A place to encourage the creativity of artistic minds of all ages. Offering Ideas, Inspiration and Instruction and sharing the work of others who inspire me!
Hi guys! I hope you all enjoyed the changing of seasons. For us it became spring. Recently, I have been hooked on learning how to make cuff bracelets with the help of an Easy Cuff Kit by Teresa Selgado of Tiny Pandora. And here is the link to her great tutorial You Tube channel. Worth buying (not sponsored :o)
I am going to share the tutorial about how I made the Skinner blend Spiral cane for the cuffs today. So stay tuned. Hope you are inspired to create after watching the tutorial below! Watch!
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
Subscribe! Like and Share!! (if you want of course :o)
If you would like to make other kinds of gifts or even home accessories for your self, you might like this article. In December, the idea was to make gifts for some ladies we know. What do many ladies and girls like? Flowers and candles of course! Time to create floral candle holders. Often ideas are gained from simply using your art making materials. I have discovered that using translucent polymer clay and colouring it with translucent alcohol inks, or just teeny bit of coloured clay, allows you to make pieces where light can shine through. The thinner the clay, the more the light glows through. So that is what I did. Hot Pink!
This hot pink candle holder was formed around a ceramic sphere that I found. As you will see in the next article, I formed and shaped the petals onto the glass or ceramic shape. It is important to make sure you make a test holder if you are uncertain of how the baked clay will be once removed. It is possible to make it too closed and high, around the form that you can not remove it. I have one like that!
Below are some photos of the completed holder.
As we create, we are always learning, right? Right! We learn from watching others create as well as from actually working with whatever your favourite art making material is. Or if you are me, you are wanting to learn and try out a variety of creating methods. For me these past couple of years, it has been all about learning the best ways to work with polymer clay. It was love at first sight. Working with polymer clay means I can use colour in a three dimensional way. For the first half century of my life, my favourite art making materials were two dimensional, acrylic paint, coloured pencils and such.
Acrylic Painting On Stretched canvas by Anita Berglund
Treating The Surface Of Polymer Clay
One of the many lessons I have learned from the many great online polymer clay artists was that the best product to use if you want to glaze your baked clay is, water based polyurethane. So I bought a huge can and spent two days straight glazing my recent pieces.
Because I have also learned that it is far better to create my polymer clay pieces as smooth as possible. Unless you want texture. If the surface is smooth, it can be left or barely sanded, waxed and buffed or glazed and look great. However, it turned out that because my pieces were too smooth, the polyurethane on many pieces peeled. I like to test all pieces after my multiple failed attempts at using other glazes such as triple thick. Some end up sticky and gross. In fact, that has been number one pet peeve. Polyurethane, perfect, no sticky icky surface. It was when I tried to see how durable the shiny surface was with my finger nail, that I discovered the glaze cold peel like good sunburn does. Okay, I use to like peeling sunburnt asking (my own of course!). Needless to say, I was very disappointed.
Here are some pictures to document what happened....
This wasn't all that I glazed, but you get the idea... Wanting to know what I did wrong, I researched some more and discovered that polyurethane can peel because of natural oils the is on our hands, so you can use rubbing alcohol to wipe the surface clean of oils. As well lightly landing with a high grit sandpaper first helps it adhere. For me, it just became too frustrating because I didn't research as much as I should have. To Glaze Or Not To Glaze, That Is The Question!
As you may already know, you do not actually have to put a finish on polymer clay. The clay is far more durable than any finish. A coating of your choice (I a sticking with polyurethane used properly) is helpful if you have glitter or some such thing that you feel may rub off. Mica powder like Pearl Ex actually is fine if rubbed on in one layer onto unbaked clay. If you want to cover it before with a thin layer of liquid clay or after baking with a glaze, that is an option we have.
Surface Before The Polyurethane
Personally, after spending more hours sanding OFF all that peelable glazing, I concluded that sanding, waxing with Renaissance Gallery quality wax and buffing or just leaving it as is, will be my choice for surfaces of clay. UNLESS, the poly clay piece is a figurine or something that won't be worn or used like beads and cabochons.
See The peeling? Bummer!
See The peeling? Bummer!
Working On Sanding and Then Waxing And Buffing or Polishing
Working On Sanding and Then Waxing And Buffing or Polishing
Working On Sanding and Then Waxing And Buffing or Polishing
Working On Sanding and Then Waxing And Buffing or Polishing
Sanding Tips:
Because Polymer clay is so fine and can enter through air passages, it is best to sand using wet/dry sandpaper in a pan of water or because I physically can't do that, I have a tub of water next to my work space. Then I dip my sandpaper and piece in the water, lay them down on a towel and begin sanding. If the surface has roughness then starting with a number 600 should work to get the hard parts off. I have to keep dipping in the water because the polymer powder builds and clogs my paper fast.
If your pieces are as smooth as mine started out, 800 to 1000 works and I even have a 2000 grit paper to finish off with if I want.
Without waxing, I personally wouldn't be able to polish my pieces hard enough. I know of other artists who don't wax. They sand and then use a cotton denim or jean fabric to buff out the clay and it gets super shiny. My hands are not strong enough to do that, so I put a thin layer of Renaissance wax and let it dry for ten minutes and then polish with a soft cloth. I love the finish. So if I can achieve a nice buttery finish with my weak hands, anyone can! Imagine what you can do with healthy muscled hands!!
Hope You Learn Something Inspirational Today!
See You Soon!
HeArtfully Creating,
Anita
My flowers are okay with a thin layer of polyurethane. I love this piece.
Here are some great videos about finishes from some of my favourite polymer clay artists: Cindy Leitz- Polymer Clay Tutor: Renaissance Wax
Minx Polyurethane - Oil Based
Should I Seal Polymer Clay?
Liquid Polymer
Subscribe! Like and Share!! (if you want of course :o)
Creating HeArtfully
For the past 4-5 weeks, I have been working on my first Turtle, that is meant to be a Doo-Dad Holder or trinket box.Click here to see the first article when I first introduced him and here for the second article when he was a work in progress. He didn't become Howard until I decided that the sea turtle I started out making for a young friend's special event, just wasn't turning out how I wanted it to be. So when my husband expressed his enjoyment of my turtle thus far, calling him "Howard the Turtle." I decided I would make him just for my Hunny Bunny. That meant turning him from sea to a land or four legged turtle. Turns out his friend use to call him Howard the Turtle and Howard was a puppet turtle character on an old 50-60s kid show called RAZZLE DAZZLE on our national television station called the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). It was really neat to discover that he was an actual character! Click The image below or here to see The Video I just completed on mt YouTube channel all about Howard's early beginnings :o)
Lessons Learned...
Howard has gone through a lot, I mean a lot! You will see more when I get part two of Howard's video done. I can tell you that it took about two weeks of trying to perfect his shell, to be a lid for the Art Safety is always important. doo-dad box part... no matter how much I carved away from his shell and his cheek, I could not get his shell to fit under his cheek. Yes, you can easily carve away baked polymer clay. If you are young, don't use sharp craft knives on your own.
So my BIGGEST lesson learned, I should have made his neck longer or left his head straight, no looking back. I know he wouldn't have looked so cute looking straight ahead right?! Or make sure the shell stays thin enough to fit.
Needless to say, I had to recreate a brand new shell and it doesn't look like an oval real turtle shell. He has a heart like shell. But hey, this is HeArtfully creating, so that is appropriate!
I tried to add magnets but, I will share more in part two next week.
Finishing Touches
Acrylic paint was used to change his green mouth and tongue to pink. As well, to add some depth, I painted indigo over the places where there were crevasses like his shell. Then using a damp rag or wipe, I rubbed off the paint, leaving some in the deepest parts.Instead of a glossy varnish, I sanded Howard's head and other areas somewhat. Always use water and varying grits of wet/dry sand paper. Dry sanding is too dangerous because you can breathe in the particles. Then I put Renaissance Wax, let it dry for fifteen or so minutes and I rubbed him down with a piece of cotton denim type cloth.
Polymer clay is definitely, my newest favourite medium! Making my first critter or creature has been such a great adventure, Wanting to show you guys all the stages he went through, and make a video with the steps from the beginning to the end. Hundreds of photos were taken, edited and compiled in the video below. No, I didn't capture every exact step but, I have given hopefully enough information to help inspire someone out here to create their own critter or figurine.
So please enjoy and if you have any questions, thoughts or ideas, please leave them in the comments area below.
I took a tonne of photos to document the stages. Wanting to inspire others interested in all things creative, this is part one of two - all about Howard's creation. He is about the size of a hand, my adult female hand, that is!
Comments? Thoughts? Ideas? Insight? or Questions ! Subscribe to stay posted. LIKE! SHARE! SUBSCRIBE! HeArtfully Creating! Anita
Illustrating to Express A Thought or Make a Point
Something that I often need are drawings or cartoons to illustrate a point or a story in some of my other blogs and videos. (Click here to see a previous article about drawing with a mouse) We all grew up with story books being read to us. And the really memorable ones usually had incredible illustrations. Illustrations are all about drawing for a purpose. Especially if you are a Graphic or Commercial artist, or, you like to write and illustrate your own children's books. The ideas and uses are endless! You can become a graphic designer, illustrator, web designer, fashion illustrator...like I said, the possibilities, endless! Drawing With A Purpose
Yesterday, I created this cartoon. If you are familiar at all with the Star Wars saga, you may think as I once did...Darth Vader is remembered forever saying to Luke Skywalker..."Luke, I am your father." Is that not how we all remember it? I have seen that episode at least ten times in what, thirty years?! Well it turns out, we are remembering it falsely because when we actually watch the movie, he says this....
Original Digital Hand Drawn Illustration by Anita Berglund, 2016
Are you surprised? If you know nothing about what I am saying regarding Star Wars, the lesson about illustrating or drawing with a purpose, still applies :o)
So if you love drawing, think about what you can do with it, if you want to make a living. There are others who often commission artists like us, to create drawings or illustrations for their own web sites, blogs, books and magazines...endless, remember!
It has been a fast paced winter working away on new polymer clay designs using the Mokume-Gane technique. Here is a link describing this ancient Japanese metal working technique. It was originally used to create a wood grain look using layers and layers of metals. A beautiful effect that works in a similar way with layers of polymer clay sheets. I am so excited about finally having a few different colour palettes of new mokume-gane technique poly clay designs, that I wanted to share a sneak peak of my next HeArtfully Creating article/ accompanying video. So take a look and see what you can create by layering 3-4 different colours together in thin sheets. Because the pieces that I will be creating using these clay designs will be jewelry items in my Etsy shop - A Bergie Creation, I love naming my pieces and mokume-gane designs, but this is so hot off the "press" that I haven't had a chance to name anything. yet..
What I am making using the pink/red/orange palette
Hi guys. I just wanted to say that I would never have been able to learn about polymer clay, how to use it and received the inspiration to create with it, without the many great YouTube tutorials by a lot of learned Polymer clay artists. Below, I am going to list the ones I can remember, I know there are so many, I can't remember them all. If you are wanting to know about polymer clay, I will teach you what I have learned in under six months, but I strongly suggest viewing the videos that these artists have made just for people like us!
I have had an online jewelry shop since 2008 and have recently added my newest love, polymer clay designs. The video below just has a sampling of what is in A Bergie Creation on Etsy. If you want to see more, feel free to check out the shop (click here).
Now for the video (click here if it doesn't work)
This is just a sampling of what I have been working on. If you'd like to see more feel free to visit my shop at www.ABergieCreation.etsy.com
For Polymer clay projects not in my shop check out HeArtfullycreating.blogspot.com, my creativity blog.
Subscribe below and/or click "Like" and share to others!
THANK YOU to the many YouTube Polymer Clay tutorials that made my polymer education possible. Couldn't have done it without you all. I am still learning and watching your videos. Keep up the great work! I highly recommend these channels just to enjoy or especially if you are learning like I am.
