Oh Christmas Tree...

Christmas is just around the corner, so today I thought I'd share an idea I came up with last year for some cute Christmas tree charms.

Porcelain Trees

These are made in porcelain, but they also work in polymer for a quick festive make.

Depending on what you prefer, you will need some ceramic or polymer clay. Paints, inks, glazes, whatever you like to use to create with. For the tutorial I chose to use green polymer clay. You will also need a ball ended stylus and a little bit of wire.

Gather Supplies

Start off by conditioning your clay and rolling to form a tree shape.

Ready to start creating

Using the stylus, poke a short groove in the clay beginning at the top and pulling the tool out at the bottom to flare it out. (This doesn't work quite as well with polymer clay as it does with ceramic, you will end up with a slightly smoother design). To get a nice finish, lift the tool out before it tears through the clay. Do this all the way round the bottom of the tree shape.

The first row of branches

Once you have your first line repeat just above to make a second line. Try and finish the groove of the second line just above the top go the first so there are no gaps.

Building the design.

Continue adding lines around the shape until you get to the top.

Branches finished

Take some wire and create a loop. Fix this in the top of the tree, then cure the clay following the instructions on your clay packet.

Adding a copper wire loop

Once cooled it's time to decorate. I decided I liked the green colour of the clay so opted for a snowy effect using white alcohol ink, but you can paint, use inks, metallic wax or whatever takes your fancy!

To make it look as though the snow has fallen on the branches, I took a dab of ink on my finger and gently patted it around the tree so that just the tips of the branches were coloured.

Adding the snow

While the ink was still wet, I sprinkled on some microfine glitter for an extra bit of sparkle (Well it is Christmas!)

And a bit of sparkle

And here are the finished trees. They would be great as some last minute earrings, a pendant or make a bigger version and turn them into a Christmas decoration, a tree for your tree!

The finished decorated trees.

Making Simple Polymer Clay Silhouette Stamps

I'm sure you all know about Jenny's Themed Challenge for March: the Hare. Of course I signed up right away with a mind full of new hare bead ideas… and then I ran out of time and for the reveal only had a work-in-progress to share… but now I'm finally making new beads! Thank you Jenny for a challenge that pushed me to create something new!

These first beads are one of a kind focals made with my brand new hare stamps that I made specially for the challenge. For today's post, I thought you'd enjoy a little peek into my stamp making process. And maybe you'll be inspired to make some for yourself with your own designs!

Every one of my stamp designs starts out as a simple drawing in pencil. Pencil transfers beautifully to polymer! For these little hares, I did a google search for a bit of help on hare poses (I can sculpt stylized animal shapes, but drawing isn't really my thing!) and then drew my own shapes freehand.

And here's how I turned them into stamps…

1. After drawing my designs, I shaped the stamp bases in polymer, making sure they would fit my hare designs and then I popped them into the oven to cure for 15 minutes.

2. Next I rolled a thin sheet of polymer (#4 setting on my Atlas pasta machine) and transfered my design by burnishing the back of the paper over the polymer sheet.

3. The transfered design!

4. Then I cut the design to fit my stamp base.

5. I used a small amount of liquid polymer clay to stick the design to the stamp base. Not too much or it slips around when trimming!

6. Using an X-acto knife I trimmed away the bulk of the polymer. And then with a needle, I carefully traced around the design for a closer trim.

7. Next I applied liquid polymer to edges of the design—this helps hold the design in place and softens it just enough to let me smooth the edges.

8. All smoothed and ready for baking!

With these stamps you don't need any release agent—just dip in water and stamp away! You may find that after a lot of use they start to stick to polymer—this is because raw polymer will soften baked polymer over time. I just pop the stamps in the oven with a new batch of beads every so often and they're good to go again and again.

The thing I love most about making silhouette stamps is that a simple design like this can be used to make so many different style beads and pendants! 

I don't know why really, but I just adore jackalopes! These are still raw—once baked, I'll add some washes to give them a more rustic feel.

And of course, I had to make lunar hares! I used another stamp for the moon motif and a wild grass impression. These too will get some paint washes.

Lots of painting will be happening this weekend and hopefully the new focals will hop into my shop later next week! :-)

Wishing you all a very creative weekend!

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Studio

Blog: treewingsstudio.com

Shop: treewingsstudio.etsy.com

Reposting an old favorite… Easy Winter Tree Polymer Cane Tutorial

Hello again! And welcome back to another re-run post… yet again. I apologize to all you wonderful readers for not having something totally new and exciting to share with you today. I was working long hours to complete a big wholesale order (super exciting times!) and have just now recovered from my coffee overdose (who really needs sleep, right?!) and at the moment, I'm in the midst of the Christmas making craziness, creating as many beads as I possibly can (plus a few extras ;-) before I take my year-end break. So, for today, I hope you'll enjoy this old favorite post of mine…

Winter sunsets are my absolute favorite! There's something so magical about the vivid colors of the sky and clouds traced by the stark black of the leafless trees… it's like nature's own stained glass!

I don't do a whole lot of caning these days, but for today's post I wanted to share one of my own cane designs that I created a few years back inspired by the winter trees.

It starts with a log of translucent clay—you can of course use any color. I trim the ends so it stands straight.

Next I make an off center cut all the way through the log and cover one side with a sheet of black clay. And then I put the log back together—that forms the main part of the tree branch.

To make the twigs on the branch, I make several more cuts through the translucent log, each time inserting a sheet of black clay and putting it back together before the next cut.

Once I get all the twigs I want, I reduce the cane by rolling and stretching.

Here's the branch reduced.

Then I cut my reduced branch cane into six equal lengths.

And then using the black line from the base of the branch as a guide, I give each length a tear drop shape.

I place all the branches side by side and press them together, making sure that the base of each branch is against the table and straight. I then cut that arrangement in half.

The two halves side by side—it's starting to look like a tree!

To the base of each half I add three strips of translucent clay—they will outline the trunk.

I make the trunk with one sheet of black running to the base of the top branches and then on either side of that I add another sheet about 2/3rds of the height to give it some taper.

I add a bit more translucent clay to the base of the trunk. And from there I just pinch and stretch the cane until I get it reduced to the size I want.

The finished cane! I hope you'll give it a try!

And one last thing… when I first posted this tutorial, you all had asked me to show what I made with it… so, today I went digging through my photo archives… and I found it!

"Flight of Autumn"

No beads with this cane, believe it or not! This was back in 2009 when I was still in my decor making phase. This little box was one of my very first polymer decor pieces—I'll admit it didn't quite turn out as I had originally imagined it, but it is fun to look back on the early days and see how far I've come! And looking back now, I really want to revisit this design with my beads!

I hope you enjoyed today's re-run post!

Rebekah Payne

Tree Wings Studio

Reposting an old favorite… make your own polymer clay silverware textured beads

Hello again! and welcome back to Tree Wings Studio! Two weeks ago you found me nearly buried beneath a mound of paint-spattered papers… and now today… well, actually I have nothing new to show or write about. Mostly just the same old, same old going on. I've gotten those papers cleared up and now I'm working away at the mound of unpainted beads (I love painting, but for the most part it isn't an exciting thing to watch! lol), organizing beads in my shop and planning the next few weeks of creating.

Part of that next few weeks of creating will hopefully include some new beads and some beads I haven't made in a very long time—almost 2 years ago—my silverware textured beads! The little tutorial below is one I shared back in November 2012 and I thought it would be fun to share it again. These beads are super easy to make and turn out so nice, if I may say so myself. Enjoy…

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I've been on a bead making rampage these days! In between the critter making and the pony sanding, I've been squeezing in a few new ideas.  So today I thought I'd share the process of my latest ones with you: silverware textured beads.

I chose three different fancy handled knives for this project. I got these at Goodwill—you never what neat textures you'll find when digging through the silverware bins there!

I used a two part molding compound to make the impressions and for these I kept the sides fairly low since I'm not going to casting beads with them—just texturing.

And here they are all cured. I just love this stuff—it sets up so fast and there's no need for any mold release!

Next I shaped my bead cores in polymer clay, making them a little smaller than I wanted the final beads to be. I baked them in the oven for 15 minutes just to set the clay.

After cooling, I coated each bead with a very small amount of liquid clay and wrapped them in thin sheets of polymer clay.

And then I rolled and pressed each bead into the mold to apply the texture—having the hard core enabled me to get good detail without misshaping the bead.

And here's how they looked after texturing. I baked them for an hour for the final curing and after cooling I gave each bead a wash of acrylic paint to bring out the details.

All finished! There are so many different ways and different textures you could use to make these beads—try it out and have fun!!

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And now I'm off to vacuum my studio (it needs it, bad!) and finish my planning… see you in two weeks!

Rebekah Payne

TreeWingsStudio.com

Stamp Doodling ~ Part 2

Today I'm painting new pendants from my latest polymer clay "doodled" stamp…

Last time I gave you a little peek at the making of this stamp and today I'm going to show you how I used it. Polymer stamps are a great way to quickly and easily make several of the same design and they're a lot of fun too.

Grab some polymer and come follow along…

All you need is some conditioned polymer (not too soft though, or it will make a sticky mess on your new stamp! Leach if first, if needed), a cutter, needles for piercing, water, a large paintbrush, and of course, your newly baked stamp.

I like to measure out each of my pendants by rolling the polymer all the same thickness on my pasta machine and then using a cutter to cut the same number of pieces for each pendant.

Ready for stamping!

Next, I shape the measured polymer into the same shape, but making it a bit smaller than my stamp.

Using the large paintbrush, I flood the surface of the stamp with water, paying close attention to any deeper details.

Then I press the polymer into place, pushing it over the surface to the edges of the stamp.

Removing the polymer from the stamp is fairly easy—I start at the edges and loosen it all the way around working towards the center. Don't simply pull from one side or you'll probably have a stretched design. After several stampings you will find that the polymer starts sticking (the raw polymer will actually soften the baked stamp)—just carefully clean out any bits of leftover raw polymer (a needle works great for this) and pop it into the oven when you bake your next beads and it will be ready for many more stampings.

Pierce your holes and bake.

And then my favorite part—paint, stain and finish! Experiment with different colors in polymer and then layers of paint for varied looks.

Happy creating!