Saturday, August 31, 2013
Dollar Store Mylar or Paper Backed Foil - PolymerClayTV
Foil paper, or foil sheeting, is a thin coating of shiny mylar on a paper or clear plastic backing. It resembles gold and silver leaf but it is more durable and much less expensive. In addition, there are far more colors of foil paper than just gold or silver. Some foil paper is washable, meaning that it can be used on clothing. Other surfaces suitable for foil paper are polymer clay, paper, leather, wood, glass, plastic and ceramics. Different types of adhesives can be used for applying foil paper, and some surfaces do not require adhesive at all. Uncured Polymer Clay needs no adhesive.
1 Prepare the item to be foiled. Make sure it is clean and can take the application of the adhesive you are using. Some surfaces, such as polymer clay, will not need an adhesive.
2 Apply the adhesive to the surface. Use liquid glue or double-sided tape and make sure the adhesive is recommended by the foil paper maker. Glue can be wet or dry for the application of the foil. (Skip adhesive step for polymer clay).
3 Place the foil paper foil side down on the adhesive.
4 Burnish the foil with your fingertip with firm pressure. Do not move the sheet of foil. Make sure to burnish every part of the surface that the foil will cover.
5 Peel the foil sheet away from the surface with a quick, smooth motion, leaving the foil on the surface. If you have blank areas where the foil did not adhere, repeat the previous two steps on the blank areas with a different part of the foil sheet.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Polymer Clay Washer Pendant - Anna Boyd
White glue is TLS - liquid clay. Brush used is called a clay sculpting brush. I got mine at dickblick.
http://www.annaboydcreations.blogspot.com
Home Made Extruded Molds + Projects - PolymerClay TV
Would make an Awesome keychain to clip on purse strap or mans belt loop!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Silicone Mold Release Agents - SmoothOn.com
http://www.smooth-on.com/faq_display.php?faq_id=19&cID=1
*The writer of this site uses a homemade silicon & the below mentioned Krylon Acrylic spray (ie: for fabric & porous non edible applications) or the diluted Vaseline when more practical Am considering trying the below mentioned SuperSeal™.
Although silicone mold rubber (Mold Max®, OOMOO® and Smooth-Sil®) won’t stick to much and has the best release properties of the most common mold making materials used today, it may stick to surfaces with open pores (open grain wood, very dry plaster, concrete, etc.). It will also bond to glass, surfaces coated with shellac and itself (which is an advantage if you need to add new silicone to an already cured silicone mold.
Some tips for sealing a Model Prior to Applying Silicone
• Use an acrylic spray such as Krylon Crystal Clear®.
• Use petroleum jelly thinned with mineral spirits (be careful not to leave brush strokes – rubber will pick them up and they’ll show on the mold surface.
• Use a wax such as Sonite Wax™ (from Smooth-On) or Butcher’s Wax (Home Depot). Again, be careful not to leave brush strokes on the model.
• Use SuperSeal™ (from Smooth-On). Advantage: It is a soap blend that doesn’t interfere with surface detail and can be completely removed from the model surface with warm water after use.
• Ease Release® 200 is also effective for releasing silicone rubber from various surfaces.
• Don’t wipe model down with alcohol prior to applying silicone rubber.
• Don’t Use Shellac! – shellac contains alcohol and the rubber will bond to the model.
• Don’t use a release agent that contains silicone (Universal® Mold Release). These types of release agents may act as a bonding primer for silicone rubber. Use only Ease Release® 200.
And, As Always – Don’t Risk It. If you have doubts about the compatibility of a sealer and/or release agent with a rubber, do a small test first on a non-critical piece
How to Release Silicone from Silicone:
To release silicone rubber from silicone rubber, use a release agent that does not contain a significant amount of silicone oil.
Mann’s Ease Release® 200 was made especially for releasing silicone rubber from silicone rubber and other surfaces. It goes on as a light mist coating and will not interfere with surface detail.
Option: you can also use petroleum jelly thinned with a solvent such as mineral spirits. Make sure you don’t leave brush strokes on the cured rubber’s surface as they will be reflected in the mold
NOTE: Uncured polymer is PVA based - cured Polymer must use release agent
Why didn't my mold rubber cure?
A: This is called "cure inhibition" Cure inhibition occurs when a surface contaminate prevents a material from curing as expected.
Experiencing Inhibition When Making A Mold – When making a mold, cure inhibition occurs when contaminants on a model surface prevent the liquid mold rubber from properly curing. While the cured rubber mold may look fine, you will discover that inhibition occurred at the interface between the rubber and the model’s surface. The rubber will be sticky and not fully cured.
For example, applying latex, urethane or silicone rubber directly over a model made of clay containing sulfur will result in cure inhibition. The sulfur in the clay is preventing the rubber from curing. The rubber may appear fine on the outside, but anywhere the rubber touched the clay, it is sticky and will never cure.
Remedy: Apply a suitable sealer.
Not Allowing A Sealing Agent To Dry or time to “flash off” prior to applying release agent or mixing and applying mold rubber over your model.
Remedy: After applying the required number of coats, let your sealing agent dry thoroughly (30 minutes should be enough) before applying release agent (if necessary) or mold rubber.
Be aware; Humidity will affect the evaporation rate of solvents. The more humid the environment, the longer a sealer or sealer / release combination will take to dry. In more humid environments (80% RH), these solvents can take a couple of days to dry or may never dry depending on the solvent.
Also, if you use a solvent based sealer such as shellac or acrylic and then use a liquid release agent over the top of that, the solvent in the liquid release may "re-liquify" the shellac or acrylic and additional time is necessary to let everything dry.
Applying Rubber Into/Over Rubber - Some mold rubbers are not compatible with others. For example, condensation cure silicones will not cure when applied against an addition cure silicone, and vice-versa.
Minimizing Cure Inhibition – Read the technical data sheet for the products you are using. It should tell you under what circumstances inhibition would occur and what you can do to prevent it. For example, applying a sealing agent to a sulfur clay model before applying mold rubber will prevent cure inhibition in most cases.
*The writer of this site uses a homemade silicon & the below mentioned Krylon Acrylic spray (ie: for fabric & porous non edible applications) or the diluted Vaseline when more practical Am considering trying the below mentioned SuperSeal™.
Although silicone mold rubber (Mold Max®, OOMOO® and Smooth-Sil®) won’t stick to much and has the best release properties of the most common mold making materials used today, it may stick to surfaces with open pores (open grain wood, very dry plaster, concrete, etc.). It will also bond to glass, surfaces coated with shellac and itself (which is an advantage if you need to add new silicone to an already cured silicone mold.
Some tips for sealing a Model Prior to Applying Silicone
• Use an acrylic spray such as Krylon Crystal Clear®.
• Use petroleum jelly thinned with mineral spirits (be careful not to leave brush strokes – rubber will pick them up and they’ll show on the mold surface.
• Use a wax such as Sonite Wax™ (from Smooth-On) or Butcher’s Wax (Home Depot). Again, be careful not to leave brush strokes on the model.
• Use SuperSeal™ (from Smooth-On). Advantage: It is a soap blend that doesn’t interfere with surface detail and can be completely removed from the model surface with warm water after use.
• Ease Release® 200 is also effective for releasing silicone rubber from various surfaces.
• Don’t wipe model down with alcohol prior to applying silicone rubber.
• Don’t Use Shellac! – shellac contains alcohol and the rubber will bond to the model.
• Don’t use a release agent that contains silicone (Universal® Mold Release). These types of release agents may act as a bonding primer for silicone rubber. Use only Ease Release® 200.
And, As Always – Don’t Risk It. If you have doubts about the compatibility of a sealer and/or release agent with a rubber, do a small test first on a non-critical piece
How to Release Silicone from Silicone:
To release silicone rubber from silicone rubber, use a release agent that does not contain a significant amount of silicone oil.
Mann’s Ease Release® 200 was made especially for releasing silicone rubber from silicone rubber and other surfaces. It goes on as a light mist coating and will not interfere with surface detail.
Option: you can also use petroleum jelly thinned with a solvent such as mineral spirits. Make sure you don’t leave brush strokes on the cured rubber’s surface as they will be reflected in the mold
NOTE: Uncured polymer is PVA based - cured Polymer must use release agent
Why didn't my mold rubber cure?
A: This is called "cure inhibition" Cure inhibition occurs when a surface contaminate prevents a material from curing as expected.
Experiencing Inhibition When Making A Mold – When making a mold, cure inhibition occurs when contaminants on a model surface prevent the liquid mold rubber from properly curing. While the cured rubber mold may look fine, you will discover that inhibition occurred at the interface between the rubber and the model’s surface. The rubber will be sticky and not fully cured.
For example, applying latex, urethane or silicone rubber directly over a model made of clay containing sulfur will result in cure inhibition. The sulfur in the clay is preventing the rubber from curing. The rubber may appear fine on the outside, but anywhere the rubber touched the clay, it is sticky and will never cure.
Remedy: Apply a suitable sealer.
Not Allowing A Sealing Agent To Dry or time to “flash off” prior to applying release agent or mixing and applying mold rubber over your model.
Remedy: After applying the required number of coats, let your sealing agent dry thoroughly (30 minutes should be enough) before applying release agent (if necessary) or mold rubber.
Be aware; Humidity will affect the evaporation rate of solvents. The more humid the environment, the longer a sealer or sealer / release combination will take to dry. In more humid environments (80% RH), these solvents can take a couple of days to dry or may never dry depending on the solvent.
Also, if you use a solvent based sealer such as shellac or acrylic and then use a liquid release agent over the top of that, the solvent in the liquid release may "re-liquify" the shellac or acrylic and additional time is necessary to let everything dry.
Applying Rubber Into/Over Rubber - Some mold rubbers are not compatible with others. For example, condensation cure silicones will not cure when applied against an addition cure silicone, and vice-versa.
Minimizing Cure Inhibition – Read the technical data sheet for the products you are using. It should tell you under what circumstances inhibition would occur and what you can do to prevent it. For example, applying a sealing agent to a sulfur clay model before applying mold rubber will prevent cure inhibition in most cases.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Barb's Faux Opal - Barbara Reider
Materials for Faux Opals:
- 1/4 block of Premo Translucent 006
- Kidney Bean sized ball of Sculpey Bright Green
- Kidney Bean sized ball of Sculpey Bright Turquoise
- Reddish/salmon colored glitter (make sure glitter is heat resistant)
- Wet sandpaper in 250, 400 & 600
- Tissue blade or other razor sharp knife
- Pasta machine (this is necessary to get the thinnest of clays)
- Flat glass pane or ceramic tile for baking
- Ice water
- Water based finish like Flecto Varathane or Future acrylic floor finish
Instructions for Faux Opals:
- Condition all the clay pieces. To condition, warm in hands, rolling around until the clay is pliable.
- Take half of the Premo translucent Polymer Clay and put through the pasta machine on the lowest (thickest) setting, creating a slab of translucent clay.
- Chop the green and turquoise Sculpey Polymer Clay into tiny bits and spread the bits out on your work surface.
- Take the slab of translucent Polymer Clay and press into the bits of green and turquoise Polymer Clay. Turn over and press the other side into the colored Polymer Clay. Remember that "LESS IS MORE" when adding the colored clay. Do not overdo as the colors should not mix too much with the translucent.
- Roll into a snake.
- Cut into small sections, each the size of a large pea, and make a coiled snake from each section of Polymer Clay. Each "pea" should be slightly smaller than you need, as the finished cabochon will have a bit more clay added to it.
- Roll the Polymer Clay into a round ball. At this point you can add more colored Polymer Clay if you have too much translucent, but you must then repeat Step 5 to mix the colors.
- Decide which part of the pattern is going to be seen. For best results, use a side with some translucent and some colored swirls showing.
- Dip the good side of the Polymer Clay ball into the glitter, so that the glitter adheres in spots. Remember that "LESS IS MORE" when adding the glitter. For best results, do not make the glitter very thick, as the variation in color and sparkle are a part of an Opal. Additionally, the color should be asymetrically dispersed, as is the color of real Opals.
- Take the rest of the translucent Premo and put through the pasta machine at the highest (thinnest) setting, making a very thin sheet of translucent Polymer Clay. I used the #7 setting.
- Carefully cover the good side of the Polymer Clay ball with a single layer of the thin sheet of translucent Polymer Clay. This should cover the entire Polymer Clay ball. Trim away any excess. Roll the ball in your hands to bind the thin sheet of translucent Polymer Clay to the ball of Polymer Clay.
- Press the bad side of the sphere into the glass pane. Shape the good side into an oval to make a cabochon bead.
- Bake at the recommended temperature and time.
- Immerse Polymer Clay beads in ice water immediately after taking out of the oven. This enhances the translucence of the Polymer Clay.
- Sand each Polymer Clay bead using the wet sandpaper, starting at about 250, then 400 and 600 grit. It is important to go to a higher number in order. If you like sanding, there is no reason not to go further.
- Coat with at least 2 thin coats of acrylic finish (Future or Flecto). Use a good soft brush to minimize bubbles. Dry between coats.
Your Opals are ready to be used for jewelry or as embellishments for other projects!
Ancient Images Faux Fossils - PolyformProducts
Polyform.com
STEP 1
Condition a small piece of clay and roll into a sheet just a little thicker than 1/8”. Cut two circles with the circle cutter. Cut about 1/3 of the circle away to create a rounded half circle. Repeat with the second piece of clay.
STEP 2
With the needle tool, pierce the clay piece vertically along the center axis. Bake according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the package.
STEP 3
With the clay blade, trim the edges lightly around the shapes. Carve some gouges and scratches randomly into the surface on both sides.
STEP 4
Apply two or more colors of paint on the surface and wipe excess away with a paper towel or tissue. Rub the paint thoroughly into the scratches and gouges in the surface as these areas will take the color much more deeply. Allow acrylic paint to dry, or if using oil paints, the drying can be sped up by returning the clay pieces to the oven for 10 minutes.
STEP 5
Draw with a permanent marker lines, shapes, or any desired image or pattern. Form a spiral at one end of a 3” piece of wire. Add accent beads and the clay bead. Form a wrapped loop at the top and attach the earring hook. Repeat for the second earring.
5 Color Beads - Silas Stone
SilasStone.com
STEP #1 Roll balls of clay in different color. I use Gold will be use for accent color only because it is so soft.
Step #2 With pasta machine, roll a sheet of Black, cut it in half. Roll a sheet of White, then put it between 2 sheets of Black, press down lightly. Cut thin slides from the stack, wrap the ribbon around the beads.
Step #3 Cut some of the Black&White ribbon into small pieces, stick them on the beads, in pattern or randomly. Roll each ball lightly to press the ribbon or small pieces down.
STEP #4 Make a small snake of clay, cut into tiny little pieces, roll them into small little balls and flatten them with your fingernail. Stick that flat circle on to the ball. Like so.
STEP #5 See how many different way you can use those Black & White ribbons, and the tiny polka dots.
STEP #6 Add more details with tiny dots and tiny snake of Gold or contrast color. For example, put white dot on black dot. Like so.
Step #2 With pasta machine, roll a sheet of Black, cut it in half. Roll a sheet of White, then put it between 2 sheets of Black, press down lightly. Cut thin slides from the stack, wrap the ribbon around the beads.
Step #3 Cut some of the Black&White ribbon into small pieces, stick them on the beads, in pattern or randomly. Roll each ball lightly to press the ribbon or small pieces down.
STEP #4 Make a small snake of clay, cut into tiny little pieces, roll them into small little balls and flatten them with your fingernail. Stick that flat circle on to the ball. Like so.
STEP #5 See how many different way you can use those Black & White ribbons, and the tiny polka dots.
STEP #6 Add more details with tiny dots and tiny snake of Gold or contrast color. For example, put white dot on black dot. Like so.
I press the beads down lightly in the picture.
Here are one of the finished bracelet. I strung the beads on the stretchy cord with a copper spacer beads.
I wonder how many different beads I can make for just using 5 color clay. What do you think? Up to the challenge, anyone?
4 Color Mica Mokume Gane - Polymer Clay Central
PolymerClayCentral.com
Supplies:
- 4 Different Colors of Polymer Clay (2 Light Colors, 2 Dark Colors)
- Pasta Machine
- Tissue Blade
- Shade Tex Texture Sheet
- Misting Bottle of Water
Step 1:Roll out all 4 colors of clay on the thickest setting of the pasta machine. Stack one of your light colored clays and one of your dark colored clays and run them through the pasta machine on the thickest setting.
Step 2:Stack the other light colored clay on top of the left over dark colored clay and run them through the pasta machine, again on the thickest setting.
Step 3: Place the first stack on top of the second stack so the the layers go light, dark, light, dark. You will have 4 layers of clay in this sheet. Run this combined stack through the pasta machine on the thickest setting.
Step 4: Cut the combined sheet in half, and then stack the two halves. You will now have 8 layers of clay in this stack. Run this stack through the pasta machine on the thickest setting.
Step 5: Cut the sheet in half again, and stack. You now have 16 layers of clay in the sheet. Run through pasta machine on the thickest setting.
Step 6: Mist your texture sheet with water, and put your layered sheet of clay on it.
Step 7: Run the texture sheet and clay through the pasta machine on the thickest setting. Let the textured clay rest for a while before moving on to the next step.
Step 8: Using a very sharp tissue blade, begin to slice off the raised bumps from the textured sheet of clay. Slightly curving your blade helps, and you can brush off those pesky little pieces of clay from the sheet with your fingertip. Don't slice too deeply!!
Pandora Beads from Polymer - 01Doha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv1wpfrr_qw
Where to get Bead Cores:
"Over the Rainbow": http://www.polymerclay.com.au/advance...
but you can get them on ebay also: http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/Jewellery-
Saturday, August 17, 2013
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