Scrap clay

Tips for scrap polymer clay...

Beware!.. No but seriously - how can anyone gather so much scrap clay? Am I the only one with this problem?...

You know how you're working on different projects and you push the leftover clay out towards the sides of your work surface, until it at some point overfloats and there's no longer room for you to make anything?.. I'm struggling with that problem constantly! When I started making miniatures in 2011, I soon after began putting leftover clay into this little container... Didn't think it would build up like this! And imagine, I actually frequently throw away large pieces of clay because I know, that I'll NEVER EVER get to the bottom no matter what I do. I know it's a waste, but I've given up.

What to do with it then?

Well, there are a number of things you can do with a mountain like this, and if you know of something I'm not mentioning, please feel free to let me know :)

- Obviously, the most logic thing to use it for, is new clay projects - it's perfectly good clay in any color you can imagine, and you're more than likely to need the same color some other day.

- When I first started out doing clay charms and miniatures, I used it to make molds; press your master into the clay, bake it and there you go! - keep in mind that you'll need some type of release agent like corn starch, so the unbaked clay won't stick to it. Also, another thing to remember is that you won't be able to make molds for everything, as these aren't flexible like those made from Amazing Mold Putty etc.

- If you, like me, make all your masters (the items you make molds from) yourself, the scrap clay is great. You can use the most 'yucky' colors, because at the end, the color really doesn't matter since you're only using it to make a mold from.

- You can use pieces of lighter colors (shades that you probably won't use very often, eg. weird colors made when mixing cane pieces) to clean your hands and work surface, as the dust will stick to it.

- Mix and marble! - especially if you're making charms and other types of clay creations this comes in handy. Mixing the different colors, creating a marbleized effect, can look absolutely amazing for jewelry pieces!

- Make tools and stamps; If you use a ball of tin foil or some other object to create texture a lot, you can make a clay mold/tool to use instead. This way you can make a nice handle to grab onto... If you'ce seen some of those hams I've made, I used scrap clay to make the 'stamp'. I first rolled out a sheet of clay, used a needle tool to press the pattern, and lastly pressed another piece of scrap clay onto the baked imprinted clay sheet to make the stamp :)

- You can use it as stuffing for other projects - if you're making something like a cake covered in fondant, you can use the scrap clay for the insid. If you're going to cover it up anyways and you're not going to slice a piece... then why use your good clay for this?

- For caning.. You know how the end pieces of canes get more distorded? Sometimes that ruins a perfectly good looking cane. I've used scrap clay to create new end pieces for my canes before rolling them out; worked really well and resulted in more 'usable length' of the cane.

Quick tutorial; Lettuce

Lettuce for polymer clay creations and miniatures

Lettuce is one of those things that you can use to decorate almost anything, seriously, anything! With the exception of cakes, ice cream, candy and... okay, so maybe not anything - but a lot of things.

I love using lettuce to decorate arrangements of meat, fish, cheese etc.

You can use this technique to make lettuce for your 1:12 scale miniatures, charms or other polymer clay creations :)

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Materials needed;

-Polymer clay in a lettuce color (various shades of green, white etc. can be used for this)

-Mold maker (I'm used Amazing mold putty)

-Sharp blade or exacto knife

-Mixed tools (embossing tools, craft knives etc.)

When making lettuce, I like to use various shades of green to achieve a more lifelike appearance. I use a mixture of different green shades, white (Cernit) and sometimes even 'champagne' or 'sahara' for mixing in with the green to 'dull' the "neon"-like-briiiiiight-ness.

Next you'll need to make some molds that can be used to make the texture of the lettuce - In the picture above you can see 3 of the ones I've made. They're actually really easy to make; Prepare a small amount of mold putty, roll it into a ball and flatten it (you'll need to work pretty fast). Use various toold to make the texture; emossing tools, needles, clay blade, tin foil - whatever you have lying around. It doesn't have to be perfect, and it doesn't have to follow a specific pattern. You'll need to make 2 for this method :)

Slice off some very thin pieces of green clay and place them on top of one of the molds. Place the other mold on top and use your hand or fingers to add pressure.

Then simply remove the top mold! - fresh, yummy (clay) lettuce, ready to serve! :)

Tutorial: Paper rose

1:12 scale miniature flower: Paper rose

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Hey! hello, how are you? long time no see!

A lot of things have happened the past few weeks, and it's been hard for me to find a balance between crafting, blogging and making YouTube videos - I've started making nail art videos again after a 1-year break! so glad to be back on there :) You can check out my videos if you're interested: 3TanjaJ3.

Anyways, here's the first flower tutorial. It should have been posted in January,.. oh well.

Materials needed:
-Paper
-Watercolors
-Paper punches (or scissors if you're going to cut the shapes yourself)
-Embossing tools, or any rounded tool
-Glue
-An eraser or something similar (rubber-ish)
-Green wire, preferably paper wrapped.

Tweezers, exacto knife + matte and glossy glaze are some more tools that can come in handy for this. You can use other tools and materials if you want - you might also need other things when making different types of flowers. I'll be showing you how to make an easy, basic rose.

1) - Begin by painting a piece of paper on both sides. It doesn't have to be perfect at all - a slobby paint job often looks better for petals because of the variation in color.

2) - Cut out petals with a paper punch or scissors. I used a heart shape for these. Use an embossing tool and your 'eraser' to shape the petals. I'm actually using a piece of amazing mold putty that I shaped into a circle :)

3) - Add a bit of glue to the wire and wrap around the first petal. Now continue adding petals till you're happy with it.

Repeat - add more petals :)

I used another paper punch for the leaves, but painted the paper green instead. If you want, you can add a lot more details and create the look of veins etc. To finish off the rose I touched up the color on the petals and added a thin layer of glaze.