Playing with Fall Colors

I always look forward to my new issue of the Polymer Arts Magazine and the fall issue will be out shortly.  The last issue (Summer) was all about color.  Anyone that knows me personally understands how I love color and the main reason why I love playing with polymer clay!

I studied color in art class years ago and have all the various wheels and charts.  I have discovered, however, that color mixing and combining can still be somewhat complicated or even intimidating to others.  This is why I developed a lesson that I called my Clay Color System.

It includes several easy to follow exercises and worksheets for mixing colors and creating color blends and a method for saving the information as a reference.

It is also a method of organization and time management.  My lesson provides more than 50 clay color recipes to get you started and a unique way for keeping track of them as well as the clay that you have mixed up.  This way you do not have to start from scratch each time you need a new color.

Twice a year, I share on our blog the clay recipes for the Pantone Fashion Colors allowing you to add even more colors to your library.  Even if you aren't into the latest fashion colors, it can still (hopefully) provide some inspiration.

So starting tomorrow, I will share with you my clay recipes for the Pantone Fall 2017 Fashion colors along with some ideas on combining and using these warm shades.

Clay Storage Tips

The first thing anyone says that enters our studio is "Wow, you  sure are organized".  It is not that everything automatically falls into place -- I do have to work at it -- a lot!  If I don't, it drives me (and Dave from all my moaning and complaining) nuts when I spend more time looking for something than actually working on a project.

I have been looking for some time to find the right container for storing my clay canes and blends and such.  I found these containers in the scrap booking section at a Michael's store and bought a few to test out.  I figured I could use them for other things if they were not compatible with the clay.

I was happy to discover that they are totally compatible and I love that they are shallow so you can store a lot of clay canes and pieces without having to stack them.

So on the next sale I picked up a bunch more and I love how they all fit nicely on the shelves at my clay work table.

The other item I was always looking for were those cool deli sheets that work great for wrapping and storing your clay.  They are just not a common item to buy here in Canada and I have never had success finding them.  I managed to buy some from a guild member who brought a few boxes up from the U.S. and showed them to my friend Denyse.  Well the next day she comes over with a box of these "perfect portions" bags by ziploc for me.  I could hardly believe it that it was the exact same stuff but in "bag" form.  We just cut the bottoms off and slit them open and voila --- we now have lots of sheets for our clay.  Thanks to Denyse that she found these (she bought them at Costco real cheap) and I thought I would pass this info on to anyone who has had a difficult time as well to find such a thing.