Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Not in Kansas...

I'm getting back into Polymer Clay.  I have some definite plans (which are continually changing shape) and am quite excited about this.  It has been many years since I've worked with the clay and boy, have things changed

I'm used to sculpting but not with the new materials and the new products provide unlimited creative opportunities.
Also, toaster ovens have gotten more accurate, temperature wise and convection ovens are available.

At Leah's suggestion, I got a convection oven.  I'd never used one before but liked the concept.

I tried it out the other day with a 'practice' piece of clay.  I carefully put my soft clay item on my piece of paper and a small feather and a tuft of dog hair (freshly clipped for the occasion), placed this in the convection oven and turned it on.

It looked like a tornado had touched ground in that oven.  Things were whirling around like mad.  Even the clay was bouncing!  I turned it off and stillness reigned.  It was truly a "Your're not in Kansas any longer, Dorothy!" moment.

Learned a lot with that little episode.  Now I use glass rather than the traditional paper and I'll glue in the feathers and fur (mixed media items) after curing.  Such fun!  I'm experiencing a learning curve for now but will post some pictures when I have some finished items.

The Cheetah Bead necklace is the first thing I ever sold in a gallery.

19 comments:

  1. Best wishes! Everything always has some error for learning, so it's good you found out what you need to do after that! Have fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'll have to remember your tips if I ever bake polymer clay. I haven't played with clay since I was in my teens :)
    Amy

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I am so excited to see your work in clay! I hate convection ovens for cooking food. Well, better to say I am afraid of them ... afraid they will dry out my food. I have the option on my oven ... I guess I should be brave and try it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. my mind is boggling? dog hair?? are you sure you don't need a cauldron?
    working with clay sounds like a lot of fun to me!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Calli, I am joking about the cauldron. lol

    ReplyDelete
  6. I recently got a convection oven, and have been thinking of experimenting with clay. I will keep this little episode in mind. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evey - be careful. Once you use an oven of any sort for Polymer clay, you really shouldn't use it for food. It also needs to be in a well ventilated spot.

      Marianne

      Delete
  7. sounds like a lot fun for you, good luck can't wait to see your new items

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good luck, this is one thing I want to learn one day.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your scultpure is awesome! Technology is so cool, I used to use polymer clay for some simple pendant shapes and stuff but Im not good with clay haha

    ReplyDelete
  10. best of luck learning the new things :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Have fun with the clay. I used to love modeling clay.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love working with clay myself!best of luck:)

    ReplyDelete
  13. So interesting! I'm not familiar with working with clay so I'd love to see pictures of your new oven and your experiments!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Unique Cozy Treasures - That cheetah is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  15. HAHAHAHA sorry had to laugh, that is hilarious about the feathers, I should have warned you

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hello
    Love your blog. You have some great ideas. Hate hearing about Abby...we have an older Boxer and I hate thinking about loser her. Have you seen this press release and news article? Blogrower on Typobounty is a new game changing concept and could greatly affect online blogs like yours. There are two ways we can be of service to you. You can become a registered hunter (it's free to join) and make money by finding errors on internet websites. Secondly, you can submit your blog on our site and increase your blog readership by allowing our hunters to hunt for errors on your website. I just thought you or readers might be interested.For more information please check out the press releases at

    http://www.urlwire.com/news/051011.html

    or

    http://www.prweb.com/releases/Mediaudience/Blogrower/prweb9296906.html

    ReplyDelete