I was excited when I found out my son would be taking snacks to school the day before Thanksgiving break. I searched Pinterest for ideas, hoping for something relatively healthy, easy to transport, and not terribly complicated or expensive. When I found this pin for some crackers decorated like turkeys, I knew I was on the right track.
I used my Silhouette Cameo to simplify the paper cutting. This Turkey Pillow Box shape has a great face and tail feathers. Aside from the crackers, all I needed were 3-12" fall patterned papers for the feathers, a sheet each of red and orange for the face, and some googly eyes (I splurged on stick-on ones so the kids could easily help). I used a glue stick to attach the paper shapes, and ended up with a super-cute Thanksgiving snack.
Cute, easy & cheap — I love it!
]]>We had a small Elmo-themed birthday party for my daughter's second birthday this past weekend. I'd planned to share a tutorial here on how to make a polymer clay cake topper... but that topper didn't quite make the cut. So instead I'll share some of the other fun decorations and activities we came up with.
I've been using my Silhouette Cameo a lot lately, usually for little fun crafty things to do with the kids. And even though I was initially drawn to this particular cutter because you could use their software to design your own shapes to cut out, I honestly haven't had much need to do that. Their online store — with its $0.99 shapes — has had everything I could possibly need.
But it didn't have Elmo. Or Sesame Street. Or anything close.
So I tried my hand at tracing and creating my own shape, starting with a clear Elmo image I found via Google's image search. There's a video tutorial about tracing here if you're interested, but to be honest, it may have been more trouble than it was worth for something like Elmo made up of a lot of basic shapes. Perhaps it was my inexperience, but I ended up having to redraw a lot of things with the shape tools to get the clean lines I wanted.
After I got the shape template worked out, I used the machine to cut out red, blue and white monster heads (turns out Cookie Monster is similar enough to Elmo to use the same head shape), black mouths & eyeballs, white eyes, and some orange noses. I did stretch out and simplify the mouth just a tad for Cookie Monster, but it wouldn't be absolutely necessary. I made the first head the right size to use for a mailed invitation (about 3.75" tall by 4.5" wide), and I found that I liked that size for most of the other things I would need.
I cut out and glued together a paper Elmo to use for the invitation, then glued a blank white cardstock monster head on the back. There I wrote: “Won’t you tell me if you’ll come… if you’ll come to my Sesame Street party?” along with the party details. [H/T to Theme A Party for the invitation wording idea. Lots of other great ideas there too!]
We've been using our felt board a lot lately, so I decided to make a few special things for the big day. This is the one place where I used a larger version of my Silhouette Studio Elmo shape, enlarged to fit a good percentage of my sheet of craft felt. I used my Cameo to cut the shapes out of cardstock, then used the cardstock as a pattern for cutting them out from my felt piece. (I've read that some people actually use their Cameos to cut felt, but I haven't given that a try yet — too worried that the fibers would ruin my mat and blade too quickly to be cost-effective.)
I went ahead and glued the eyeballs onto the felt eyes for simplicity — small black circles are too easy for little ones to lose. I free-handed some simple cookie shapes for Cookie Monster, and used a brown Sharpie to draw on the chocolate chips.
The felt guys were a big hit. The kiddos rearranged these several times, and my daughter enjoyed "feeding" Cookie Monster.
For the goody bags, I glued Elmo shapes onto a small red gift bag. I added a few themed items, including a clear bag filled with mini chocolate chip cookies. I stapled those shut and taped on a Cookie Monster bag topper. These were a hit too. The birthday girl got a kick out of stealing the cookies from Cookie Monster's bag.
I wanted a simple themed activity for little hands, and this was perfect. I gave the kiddos glue sticks, various monster parts, some optional paper plates to glue pieces onto, and some room to work. They enjoyed coming up with variations.
My daughter spent far longer than the other party guests working on this. She created 3 monsters: one with lots of eyes; one with noses; and one with mouths. Quite organized monsters they were!
I would have liked to have had a few more shapes and colors of heads, noses, and mouths available for this activity. Grover and Oscar have a similar head shape to Elmo; they just need different features. Others have different (simple-to-create) head shapes, but share similar eyes, nose or mouths to other monsters. It's just a matter of how much time you have! And as you can see, I got a lot of mileage out of creating just these Silhouette shapes.
Here are some of the non-monster-shape decorations we used for the birthday party.
We made "Grouch Juice" (ours was equal parts white grape juice and Diet 7-Up, plus green food coloring, but you could also use green Kool-Aid). We decided to take the idea a step further and serve it out of Oscar's trash can. I found a mostly straight-sided glass ice bucket, then wrapped it with aluminum foil. I also cut and covered a cardstock lid and a wire handle. I added lines with a Sharpie, taped it all down, and made a "Grouch Juice" sign. Easy, but I loved the way it turned out!
I forgot to take a picture of our snack table, but we used a few of the food ideas I saw on Pinterest. Goldfish ("Elmo loves his goldfish!"), cookies ("COOKIES!"), and then some veggies and snack stuff for the big folks.
I iced the cake with white & green frosting, then added Sesame Street Cupcake Rings around the sides. I liked that this gave each piece of the cake a little fun favor for the guest to take home. I'd originally planned to make a polymer clay Elmo as the cake topper, but wasn't happy with my results. I then thought about using one of the kids' Elmo toys, but the ones we had didn't seem like a good fit for the cake. Hubby happened to scoop up the Count toy when he was bringing me Sesame Street things, and I realized that was a great alternative to go with the number candle. I washed the toy, and I also put a barrier of foil between the figurine and cake to keep everything clean.
This felt board cake is where I try to sneak in some educational stuff: letters, numbers, math, etc. It purposefully isn't Sesame Street-themed, so I'll be able to use it for other upcoming birthdays. I used my Silhouette to cut out a cardstock pattern like before, then cut the pieces out from various colors of felt. I used Sharpie and puff paint to add the decorations.
Whew! I enjoyed using my Silhouette cutter as part of the preparation for the party, and I got lots of compliments. It seemed like everyone enjoyed the birthday party, especially the birthday girl. (She keeps singing "Happy Birthday" to herself!) And hopefully I'll have a successful cake topper to show ya next time around!
Note: For some reason, my blog comments aren't working right now. I've got a website overhaul in the works. In the meantime, drop me an email or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter if you have questions or comments.
]]>It seems like such a long time ago that I reviewed my first Christi Friesen book. That was before I met her. That was before I became one of those folks who wouldn't pass up an opportunity to take a class — any class — from her. Christi is probably the best teacher-of-adults I've seen. She manages a classroom full of creatives amazingly. She's generous and encouraging. And her classes are just plain fun.
And because I've gotten to take some of her classes, Christi's latest book was especially enjoyable to me. It's got a mouthful of a title: Flourish: Projects, Techniques, and Creative Nudgings for Polymer Clay and Mixed Media: Book One: Flora: Leaf, Flower and Plant Designs. But you could shorten that title to A Christi Friesen Class in a Book, because that's what it felt like reading it. Her conversational tone in the book meant I could just about hear her chatting away. The pictures of her, sprinkled throughout the book, made it feel like she was right there guiding me as I learned.
Of course, if you've taken any of Christi's classes, you're probably as big a fan as I am. So you've already bought all of her books, including this one. This book review is not for you. This book review is for those of you who are wondering whether this book is worth adding to your library. And here's what I think about that...
One of the first things you'll notice about this book is its creative layout. There are drawings, sketches, and scribbles throughout — almost like an artist's sketchbook. The font is large-ish. The text is conversational. It all works together to give the book an informal, creativity-focused approach. Nothing feels sacred. It's all about the ideas. This is not a textbook, but a book full of, as Christi puts it, "creative nudgings." I think that's very effective.
After a brief intro, she directs us to turn to the "Back O' the Book" for materials, basic techniques, resources and other info. It's a nice way to allow those who are so inclined to get right into the projects, especially folks who are already familiar with polymer clay. On my first read of her Back O' the Book section, I was impressed with how concisely and conversationally she incorporated so much information. It might even have all the information a polymer clay beginner would need to get started on these projects, I thought.
But as I read through more of the book, I found that the Back O' the Book wasn't as complete as it needed to be. Christi tells folks to look there for more info on a whole host of things that aren't actually mentioned in the back of the book. For example:
[Note: Some of the things that were supposed to be in the back of the book may be elsewhere — like the channeling instructions, which I found on p. 79. But without a table of contents, just having it somewhere in the book is not-so-helpful.]
So the Back O' the Book could have been a little more complete. And Christi could use a good copy editor to catch these things. But let's go back to the front.
The main part of the book has sections for various portions of the plant. It starts out with leaves, then moves on to pods, fruits and berries, buds, flowers, and trees. For each of these sections, the pages include photos of real nature specimens, sketches of flora, sketches of jewelry designs incorporating flora, and photos of completed pieces by Christi Friesen and other artists. This format illustrates nicely the idea of an artist's sketchbook, showing the process from inspiration to finished project.
While I liked that she included photos of real plants, I felt like the quality of those photos wasn't always up to par. Some weren't clear in what they were showing. They didn't have a consistent feel, and they didn't always look professional. Not a big deal, especially if it's supposed to feel like a sketchbook, but it's something that could have been better.
And speaking of photos, some of the photos of Christi's work weren't big enough to see the details referred to in the text. Like the Leaf Exhibit on p. 14-15 (I had trouble locating the "added vein of clay and one of tiny pearls" in the top photo and the "teensy bit of clay in each leafy section" in the bottom left). And it was hard to discern the blue edges referred to on the "More Ferny Stuff" photo on page 28.
I did like the way fellow artist's pieces are shown with an "I'm inspired by..." statement. For example, on page 56, for Penni Jo Couch (hey! I know her!), Christi says, "I'm inspired by her delicacy and detail." It helps us focus our attention on something that particular artist does especially well.
I like the pacing of the techniques and projects. For example, she teaches how to make several styles of leaves, then gives us a couple of leaf projects, then throws in some different materials and techniques to inspire our creativity.
The text just kinda flows from one project to the next, and there's no table of contents, so this list of projects is probably not complete. Still, here's an overview of the things covered in Flourish Book One: Flora:
Instructions:
Techniques:
Projects:
The instructions are pretty clear. I like the way she uses everyday objects for measurements, telling us to use a clay "wad about the size of a hard-boiled egg yolk" or cut cane slices about as thick as a dime.
There are lots of photos on the project pages, though they don't exactly illustrate every step. Neither the written instructions nor the photos have numbered steps, and the layout of the photos is pretty fluid, so it's occasionally hard to match up the photo with the step it's illustrating. This, plus the fact that some steps aren't pictured, might make the book a little less ideal for a beginner who wants more step-by-step guidance.
I really had a difficult time deciding which two projects to try, because several of them sounded so fun. I finally settled on the Carved Leaves (p. 22) and the Ferny Leaves (p. 25).
I chose the carved leaves project because I love carving polymer clay, but it had never occurred to me to try carving UltraLight Sculpey. Christi says you can use your linoleum carving tool or a new craft knife blade for this project. I chose to use my lino tool, which claimed to (but didn't) have safety tips and carving tricks in the back of the book. Really, both methods should've had more safety tips — especially for carving the smaller beads. (It dawned on me after my second bandaid that taping the bead to the table with double stick tape would help keep my fingers out of harm's way. It would have been nice if that kind of tip was included.) Still, I loved the results of the carved leaf project, and I found the instructions easy to follow.
After the carved leaves project, I tackled the ferny leaves project, which I chose specifically because I'm a little less comfortable with canes and wire-work. I wanted to see if I could follow her instructions on something I needed more help with. The leaf instructions could have used a little more detail: "Rip the resulting sheet of clay in half. Stack the halves, rip this again and stack again." Which direction should I stack them? Does it matter? (My previous experience with Christi tells me that it probably doesn't, but a beginner might be a little more worried, and there are no pictures to give extra hints.) And she tells us to wrap the cane with a thin sheet of clay, a technique which might not be self-explanatory for a beginner. (She steps out this technique later in the book (p. 65), so just a cross-reference here would have done the trick.) I did feel like she gave me all the instructions I needed to get through the part I was worried about, the wire-working part. I was pleased enough with my results, even though they were a tad sloppy.
Overall, I'd say the instructions that are missing from the back of the book, plus the not-quite-step-by-step photos and instructions on many projects may make this book a tad difficult for a polymer clay first-timer. But I think it has plenty of projects, techniques, and wonderful inspiration for everyone else. This, like that first Christi Friesen book I reviewed long ago, is a book I want to have on my shelf for future reference and inspiration.
I was sad to learn that my favorite local rubber stamp store was going out of business after many years. Admittedly, I hadn't visited much lately, but I'd sent many folks their way... and I just liked knowing they were there. So on their final week, I had hubby watch the kiddos while I shopped their 75% off sale. I was thrilled to get to stock up on some new colors of alcohol inks, and I found some fun new stamps.
I decided to combine those finds to make some pretty autumn leaf pendants in the style of Isabelle Ceramy-Debray's faux enamel from Polymer Clay Beaded Jewellery (reviewed here). My pendants are actually serving multiple purposes here: I'm using them to decorate some autumn gift bags and pillow boxes, after which the recipients can string them onto a necklace of their choice.
Here's what you need to make this project:
]]>Materials Note: Some special effects clays have mica powder pre-mixed into them. While I preferred the results when I brushed Pearl Ex powders onto the clay surface, you could use a special effects clay and skip that step. I show both variations in the picture at the end of this post.
Create Reverse Mold from Stamp. Start by choosing a stamp. My preference is deeply cut rubber stamps — not clear acrylic, as they tend to be shallower. For this technique, a stamp with open areas is nice. These open areas are the parts you'll fill with alcohol inks.
To make a reverse mold of your selected rubber stamp, first mist the rubber stamp with water. Condition a ball of Super Sculpey that's similar to the size of your stamp image. Place the clay ball on your baking surface, then press the stamp evenly and firmly into the clay. If your image isn't quite right, you can just roll the clay back out and try again. Bake your mold for the recommended time.
Use Mold to Create Pendant. Condition a small amount of polymer clay. The color of this clay doesn't much matter, since you'll be covering it with Pearl Ex powders. Spritz the baked mold with water and push in your clay, making sure you get the clay fairly flat on the back of the mold. Otherwise, you'll end up with a slope and will have a hard time getting the liquid clay to flow to all the open areas. Extra clay around the edges is fine; you can trim that off with a clay blade after you pop the clay out of the mold.
Brush with Powders. After trimming the excess clay, smooth the edges with your fingers. If you'll be using this for a pendant, now's the time to use a straw or needle tool to punch a small hole near the top. Next, use a paintbrush to brush Pearl Ex powders all over the unbaked clay pendant. I tried Aztec Gold, Sunset Gold, and Super Bronze, and liked the latter two best for an autumn effect. (See the labeled photo at the end of this post for results of the different powders.) I also covered the back with powder, but you may choose to texture the back of yours or finish it using a different method. Once you're happy with your pendant, bake it according to the clay manufacturer's instructions.
Add Tinted Liquid Clay. Now you're ready for the fun part — tinting your liquid polymer clay with alcohol inks. I usually use a hefty squirt of liquid polymer clay and start with 1-2 drops of alcohol ink. According to what I've read, it's best to let the drops of alcohol ink sit for a few seconds on top of the liquid clay before stirring them in. This apparently lets the alcohol part evaporate off, which helps prevent bubbles. (I've not run my own experiments, but I generally follow this advice.) Alcohol inks come in many beautiful colors, but you can certainly mix them to make your own custom colors as well.
Before applying your liquid clay mixture to the baked, cooled pendant, use a clean paintbrush to dust off any excess Pearl Ex powders. Use a toothpick to drip your liquid clay mixture into the larger open (recessed) areas of your pendant. Then drag the tip of the toothpick to pull the liquid clay into the smaller open areas. If I'm doing more than one color of liquid polymer clay for a pendant, I prefer to cure between colors; otherwise it's too easy for the colors to bleed together.
Heat Emboss Liquid Clay. Cure the liquid polymer clay according to the manufacturer's instructions. I usually remove my piece from the oven after its recommended cure time, and hit it as soon as possible with the heat embossing gun. Keep the heat gun about an inch away from the piece, moving it around constantly to prevent any single spot from burning. I like to keep my piece angled towards the light so I can tell when the surface appearance starts to change. The liquid clay first starts to look dull and a little white-ish, then it changes to a clear glass-like finish.
Add your finished pendant to a pretty package for a lovely hostess gift, or string it onto a ribbon or cord for a beautiful necklace. I used my Silhouette Cameo to make some textured cardstock into a pretty pillow box.
Here are the results from some of the different products I tried:
I'm not sure how much it shows up in the photo, but I personally didn't think the metallic clays had the same appeal as the Pearl Ex-covered clay. Still, if you were making a big batch of these, it might be worth it to you to skip that extra step. I also found that the light-colored liquid clay mixtures really disappeared on a dark background. Still pretty... just not what I wanted here.
I hope this month finds you with many things to be grateful for. I would love to hear from you... What are you creating?
]]>If you're in the middle part of the country — or have been looking for an excuse to visit Oklahoma (and who isn't?!) — I hope you'll consider registering for our retreat. I'd love to meet you!
]]>If you're looking to introduce someone you love to polymer clay this holiday season, I hope you'll consider gifting them with a copy of my other baby, Polymer Clay 101. This book/DVD combo covers tons of polymer clay techniques and projects and is great for beginner (or even intermediate) clayers. Just wanted to mention it since it wasn't widely available until after Christmas last year. You can buy it at Amazon or these other fine retailers.
Hope this holiday season finds you healthy & happy too!
]]>We're healthy and thrilled. Got a few pics here.
]]>We're fortunate to have a medium that is fairly inexpensive anyway, but deals like this make it even better. Do you have another favorite item to stockpile this time of year? Let me know in the comments!
]]>I recently wrote a couple of guest posts for Deluxe, a local indie craft fair, about my experiences starting the group:
I'll add one little extra note... if you're looking for a place for your group to meet, try your local craft stores. We've been very fortunate that Hobby Lobby has allowed us to use their classroom for free. And I just saw a post saying Jo-Ann also allows groups to meet in their stores (sounds like there's a fee, though). If you don't have one of those nearby, member's houses are always nice... and as a bonus, you usually get get to peek at their creating space!
If you've ever considered starting a group — whether it's polymer clay or another favorite craft — I hope you'll check out my articles. Good luck!
]]>1. Buying a Light Box: Bigger isn't (Necessarily) Better]]> 30" light tent cube, thinking that was as large as I could possibly ever need. Boy was I ever right! That thing was huge — I'm fairly certain Sam would have fit in there!
While I initially thought "huge" was a good thing, I quickly came to realize that bigger-than-you-need isn't actually better. The wonderful thing about light boxes is that they create a contained space where you can control the lighting. As that space gets larger, it gets harder to create good lighting throughout the tent. The pictures I took in that large light tent were full of shadows. And while I'm sure I could have eventually gotten the right combination of lighting power and placement to improve the photos, I chose to downsize to a 24" box. It was still big enough, but the smaller size made it easier to control the lighting. So the lesson here? Use the smallest light box you can get away with.
2. Using a Light Box: Ditch the Fabric Backdrops
I don't like ironing. Not one bit. And those fabric backdrops that come with the light tent kits seem to be pre-installed with deeply-ingrained wrinkles. A better (or at least more patient) person than I may find that the effort to iron those wrinkles out is worthwhile. But I've opted to just ditch the fabric.
The alternative? Cheap 'ol poster board cut to the size of your light box. Buy 'em at school supply time and you'll have many months' supply for less than a dollar. I generally use plain white and I specifically look for the type that's not double-sided. (I prefer to use the non-glossy side so there's no reflection.)
While I started doing this because of the whole ironing thing, I've found it has one big advantage. Poster board is easily replaceable. Since I'm generally taking step-by-step photos of the crafting process, I tend to be messy. Paint, embossing powder, clay... you name it, and it's spilled as I've tried to take a photo of it. With a cloth backdrop, that's kind of a big deal. Stopping to clean can really slow down your photo session. And stains? Well, you might be Photoshopping those out for a long, long time! Poster boards, on the other hand, are simple and cheap to replace anytime there's a mishap.
Poster boards also give you some other options. There's a wide variety of colors available, so you can easily change up the photo background. You can glue on scrapbook paper for an interesting and reusable look. Or you can get more elaborate, as I did with this shot for a PolymerCAFÉ article. I sprayed adhesive on my poster board and sprinkled it with a bread crumb mixture to create a beach background. Not something you could do with fabric backdrops!
Special note for clayers: If you're taking photos of unbaked clay on a poster board background, keep in mind that the clay can leach out and leave a oily spot. Sometimes I just work quickly to avoid this. But if I'm doing time-consuming step-by-step photos, I generally opt for a flexible white plastic cutting mat. (I got mine at Wal-Mart, but these are the same idea.) Since they're pretty small, they don't work as a general use replacement for the poster board. But the clay won't leach into them... plus they're very easy to clean between shots and they're durable enough for those times when you need to demonstrate cutting with your clay blade.
3. Hands-Free Photos: Fast & Steady!
This part is primarily for those of you taking step-by-step photos. Sometimes you just have to have both hands in the shot to show exactly how to do a technique. While I occasionally had to have my husband come in and press the shutter button, I got pretty good at using the camera's timer function to handle it on my own.
The trickiest part was keeping everything in focus, since I had to quickly move into final position after pressing the shutter. I found that I needed to put the hand I wanted to focus on (the "action" hand) in its correct position while I focused the camera, then press the button with the other hand. This was slightly harder because my action hand tended to be my dominant right hand, meaning I had to press the shutter with my (somewhat shakier) left hand. And all this movement had to be arranged around a camera, a tripod, and a light box. I sometimes felt like a human pretzel, and I discarded many photos when the angles of my hands looked too unnatural. One thing that helped was finding the right height of stool. That kept me steady and in-focus... and it probably saved me some back pain, too!
4. Get it Right: Don't Count on Post-Production
A good photo editing software is worth its weight in gold. But strive for perfection while you're actually taking the photos. It's easy to think in the back of your mind that you can crop it and adjust the brightness and contrast later. But you'll be limited by what you have to work with. If you plan to crop some background thing out later, you may find that it's next-to-impossible to do without sacrificing some other important part of the photo. Not only that, but making better photos in the first place will save you a LOT of time tweaking the same little things afterwards in each photo.
Photography still isn't second nature to me. Doing it more has just made me realize how much more I need to learn. But hopefully these tips will help you in your own quest to take better photos.
Have your own tips? I'd love to hear them!
]]>While we're talking about "labors" of love, I thought I'd give you an update on what's happening with Polymer Clay 101. I'll admit I was terrified that people wouldn't like it (creative work can be so scary that way), but the reviews have been great. Just this morning, Jenny of Craft Test Dummies reviewed it and showed some of the beautiful pieces she made based on the book's instructions. We've also gotten positive reviews on Amazon, from Chica and Jo and from the Library Journal. Thanks to all of you who have helped with the good words!
And the big news in the polymer clay world is the upcoming International Polymer Clay Association (IPCA) Retreat, to be held July 13-16 near Chicago. Oh, how I wish I could be there... but we decided travelling pregnant and with a 2-year-old was a bit prohibitive. I look forward to reading lots of reports about it.
Hope you're doing well & that your lives (or at least your clay tables) are full of your own little labors of love!
]]>One of things we didn't really consider, though, was that our stuffed-to-the-brim backpacks would essentially prevent us from bringing home souvenirs. We had to be very cautious about anything much larger than a postcard. (As much as I wanted to bring home that giant jar of Nutella, for example, it just wasn't possible.)
The one thing I did make room for, though, was a wood-carved wine bottle stopper from a small town we visited in Switzerland. It's a little guy with a lever on his back, which, when pressed, causes him to raise his wine jug to his opening mouth. I don't have a lot of use for a wine bottle stopper, mind you. But every time I looked at him, I smiled. So I bought him. He still sits on my shelf, reminding me of our trip... and reminding me that making someone smile is a worthy goal for a maker.
Ever since then, I've been intrigued with the possibility of making moving things with polymer clay: mobiles, toys, bobble heads, etc. It's one of those ideas I'm eager to explore... but I haven't settled down and devoted my energies to it yet. So I was especially excited to see that Polyform had created a Pluffy Bobble Buddies kit, including all the supplies to make 3 bobble head figurines.
The kit shows you how to make a penguin, a monkey, and a frog. (But they also encourage you to make your own bobble creations if you prefer.) The nicely-illustrated instructions step you through creating the individual clay shapes, pressing them together, adding the spring, and baking.
So... do you need a kit to make your own bobble heads? Absolutely not. They're simple to make. Springs are cheap. Buy your own supplies and assemble any old creature your heart desires out of polymer clay.
But I'd still give this kit a thumbs-up. It has everything you need to get started (no more putting off the project til you have time to go to the hardware store). And I know it helped me gain confidence in how to construct bobble heads. If you (or your kiddos) are interested in creating your own bobble heads, I'd say this is $10 well-spent.
More clay for the kiddos! If you liked this post, you might also be interested in my review of the Fun Forms Piggy Bank and the Keepsake Clay Frame Kit.
Prize: Sculpey Pluffy Bobble Buddies kit (opened). This kit is missing 1 spring and 1 set of eyes. It includes all of the clay packets, unopened (I used my own Pluffy clay for the review), the clay tool, and the instructions. The winner will be able to make any two of the three animals on the box, plus use the instructions as a guide to make lots of bobbles in the future.
How to enter: Leave your name and email address in the Bobble Buddies Giveaway entry box below (not the blog comment form). These are the rules:
I will email the randomly-selected winner to verify eligibility and get shipping info for the prize. Once it's all official, I'll announce the winner here. Good luck!
Reviewed Materials Source / Disclaimer: The Sculpey Pluffy Bobble Buddies kit was provided by the manufacturer, Polyform Products, for review purposes. No further compensation was received. I always strive to be honest and unbiased in my reviews, but your results with this product may vary.
]]>But I've gotta admit something.
If you looked at his baby book, you'd think he was still 3 months old. That is, if you could find his baby book. I know generally which closet it's in... but I haven't actually seen it since, well, who knows when.
I know I should be keeping track of the important things... and I do have various notes and photos. They're just spread out on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and a couple of different hard drives. I've always had a mental block against scrapbooking — I think because I hate to commit my memories to embellishment & paper styles that will so quickly look outdated. I just assumed that some maternal instinct would take over and I'd become queen of the baby book. But that hasn't happened.
So I was kind of proud of myself for remembering to buy (and use!) the Sculpey Keepsake Clay Frame Kit on Sam's 2nd birthday. By golly, we may not know what happened between months 3 and 24, but we do have his 2-year-old hand prints preserved for all time. I'm hoping that counts for something.
Maternal pride (such as it is) aside, I wanted to share my thoughts on this kit for any of you who might be considering using it with your little ones.
It also includes these two things that I didn't include in my photo:
I set Sam up in his art area and gave him a little ball of the clay to play with while I kneaded and rolled out the clay sheet for the frame. Sam's not big on getting his hands dirty (we have to use paintbrushes with our fingerpaints), so I hoped he'd try out the clay first, making him more receptive to the hand print part.
The instructions say to start with clean hands and knead the clay for 2 minutes. When I'm reviewing things that are intended for clay newbies, I try to follow the directions fairly closely. So even though this was kind of a large block of clay to knead all at once, that's what I did. Then I used the included roller to roll out the clay until it filled the frame. I'm accustomed to using a pasta machine to roll clay out, so I didn't like having to do this the hard way. (Clayers could probably stack 2-3 sheets rolled out at the thickest setting to get the right thickness... but again, I was trying to use the kit the way someone new to clay would.) I think the size of the plastic roller made this process more difficult than it needed to be. If they had included a larger roller — heavier or wider, or even just longer than the frame so I wasn't having to make multiple passes — it might have been easier to get the clay completely level and even with the top of the frame.
After I had a fairly level sheet of clay, I brought it over to Sam. I noticed he'd completely ignored the clay ball, opting instead to color with his crayons. I tried explaining what we were doing and demonstrating by pressing my hand into the extra clay, but he was very reluctant. When we tried the first hand print, he pulled his hand away as soon as things got squishy. Not a good impression at all. He let me try with the second hand, though, and then he decided it wasn't so bad. Still, I wasn't thrilled with the results, so I rolled the clay out again. He didn't mind the clay the second time around, but I still wasn't happy with the impression. I tried pressing his hand down harder, but I started to worry I was going to hurt him. The flawless, deep impressions from the beauty shot on the box just weren't happening for us. In fact, the only reason the hand prints show up as much as they do is that the instructions forgot to mention (and I didn't think of it until too late) that I needed to clean his hands, too. Think how hard it is to keep white clay clean anyway. Now think how dirty little boys' hands get. Yeah, kind of a mess.
I almost broke my "use what's in the box" review rule to pull out some of my stamps for the name and age. I kinda wish I had. Instead, I used the modeling tool they included, and I wasn't thrilled with the amateurish look that gave. But at the point where you've rolled out the clay and gotten a 2-year-old to cooperate with hand prints multiple times, you're not just about to start again just so you can re-write the name and age!
Baking was a piece of cake (sorry!), as was the assembly. The only thing I didn't care for was the next-to-last step where they told me to carefully remove the perforated cardboard spacer sheet from the cardboard package insert. Apparently part of that utilitarian-looking cardboard packaging I threw away was a spacer essential to getting my photo to fit snugly in the frame. Partially my fault, sure. And I've got other things that'll work as spacers. But it would have been nice if they'd made it a little more obvious I was supposed to keep that piece.
Overall, I'm glad I bought the kit. I'm not entirely happy with the results — in fact, I'm still tempted to pry the clay out of the frame and try again (definitely wouldn't do the hand-carved name this time around). But even just like this, it looks pretty nice. And it makes me feel slightly less bad about all those empty pages in Sam's baby book. :-)
The Sculpey Keepsake Clay Oven-Bake Clay and Frame Set is available for $20 at Michaels. It comes in White (reviewed here), Pale Pink, and Pale Blue. Other products in the Keepsake Clay line include the Handprint Ornament Kit, Pawprint Ornament Kit, Family Tree, and Zoo Growth Chart.
More clay for the kiddos! If you liked this post, you might also be interested in my review of the Fun Forms Piggy Bank and the Bobble Buddies (coming soon).
Reviewed Materials Source / Disclaimer: I purchased the Sculpey Keepsake Clay Frame Set for personal and review purposes. No compensation was received. I always strive to be honest and unbiased in my reviews, but your results with this product may vary.
]]>Course, I'm blogging about it because using their little widget can be a helpful exercise for a clayer. As you play with it, consider how the changes in the position of the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth affect the character of the figure. Think about how you might make some of the features in polymer clay. If you're feeling ambitious, recreate your avatar using polymer clay. Then use the widget to make 5 other interesting characters (try the "randomize" feature), and recreate those in clay, too.
What a fun way to practice making faces! :-)
]]>This is a pretty casual event, so even if you already have the book, you can stop to chat or send along family or friends who might be interested in learning about polymer clay (or about the other local authors!). Folks can browse through the book and ask questions, plus they can see some of the actual projects I created for the book. The books will be available to purchase from the bookstore.
Full Circle Bookstore is on the first level of 50 Penn Place, which is at the corner of NW Expressway and Penn in Oklahoma City.
Hope to see ya there!
]]>