Julie Leir-Van Sickle, Craft Gossip | Polymer Clay Tips [News]
“Cindy has a great blog filled with little tid-bits to make bead making easier. Love her clear photos & directions.” ~Julie Leir-Van Sickle
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Since I began publishing this blog way back in February 2008, I’ve received a ton of support from other bloggers. And one of the ways I can show some appreciation is by continuing to link back to the sites that have gone out of their way to help spread the word about the wonderful community and support network that is developing here.
Today, I would like to give a shout-out to Julie Leir-Van Sickle of Craft Gossip. Here is an excerpt from the May 19, 2008 article she wrote…
Julie Leir-Van Sickle
I had a tri-bead roller that sat on my shelf since last year, thanks to Cindy, I’ve actually started using it! I also loved this week’s tip of using old CD cases if you don’t have plexi-glass to roll lentil beads, so clever.
Here is a link to the full article: Polymer Clay Bead Making Tips
Have a look at Julie’s other articles too … and tell her I sentcha :-)
If you would like more information about my Polymer Clay Tutor Members Library, here are some direct links:
- Library Member Benefits and What Others Are Saying
- Order Page for Color Recipe and Video Back Issue Packages
- Become A Full Member at the Library
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Want to chat about today’s post? That’s what the comment section below is for. Scroll Down… We’d love to hear from you!
Or... if you would like to request a topic for a future post, here is the link to do that… PcT Suggestion Box
Beautiful blog.
I’m wondering if you baked your clay long enough
@Sue K.
If you are concerned about certain parts of your sculpture burning you could ‘tent’ them with parchment paper.
@ Sue K: If you follow Cindy’s general rule about baking everything for 1 hour between 265-275 degrees (Premo), you should be OK. They key is to never let the temperature go above 275…so you need a separate oven thermometer to monitor. Watch out for temperature spikes.
As long as you don’t exceed the recommended temp for your clay, you can’t overbake it (even if it’s very small). The premise is that the oven temp usually follows a pattern of highs and lows. If you bake for an hour your clay should have gotten enough time at the recommended temp to be completely cured.
Of course, if you have something that’s really large, you’ll have to bake it longer. I don’t know how big your duck bill is.
If you are suppose to bake 275 for 15 min ea 1/4″ then what about the smaller parts that are connected? Such as a beak on a duck?
@Sonja: Hi there! Polymer clay is an amazing medium — you can make it look like so many cool materials (like stone, wood, ceramics, etc.) As Carolyn explained, the finish of each clay is slightly different right after baking…but you can change it quite a bit by sanding, buffing, applying glazes, powders, paint, resin, etc. What type of project were you trying? Was it a thin piece of clay — or thick?
I’m wondering if you baked your clay long enough. Cindy recommends baking the clay for about an hour at the recommended temperature (and using an oven thermometer to monitor so the clay doesn’t get too hot.) After a complete cure, the cooled clay will be hard…you can sand it very smooth, then buff it to a sheen. You can even make it shine like glass, using a Dremel tool or buffer. If you still think you might have done something wrong, please tell us more about your project. We can try to figure out what happened, and give you advice on what to do next! Cindy also has articles with tons of tips all over this blog, as well as a fantastic beginners course (Polymer Clay Basics Course — link at top of the page.)
Welcome, and best of luck! ~Kat
@Sonja Brekhus – I have never used Fimo so I’m not sure what you mean by rubber looking. Studio by Sculpey has a kind of matte finish. You might like that. Personally I have not noticed much difference in the appearance between Premo! and Kato. And I don’t think either of them look rubbery. These are just my ideas. The best thing for you to do probably is to try a small amount of each to see what appeals most to you.
Which clay looks the least rubbery after being baked…I’m currently using Fimo and I must be doing something wrong because it looks very much like rubber and I’m not happy with the results.
A big heart-felt thanks to you Phaedrakat for saying what you said above. Doug and I really do need all the help we can get in spreading the word about this Polymer Clay Tutor community. There is a ton of free info, help and support here at the blog that is available to anyone who wants to visit. And for us to be able to keep the price of the weekly video tutorials so low, we will definitely need more clayers realizing how much value we provide for the (cheap, cheap) $3.32 price of admission. THANKS AGAIN!!!
By the way, the link by my name goes straight to the article that Lisa Clarke published yesterday. Thanks Carolyn for discovering and pointing out that reference too. Lisa was very kind to give me a spot in her morning coffee feature.
And if you want to read more about Lisa Clarke, I published an article about her way back on August 5, 2008. Here is the link:
Button and Bead Making Expert Lisa Clarke of Polka Dot Creations
And since I am posting references, there is some important health related information worth reading, that Julie Leir-Van Sickle of Craft Gossip shared with regards to fumes from burnt polymer clay.
Wow, where is everyone? I went to visit Craft Gossip, & left a message (both on the old post & the newest.) I’m hoping that they realize what a great website Cindy has here, and how much it’s grown. The site shows a list of resources, but Cindy’s site is not among them…made me feel very sad. Cindy works relentlessly to give us the absolute best videos and tutorials, as well as blog topics and answers to our questions…not to mention she keeps her monthly price down to less than the price of a burger! I hope that more people post here, and over at Craft Gossip~
I’m thrilled, though, to see that Lisa Clarke has done a “Morning Coffee” with Cindy…Yay! I’m getting ready to leave a comment over there, too. It’s nice to see our tutor being recognized…she does so very much for everyone! Not just (just?!) the videos and color palettes, or the creative process & clay play, etc….but also all of the comment-replies, emails, and now all the Facebook stuff, too. It’s an awful lot–read that interview (Carolyn’s comment has the link.) When Cindy was asked about her life, she said, “What life?” Guys — let’s try to help our tutor here…the way she helps us, week after week… :D
@Joyce M – I hope this doesn’t throw this into moderation … when you go to your internet server at the top, leave the left hand stuff up to the dot after the www and then paste what I put in my prior post. If you still can’t get it let me know.
Opps, I hit the “Reply” button. Carolyn, would love to share that website but couldn’t access it. Not computer savvy here, so what do I preface it with? Or, need more info to get there, help, please!
JoyceM
Actually these old commentaries don’t mean too much … at
least not to me. What I really like is what I found today:
Morning Coffee With Cindy Lietz
@carolyn: would love to share that website but couldn’t access it. Not computer savvy here, so what do I preface it with? Or, need more info to get there, help!