Beads & Alcohol Inks

What a fantastic effect this gives. The beads are made from translucent white Fimo, rolled to the required size and fired. I usually spike the bead on a cocktail stick so it is easier to hold and have to hand a piece of polystyrene to stick this into to dry. Load your felt applicator with your choice of colours and away you go. Just dab the bead. You will find that the ink will form it's own veins. I then dribbled a small amount of the copper mixative and gave the cocktail stick a quick swirl and hey presto! this is the result. You can see the fine veins on the close up, they look rather like marbles. The colours are not done justice in the photograph, they are very vibrant.


Again the bars were made with translucent white Fimo and coloured.

These pieces are not varnished, they have a natural lustre.

Feathers, Glitter and Paint

Feather Blend

Made by feathering your sections of clay with a cocktail stick and cutting into triangles, rolling from the widest section as seen below.


Three different sized beads were used in the necklace. The larger rolled triangle, a small round and a tube. Alternating the beads as they were threaded.

One of the more complicated sets I have made contains black acrylic paint, silver leaf and glitter.

This also has a very pleasing texture. Made using layers, one of which was covered with the paint, another with the glitter and another with the silver leaf. It was then compressed and sliced and used to make the necklace and the charm bracelet. The photograph does not do this justice, it really does glitter and catch the light.

Paint is a very good medium for Fimo Clay. I have used the Stewart Gill Metallica paint on unbaked clay, in a swirling pattern using varies colours. Once baked a coat of varnish was applied to protect the piece. A very nice effect.

Don't be frightened to try different mediums with the clay, you will be surprised at some of the effects you can achieve.

Polymer Clay Mosaics

Gold Mosaic Pendant

This does look rather good and is very easy to make. Choose your colours, maximum four, otherwise it gets too busy. If you are only making one to two pendants then half a block of each colour should be sufficient. Condition your clay and roll into little fat individual sausages. You then need to choose a 'grout' colour. This is usually, white, silver, grey or for the daring, black. A pasta maker is very handy at this stage, it ensures all your grout is of a uniform thickness. Pass the grout colour through the pasta machine, firstly on a wide setting and then on a narrow and cover your sausages (not then ends). When they are all covered place together and roll to form one large sausage. Now, this is the fun bit. Stand your roll on end and cut through two large areas of colour, from top to bottom. Cover one of the exposed areas with your grout colour, trim and smooth the edges. Now you need to turn this section around and place against your other cut side of clay (the colours should not match as they did before you cut them). You need to do this at least 4-5 times, always varying the way you put the colours back together. Once you have achieved the variation you want, roll gently, be careful not to squash the colours. The next step is to lengthen the roll. Hold it in the middle using your thumb and index finger, gently squash and turn, working your way to the top. Turn it around and repeat the procedure, working your way to the other end. Both ends should now be slightly bulbous. Using your thumbs and index fingers gently squash the end so they are in line with the rest of your roll. Do not squash the roll smaller than you need to, have your project in mind during this procedure, if it is too narrow you will have difficulty covering your pendant. Cut the length into four equal parts and put together again, roll these gently to adhere all the clay, gently, very gently lengthening it as you go. Now cut a slice and look at the effect you have achieved. Good isn't it. You can use this to cover any of your projects.

This piece has been made in exactly the same way. The first four sausages were made using translucent white clay each tinted with a small piece of coloured clay. Scrap clay was used for the bulk of the heart, this was then covered with gold and copper leaf. Very thin slices were taken from the roll and smoothed over the top. Once fired, this was very gently sanded with 1000 grade sand paper and washed in soapy water, this allows more of the leafing to show through, and lastly given a coat of poly clay varnish. Very effective.

The fastenings for the pendants are an alternative to using findings. One part is a square bead with two holes going straight through, the other is a round bead with one hole. The idea is your cord pulls to form a noose to capture the bead, so forming the fastening. Superglue is wonderful for fastening cord to clay. I think I prefer this on a chunky pendant to the usual jewellery findings.

The bracelet is made from large and small oval slices from the same mosaic. Holes were pushed through and then threaded with elastic.

The Double Heart Pendant is a squashed bit of the mosaic simply cut with a heart cutter and a smaller heart laid on top before firing. The colours have a lovely way of blending together and no two will ever turn out exactly the same, you will always find a small variation.

Polymer Clay Jewellery

You can get some amazing effects with polymer clay, you can marble, add glitter, stamp into it, use foil, the list is endless and is only limited by your own imagination.

Bracelets, pendants, earrings are all easily made. These pieces are made by burnishing the foil onto white clay using a long thin blade, the pieces are then cut to the required shape and mounted on black clay before firing in your oven. The earrings are simply cut offs from the brooch & pendant and rolled, an eye pin has then been inserted to take the earring findings. Pretty cool.

This is my Fire Pendant, I made a flower cane for the bracelet below and this was simply a cut off, squashed and rolled and a hole put in for the cord (reminds me of flames). Simple and effective. Once the piece was fired it was given a coat of polymer clay varnish to seal it.

The bracelet was slightly trickier. A blend of blue and green clay was passed through a pasta maker (to ensure the same thickness), flower & leaf canes were made and thinly sliced to form the petals of the flower. It was then assembled on the blend. To make the tiles thicker it was placed on a rolled out piece of black clay and cut to make the tiles. Smaller versions of the tiles were cut to form the middle sections. The hardest part of the bracelet was putting the holes in the tiles to thread the cord.

This is a very simple and effective pendant. A small piece was rolled and cut to a rough shape. Swirly clips were then placed on the clay and pressed into place, cut sections make up the rest of the pattern, (once the clay is fired these are very secure). I then cut around the swirls to make the shape and pricked holes for decoration. Instead of a hole or a finding to fasten the cord to the piece, the top was stretched slightly and rolled over to meet the main body of the pendant, a simple, easy way to thread the cord.

Watch this space!

Another Recruit

Another recruit to the Jobsworthy Collection, this time a Jockey, complete with his saddle and crop waiting for weight-in. I wonder if he wins!

Our Carrie Anne & Ian

I have my friend Kath to thank for these two models, she asked if I could make a hiker, as her husband is very keen on walking. It was very helpful to know what he wore, this way I could personalise the model and make it special to him, which I hope I have.

The second model Kath asked me to make was for a mutual friend. This was slightly easier, because I know Carrie Anne I could add some little extra touches into it.

So I can now post my last two models, as birthdays and anniversaries have past, presents have been given and I believe they were definitely liked.

This is 'The Hiker', complete with his compass around his neck, his stick to help him on his way and of course his lunch, nice and healthy, a ham & lettuce sandwich, an apple and banana. His backpack holds his essential flask and his map. His stripy rugby shirt took a bit of doing but it does look good on him.

Meet 'Carrie Anne'. Complete with her stripy jumper and knitting needles, she has a lovely scarf on her needles, just right for the winter. I have to add that the glasses were a complete pain to make, I just could not get the sides to match, it took quite a while to get right.

The stripy effect is simply strips of each colour, overlaid one on top of the other and rolled gently to fuse together. You do have to be very careful when lifting and modeling, as it easily comes away and if you press too hard when fusing, the colours can look a bit squashed.

Dragons and Pirates

Look who I found flying around my garden the other day! Duncan the Dragon.

He's not as fierce as he looks, quite cute actually. He was a little tricky to complete as he has so many bits and pieces, by the time I got towards his legs and talons I was running out of places to hold him without squashing something else!

My only other success of the weekend has been my Pirate! This is the first model I have ever made standing up (not me, him) and until he actually came out of the oven and stood on his own two feet I was very sceptical. The sounds of jubilation coming out of the kitchen on Sunday night would have confused a passer-by.

He has been on the pillage, he has loot hanging out of his pocket and is holding a very valuable gold locket. He also sports a very fetching gold earing.
A closer look at his face, a handsome brute isn't he, right down to the scar along the length of his nose. Hope you like him.

Fantasy Folk

Phew, it has been a busy Easter Weekend trying to compose faces out of Fimo clay, and until now I have never been very successful, but in buying the right tools (as opposed to make do ones), and a book, and a patient partner, who did not moan about me sitting with the dinning room table cluttered full of clay for the weekend and with a little bit of patience thrown in, I think I just may be getting the hang of it.

This was my practice piece. It is not supposed to resemble anyone but have been told he looks vaguely familiar, poor soul!

This Wizard took me approximatley 4 hours to complete, I was really pleased with the result. It was also my first go at using an armature of wire, this was inserted up through his neck and went right to his toes. Previous models have usually had their heads held on with cocktail sticks, it works. Because his arms are so close to his body, no wire was required to hold them steady.

A close up of his face.

This is my Jester, very colourful, sitting holding his Jack-in-the-Box, which is just a little face on a piece of coiled wire stuck in his box. No armature was used on this peice, the main body and head were made out of one block of clay, first rolled into a ball and then gently rolled between thumb and index finger to form a divide for the head and body.

All in all not a bad weekend, clay wise that is.

Jobsworthy's

I have over the last month or so created some of the models for friends depicting their occupations, so far we have, a painter and decorator, a fireman and a pidgeon fancier. On the horizon there is to be a doctor, a hiker and possibly a plasterer. My customer service person could also fit into this catagory as could the teacher.




A couple of years ago I made two little monks for my sister, she collects wizards and dwarfs etc, so the Mad Monks fit into her collection quite nicely.

Singing from his hymn book, the hardest part of this model was getting his hood to ‘flow’ correctley.

This ‘naughty’ monk has had a little too much of the communion wine!

Winsome Witch pictured here was a special favourite with her multi coloured tights and snazzy star dress. She did not remain in my collection for very long, she was bought for a birthday present.

Christmas is an excellent time to show off your talents with Fimo, you can make tree ornaments, candle holders etc, the sky is the limit.Last year I discovered a new type of clay, Sculpey Ultralite and once baked this can actually float and will not bend the boughs of your tree. The angel is an example of a tree ornament that I made last year. These were incorporated onto Christmas cards. It being so light it does not bend your cards.

The Santa, I could not bear to put him away, so he sits on a shelf all year round.

If after looking at this blog you would like to contact me, please email judith.walton@talk21.com and please add your comments, I would be very interested to read any.

From Small Beginnings

HI
My name is Judith and I live in Bishop Auckland with my partner Steve and Oskar, our Rough Collie.
I first became interested in using Fimo Clay approximately 5 years ago when I picked up a book and began flicking through the pages describing the theory behind the craft and how to model and sculpt various items, It gave me the inspiration to ‘have a go’.
My first attempt turned out better than expected and as the story goes ............. I have not looked back. You can see some of my first attempts here.
As you can see one begat another and another and another ............... till I had filled a couple of shelves in the conservatory and there they lived quite happily until the decorating started and they were confined to the attic, I really must liberate them and give them some fresh air once again.

Freddy pictured here, sitting by Millie, did have an ice cream but he seems to have lost it, just in case you think he is licking thin air!

As pretty as a princess.

This is Pansy, along with her pet frog, Fraggle.
They make a hansome couple with her luxurious violet hair and dusky pink dress. Her tights are colour co-ordinated to match her hair and the flowers around her band. Fraggle is a lovely shade of green (he matches her tights). This now sits on my desk at work along with Mickey (in the yellow jumper above). They have also aquired a couple of critters to keep them company.

Pugsley and Peter , you can decide which is which. He guards my desk! gerroff that stapler ................