Friday, October 25, 2013
New Scarf Charms
We are expanding our scarf jewelry line and now have a new scarf charm design. The focal charm bead was created using my own texture plate I made using Helen Breil's "Radiating Lines" tutorial. I embedded a genuine Swarovski Rivoli crystal into the center for added bling. The bail is all clay making the piece lighter for proper balancing on our lighter polyester scarves. I created a second texture sheet for covering the bail to coordinate with the pendant.
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Candy Cane Beads
Last week we made several batches of candy cane beads for our Christmas shows. I shared a tutorial how to make your own candy cane beads with you some time ago and if you haven't seen it yet, you will find it here.
Since I am constantly looking at ways to increase productivity, I decided to try a slightly different method. Instead of making the colored clay strips, we created a clay stack and then arranged slices from it around the white clay log (see pictures below).
Since I am constantly looking at ways to increase productivity, I decided to try a slightly different method. Instead of making the colored clay strips, we created a clay stack and then arranged slices from it around the white clay log (see pictures below).
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Now I am ready to create some new jewelry designs with my fresh candy cane bead supply.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Craft-a-Fair Christmas Show November 3rd
We are back into the swing of things with preparations for our major Christmas show for the season that is already coming up in less than two weeks! It is the Craft-a-Fair in Kamloops at the Interior Savings Centre November 3. We will be located in the same spot (#139 on the concourse) as the other years we have participated -- go in the main doors and follow the concourse to your left a little ways and we will be on the left hand side.
We will have a wide selection of our most popular scarf jewelry and clips along with our interchangeable earring system and other special pieces created just for this show. If you are in the area, be sure to drop by and say hello.
Friday, October 18, 2013
Buttons and Zipper Charms
I haven't had time to blog this past week as we have been super busy filling button orders for our stores. This year we have made a variety of zipper charms to coordinate with many of our button designs. We are still listing some of them on our website but here are a few to show you:
We are pretty much caught up and can now focus more on our upcoming Christmas shows.
We are pretty much caught up and can now focus more on our upcoming Christmas shows.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
How to Wear Our Scarf Clips
Our new scarf clips are so versatile and can be worn in many different ways. We have been working on photos to show how to wear them and now listed on our website (click here).
These clips are like the old vintage style but adding them to our clay designs give them a modern make over. We will be listing some of these in our online store soon as well as available in our upcoming Christmas shows.
Note: If you are looking for the clip findings we used, we now have some in our online store.
I love how they can also be worn as a pendant either on a scarf (shown above) or on a cord (shown below).
Note: If you are looking for the clip findings we used, we now have some in our online store.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
How to Attach a Scarf Clip Ring to a Polymer Clay Art Piece
UPDATE: These scarf clip rings are no longer available. After a long time of searching for more we finally found some but they are different than the ones shown here in this tutorial. I have created a new free tutorial on how to work with the new clips which you will find here.
Since I first introduced our new scarf clips, we have had many requests for where we got our clip findings.
Well I am happy to announce that they are now available through Shades of Clay.
These findings are a very good quality but due to the strong spring action, we found them to be a little tricky to attach. I thought I would share with you how we do this so here goes:
Prepare and bake your clay art piece. If you want your piece to be curved, you can use a form when baking. Here we used a cardboard tube to create a curve.
The scarf clip finding has a very strong spring action so it can grip the scarf. When attaching this clip, you want to maintain as much of that "spring" as possible yet not detach itself from your clay piece while baking which it will do if not done in several stages as shown.
(1) Roll out a small piece of clay in the same color as the back of your clay piece (about 3 mm thick). Cut out an oval shape with a shaped cutter or by tracing around the clip base.
(2) Place the clip base on top of the oval shaped clay piece and press down at the inside end next to the ring hinge. Remove the clip from the clay and there should be an impression left.
(3) Trim the section from the oval piece using the marks as a guide as shown and then place it back onto the back of the clip base. This is to ensure that the "spring" mechanism is allowed to move while attached to your clay design.
(4) Apply a bit of liquid clay to the back of the clay on the clip base and center it onto the back of your clay design.
(5) Apply some more liquid clay to the top part of the base making sure it fills all the small "openings". Take a tiny piece of clay and apply it to the base pressing firmly to make contact with the clay below through the openings with the liquid clay acting as a bonding agent between them. Bake your piece for 15 - 20 minutes and allow to cool. Make sure the ring is "open" or "up" while baking or the spring action will force it off while baking.
(6) Allow your piece to cool. To cover your clip base, roll out a medium-thin piece of clay and cut out a thin strip. I like to use an oval shape cutter, trimming a bit off to fit.
(7) Apply some liquid clay to the back of your clay strip.
(8) Place it over your clip base as shown leaving enough space below the hinge to allow it to open and close properly.
(9) Close the ring and press it down then open it up again. This is to be sure that it will close properly after your piece is baked. You may need to do this a couple of times to double check as you smooth out the edges of your clay covering. (10)
(11) If you like to add your signature stamp or cane slice, this is a good time to do this if you wish. Bake your piece, leaving the clip ring open (up). If you bake it with the ring down, the force of the spring action will push the clip off when it is in the oven.
Tomorrow I will show you several ways on how the scarf clips can be worn.
You can see the post here.
Just a note: The scarf clips work best on a light to medium weight scarf that is not too thick. Here we are using a polyester scarf that is on the light side but not too flimsy.
Since I first introduced our new scarf clips, we have had many requests for where we got our clip findings.
Well I am happy to announce that they are now available through Shades of Clay.
These findings are a very good quality but due to the strong spring action, we found them to be a little tricky to attach. I thought I would share with you how we do this so here goes:
Prepare and bake your clay art piece. If you want your piece to be curved, you can use a form when baking. Here we used a cardboard tube to create a curve.
The scarf clip finding has a very strong spring action so it can grip the scarf. When attaching this clip, you want to maintain as much of that "spring" as possible yet not detach itself from your clay piece while baking which it will do if not done in several stages as shown.
(1) Roll out a small piece of clay in the same color as the back of your clay piece (about 3 mm thick). Cut out an oval shape with a shaped cutter or by tracing around the clip base.
(2) Place the clip base on top of the oval shaped clay piece and press down at the inside end next to the ring hinge. Remove the clip from the clay and there should be an impression left.
(3) Trim the section from the oval piece using the marks as a guide as shown and then place it back onto the back of the clip base. This is to ensure that the "spring" mechanism is allowed to move while attached to your clay design.
(4) Apply a bit of liquid clay to the back of the clay on the clip base and center it onto the back of your clay design.
(5) Apply some more liquid clay to the top part of the base making sure it fills all the small "openings". Take a tiny piece of clay and apply it to the base pressing firmly to make contact with the clay below through the openings with the liquid clay acting as a bonding agent between them. Bake your piece for 15 - 20 minutes and allow to cool. Make sure the ring is "open" or "up" while baking or the spring action will force it off while baking.
(6) Allow your piece to cool. To cover your clip base, roll out a medium-thin piece of clay and cut out a thin strip. I like to use an oval shape cutter, trimming a bit off to fit.
(7) Apply some liquid clay to the back of your clay strip.
(8) Place it over your clip base as shown leaving enough space below the hinge to allow it to open and close properly.
(9) Close the ring and press it down then open it up again. This is to be sure that it will close properly after your piece is baked. You may need to do this a couple of times to double check as you smooth out the edges of your clay covering. (10)
(11) If you like to add your signature stamp or cane slice, this is a good time to do this if you wish. Bake your piece, leaving the clip ring open (up). If you bake it with the ring down, the force of the spring action will push the clip off when it is in the oven.
Tomorrow I will show you several ways on how the scarf clips can be worn.
You can see the post here.
Just a note: The scarf clips work best on a light to medium weight scarf that is not too thick. Here we are using a polyester scarf that is on the light side but not too flimsy.