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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Making Do...

Thought you might like to see what I am working on today.  
Here are some polymer clay beads for a lariat style necklace:
 
 
There are more beads to make before they all go into the (toaster) oven. Two or 3 more colors.  Someday, I will have to invest in a metal rack that allows the mandrels to rest lengthwise and can go right into the oven. Until then I will enjoy this styrofoam holding stand for items just-made. The beads look sort of cute and perky, don't you think?  Will transfer them later to a DIY rack made of aluminum foil that stays in the oven.

12 comments:

  1. great beads!!! now i want a bagel.

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  2. ha! bagel ... that is what I was thinking. So interested to see how you use these!

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  3. These are really cool! I love the inconsistent shapes.

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  4. They do look cute. Kind of like a child's counting toy - I want to count them!

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  5. They certainly do look cute and perky. You are very talented. B

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  6. Wow!!!! You are so talented. This was fun to see.

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  7. They remind me of an abacus. What are you going to do with the beads?

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  8. Wow, Lisa...you have a blog, too! :-) Glad you came by mine and commented. I have a question for you...polymer clay. I kept resisting it when I was working in standard clay and having my pieces fired (have you looked at my defunct tile blog...it's still on my blog list, and can give you an idea about the work I used to do) because back then I was all about vases and such things, and later the tiles. Nothing particularly small. But more than one person told me that if I did smaller pieces I could fire them in my oven, and save myself a lot of money, and that smaller pieces would likely sell better. I really never made ANY money with Blue Lotus Tile...in fact, went in the hole pretty good! :-) I am thinking about getting an Etsy shop for another project I am into (will keep that as a surprise for the near future) and wondered if I made little polymer clay pieces on the side if they would sell. My question is this...how big can they be? I used to make little baskets with bunnies at Easter, about 6 inches long and maybe 4 inches high, and those were my only real sellers back in the "day." :-) Could I make something that large out of polymer?

    Sorry...I didn't mean to weigh this comment down with all that! Am looking forward to seeing more of your posts!

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    1. Hi Marie, most of the polymer clay pieces I see are beads, components and brooches so less than 1 inch in dimension. Though I also see cuff bracelets and small statues up to 1 foot. The biggest issue working withbigger pieces is working with cracks that can form while forming the piece and using heat to smooth surfaces...Also, polymer bakes at low temperatures the kind I use ranges from 250 - 275 F for 1/2 hour. Do regular kilns even run ar these temps? I use a toaster oven I picked up on sale at target. There are lots of great polymer clay books out there and it doesn't hurt to start by checking the library.

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Thanks for your comments. I enjoy hearing from you!