Sorry, I know it's been forever since I posted, but I have started 6 posts and not finished them. I will blog the other knitting things I've been up to, I promise. Just...not now.
My newest obsession is polymer clay. I'll spare you the long, drawn-out hoopla about why I wanted to try it, but it is a lot like working with fondant, which I miss about my cake-making days. Recently I decided I couldn't wait anymore, I had to try it NOW!
And I'm so glad I did! My first project was a pair of donut earrings. (Yes I know it's doughnut, but my stupid phone doesn't accept that, so I've come over to the dark side of D-O-N-U-T.) Here is the result of my first attempt:
SQUEEEEE!! It also involved chalk/pastel to colour the outside instead of making a cane. There is a solid horizontal line, but it's not photgraphing great. I was so pleased with this one, but I still had sprinkles to use up, so I decided to make it a sprinkle donut as well. After a glaze incident (I know, I know, I should be using TLS, but I didn't have it and the store didn't have it, so I was trying to use what I had!) I ended up fixing it by painting right over the glaze with acrylic paint, and then putting another clear coat over that. The result:
And a closer photo:
It's still not perfect, but I think it's totally adorable, and looks so cute as a necklace. I've gotten a ton of compliments on it today. I have also now gotten my hot little hands on some TLS (although it's the pearl finish, not technically translucent) so I'm going to be trying some more donuts as soon as I can.
My next project is going to be realistic chocolate chip cookies for earrings. I've purchased pastels now (I think they will work better than the chalk for colouring) and I have watched several tutorials, I'm as ready as I'm going to get, ha.
I also purchased some translucent Sculpey in block form, for use in making lemon slices. My first attempt at a lemon cane was a terrible failure. It was going well until the "squeeze/roll out to a tiny log" stage, that's when it just became a yellow snake. Oops. I'll try again.
These have all been made with Craft Smart brand of polymer clay, which I believe is Michael's own brand. It was quite a bit cheaper than purchasing the other brands, which is a bonus. I haven't had any problems with breaking or anything yet, maybe beginner's luck?
Anyway, I will hopefully get to try the cookies out tonight. I've finished the swim diaper I had on the go for a customer, and I can't do anything on my next sewing project for a customer until I get measurements, so I'm in good shape. I also have a machine knitting project in the queue for a customer that I should really just do. It's not needed until August, but you know how these things can sneak up on you.
That's all for now. Happy making!
My newest obsession is polymer clay. I'll spare you the long, drawn-out hoopla about why I wanted to try it, but it is a lot like working with fondant, which I miss about my cake-making days. Recently I decided I couldn't wait anymore, I had to try it NOW!
And I'm so glad I did! My first project was a pair of donut earrings. (Yes I know it's doughnut, but my stupid phone doesn't accept that, so I've come over to the dark side of D-O-N-U-T.) Here is the result of my first attempt:
Super adorable, I think. They look like Simpsons donuts, which is what I was going for. But obviously they don't look very realistic. My mother commented on my photo that she wanted a pair. I thought I should make them a little different so we weren't twinsies, and watched a few tutorials before I started this time. The resulting donuts were so darn cute, I almost squealed:
This set used a donut cane to get the different colours, and I made the glaze from a mixture of Sculpey gloss glaze and acrylic paint. Honestly I think they are so freaking adorable. But still not totally realistic. (I have a thing for tiny, hyper-realistic food, and I'm not alone in that.) So I decided for the next piece, to watch some more tutorials, and stumbled on one that touched on texture of the outside of the donut, which has made a world of difference in the third piece:
SQUEEEEE!! It also involved chalk/pastel to colour the outside instead of making a cane. There is a solid horizontal line, but it's not photgraphing great. I was so pleased with this one, but I still had sprinkles to use up, so I decided to make it a sprinkle donut as well. After a glaze incident (I know, I know, I should be using TLS, but I didn't have it and the store didn't have it, so I was trying to use what I had!) I ended up fixing it by painting right over the glaze with acrylic paint, and then putting another clear coat over that. The result:
And a closer photo:
It's still not perfect, but I think it's totally adorable, and looks so cute as a necklace. I've gotten a ton of compliments on it today. I have also now gotten my hot little hands on some TLS (although it's the pearl finish, not technically translucent) so I'm going to be trying some more donuts as soon as I can.
My next project is going to be realistic chocolate chip cookies for earrings. I've purchased pastels now (I think they will work better than the chalk for colouring) and I have watched several tutorials, I'm as ready as I'm going to get, ha.
I also purchased some translucent Sculpey in block form, for use in making lemon slices. My first attempt at a lemon cane was a terrible failure. It was going well until the "squeeze/roll out to a tiny log" stage, that's when it just became a yellow snake. Oops. I'll try again.
These have all been made with Craft Smart brand of polymer clay, which I believe is Michael's own brand. It was quite a bit cheaper than purchasing the other brands, which is a bonus. I haven't had any problems with breaking or anything yet, maybe beginner's luck?
Anyway, I will hopefully get to try the cookies out tonight. I've finished the swim diaper I had on the go for a customer, and I can't do anything on my next sewing project for a customer until I get measurements, so I'm in good shape. I also have a machine knitting project in the queue for a customer that I should really just do. It's not needed until August, but you know how these things can sneak up on you.
That's all for now. Happy making!
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