Queen of the Flower Cane - 'Missi' Polymer Claus

Exceptional Flower Canes ~ Master 'Missi' Polymer Claus

Although Missi has shown skill in a wide variety of claying techniques... You will love the way she teaches a wide array of different flower canes. Her straight forward no frills teaching technique will help each of us to master the art of caning flowers in record time.

Here is a link to her YouTube Channel, be sure to subscribe & 'LIKE' her tutorials. https://www.youtube.com/user/MissiClaus

Many thanx to Missi for her hard work!

  

Mix Any & Every Color in Polymer Clay

Confessions of a Polymer Addict:

Hi. My name is Liz & I'm an addict with no sense of color mixing. I have shamefully devoted much time & money to attempting to mix the ultimate stunning color... sadly, more often than not I created a vague semblance of the true color I was striving for OR even more pathetic, mixed a useless pile of mud at the end of a long grueling mixing session.

Admit it - I can't be the only one, right?

Like Many, I searched the net for anything about mixing. The few sites that offered Paid tutorials were charging an absolute arm & a leg for a limited number of recipes - it would have costed a small fortune. And then a miracle happened. Are you ready for good news?

I saw an entry on Maggie Maggio's site (yes, the Ruler of the Realm of Color) referring to a system in development -  BreakThroughColour.  Instead of giving color recipes... it gave you a collection of CMYK cards - each card was a different color with ratio's for color mixing. I was so excited - I was finally going to mix fail safe colors. I was prepared to spend over $150- for an intro special being offered. Turned out the option to 'invest' had ended a few hours before. 

Turned out to be a Great blessing!

$150- is a pretty big chunk of change (at least in my corner of the world). I set out to learn all I could about CMYK color mixing because... with Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, K (Black) & White... we can mix EVERY color in the rainbow. In the video above you see some screenshots of what I finally found... the Galaxy Gauge Color Pro System. They call it an 8 in 1 system... I count even more than eight!

Some of the PRO Kit & ToolBox Features

Color Harmonizer Color Wheel - Mix Ratios on every Color (168 ratio recipes)

Color Directory Chart - 78 'at a glance' ratio recipes

36 different 36 color charts - each color has ratio recipes

Palette matching guide  - again each color has mixing ratios

Complete ratio's for ALL tints & hues

30 Black to gray variation ratio recipes (seriously)

Pocket guide - 168 + 24 separate colors & ratios for color 'on the go'

Separate 'Soft Palette' Neutrals Guide with mixing ratio's
A large vinyl ruler - great for slicing canes ultra thin & uniform


Selling for 80% UNDER other System ~ $29.95 usd + s/h

So there you have it. IF you were also of the 'Color Challenged' group as I was, fret no more. Now, I will address the only drawback I could find.

CMYK color mixing is ultimately used for mixing paint pigment. Since the pigment in polymer clay fluctuates slightly, you may need to add a pinch more of this or that on occasion. But I have found it's often so close that it's not a problem EXCEPT with black. Black pigmentation is Very intense in polymer so I always mix the C-M-Y & then mix in the black in teansy increments. 

Ohhh, another Huge Great Perk... 

Every piece has a heavy laminate covering, dirty fingerprints wipe right off - Yeah!!! 

Looking for a ratio mixing system for only $14.95 + s/h?

They sell the Pocket 'ToolBox' kit - ALL the ratio's in 1/2 the size & at 1/2 the price - Crazy wonderful!

I picked up both & am absolutely tickled pink!!!

Trot on over to Galaxy Gauge's website & master 'all things color' today! 

PRO Graphic Design Set -$29.95         http://www.galaxygauge.com/p_set_grd.html 

Pocket ToolBox Set - $14.95               http://www.galaxygauge.com/p_set_ptb.html

I highly recommend Both IF your budget allows.

Happy Claying 

Create Palette Chips... for Free

As an artist, I see color inspiration everywhere. But, how do we lift the exact colors from that perfect photo? My solution is the Free program... Snap It by Sherwin Williams. There are several fun ways to play with this lovely toy.

1:  Go to there site & they will give you a BookMark add-on. Simply drag it to your BookMarks bar & any time you see color that moves you online, simply click the button & you are off & running. 20 seconds till Fab palette - WooHoo!

2:  Upload any photo from your computer & it will create your Palette in seconds.

3:  You can create an account for free. With the account you can save all your palettes created for future reference. You can also surf a selection of thousands of other users palettes.

Think Outside the Box:
The only downside is that saved palettes only save your 5 top picks, the 1st row of colors in the left column. IF you want to keep ALL 10 selections... here's an easy fix.

Install FireShot. It is available as both a FREE FireFox & Chrome add-on. While the 10 selections available are visible, take a screenshot of  'selected area & save'.

FREE Snap It Link:  https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color/color-selection-tools/chip-it/

ALERT:  Now the Million Dollar question, are you ready?

How would you like to take ANY color chip - ANY color imaginable... & easily turn that color into a perfect matching clay recipe? Don't miss my next post where I will be giving you the answer to that question.

For now, Happy Claying... & Chipping!  

Master Carol Simmons - Kaleidoscope Canes

http://cpliz.com/Videos/SimmonsInspiration/index.html
Without a doubt, Carol Simmons is the Queen of the Kaleidoscope Cane. Her use of color & considering every aspect of her form use & placement is breath-taking! I watch her blog:  carolsimmonsdesigns.com  & have learned a lot following her posts. I am placing a tab link on the top of the page with Carol's step by step instructions for building a Master Kaleidoscope cane.

Carol teaches classes all around the world. If you should see her coming to your neck of the woods, you can sign up to attend through her website.

Meanwhile, enjoy the Kaleidoscope Lesson in the Tab at the top of the page for her instructions for building a Master Cane. This was copied directly from her site... I'm not foolish enough to tamper with perfection. Here is the link directly to her site. Enjoy All her posts, they are gems of polymer wisdom!

http://carolsimmonsdesigns.com/2013/building-a-master-cane-component-canes/

Reposted within this site under Kaleidoscope tab:   

http://clayplayliz.blogspot.com/p/kaleidoscope.html

 

Pdf of Lesson - Click Here