Polymer clay canes

I can't be bothered to make any tutorials today... But here are my canes :)

I'm going to make some tutorials on how to make some of them in the future. I hate people who buy them off of the internet! (No offence if you do!) They're so EASY to make. Yes that's right, you MAKE them.

Anyway, before I start myself on a rant, I've decided to make some tips on how I get my canes to work!

Another thing is: I don't bake them, I keep them in a box, It doesn't matter if the sides get dirty.

How to cut canes

At first, I started with circular ones because they're easier to slice. You have to roll the cane with your blade as you cut it, and then it shouldn't deform as badly. If you just push the blade straight through it, it might make the slices go a weird shape, and in some cases, the colours might mix. You don't want that to happen!
With square/rectangular canes, there isn't exactly loads you can do except push the blade through slowly. You might have to reshape the cane with your fingers every now and then. For triangular canes, such as the strawberry cane, slice it down from one of the points. Again, you might have to reshape the cane sometimes.

You can make heart shape canes too, but the problem is (see my purple heart cane), they might end up making a triangle shape. If you want, you can use clay to make the edges of the cane rounded so it's easier to slice.

'Surprise' Polymer Clay Cake Charms

This is an idea I had a long long time ago :) I don't know if anybody has made anything like this but I had the idea to make a pie that was a cake on the inside. When I made it, I decided to make it in to a keyring for my bag, I used the wrong sort of wire by accident :( It fell off my bag, but I found it, so never mind...

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to make a tutorial on this a this point in time...

This is like a little present I made :) Just a blue cube of clay, wrapped up with a yellow strip of clay for the bow.


I decided to make a cake version of it too XD

The strip of clay broke off. D:

Oh, and I made a cupcake that's really a cake too....

Shamballa style hoop earrings

In my Millefiori Shamballa Bracelet post, I mentioned that I wanted to make earrings like this. Since then, I've noticed that there aren't really a lot of tutorials like this at all... I haven't seen any at least (so I'm sorry if there are!). So I've decided to make this tutorial.

You can buy earrings like this on the internet. But it's so much nicer to make them :) (Plus it can be cheaper and you don't have to wait as long!) The only problem is, they're VERY heavy... But I suppose that would also be the case if you bought sterling silver genuine Shamballa beaded earrings off the internet.

Anyway, all you need to make these awesome earrings is memory wire (preferably bracelet sized), round nose pliers, wire cutters, Shamballa cord, jump rings and beads. I used left over cord from Shamballa bracelets.

You can enlarge the pictures if they're too small (which they probably will be!)

First you need the 'base' for the hoop earrings. Cut one hoop off of the memory wire and use your pliers to curl one of the ends of the wire inwards, so it makes a hoop shape like on the picture above.

Now for the fun/hard/artistic part - the square knots :)

Click to enlarge!

If you can't read what my writing says, basically what you have to do is thread your cord underneath the wire, bring the right side over the wire and under the cord on the other side. After that, you need to bring the thread on the other side under the wire and over the thread on the side we started with. It should make a sort of upside down pretzel shape, like in my picture. If you don't get it the first time, don't worry and DON'T give up. Once you learn how, it'll be super easy XD

Pull on each side of the thread until it makes this tight knot :)

Now we have to go in the opposite direction. Don't worry, it's loads easier than it sounds :)

Click to enlarge

I think you'll probably be able to understand it from this picture. It's the same, only in the opposite way. So rather than going over the cord, you go under the cord etc. 

Now you have to repeat these knots in the order I taught you them. Keep going until you think it's ready for the beads to go on :) (If your knots are twisting around like mine are, see the tips below. It's nothing to worry  about, it just makes the earrings look a little different)

You can either put all the beads on at once, or one at a time. 

As you can hopefully see in the pictures, I add each bead then tie a square knot. I don't pull too tightly, just enough so it looks like the bead is in a pink cage. If you want, you can add a bead, then make several knots, then add another etc. It would look good :) but I don't have enough cord...

When you come to the point where you don't want to add any more beads, tie several more square knots and cut off the excess cord. I find it's better to leave a tiny bit of cord at the end so you can glue it down and it won't come undone.

I hope you can see what I mean in this picture :)

OK, now we need to make it so we can attach a fish hook :)

use your pliers to curl the other end in to a hoop shape. Now open a jump ring and thread it through both 'hoops'. Close it, and it should look like the picture at the end.

Now all you have to do is add another jump ring and an earring hook.

And now finally... You're done :D Well, after you make one for your other ear, of course lol!

Tips

I'm not exactly sure why the knots tend to twist around when I make them... It seems to look nice to me, but I think most people would make it so it doesn't twist around. As I said, I don't exactly know why it does that, I'll definitely make a post about it if I find out :D

Remember, you can use whatever colours you want :) Try out different colours to find out what combinations  look the best. You can use as much cord as you want, too. You don't have to make it exactly how I made mine...

Polymer Clay Rose Tutorial

There are already a lot of polymer clay rose tutorials on the internet, but I'd like to share mine. I don't use any cookie cutters, just polymer clay and a craft knife/blade. When it's finished, you can add glitter glue to the petals so it has sparkle like the black ones on the picture.

You'll be rolling out the clay a lot, so you don't have to condition it that much :) If you have a pasta machine, it'll make it loads more easier, but I don't have one so I'm just going to roll it out really thin.







First, you need to either use a pasta machine or rolling pin to roll it out really thin. Don't cut the ends or anything so it's straight, leave it rounded at the ends so it adds to the effect. Now you need to use your fingers to roll the end inwards, like in the picture. While you do this, you need to pinch the end slightly so it makes a cone shape. This is the centre of the rose.

 After that, you need to cut that part off. Curl the top part of it (the part you didn't pinch) outward so it looks more like the petals of the rose.

Sorry it's blurred :(

Now you've made the centre, you need to make the rose petals to go around it.

There should be some clay left over from the first step. Cut it in to little strips and roll them in to equally sized balls. You need to then roll these out in to thin, long oval shapes. Each one will make two petals, so I suggest you only make one at a time. Now cut it in half.

You need to attach them to the centre like this:

I have no idea what happened to the edge of this picture...

Remember to curl the petals out at an angle so it looks more effective :)

As you add the petals, you'll find that the rose starts to take it's shape. Eventually, you'll get this:

You need to cut the end off (like in the third picture), then you're done :)

Tips

You can try making this in lots of different colours, using different colour glitter to 'glaze' it. Black looks really cool with red glitter :D I've even made a glow in the dark one, using the Fimo 'Nightglow' clay. They look awesome to use as jewellery, because it has a flat back you can make them in to a pair of cute stud earrings, you can put them on millefiori style pendants. You can add an eye pin to make it in to a charm. You could also use them for deco den, if that's what you're in to :).

You can put rhinestones on the petals too, I haven't tried it on the roses yet, but it looked cool on the plumeria flowers :)

Just something I'd like to say...

I use a gas oven/cooker so bake my clay. I bake it at gas mark 1/2 or 1. If you don't have a gas oven, just do what it says on the packet. You have to be careful with it, if the oven is too hot, the clay will darken. It won't produce any toxic fumes unless the temperature is really really hot... It's safe to bake at a low temperature. If you bake it too cold, it might not completely harden and might break easier.

As for the time, it all depends on the thickness. You have to bake it for longer than 15 minutes (unless you bake your canes, that's different), but no longer than half an hour. If you leave it any longer, it'll burn. Any shorter, It won't bake thoroughly enough and might break easier.

With your clay you can bake anything metal (though it will go really hot afterwards!) and wood (e.g. toothpicks, bamboo skewers...). There are some glazes you can bake (such as Studio by Sculpey), but you should really check the packet! If you want to make something in to a stud earring, attach the metal post before you bake it. Use TLS to attach it :) If it falls off after you bake it, which it shouldn't, you can glue it back on...

Thanks for reading, I hope you found it useful XD

'Millefiori' Shamballa bracelets

I don't know if anybody's come up with this idea, but I've basically come up with another scrap clay idea :)

I love shamballa bracelets, they're really easy to make, the only problem is that they take a long time to make.

I used a thicker cord than usual because the craft shop only had this cord. But it looks really good, and it's so smooth :D


Another thing is, as I was making the square knots, I noticed they were twisting around. I think this was because the cord was too thick. But it looks really cool, I think XD It makes it look more unique!









The beads

I made the beads out of scrap polymer clay. I put slices from canes I'd already made on them and rolled the beads until they were completely flat. I used quite thick wire to put holes through them. Also, if you make these, remember to make two smaller beads for the end of the cord. Make sure you make them out of the same scrap clay so it all fits together :).

I baked them on gas mark 1 for 15 minutes. It might be better if you bake them on gas mark 1/2 because if you're not careful, the clay will darken. (Lol, why don't they just say what gas mark you need to bake it at on the packet?) I glazed them with Studio by Sculpey glaze this time (You probably won't be able to find it anywhere in the shops because they don't make it any more... Even though it's the BEST glaze ever!)

The pattern

The pattern is very simple once you get used to it, all you need to know is how to make a square knot. I used this website for the pattern at first: http://www.beadbarmy.com/2012/01/the-bead-doctor-tutorial-shamballa-bracelet/ It's a very simple tutorial on how to make the bracelets. When I was first starting out, all on the other websites I found seemed pretty complicated... But this was the one that finally taught me how :D

Another idea I had was to use memory wire to make hoop earrings that have this technique in them. Shamballa bracelet earrings! But it seems some people have already had that idea:

http://rumorsaccessories.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=1&products_id=171

Note: I'm only making this post for people to use as inspiration... If you want to make something like this just do it :) Same goes for all of the ideas I put on here, unless I say otherwise.

Origami inspired earrings

I said a while ago that I wanted to use different things other that polymer clay, so I've moved on to Origami :D

You can see my sister's toys in the
background! XD

I made tiny little cranes :) (Don't try this if you don't have patience!) If cranes are to hard for you, try making tiny flapping birds. They work too.
There is a flap of paper between the bird's wings. You use a needle to push a hole through this, and slide through a small jump ring. Close the ring then you can attach another and add on your earring hook.

This is only one pair of the lucky star earrings I've made, I've also made them with wire wrapped around them. This one, however, if probably the most complex one...

You need to put a piece of wire through each individual star, then attach it all together...






If you don't know any origami and this makes no sense whatsoever to you, here is how to make the origami I used on this post: origami crane, lucky star

If you're really good at origami, you could try making flower earrings. If you're so perfect at origami you've mastered the Kawasaki rose, well done because that is kind of impossible to me! Anyway, you could use that  rose to make jewellery.

It's the end of Summer :(

As always, here in England it's been hard to tell whether it was Summer or Winter... In fact, according to the weatherman, it's been the wettest Summer since 1912...

The good thing is, I start my new school on Tuesday :) It's the best sixth form in my area for art. It's also the biggest one in my area... By a LONG way! The best thing is, I don't have to wear uniform XD

(Lol My sisters watching her programs on TV and they're advertising a documentary about moving up to year 7! I'm moving up to year 12...)