Color Swatch Binder For Baked Polymer Clay Chips

00:00:03 –> 00:00:08 Hi guys, it’s Cindy Lietz, your Polymer Clay Tutor and today’s Studio Tip, I’m going to show

00:00:08 –> 00:00:12 you how to set up a Polymer Clay Color Swatch Book.

00:00:12 –> 00:00:20 Now, I– in a lot of creative industries, people put together color swatches for things

00:00:20 –> 00:00:27 like fabric, thread, paints, wallpaper, that kind of thing so that you get a feel for what

00:00:27 –> 00:00:31 the color will look like in different environments and you can do the same kind of thing with

00:00:31 –> 00:00:33 polymer clay.

00:00:33 –> 00:00:38 Now, with polymer clay, can look quite different between when it’s baked and when it’s raw

00:00:38 –> 00:00:44 so making up some baked color chips is a neat idea but it would be best if you had somewhere

00:00:44 –> 00:00:52 to keep track of it so you knew what the colors were and how – how if they were really organized,

00:00:52 –> 00:00:53 you would be able to check through them.

00:00:53 –> 00:00:59 So that’s what I’ve done here, is I’ve set up a book and now, this is a big project because

00:00:59 –> 00:01:04 there’s so many different kinds of brands and so many different colors that it can take

00:01:04 –> 00:01:08 a while but I– this so– this is a work in progress but this is what I’ve set up so far.

00:01:08 –> 00:01:17 Now, I’ve got all the different colors of different chips in a book where I’ve got each

00:01:17 –> 00:01:20 of the color listed out and the brands.

00:01:20 –> 00:01:26 Now, the last little while, I’ve been talking a lot about planners and setting up inventory

00:01:26 –> 00:01:31 systems and that kind of thing and I showed you, and if you haven’t seen the video you

00:01:31 –> 00:01:37 can go check it out how to find out, how to do color charts of the inks and the paints

00:01:37 –> 00:01:42 and the things that you have in your studio so that you’re not double buying them and

00:01:42 –> 00:01:49 during that process of looking for color charts and things, I came across a blogger, a craft

00:01:49 –> 00:01:57 blogger, by the name of Jennifer McGuire and she has this really neat color swatch system

00:01:57 –> 00:02:01 for doing swatches for inks.

00:02:01 –> 00:02:08 Now, so she’s got these these swatches that you can print out and then put your own colored

00:02:08 –> 00:02:15 inks on and this happens to be the one for the Distress Ink and I found in her stuff

00:02:15 –> 00:02:20 and I’ll make sure to put– if you go to my website at polymerclaytutor.com, I’ll make

00:02:20 –> 00:02:28 sure to have a link to Jennifer McGuire’s printables and stuff but these are all free

00:02:28 –> 00:02:35 but her– she’s got this one of her printables for the swatches is an editable one, that’s

00:02:35 –> 00:02:41 an easy word to say– and so you can edit the fields and put whatever you like into

00:02:41 –> 00:02:47 the– into the sections and I realized that would be perfect for doing the polymer clay chips.

00:02:47 –> 00:02:54 So what I’ve done, is where it says on her sheet, ink color and company name, I typed

00:02:54 –> 00:03:01 in all the different colors and the brands of the ones that I wanted to print out.

00:03:01 –> 00:03:03 So I’ve got here all my Premo colors.

00:03:03 –> 00:03:09 I even added the number because– because I do color mixing recipes and I want to make

00:03:09 –> 00:03:12 sure to be very precise on the right name and everything.

00:03:12 –> 00:03:18 So I put the color White with the number and then the brand Premo underneath.

00:03:18 –> 00:03:24 So I’ve done this for all of the Premo colors and she’s got a very neat system.

00:03:24 –> 00:03:30 I mean, originally, I was thinking maybe I’ll do this up myself but since her system is

00:03:30 –> 00:03:33 so clever, I thought I would go with that and then just send you guys there.

00:03:33 –> 00:03:35 For now, anyways.

00:03:35 –> 00:03:43 So one of the things that’s clever about it is that she’s got these– the way to cut it out.

00:03:43 –> 00:03:49 So, if you can see here, she’s got the instructions on the side so you can print it out if you

00:03:49 –> 00:03:55 forget what– what I was telling you about but it’s quite simple, there’s a little X

00:03:55 –> 00:04:01 at the top here with a registration mark underneath and then a matching registration mark here.

00:04:01 –> 00:04:05 So you just put this in your cutter or you could cut it out with a pair of scissors if you want.

00:04:05 –> 00:04:12 It would take a while but, you just cut from the X down to the registration mark here and

00:04:12 –> 00:04:15 you do that each time all the way down the paper.

00:04:15 –> 00:04:19 So basically, what you first end up–and you have to do that first– you end up with this

00:04:19 –> 00:04:24 sheet that’s sort of like a fringe with all these little cut pieces that are loose but

00:04:24 –> 00:04:26 they’re still attached to this part here.

00:04:26 –> 00:04:32 Then you turn sideways and you cut it from this registration mark down to this one all

00:04:32 –> 00:04:36 the way down and then the pieces also to fall apart and you end up with these little squares

00:04:36 –> 00:04:42 like this that are really nicely thought out, they’re clean-lined because she didn’t put

00:04:42 –> 00:04:44 the lines all the way down the sheet.

00:04:44 –> 00:04:49 They just had the registration marks so they’re nice and clean looking and then with the name

00:04:49 –> 00:04:51 and everything on it.

00:04:51 –> 00:04:55 Then what you can do is put them into these pocket pages.

00:04:55 –> 00:05:03 Now I happen to be using the a six-by-eight size because this also can go into my planner.

00:05:03 –> 00:05:13 There are also versions out there that are 8 1/2 by 11 but the pocket size is 2? x 2?,

00:05:13 –> 00:05:15 so here’s the ones I’ve been using.

00:05:15 –> 00:05:19 They are from simple stories– Snap!

00:05:19 –> 00:05:29 Simple Stories also Project Life does 2×2 pocket pages and– but the larger ones that

00:05:29 –> 00:05:33 you get you can put into a regular three ring binder.

00:05:33 –> 00:05:39 They are called coin– coin pockets or coin pocket pages something like that there for

00:05:39 –> 00:05:42 storing on collectible coins in them.

00:05:42 –> 00:05:50 So they’re quite available out there you can do it that way and all you need to do and

00:05:50 –> 00:05:57 you have to– now, I’ve done this in some previous videos where I’ve cut out mixed up

00:05:57 –> 00:06:03 polymer clay and then I baked it on a tile or piece of paper on the tile that, kind of

00:06:03 –> 00:06:07 thing and then once they’re baked you can use them.

00:06:07 –> 00:06:13 Do not try to put them in raw because they’ll stick to the plastic and they’ll leach out

00:06:13 –> 00:06:18 but make sure you bake them first and then all you need to do is glue them to your little

00:06:18 –> 00:06:19 piece of paper.

00:06:19 –> 00:06:24 I just use like a double-sided tape runner, just put a little dab of tape on the back

00:06:24 –> 00:06:29 of my colored baked color chip and then just glued it on and then slipped into the pocket.

00:06:29 –> 00:06:36 The nice thing is that these pockets are nice and deep you can put them double sided so

00:06:36 –> 00:06:42 you can get two in each pocket and then because you can remove them from here, you can easily,

00:06:42 –> 00:06:48 you can just slide them out you can match them up with the with another one, you know,

00:06:48 –> 00:06:52 you could make up little pallets you can see what they look like.

00:06:52 –> 00:06:58 Also, if a color gets discontinued you can just remove it or if they add colors to the

00:06:58 –> 00:07:02 color line, you can add them in and that kind of thing so that’s quite nice about being

00:07:02 –> 00:07:05 able to remove them in and out from the pockets.

00:07:05 –> 00:07:11 So I’ve done that for all of my colors here so this is the Premo line.

00:07:11 –> 00:07:19 I happen to own every color of Premo and these color chips baked up really make a difference

00:07:19 –> 00:07:27 on some of the colors especially, especially these Translucents or the Opal clay, the glitters,

00:07:27 –> 00:07:31 being able to see what they look like baked makes a big difference on how are what you

00:07:31 –> 00:07:34 might use it for what kind of project you’ll use it for.

00:07:34 –> 00:07:38 I also have this setup for Soufflé Clay.

00:07:38 –> 00:07:44 Now, this is a much smaller line so it only– I only have this side and most of this side

00:07:44 –> 00:07:52 done and it has the– the clay itself has a little bit of a texture to it so I can see

00:07:52 –> 00:07:53 that in the pocket.

00:07:53 –> 00:07:57 You may not be able to see that but you can see it if you slid it out of the sheet.

00:07:57 –> 00:08:02 Then I’ve got in here, I’ve got my Fimo Professional.

00:08:02 –> 00:08:07 Now, you can see I’ve got a bunch of blanks here because it’s such a large line of colors

00:08:07 –> 00:08:09 that I want to mix up.

00:08:09 –> 00:08:14 I printed up the sheets ahead of time but I haven’t got all the color samples made up.

00:08:14 –> 00:08:19 Now in a previous video, I talked about the Fimo Professional Color line their True Color

00:08:19 –> 00:08:27 Line and the color mixing system that they have and you can see here, they have a chart

00:08:27 –> 00:08:31 with all the different formulas for the different colors in the line.

00:08:31 –> 00:08:37 So what I’ve done is I’ve mixed up the center line here, this full rainbow of of formulas

00:08:37 –> 00:08:45 here and I’ve added them to my pockets on the top row only of each of these sheets and

00:08:45 –> 00:08:49 you can see it goes on and on for pages because the chart will make up loads and loads of

00:08:49 –> 00:08:51 colors.

00:08:51 –> 00:08:55 Then for the colors that are underneath here, so what they do is they take the center line

00:08:55 –> 00:09:02 and they they tint it White– with white and they have the lighter shade tents and then

00:09:02 –> 00:09:06 they tend to with black and go this way to get the darker tints.

00:09:06 –> 00:09:12 So what I’ve done for my pockets, because there’s only four down here I’ve got the base

00:09:12 –> 00:09:19 color here and then I put the light ones tints on this side and the dark on that side.

00:09:19 –> 00:09:24 So once I fin– finished mixing these all up, I will have all these light shades here

00:09:24 –> 00:09:26 and all the dark shades on the back side.

00:09:26 –> 00:09:30 It’s going to be very pretty and full of a rainbow basically.

00:09:30 –> 00:09:35 And now, like I said, this kind of thing can take a long time but it’s kind of one of those

00:09:35 –> 00:09:40 relaxing things and it’s a real good kickstarter for getting your creativity going.

00:09:40 –> 00:09:45 Say you feel a little bit stuck, what you do is you start mixing up some colors and

00:09:45 –> 00:09:50 you make up a color chart like this or a Swatch Book and you get back into the clay and you

00:09:50 –> 00:09:57 get a feeling for excitement for the color and it gets your– gets your motor running

00:09:57 –> 00:09:58 again.

00:09:58 –> 00:10:04 Now I’m– I’ve got another brand of clay here, there was a I did a video on a while back

00:10:04 –> 00:10:10 they are from it’s a company out of Brazil called PVClay so I did up their samples.

00:10:10 –> 00:10:19 I didn’t get every color of his line of clay so I just have a few samplings here and one

00:10:19 –> 00:10:23 on the back side but the nice thing is, if I get some more of the different colors I

00:10:23 –> 00:10:29 can pop these out and reorder them if I want to.

00:10:29 –> 00:10:36 Just the last video I believe it was, I did some color chips for PearlEx Powders so what

00:10:36 –> 00:10:44 I did was I did these split chips that have half white and half black clay, then I took

00:10:44 –> 00:10:48 PearlEx Powder, so in this case it was the Pink Gold PearlEx Powder and I rubbed it on

00:10:48 –> 00:10:53 the top of the White and Black chip and then baked those up.

00:10:53 –> 00:11:01 So now, I have the color chips from that video that I did and I’ve done up the the charts

00:11:01 –> 00:11:07 here or the little, the swatches for them and I have all my PearlEx powders here in

00:11:07 –> 00:11:08 the same book.

00:11:08 –> 00:11:14 I also only have four Perfect Pearls so I put them in the book the same way as the perfect–

00:11:14 –> 00:11:19 or as the PearlEx Powders because they are similar type product and.

00:11:19 –> 00:11:26 So now I’ve got in my book lots of room for lots more color chips lots more color mixing.

00:11:26 –> 00:11:32 This is the perfect kind of thing to do for your color recipes and that kind of thing.

00:11:32 –> 00:11:39 Now, just a quick I sub– talk on that, we are currently working on redoing our color

00:11:39 –> 00:11:45 recipes so I will have them at some point, I will put them into a book like this as well

00:11:45 –> 00:11:53 but we’ve got a new system for being able to print up the color photos see like Doug

00:11:53 –> 00:12:00 did this– shot this photo on a trip that we did then I drew the colors from it and

00:12:00 –> 00:12:02 made a color palette.

00:12:02 –> 00:12:09 Here’s the description of that and then we’ve made up these new color recipe cards that

00:12:09 –> 00:12:14 will also fit into these pockets and then what I would do is mix up this recipe, cut

00:12:14 –> 00:12:18 it out with the little cutter or just just so you know that the size cutter that I’ve

00:12:18 –> 00:12:23 been working with here is a three-quarter inch by three quarter inch square cutter.

00:12:23 –> 00:12:28 You can cut them out by hand, you could use a circle, it wouldn’t matter but then i would

00:12:28 –> 00:12:34 just add those to these color recipes and add them to a binder like that as well.

00:12:34 –> 00:12:41 So that’s a big big project, we’ve got several hundred videos I mean hundred recipes and

00:12:41 –> 00:12:47 that kind of thing so we’re working on that, that’s something to stay tuned for.

00:12:47 –> 00:12:50 Alright, so I hope that was helpful for you.

00:12:50 –> 00:12:57 Go on and make yourself and a swatch book of all of your polymer clay and your own secret

00:12:57 –> 00:13:03 recipes if you’ve got them and put them together all organized and inspiring like this.

00:13:03 –> 00:13:07 Alrighty, so if I hope that was helpful and if it was do let us know if you like this

00:13:07 –> 00:13:13 video and if you’ve got any suggestions for future videos, make sure to leave those in

00:13:13 –> 00:13:18 the comment section below and don’t forget we have done absolutely tons of tons of tons

00:13:18 –> 00:13:23 of tons of videos so there’s a pretty good chance that we have already touched on the

00:13:23 –> 00:13:27 subject that you are looking for so make sure to look through those videos and watch them

00:13:27 –> 00:13:28 if you need to.

00:13:28 –> 00:13:32 Alright, so we’ll see you next time and bye for now.

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