Vol-035-3 Lietz Teardrop Blend Color Shifts PcT Tutorial (Intro)
Video #200: “Cindy, your Teardrop technique has brought a wonderful and sudden change in my way of working with color blends.” ~Debbie-G
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** This post is an introduction to one of our paid tutorials.
I’ve got something very exciting to share today… about a quick and easy way to shift the colors in your Teardrop Blends (or Skinner Blends), like you’ve probably never seen before.
It will have more than a few of you doing that forehead smack thing… just like what happened when I first announced my super simple Teardrop Method way back in February 2009.
“Yes! Quick and Easy Skinner blends! And small Skinner Blend trial sizes!! Brilliant! My hands have been in polymer clay for 8 years. Your Teardrop technique has brought a wonderful and sudden change in my way of working with color blends. Thank you so much for sharing!” ~Debbie-G
“Hi Cindy, Have really been impressed with many of your new techniques… THE LIETZ TEARDROP BLEND IS AWESOME! Believe you should refer to the method as such. YOU HAVE EARNED THE RECOGNITION!!!” ~MJ
I’ve come to realize over the years of working with different art mediums, that sometimes the most revolutionary ideas come in the simplest forms. In fact, some ideas are so simple, the only reason they were not discovered earlier, is that us humans tend to overcomplicate things. Especially artists!
Have you ever tried to read one of those color theory text books with the templates and the formulas… only to have your eyes glaze over in confusion? I know I have… and I’m absolutely passionate about color.
As most of you know by now, my personal approach is to always keep things as simple as possible. Judith Skinner did that when she invented the Skinner Blend in the first place. Up until she came along, artists had been separately mixing up increments of color, and then placing those mixes side by side to create gradient sheets of clay. It was painstakingly tedious work. Judith tapped into her scientific brain to simplify the process by using triangles of clay that resulted in smoother, faster blends. Simply Brilliant!
The Lietz Teardrop Method for blending colors, is still based on the triangle principles that Judith originally identified and built upon. But my approach simplifies the process even more by eliminating all the measuring and cutting that is required when making traditional Skinner Blends.
I actually came up with the Teardrop Blend, purely by accident. It was one of those head slapping moments like Lindsay-W described above, when you say Duh and can’t believe it was that easy. (The phrase “Duh… Winning!” comes to mind right now, but that’s a whole ‘nother story! LOL)
Anyway, the thing is, I recently had another one of those ‘Aha Moments’ with another technique that I’ll refer to as a Teardrop Blend Shift. It is so simple that I didn’t even realize the value of it at first. I mean, shouldn’t making an unlimited number of shades and color ways from a single color blend, be a complicated process? The end result sure looks complicated.
And heck, if it really is that simple, then surely someone else would have already thought of it!? Who knows, maybe they already have. But I’ve certainly not seen anyone talking about it. I guess it takes a simple mind to come up with such simple ideas. Aren’t you glad I am so simple-minded!? :-)
With a polymer clay idea this versatile… this cool… and this easy… every polymer clay artist and crafter really should know how to do it. In fact, for many of my upcoming cane making videos, it will be a prerequisite technique you’ll need to know how to do.
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Thank you Cindy. I love how you take complex concepts and make them so very simple. And you are right... the Teardrop blend makes me happy because it works. The blends are awesome, everyone loves the colors and keeps asking for more. Thanks for changing polyclay from rocket science to as simple as painting rocks!
Cassie C
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Thanks Cindy for the refresher on the Teardrop Blend. This has been such a time saver for me and for a lot of others too, I'm sure. Thanks so much for your valuable contribution to the Polymer Clay community with the Lietz Teardrop Blend!
Dixie Ann S
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Cindy, thank you for another great tutorial. I make a lot of flower canes with Skinner blends, and this will help change the colors a little at a time.
Bonnie K
Transcript coming soon...
Transcript coming soon...
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Hi Cindy, just watched the current color shift video and was going through the list of ‘related videos’ you had provided
anyway got to this one and the ‘modern style pendent’ caught my eye – just sat and looked at it trying to remember if you have ever shown us a tutorial on how to make the blends or cane line up like that – nothing came to mind – could you point me in the right direction
Thank you!
Hi Sherry, I don’t have a tutorial on that pendant. I just cut strips of a shifted blend and alternated the strips, so that each strip was heading in the opposite direction. Of course that probably made no sense at all… lol (I need my hands to teach stuff like that). Maybe I will do a tutorial along those lines one of these days. It does look pretty cool! Thanks for your comment!
Hi Cindy, Thank you for a great tutorial. I love your teardrop method of blending. It certainly does make a rainbow blend so much easier and the inclusion of the colour shift is just wonderful. I found it incredibly helpful and easy to follow, so now i cant wait to get started on a few new projects.
Love this technique, thank you. Melodie
I am new to both polymer clay and tutorials. I have watched a few, including this Teardrop Blend, and they are excellent. You are a gifted artist, Cindy. Thank you!
Well it’s late in the day on May 12th… time to shut down free access to the Teardrop Blend video. From all the wonderful comments you all posted, it looks as though the tutorial was helpful. And for that I feel blessed.
For anyone that missed the complimentary showing and would like to watch video in the members library, the cost is only $9.95 (one time fee). And for this price, not only will you receive the Teardrop video, but you will also get access to three other tutes as well.
The link by my name will take you to the page with more info.
I always enjoy your videos. Thank you for this one on the teardrop shift as well. Your techniques are easy to follow, interesting, and the videos are well done. I always love seeing the closeups. Thanks again!
Thank you for sharing the teardrop and the color shift technique!
Cindy, your tears are wonderful! What an ingenious idea! And the shift part is just fantastic! Thanks for sharing this. If a non member views this video they can see the great production quality and your terrific method of teaching in such a conversational style. If those qualities don’t make them want to join then your absolutely stupid prices should!! Actually, that’s a very smart business decision on your part knowing you’ll get volume sales instead of relying on fewer people at a much higher price. It’s generous of you too, because many more of us receive the benefit of your skills than could otherwise. Thank you for providing such great instruction!
Cindy,
The President of our Guild (Montreal) shared your link and I am so impressed! I love blends but it is so time consuming, this is an amazing technique which I can’t wait to try! Thank you for so generously sharing this wonderful informative video.
Kind regards,
Suzanne
I saw your link posted in our Clay group and am happy I clicked on it! Love your tutorial, not just on the easy blend using your teardrop technique, but the whole shift idea opens up a new world…
I’ve used the multi-colored skinner blends before but it is always such a hassle to get all the triangles to stick together properly (especially when one uses more than 3 colors), then the endless runnings through the pasta machine; your teardrop blend really looks so much easier :) Most surely going to give it a try.
Thank you for your generosity to show us your video. I saw you mentioned the list of all your videos, I’m going to check those out next. Can’t wait to get my hands on some clay…
Wow – such a easy technique. Will definitely be trying it out…. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks so much for sharing this new technique. I have wanted to use skinner blends more, but hated making the triangles and trying to get them to stick together. Your way looks so much easier. It was very generous of you to let us see the tutorial free, too. Really a great discovery!
I’m rather new to PC and skinner blend. I’ve stayed away from it because it is time consuming. However, you’ve just opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me. Thanks soooooo much for sharing this – and free to boot!!
Thanks for the tutorial. Your demo was very clear. The question in class that always comes up is, how do you know when your blend is done. And the answer always seems to be it is done when you like it. But I also seem to remember that a blend can get over processed and muddy. So I find it intriguing that shifting the blend doesn’t over blend it. I will certainly have to experiment soon. Thanks for the tips.
I started studying color recently, this technique will come in very handy. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Hi Cindy, Thank you for a great tutorial. I love your teardrop method of blending. It certainly does make a rainbow blend so much easier and the inclusion of the colour shift is just wonderful. I found it incredibly helpful and easy to follow, so now i cant wait to get started on a few new projects.
Thank You for sharing this very nice short cut, what a great idea.
Cindy your videos are terrific. I have learned so much and really appreciate you taking the time to make them.
Thank you
thank you so much for this free video
Thank you for sharing this video with us! Unfortunately, viewing was difficult due to storms in the area. It made for lousey reception. I get internet via dish satellite. But I got the drift of what you were showing. I had worried, in the past, about squeezing the colors back together that they would get that area muddy. I guess they don’t, or you wouldn’t be doing it.
Perhaps I’ll get another chance to watch this after the weather clears. The time it took to “steam” the video did give me time to write my notes on this!
Thank you
Fabulous…. very, very clear and understandable
love it, I have lots of polymer clay and am a very visual learner. Your process is great and video quality is excellent.
I really love the fact that your process cuts the time to less than half, as I felt that the Skinner Blend was a little time consuming. I am anxious to try the shift method. It opens up a whole new bunch of possibilities to get more shades without buying extra clay. Thanks!
I just did a skinner blend the other day but only felt confident enough to only use two colors. With this new method, the Lietz Blend, it looks so easy to blend more than two colors. I can’t wait to try this!
P.S. I actually watched this on my iPhone. Didn’t think I would be able to view it. It worked. Thanks Cindy & Doug.
Thanks a lot for this wonderful tutorial! Great idea
Wow. I’ve been too busy (or lazy) to try the Skinner blend so far. Now that you’ve made it so much easier to do, I’m ready to experiment with it. Thanks so much!
Love the video and can’t wait to try this. I think I want to try different shades of pink and make the famous roses you taught us to make. The shift in colors would look really natural I think. thank you for making our lives easier!
Thank you, Cindy.
This is a fantastic video! I just joined the club and made it just in time. Now I am really looking forward to all your videos! Can’t wait to try it.
Cindy, What a great video! Such clear directions. I love your teardrop technique and will experiment with it immediately.
Thank you for sharing so generously.
Dearest Cindy,
You go girl ! I just recently checked out the Tear Drop Shift Blend, and loved it! I can sometimes be color challenged and this has really helped me out so very much! So I wanted to let you know how wonderful it was to get such a nice gift. This was a great opportunity for me and I love being a member of this site. I suggest that anyone who wants to learn about polymer clay get signed up fast! It’s a fantastic website I really encourage anyone to check it out once you’re there, you’re hooked!! Cindy you are a warm and sweet lady and I wish you and your family many blessings and keep going with the website, because it would be a great loss to the polymer clay community if yo were gone! ROCK ON GIRLFRIEND !!!!
This is an awesome video, I cant wait to try it!!
Haven’t done much lately with poly clay, but loved your tear drop blend technique and the color shifting – makes me want to get back into it. Thanks Cindy!
Linda B.
Thanks for sharing your technique and tutorial.