Ever since I discovered Laurie Mika and her unique approach to working with polymer clay I wanted to try working with this 'stuff', but always putting it off---thinking I didn't want to go through the learning process. Finally this year, I decided it was time to at least try it. And yes, there is definitely a learning process to it, but during the process I found that you can still come up with pieces that you're happy with, encouraging you to keep going.
My first 'piece'--
Okay, so the only polymer clay piece on this one is the sun face. I used a push mold (the supplies for polymer clay are endless and addictive!). And I was so thrilled with it--I used white Sculpey Premo clay and I painted it after I baked it. The painting part was fun for me, since I'm always playing with paint and by now, I'm very comfortable with it.
So next I wanted to do something a little more--
This was made on a cupboard door. The 'frame' of it was collaged with my hand-painted papers, and the house is made from polymer clay. I used a pasta machine to roll out the clay in 2 different sections--the main house and then the roof, stamping the roof with a texture plate and carving into the house with a stylus. I indented the little holes into the house, so after I baked it and painted it I glued black beads into the holes. The rest is just embellishments--basically incorporating polymer clay elements into my mixed media style of art that I usually will make.
So on another cupboard door--
This time it's the birds and the stamped words that are polymer. I made a template for the birds, and used a craft knife to cut them out on the clay--so easy! I wanted the clay to be thicker so I used a rolling pin, again with the white Premo. I like painting them myself, but there are so many colors that you can choose from, you can find your own colors to use, and not have to paint them. The hearts have texture too. I made them from modeling paste and a heart stencil.
More polymer fun--
I made lots of small tiles for the one piece and a large heart for the other piece. I glued the embellishments into the large heart with Sculpey Bake and Bond before I baked it, and then I painted it.
My favorite part about polymer clay is its versatility and ease to work with (a very forgiving medium)--if you're not happy with what you're working on, just roll it out and start over. And for the most part, I got the basics from you tube videos--hundreds of them out there! I can't wait to see how my polymer journey goes---I don't know what I was waiting for!!
So on another cupboard door--
This time it's the birds and the stamped words that are polymer. I made a template for the birds, and used a craft knife to cut them out on the clay--so easy! I wanted the clay to be thicker so I used a rolling pin, again with the white Premo. I like painting them myself, but there are so many colors that you can choose from, you can find your own colors to use, and not have to paint them. The hearts have texture too. I made them from modeling paste and a heart stencil.
More polymer fun--
I made lots of small tiles for the one piece and a large heart for the other piece. I glued the embellishments into the large heart with Sculpey Bake and Bond before I baked it, and then I painted it.
My favorite part about polymer clay is its versatility and ease to work with (a very forgiving medium)--if you're not happy with what you're working on, just roll it out and start over. And for the most part, I got the basics from you tube videos--hundreds of them out there! I can't wait to see how my polymer journey goes---I don't know what I was waiting for!!
