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| 2016- Faux stone from polymer clay - key chain for my Dad made by me! |
When you want to make a gift for someone, it helps to try to focus on coming up with an idea based on what you know the gift receiver likes. It just makes it more meaningful and might please them. Mind you, anything handmade from a friend or family member, is always meaningful!
Faux Stone or as my mom calls it "Fox" Stone, means "fake" in English. Faux is a French word.
Rock, Stone, Gemstone?
When you want to try to make your clay to look like a specific surface, such as faux stone It is best of
Click this link to learn more about granite.
Click Here to See Rock Types
Click here to see the many varieties of Stone including gemstones
I am sorry I didn't take any how to or works in progress photos. But, here are the basics incase you might be inspired to try making a personalized key chain.
What I Did
1. Smooshing Colours:
We all know what it means to smoosh right? As an artist, colour mixing is one of my favourite things to do in the art making process. When I use paint, I use a paintbrush. But when I work in polymer clay, I smoosh. That means to take the colours you want to combine to get another colour, like blue and red make purple or red and green make brown...and mix it together until the colours are well combined into the colour you want.
Depending on the kind of colours used for mixing, your end results may surprise you. If it isn't what you wanted, do not give up. Keep adding and subtracting. I don't do this, but I know other clay artists who like to keep records of "colour recipes." Where you might either make a sample of the colours you used and how much of each, to result in the colour you wanted.
This works well, if you want to get the exact same mixed colour every time. Maybe it is the visual artist in me, but, I like to eye ball it. Mind you, that means I never seem to get the same colour twice. As well, I often run out if the project is large. So mental note to self, "make sure I mix A LOT of the colour I need.
3. Shaping It. In this instance, my goal was to make a personalized key ring for my Dad. So, it makes sense that I wanted it to spell "DAD." My husband had the idea to cut "DAD," out of the clay instead of making each letter and trying to connect them into one piece. I tried Craig's idea and that is what worked.
You can shape it how ever you want.
4. Armature or Support: I forgot to say that if you want your piece to be extra strong, you can place a sturdy 18 gauge wire inside the piece. This piece has a wire running through some of it to strengthen it. At least I think I did. My memory is a tad foggy.
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6. Rings and Do Dads: I wanted to embellish the clay to make it interesting. Using a drop of liquid polymer clay, I set in a steampunk gear and poked some details into the clay. As well, I needed a place to suspend the key ring attachment so, I inserted a large metal steampunk gear ring.
Also, while the clay was unbaked, I added some light touches od shimmery mica powder for fun and pizazz.
7. Finishing Touch Ups. Once the clay is baked according to package directions on a
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7. Gift It!
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| 2016- Faux stone from polymer clay - key chain for my Dad made by me |
