Its been a wild and wonderful two weeks since
my last post. At the time I was beginning to create polymer clay beads, charms and pendants. In the meantime I have taken up ceramics!!! I am so excited about both of these ventures! But the ceramics story will have to wait until another post.
I promised I'd share the outcome of the polymer clay pieces I had started two weeks ago. For some reason they came out of the oven very darkened. Not at all the bright, pretty colors they began with. I was really disappointed. I don't know if I had accidentally set the temperature too high, or if the oven temperature suddenly spiked or what.
I freaked out for a bit, but then my rational mind (I do have one, I think) kicked in and I realized that I could just paint them and the darkening would never show or matter.
So I mixed up some blue acrylic paint with a dab of green and a dab of white. I wish I had paid attention to the proportions, because it turned out to be a beautiful, vivid cobalt blue. But, as usual, I was just winging it, not being precise or systematic. So I guess I can call these "one of a kind" now, because that exact color is never going to happen again!
I added coppery metallic highlights on the raised surfaces and I love how they turned out! Its always a delightful bit of serendipity when your original plans are spoiled, but things turn out even better in the end!
This is my favorite pair of earring charms from this group. All of these are in my Etsy shop.
Originally I'd intended to list my polymer clay components on Etsy, but I've changed my mind. I've decided to put all of the components in my ArtFire shop instead. I'll keep the three items above on Etsy until they sell or expire, and then I'll move them to ArtFire.
I have 2 component listings on ArtFire so far. This is the pair I wrote about two weeks ago, where I created the texture by just using the edge frame on a Christmas stamp. I like the architectural look these have.
Since I was "into" painting at this point, but had run out of my super blue mix, I decided to improve on a previous heart pendant that I had made.
I applied several layers of paint on this pendant and I adore how it came out. What do you think? Paint is my new best friend!
What projects have you botched that turned out better in the end? I would be fun to hear your stories.
Can't wait to see your clay journey progress Linda - you'll love it.
ReplyDeleteI love the copper accents! They remind me of copper pieces treated with ocean blue patina.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to hear about your ceramics! You polymer pieces came out fabulous. I tried my hand at some polymer this year, after hoarding supplies for it for almost a year, and I just had to laugh at my attempts! Yours however, are pretty cool looking! I do love that blue,...wow!!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous. I learned the hard way to heat set the acrylic I paint onto polymer. 6 months of work was ruined by not doing this. 15 minutes at the curing temperature of the clay for each color added. My painted pieces got sticky when I didn't do this. Nasty sticky. No amount of baking helps once this happens.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip. Icky sticky = :(
DeleteI just love how these came out. That is such a glorious blue!
ReplyDeleteMuy bonito Linda, creativa y original.
ReplyDeleteThese look great Linda!
ReplyDelete