Special Snowflake Promotion Offer

We made more snowflake pattern "snaps" but this time in a zircon teal blue.  We also stocked up our online store with more Swarovski crystals in the smaller sizes and popular colors.  These are the "hot fix" type used in my tutorials and are more secure as the glue is activated and melts with the heat when baking your clay pieces.

I have a new 6 page tutorial on making this Snowflake snap.  In the lesson I show a quick method for making a mould from a finding using scrap clay and then using your mould to create a textured snap that will fit into the snap bezels.  I show how to make a snowflake snap like the ones shown here but you can create other designs with your own findings or use your mould to create other items such as a pendant, earrings or even buttons.

We have a new promotion for the holidays which was featured in our online store newsletter.   We won't generally be sharing our newsletter promotions here on our blog but we didn't want anyone to miss out on this offer in time for Christmas. 

With a minimum purchase of $35 in Snap supplies, we will include a snowflake charm (limited supply) plus my new (6 page) PDF tutorial that will be sent directly to you by e-mail.  You will also receive a bonus of 10% off your total order (excluding shipping).

This offer is good until the end of November.   To receive your free items plus discount, click here or on the above photo and purchase a minimum of $35 from our Snap supply findings and then use the coupon code:  Snowflaketute  at the checkout.

If you don't want to miss out on any future offers like this, then we encourage you to sign up for our newsletter here.

Faux Green Turquoise CaBezel Necklace and Earrings

I finally finished off the necklace with the Faux Green Turquoise CaBezel beads.  I shared the new green turquoise clay color recipe a while ago and you can find it here.

I used the "Lemon Egg" CaBezel mould to create the beads in this piece.  The ribbon is velvet and is not only extremely soft but completely washable and colorfast.  There is something unique about the earrings shown below.  I will share the surprise and how I made them with you tomorrow.

Making a Mould -- Going "green" with my scrap clay - part 2

My last post I shared how I love to separate all my scrap clay colors to develop new ones.  Even when this is done I still end up with some ugly looking "mud" type colors.  There are all kinds of uses for this  clay, one of which is using it for making impressions or moulds.

I collect unique buttons or findings that I can make a mould from.  Here is a button I had of a Christmas package that I thought would make cute earrings or charms.  To make a mould from it I start by running my scrap clay through the pasta machine at the thickest setting and stacking 2 or 3 layers -- depending on how deep the impression will be.

I spray my clay with a mould release agent -- I have a spray bottle of water that I like to use.  Take your item and firmly press it into the clay as evenly as possible until you get a nice deep impression.  When you take your piece out, inspect your mould to see if it looks good.  If it doesn't, you can smoosh your clay and then start over and try again.

When the mould looks good, the excess clay is trimmed away so it looks neat and tidy.  After baking I  allow my mould to cool and it is then ready to use.

Here is a photo of some of the many moulds I have made over the years:

"Claying Around"

Since we have moved and been in "retirement mode" I (Carolyn) seem to lose myself in the studio for hours at a time.  I find myself getting into more of a regular routine each day, photographing our work (this is at certain times of the day when the lighting is best), organizing, sewing (I started to make some of our little "gift bags" for the jewelry - I will blog on that another time) and then more time for just "claying around".  While the other things are essential, I enjoy the claying part the most.  

Because I now have more time in the studio, I am finding more time for creating and learning new techniques.  My work is piling up and while I didn't seem to have enough to blog about earlier, I'm finding I have a lot more now so will try and post more often.

One of the things on my "to do" list was to sculpt a face.  I sculpted my first face and then made a mould from that face.  I then made some faces from that mould which are shown below.

  

I want to create some angels so I made some faux cloisonne wings.  This basic technique came from one of Donna Kato's books.  I started with drawing my wing pattern and then carefully cutting that pattern into a thin sheet of clay to make a stencil.

 

With that stencil I created a mould from clay and can now make more wings of the same design from that mould like the ones shown below.

I applied green mica powders and antique gold paint and then a layer of liquid Kato to give them a glassy finish.  I drew the wing pattern to be used as either angel or butterfly wings.  Now I have to think about how to pull this all together.