Ick -- first try at polymer clay

First, I should add that these aren't new. The pictures are new, though, and I don't think I've shown my polyclay beads and pendants to anyone before. Why that is, is pretty obvious: I do have a hate-love relationship with all sorts of clay, which I've written about before, and this was my first time working with polymer clay. The only clays I've worked with before have been saltdough and modelling clay as a kid and then dabbling with ceramic clay in art class in school as pre-teen and teenager a couple of times.


 I'm no natural clayer. More a painter than a sculptor when it comes to creating. I like to work on a canvas, be it painting on an actual canvas, embroidering on cloth or weaving beads on a thread. While it most certainly can be dimensional, not least my beadweaving, it's not about moulding a material or chiselling away bits and pieces of it. I draw with threads and beads or piece beads together like it was Lego, I shape but I don't mould and manipulate like you do with clay. But sometimes I'm inspired to work with it nonetheless. It has its uses and there are many interesting techniques to try.

The beads above are made after instructions by Irene Semanchuk-Dean in the book Making Beautiful Beads. She calls the Inside-out beads if I'm not mistaken, which explains pretty well how they're made. It's a rather fun and very simple technique, perfect for clay newbies and kids. Like children's inkblot paintings, but in 3D.

As you can see, I haven't mastered the technique for smoothing out the edges and seams where the different clay pieces meet. One thing I did learn, on the other hand, is not to use white clay unless you're 100 % sure the work surface is clean. If there is just one pin-size speck of darker clay or one tiny glitter particle it will end up on the white clay... D'oh!

 I also used ultrafine glitters, metallic powder, liquid Fimo and copper foil on some of the pieces. You can only see the foil and silver powder here as I wasn't pleased with the other pieces. Too fugly to show...

The cat pendant and silver charm have stamped images. There was probably a good reason for adding the pawprint to the kitty image, but I wish I hadn't. Other than that, I'm pleased with the colour I mixed for it (using chocolate brown, white and a smidge of yellow, I think) and the chocolate brown frame. I also like the finish I got using Fimo silver powder.

The copper crackle cabochon is one of the pieces I was pleased with. Sure, it's a bit uneven, but I really like crackle effects -- and this one was so easy to do. Normally, instructions call for a pasta machine, but I just used an acrylic roller.

I will add another, bigger pic of the cab later. That photo shows off the copper foil better, but I couldn't add it now as the photo is on another computer. *photo added*

So there you have it, my first venture into the world of polyclay. I haven't touched it since -- and that was perhaps two year ago I made those. Clay probably isn't my thing. And now other clays have become more interesting in my eyes. Clays that don't require oven baking and clays that also work as adhesives. So why even bring all this up then? Well, I guess it's because of this. Pehaps I should give pc another chance? (Though I confess that a resin clay challenge or hop would've been much more exciting and inspiring for me personally.)

Clay and I

I'm not sure what it is with me and clay. I kind of like the idea of working with it, but when I have it I end up not doing that much with it. Be it a lack of inspiration or lack of the proper tools, I just don't seem to be able to do anything good with it. Part of me says it's because I'm no good at moulding and sculpting. Let's face it: I've always spent more time painting and embroidering, working with flat images. Sometimes dimensional, but rarely in "full 3D" as you -- most of the time -- do with clay. So maybe I'm just supposed to admire ceramics and other clay artists rather than work with it myself. Perhaps, eventhough I wish it was otherwise, clay -- of any kind -- just isn't my thing.

Let's review it. When I first heard about silver clay as a newbie beader and jewellery maker, I was really interested, but like many things it fizzled out. I didn't have the money to buy everything you needed and the clay itself was expensive. I'd printed a lot of how-tos from the Net and even got a book, but to this day I've never touched it. I became very dedicated, as I always do when I hear about something new and interesting that I want to know more about. For example, I spent months reading photo mags, learning about cameras and photo editing, before deciding which camera to buy. I can spend days researching a feature for Manekis Pärlblogg. If something catches my interest, I easily become that way. It can be a good thing, but sometimes I have to tell myself to stop and think it over so it doesn't just end up being a matter of acting on any whim I get flipping through a bead mag or reading about jewellery techniques/media/products online. Because that doesn't work in the long run.

So I didn't act on that first crush I got on metal clay. My wallet thanked me and I found new things that seemed to be a better match for me when it came to jewellery making. Then I got to see the artsy side of polymer clay. I grew up with Fimo and Cernit. It was clays for children to make cute and childish sculptures, beads and more with. Then I saw what kind of stuff adults could make of it. Sofisticated jewellery and effects that couldn't be replicated using ceramic clay. (Now, ceramic clay I had used before as a kid in school and children's art classes -- pretty ugly things, but in the eyes of a child they were fantastic.) So I read all I could about PC as a bead making medium and bought clay, glitters, Deco Gel etc. Did a few things -- including some fun mirror-image beads -- but found it probably wasn't really my thing. At least I didn't find inspiration to work with clay and it was hard to find the time to sit down in the kitchen and claim the oven for my beads and pendants. Sold off some of the clay and glitters, but still have some left. Can't sell it all if inspiration strikes: after all, one day I'll probably get an idea that requires PC.

What happened then? Because we both know that's not the end of the story. No, cue base metal clays. Ah, I love base metals! Much more than I've ever cared for silver. And here they came. First bronze clay. Then copper clay and last but not least steel clay. Oh, these are so cool. I want to work with them and they brought back some of the things I felt when I first read about silver clay. They rekindled my love of metal clay. But they require special equipment and are even more cumbersome than silver clay to fire. The price of it all makes me hesitate: what if it all just ends up like with the polymer clay? Though I've got ideas for these clays -- carving molds for pendants rather than sculpting -- I fear it'll all be a lot of money for a small output. But steel clay... I want it so badly...

Now, is that the end of it then? No, recently I've gotten an interest in resin (epoxy) clays and Fuwa fuwa, japanese paper clay. Like with PC it doesn't require a lot of equipment and cumbersome firing. In fact, it doesn't require that one thing that was partially responsible for me not working with my polymer clays: an oven. These are air-dry clays. Ok, there are two problems: paper clay has interesting textures -- perfect for Swiss rolls and similar miniature cakes for kawaii charms -- but it needs to be sealed to withstand moisture in the long run. And I generally don't know how durable it is. And resin clay can be very sticky. And I know things like that can have a -- a-hum -- negative effect on my mood if things start to go wrong.

So that's where I stand right now. I know I haven't exactly shown that I'm any good at working with clay, though I thing part of it has been that I either haven't found the right clay techniques for me (or the right type of clay) or that I haven't had the space and equipment to work with clay when I've had the desire to dabble in the medium. So one voice in my heads keeps saying "resin clay looks cool and useful, I should try it", while another voice is just telling me " yeah, right, it'll just end up like with the polymer clay, much ado about nothing".

If I have the money I probably will buy some resin clay (or putty) at least. It seems like a lot of fun and it can be used in so many ways compared to many other clays, seeing how it can be both a clay and an adhesive. The rest will have to wait. Even it I want to dabble in it, I will not buy any other clay until I've got some actual ideas about how I want to use it. Not just one or two, but a handful of good ideas worth the investment (of money and time) in yet another material. Sensible. Not fun -- I'd love to be rich enough to follow all my creative whims -- but sensible.