I have been making none round beads and decided that I wanted to make some of them shine by covering them with varathane. They look really nice but I have a new problem.
I first put the beads on toothpicks and then dipped them into the varathane. I then placed the toothpicks into a piece of styrofoam to dry and hopefully not get drips.
Well, I don’t have any drips but I now have beads stuck to toothpicks with dried varathane and don’t now how to get them off!
I tried to gently pull the beads after loosing the varathane “seal” around the toothpicks. All that got me was one broken bead. (At least I have more that I can bake to replace that one.) I have tried twisting the toothpick but all that achieved was braking the toothpick inside of the bead. (It is hard to string them with wood in the middle.)
I will check with other websites (like Glassattic) and see if I can find any suggestions and then see what I can come up with. I am sure to figure this all out with time.
Atleast I am learning somethin new today!
So far my test batch of sea shells have gone through two grits of polishing material in the rock tumbler. I am about to put them in with the polishing stuff.
I really like how they are turning out. I have some that look like the polished shells that you find in jewelry. I also have some that still of the purple outer color that I really like. That part does not have the shine that the inner shell does. I am hoping that the polishing gives it a shine was well.
The comes the harder part! Figuring out what to do with the shells. Do I turn them in to barrettes on their own or do I add them to other stuff? I think that I will end up doing all of the above! I have ideas of working the shell pieces into clay as accents, maybe as turtle shells. I, also am thinking of wire wrapping the shells with sea glass pieces. Then of crouse, if I have larger shells that will mount well on barrette backs, I will do that too. So many ideas!
I have heard that a lot of the machines that they sell at craft stores for polymer clay are cheaply made and break easily. I will admit that I do own one of those same machines but I use it for travel. (Like to guild meetings and the like). I bought it on sale and use my employee discount as well. (I work at a local A.C.Moore).
I have an Atlas that my husband bought me years ago. I have never had any problems with it.
My husband got it a specialty food store. I have also seen them at the higher end cooking stores, like William and Sonoma. I rarely have seen them at thrift stores but every now and then I find them there. I also know that you can find them at garage sales.
Another place to look is on e-bay. Although you have to becareful with shipping costs. You can get lucky though.
I have already listed some of the basic tools that are useful with polymer clay. Like a pasta machine, it is not totally neccesary but makes conditioning clay much easier. I would recommend buying a better one then going for the cheaper ones. They all work the same but cheap ones tend to break and give you problems. I have seen pasta machines at thrift shops and garage sales.
Another basic tool is a surface to work on. You can use almost anything. I have tiles, a table and cutting broads (not wood) that I use. I do not re-use any of them for food stuff after I have claimed them in my craft room.
I also have an old small food processure that we no longer use for cooking. It helps with conditioning really hard clay.
Some of my favorite tools are my cookie cutters. I have many of them from large to small. I really love the butterflies and flowers.
I also have a bunch of shaped cutters that you find in the scrape booking area of the local craft stores. They are really easy to use and make great shapes!
I have so much fun finding new things to use with clay. Recently I bought some leather tools that have great textured shapes on them. I have been using those on my fish, dragons and sea friends. They really add to the critters.
I have also “claimed” some cake decorating tools (like a fondant roller) to make patterns with.
Some of the shells that I recently gathered also make great textures. So do rough sided rocks. Then there are the pine cones, leaves and nut shells that are all over the yard.
I do also buy premade texture sheets and rubber stamps to use. I found that a lot of the stuff I have hanging around the house will work.
Once you start working with clay, everything looks different. It is amazing what everyday objects end up in the craft room to play with.