15 Fri Dec 2023
Tags
24ozPolymerClay, art bead, bead, beads, free tutorial, handmade, polymer clay, polymerclay, tutorials02, video tutorial
I’ve been working on my video editing. I had some old footage of me making polymer clay pillow beads which I have cut into two different style videos. Let me know which one you prefer since this will probably affect how I make future videos.
25 Sat Feb 2023
Just before Christmas, I started a new job which I’m really enjoying. However, while I’ve been finding my feet with that, things have been quiet on the polymer clay side. I have decided I want to make more videos so I’ve been doing some research into that. While doing so, I found out how to edit the subtitles on existing videos.
Don’t… pull.. the… thread…
(Yup, I pulled the thread.)
This is one of the first video tutorials I did on YouTube, so I decided to go back and improve on the autogenerated subtitles and give it a shiny new thumbnail. They’d automagically done a pretty good job, but hadn’t coped recognizing words like mokume gane. While staying up way too late last night doing that, I realized the video was way to looong, with big chunks of boring in between.
So this morning I researched how to cut bits out of a video. It can be done! I have done it. BUT… then I had to go back and do the subtitles again because some of them had been cut out. 🤦♀️
Therefore, I present to you a video that you may have seen before (here’s my original post with a finished pair of earrings), but now with improved subtitles (I couldn’t do anything about the poor quality footage or the hissing audio. *sigh*). I do want to put my energies into making some fresh videos, but knowing me I’ll feel compelled to upgrade the subtitles on the old videos first.
Let me know what you think.
14 Sat May 2022
Posted in How to
Here’s a video tutorial where I make dreadlock beads. Of course this technique could be adapted to other large hole beads, or even smaller ones for jewellery making.
11 Fri Mar 2022
Posted in Doh!
Here’s another video tutorial. In this one I’m making polymer clay components with embedded wire. I was on the struggle bus with this one and I had to alter my plans because the cane I was using was too old and brittle. I left some of the disasters in the video because my problem solving might be useful to someone else.
Since doing the original stream I have stumbled across some other techniques which work slightly better to recondition old canes, but I’m still testing these. If you have any good tips for working with old canes, please put them in the comments!
05 Sat Mar 2022
Here’s part 2 for my mixed media wand tutorial. Enjoy.
The original footage for these videos was recorded during my livestreams. You can join me on Tuesday mornings (10am UK time).
P.S. Here’s Part 1.
05 Sat Mar 2022
Here’s another video tutorial(ish) I made a while back but forgot to link here on my blog. Enjoy.
I’ve just uploaded part 2. It’s available here.
24 Thu Feb 2022
Posted in Tips
I’ve just realised that I never put a link here on my blog to a little video that I made a while ago showing how I mix mica powders with water to highlight textures in my unbaked polymer clay. Once added the mica sinks to the bottom and the water evaporates leaving the mica just in the dents.
*I like to use a brand of mica powders that includes a built in binder so I don’t need to varnish the finished beads. I have found that once baked it takes concerted effort to scrape off the mica and since the mica is mostly in the indentations it will be protected from casual wear and tear.
You can find links to all my other free tutorials on this page.
P.S. I got a better camera after making this video. You can see it in action during my streams on Tuesday mornings (10am UK time).
18 Thu Nov 2021
Posted in Inspiration, Tutorial
I have started doing a live stream every Tuesday morning at 11am UK time. My camera is aggravating because it keeps changing its autofocus and my mic is not great. I don’t think I’m the world’s expert in polymer clay (often I’m figuring out what I’m doing during the stream) and I’m probably not all that entertaining. So why am I doing it?
I have a couple of reasons.
Mostly I want to talk about beads and polymer clay and, during lockdown, I discovered that the members of my household are not interested. I figure if I want to chat about these things then someone else does too, and maybe they will find me one day.
The other reason that I’m continuing to stream, which has been more of a discovery than a cause, is that it gives me a fixed time where I have to sit down and make something. During lockdown I lost all motivation and sat in my house and sulked. Left to my own devices I procrastinate and avoid starting projects. By having a scheduled time, I have to plan what I’m going to make and even prepare some of the boring parts like conditioning clay so I can just sit down and do the fun bits. (It also helps alleviate the guilt I feel when I’m making beads instead of cleaning the house etc).
Another lovely perk is that my sister, who is in South Africa, usually joins in to watch my stream, so we get to have more regular contact. She’s a watercolour artist and I’m including some of her art in this post for you to enjoy. You can find more of her work on Instagram.
So if you are interested in polymer clay tutorials or would like to chat, please join me on a Tuesday morning. If you can’t join in live then the videos are available for a couple of weeks afterwards. Let me know in the comments if there is something you’d like to see me make and I’ll see what I can do.
21 Thu Oct 2021
Posted in Doh!
Back in May I wrote a blog about my experiment to see if polymer clay was light fast. After that I wondered how the colours would fare directly in the sun. If you remember, I had cut three strips from the same spectrum gradient blend of Fimo Professional “True Colours”. This time I used the strip that had been on my wall in a North facing room as the colours had not changed much (I wanted to preserve the control strip which had been stored in a drawer, and compare to the strip that had been sitting inside on a South facing windowsill). This time I left the piece on a South facing windowsill outside for the summer.
As you can see, this time there is a definite colour change. The strip has faded overall, but the yellow seems particularly affected. The orange and green (when blending with the yellow) have particularly changed while the others have mostly kept their hue but have become paler.
I am a little disappointed that the colours do fade, although the strip is still nice and colourful when not compared to the original colours. I have seen some lovely garden ornaments made from polymer clay and they withstand the elements very well, but it would probably be best to stick to earthy colours when making something intended to go outside. This way a slight shift in hue would not make a big difference. Perhaps there’s a UV protective varnish that can be used to preserve the bright colours?
Since I’ve only tested one brand of polymer clay here: please let me know in the comments if you’ve had any experience with colours changing (or even better – not changing!).
17 Thu Jun 2021
Posted in 24oz Polymer Clay, How to, Tutorial
Tags
24ozPolymerClay, beads, cane, headpin, polymer clay, tutorial
I am continuing to work through my 24oz sample colours and I’ve nearly finished so I decided it was time to use up the scrap cane ends that I had created previously. I used a cane design by Fiona Abel-Smith which creates a colourful pattern that reminds me of crochet Granny Squares.
I made this cane and a few headpins and beads on a live stream earlier this week. If you are interested in how I made them there is a video still available. I haven’t even baked these yet (I like to fill the oven before I do so), so photographing them was a little tricky and is the reason there is glass in the background rather than my usual photo setup.
Of course I didn’t take into account that making a new cane from my scrap ends would result in new scrap cane ends! I think the last beads I make will end up mud tone that I need to texture for interest and add some colour with mica powders or paints.
Anyhow, I think I will soon be finished and able to show you the collection of beads I have made. Let me know if you are doing your own sample challenge as it would be great to share. Stay well, bye for now.
Fulgorine 