I've set up this blog to chronicle my life as a polymer clay artist and jewellery designer. I'm relatively new to working with polymer clay, so I hope to blog about the outcomes of several experiments here and share my new creations.
First, a little about me:
- I studied fine art up to A-Level.
- Until now, I mainly concentrated on drawing and painting animals, but after working a couple of times with polymer clay, I found that I really like it and wish to experiment more.
- Although I wear little jewellery myself, I've always been fascinated by it, particularly by how it's made. So this is where my motivation to make pendants--and earrings, if I'm brave enough!--has come from.
- After finishing college, I studied for an Honours degree in English at Exeter University, graduating with a 2:1 in 2016. During this time, I didn't get to do much art at all, and it's something that I really missed.
So, now onto my first pieces of jewellery.
In many ways these are just practice pieces... my first attempts at making something from polymer clay. The first two in the photograph below--the large blue pendant in the top left corner, and the smaller turquoise pendant next to it--were the first pieces I ever made. I'm pretty proud of them.
At this point, all I had was the clay (I used white Sculpey Ultra Light Clay), a few clay tools that my dad has, and some old acrylic paints. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, so those two took quite a while to produce, as I got a feel for the clay and how it works/what it's capable of.
The following week, I then produced the rest of the pieces that are in the photo below (the long thin piece was a practice piece that I made so I could test to destruction to see how flexible/brittle/versatile this medium is--and the answer is that it's very flexible, doesn't break upon being dropped, but did snap after being bent back and forth several times).
I also decided to make a snake from this clay--and I had great fun with this. As I mentioned early, I've spent many years drawing and painting animals, so to make a snake from clay was really exciting.
I was quite happy with the results that painting in acrylic paint gave, but at this point I'm not really sure how durable acrylic is on them... or whether it will flake off in time or not. From researching how other polymer clay artists work, acrylic paints seem to be the top choice, but it also appears to be important to seal these paints onto the clay correctly. I understand this can be done by baking the pieces after being painted, or by sealing with a glaze.
I've spent the last few days researching which glazes are best to use, as I want one that is safe to go against the skin/won't cause irritation when these pendants are worn against the chest. That's obviously hugely important.
The glaze that I think I will be going with is Sculpey Glossy Glaze. It seems to make sense to go with a glaze that's made by the same company that makes the type of clay I'm using--as I need to make sure the glaze sticks sufficiently to the clay and doesn't peel off!
I'm excited to start working properly with polymer clays properly, and have just ordered a new batch of equipment and coloured clays after watching several tutorials. Buying coloured clay also saves the job of painting the pieces and--from the images I've seen--gives a more professional look.
So, when my order arrives, I'll take a few photos for the blog and upload here.
In the meantime, if you've got any tips on working with polymer clay, I'm all ears!
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