTLER fimo soft bonbons. 

Normally I would never use Styrofoam as a core. Heating Styrofoam creates harmful fumes and should be avoided at all costs. Low baking temps due to the very thin layer of clay and loads of ventilation were players in this project.

I'll post a full tutorial after all my deadlines are met.....

almost there!

:D

Project Sneak Peek

These aren't for eating!

They're made from STAEDTLER fimo and liquid fimo.

Stay tuned for loads of new project instructions.

:D

Busy Busy Busy

Tis the season!

The middle of the summer and as usual I'm deep into Christmas Designs.

I may not be posting as often as usual, but I'm still here busy trying to beat those deadlines.

This week it's all about STAEDTLER Fimo Christmas Ornies.

Think of me while you're enjoying your back porch high balls and BBQ's.

Maggie's Finished Werewolf Masterpiece!

Maggs has finished her giant werewolf project.

In case you haven't been following it's her final high school art project of the year.

Go on over to her blog and read more about it.

We stuck Sebastian in beside the Werewolf to give you a size reference but nothing seems to show off how giant this guys is.

Maggies Blog is going to be awesome. I can't wait to see what she does next!

A Bird Ornament... or How to Embed Rhinestones in Polymer Clay

Here is an easy technique for setting rhinestones into polymer clay. I made a very simple bird ornament to decorate. Hope you find this useful!

Things you'll nee to complete this project:

1 - 56g block of STAEDTLER fimo soft #0 white

1 - 56g block of STAEDTLER fimo soft #26 cherry red

teeny piece of STAEDTLER fimo soft #9 black

1 - 56g block of STAEDTLER fimo effect #505 mint

bake-able rhinestones (heat resistant)

basic sculpting tools

bird cookie cutter (non food use)

clay roller

drinking straw

1cm wide decorative ribbon to hang piece

 I'm using a chick cookie cutter from Easter and cutting off the leg part. Use what you have or trace a bird shape out onto the flattened clay and cut it out with a craft knife.

 I rolled the white clay out to about 1/4cm thick and cut out my bird shape.

 I made a 1/4cm thick teardrop wing shape and placed it onto the bird.

 I rolled a ball of black clay and gave the bird an eye.

 A drinking straw makes the best hole to hang ornaments. 

 I made a 1/2cm thick worm of green clay and cut 1/2cm slices from it. I turned those slices into teardrop shapes.

 Flattening the teardrops makes little leaves. I used these to make a wreath around the bird.

I made a 1/2cm thick worm from the red clay and cut off 1/2cm thick slices. I made little balls from the slices and places them on the wreath. I used the back end of a paintbrush that was roughly the same size as the rhinestones I was using to push an indent into the middle of each red ball. I placed a rhinestone into each indent and gently closed the red clay in around each rhinestone edge to secure it.

Bake the piece in a preheated 230 degree oven, on a parchment lined baking surface, for 20 minutes.

(Thanks Pam!)

Hang the bird with a piece of decorative ribbon, or glue a brooch pin top the back of the piece.

Textured Heart Pendant

This textured heart can be an ornament or a pendant or a brooch. It's an easy technique for adding interest to flat pieces. 

 Things you'll need to complete this project:

1 - 56g block of STAEDTLER fimo effect clay colour 505 mint will make four or five  4cm wide hearts

STAEDTLER silver powder

polymer clay roller

scraps of lace

a drinking straw

a 4 or 5cm wide heart shaped cookie cutter (non food use)

soft mop brush

 1cm wide ribbon

fine nail file

Gather together some interesting scraps of lace. Both coarse and fine textures work.

Roll the clay out to a 1/4cm thick sheet and lay the lace of your choice onto it. Roll over the lace until the clay has taken it's texture.

Remove the lace and cut out as many heart shapes as you can.

I re-rolled the clay scraps and cut even more shapes.

Here I used an even finer lace trim. I didn't cover the entire clay surface.

Use an drinking straw to create a hole to hang your piece.

Pick up some STAEDTLER silver powder on your dry mop brush and rub it into the low parts of the lace design. Bake the hearts in a preheated 230 degree oven for 20 minutes and let them cool off.

I used a fine nail buffer (a nail file on a sponge block) to remove the silver powder from the top of the clay design. The silver will stay in the lace pattern.

Cut a 24cm piece of ribbon and tie the ends together. I clipped the ribbon ends into a doves tail to make them look more finished.

Loop the ribbon through the straw opening in the heart and flip the ends through the loop. give a gentle tug to snug things up and hang the piece up and enjoy.

This piece would also make a lovely brooch. 

Just omit the hole and glue a brooch back onto the piece.

Werewolf Update! OMG!!! IT"S HUGE!!!!!

Here is an update post on Maggie's final art project. 

This guy is going to be HUGE!!!

Here is a link to how Maggs started this beast.

It's quickly taking over the whole main floor of our house and frightening the heck out of us when we go into the kitchen for middle of the night drinks of water.

Maggs will be posting a much more detailed tutorial on her blog as soon as school is out.

There is no longer room for sit down table suppers.  We just slide hamburgers in where ever we can around the giant werewolf. Maggs made the hands out of crumpled tinfoil covered in gorilla tape so they're completely pose-able. The forearms are made from chicken wire and can be moved around also.

She's a genius!

 Here are the teeth Maggs made using STAEDTLER fimo air basic. She hot glued them in and trimmed them with red felt to simulate gums.

This is one of my favorite pics of Maggs ever!

She's lovingly cutting the eye slits so her beast can see. She slipped the eyes she made from fimo air basic earlier in the week into the slits.

Here she's got the first of the fun fur hot glued onto the head. She's just trimming the seams and making sure everything is matching up and laying flat.

I can't wait until she's all done this guy.

Couldn't be a prouder Mom.

:D

Retro Pattern Surprise

I was surprised today with a gift of these (and more!) awesome retro patterns found at a garage sale by my friend and co-worker. I can't wait to start sewing!
What outfit would you make first?
I'm having trouble deciding.

Some Spooky Set Building

I've been keeping myself busy these past few months with loads of new projects and ideas. Today I worked on something that's going to be a pretty fun project in itself. I can't show or tell you why I'm building this teeny spooky set yet.... but I can show you how I built it.

 I am sculpting stones for a floor from the surface of a three inch thick sheet of Styrofoam. I'm using a steak knife and several different exacto or art knives and scalpels. I'm trying to keep the stone shapes irregular.

Here I'm sculpting some brick shapes for a wall.

 I cut out a rough arch window and added a sill with some hot glue.

Here the floor and wall are stuck together using hot glue and dowel. I've also added some stones to the edge of the window.

 I used some Great Stuff insulating foam in a can to fill the gap between the floor and the wall and to build up a little seating area under the window. I'll be able to sculpt this foam out into different shapes later if I need to.

Here's a shot of the can just in case you were interested in it. I suggest covering everything up that is near your work station that you do not want foam on. Wear gloves and eye protection and work outside. This stuff is sticky!

I sprayed the foam with stone effects paint

I'm pleased with the results. This is all I can show you for now. I'll make sure I keep you posted on the results of the whole project when I can finally share it. I can't wait to finish and fast forward into the future so you can see everything....

Giant Werewolf Progress

Maggs has been working away on her final art project for the school year.

Some of you have been asking how it's going so Maggs has allowed me to post some progress pics. 

She has made some cool wolf bits out of STAEDTLER fimo air basic. She has to include found items in her piece so she has added a shark tooth and reproduced many more teeth that are the same shape.

She's using our tutorial for doll eyes but she's replace the fimo polymer clay with the STAEDTLER fimo air basic. She has also increased the size by four times.

Here she has painted the base colour and is adding lines radiating from the center. She used acrylic paint.... Mostly Golden.

Here she's adding a dot of black to the center of each eye with the brush end.

They're pretty cool eyes! 

I helped Maggs mix up some resin to fill these things and give them a glossy coat.

She made sure they were liberally smeared and then blew on them a bit to get rid of the bubbles so the resin would cure clear.

I think they're going to be pretty fabulous giant werewolf eyes. I'll get better shots in the daytime. Maggs kept working even though the sun went down. Makes it hard to take process shots.

Here is her actual werewolf sculpture. I helped her mix the chemicals to fill it with expanding foam yesterday evening. Some of the foam in the nose didn't cure so I had to cut it open for her so she could drain it. We took precautions and wore gloves and eye protection. We also worked outside and covered any surface that could be damaged by the foam.

Maggs likes this pic because it looks like her wolf is getting sick....... 

She's a funny duck, but we love her bunches!

We'll keep you posted on the progress of this project.... It's going to be humongous!

Radishes!

We've harvested our first homegrown skid garden veg and they're delicious!

Mr. Jimmy and the radishes!

Just plucked fresh from the skid garden in the back yard.

Here they are all washed up and presentable. They are the long white radishes we planted about a month ago. You can see that the radishes got all curled up on the ends where they grew too big to fit between the skid planks. I'm still loving the whole skid garden concept. Have any of you tried this way of gardening yet?