polymer clay

All stitched up!

I’ve been recently added to a group that is all about tutorials (we can’t get enough of them!) and even if a lot of the tutorials there are for sale, there are also free tutes for people to practice and learn from. One of them is a tutorial posted by Claire Wallis who is a bangle-crazy self-taught artist. She has such an eye for detail and color!

Yummy stuff right? She came up with a tutorial on how to make knitted polymer clay and I wanted to make a necklace using this technique for my cousin who recently gave birth. My cousin loves to knit and I came up with a quick and easy necklace she could hang wherever for her baby.

What do you think? I tried passing the clay through an extruder but the strips would come out all jagged no matter how many times I conditioned the clay so I manually rolled each and every snake. I hope it’s something she will like 🙂

A Colorful Christmas and A Happy New Year!

For the last month of last year, my local guild organized a bead swap and the theme of course, was Christmas! I was lucky enough to get a rainbow of colors of Pardo clay balls which I figured would be safe enough to use even during my pregnancy. What’s so special about this Pardo clay is that it doesn’t have any  phthalates and is actually made out of beeswax. They are very easy to use and come in eye-catching colors 🙂0ceab-6829951773_ab8f988146_z

I wanted to use my bunch of Pardo clay as soon as I got them but every ball of color was only the size of a marble so I had to think hard about what I wanted to make for our “Christmas Ornament Bead Swap”.

There’s this artist who I admire very much. She makes beautiful pieces from polymer clay and her work is always so intricate and elegant. I love how she mixes her colors so beautifully! On Etsy, her name is Starless Clay (http://www.etsy.com/shop/StarlessClay) and she served as my inspiration for the challenge. Please visit her site because honestly, her style of claying is quite difficult. My finished projects don’t look as polished as hers and I need more practice coiling the strands of clay. Here are my little ornaments to bring in some holiday cheer!

 

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas! Happy new year to you and yours! ❤

Cornstarch, baby!

Has it been that long since my last post? Unbelievable! Sorry about that. We’ve been kind of busy since we’re expecting our bundle of joy by May next year! I’m about 5 months along and my middle is getting bigger and bigger and it’s getting harder and harder to move around. I’m thankful for everything though 🙂
I have been discouraged from playing around with polymer clay because of the fumes, but I just couldn’t stop myself (I wanted to clay so badly since members of the Philippine Polymer Clay Guild were coming out with amazing stuff) and I looked up the recipe for cornstarch clay online.

Cornstarch Clay is super easy to make. Baking Soda, cornstarch and water and that’s it! What I didn’t realize is how difficult it would be to sculpt. The one I ended up with kept flaking and leaving white powder all over! I had to break off thick dough all the time since thin portions would crack easily. I also completely forgot to take a photo of it after making and stored it in our refrigerator for a week. This is the result…
So that was a waste 😦 I did manage to mold some stuff up before I stored the clay in the ref and my projects took about a day to dry. Its not bad but way too thick for my taste and I miss how easy it is and mess-free to work with polymer clay. Here are some of the things I made:
I still need a lot of practice with cornstarch clay. Here’s a website you might want to check out if you’d like to work with air-dry clay, the tips and the projects posted there are inspiring! http://www.air-dry-clay.com/

Belated Bead Swap

Have you ever joined a bead swap? Last July, the local clay guild that I am a part of had its first ever bead swap. It was my first full-scale ‘activity’ since I had to come up with 18 beads using only black and white clay. It seemed easy in the beginning because there weren’t many rules: no size limit, no restrictions with design and shape. I was bursting with excitement and I was so eager to get started! Admittedly, I kind of crammed working on the beads until the last possible minute and realized belatedly how difficult it was to work with black and white clay!

Here are the beads I came up with, they’re far from what I had in mind but I was pleased with the fact that I came up with 18 uniquely designed beads 🙂

I love the beads that I got in return!
Look at how talented the members of my guild are!
Here are the names and sites of the artists that joined the bead swap, please check them out:
Beadlady Manila: http://www.thebeadlady.info/
Purpleluggage: https://www.facebook.com/purpleluggage
Genty’s Clay Haven: http://www.aquamaze.multiply.com
Xander’s Gift Shop: www.facebook.com/xandersgiftshop
Little Creations Clay Shop: http://littlecreations.multiply.com/

Best Vacation

Just a quick blog about a trip my family and I went on last April. We desperately needed a break during this time and we went to one of the most beautiful islands in the country. White sand beaches, crystal clear waters rife with colorful fish and vibrant coral. Going through the photos now, I have to stop myself from checking for airfare promos :p

We prepared for this vacation and we made sure we brought our clay with us 🙂
 Best Vacation
Hope you like them!
Best Vacation
Enjoy your week!

Clay

I attended a polymer clay workshop last October 2010 and I’ve been “claying around” since then 🙂 My sisters and I started an online shop called Thought of You (www.facebook.com/thoughtofyoushop) and we do all kinds of things with clay. I know I’m still very new at this but here are some photos of the work we’ve done which I am exceptionally proud of.

 

Update (October 2017): We are no longer accepting custom orders for polymer clay. My sister and I have decided to pursue something else, it is still something we enjoy doing in our spare time though.