Polymer Clay Christmas Ornaments

Today I would like to share with you the two ornaments I made for my granddaughters.  

I like like the Santa one except for his mouth.  It looks like he's panting or sticking out his tongue.  It's suppose to be his bottom lip.  I think I used a little too much clay there!  I am hoping to be making some of these to put in my web store.  They were very fun to make plus you can personalize them.  

The baby's 1st Christmas one I won't be posting since it was something I found on the net and copied it. I have a different layout that I use to make years ago but I couldn't find it.  Oh but I did find it after I had this one all made.  Isn't that how it goes.  So I will probably have some in pink and blue in my store next year too!!! 

I love playing with polymer clay.  I like playing with earthenware clay too but I don't have a kiln so this is the next best thing for me. Plus with polymer clay you don't have to paint it or use colored glaze.  You use the colored clay and when it's baked it's done!!!

I just wanted to share these with you!  I will have a regular post later tonight.

Thanks SO much for looking,
Wanda

Baby's 1st Christmas

Today I am going to share with you an ornament I made for my granddaughter.  I had found an ornament much like this on the internet a while back and I had saved it for this very moment.  I'm not sure if the ornament I found was from last year or a couple of years ago.  I don't have a link to it and I don't know who is the original designer of it.  I do think though that it was a manufactured ornament.  I LOVED it and saved the image.

So I made this for my granddaughter and I thought I would share it with you.

The pea pod is made using polymer clay.  I poked a hole in the end with a wire so I could add beads to a longer wire and insert it in the clay once it was baked.  For me, that was the most difficult part of the ornament because I had trouble getting the wire into the clay without the beads getting gaps in them.  There was nothing to grab onto to hold the wire and I couldn't use a tool because the wire was too thin and it would bend and crimp.  That was not a good thing.  But I finally managed to get it into place and all was well with that part of it.

The baby face is also made from polymer clay.  I tried sculpting it but I am not great at sculpting realistic looking things so after several hours and many attempts I opted for a more whimsical look.  The hat and the blanket are pieces of a knitted glove.  The body part was filled in with some fiberfill and everything was glued into place.  

On the ribbon (and of course it doesn't show in this photo) I ironed on the words "Baby's 1st Christmas".  I used some iron on paper that you can put in your printer.  You print in mirror format so it's backwards on the paper but once it's ironed on it's correct.  I trimmed it very close to the words so I could get it all on the ribbon.  I tied the ribbon on and it was all done.  I did forget to mention that the polymer clay is baked.  I have a toaster oven that is used only for polymer clay.  I'm sure there is years of polymer clay film in that oven.  It can only be used for the clay.  Clay bakes at 257 F and most foods cook higher than that.  When the clay is baked at 275 F it is non toxic but at higher temperatures it isn't.  So that also includes the film inside the oven.  So it's just best to bake only the clay in this oven.  It's a designated oven!!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Polymer Clay at it's Funnest - Cat Beads

I started these beads a while ago and had to set them aside until I found a time when I could play with clay again.  As you can tell, clay is not high on my priority list.  Though I wish I could find a way to move it up a few notches.  I LOVE working with it and creating.  

I found a step by step on the net to make these.  Though this step by step was for the whole cat.  I only wanted to make heads.

These are what I got completed yesterday.  Right down to the glaze!  

I had watched a video on how to make your polymer clay creations even harder.  You need to take them out of the oven and immediately put them in ice water.  Well, we didn't have any ice but being in Minnesota with a few snowstorms lately, we had snow!  So last night I went outside with my bowl and filled it full of snow.  The clay only takes about 15 minutes to bake so I had to melt some of it.  I just added some water  and I had a nice soupy slush and that was all I needed.  I really don't know if it made the clay any harder but I just went with it!

These were very fun to make and if you want to make some you can find the link here.  The instructions are a follow the picture type thing so you need to pick what size you want to make your clay pieces.  Sometimes I like it when the instructions actually tell me what size to use.  And of course I didn't write it down when I made these.  But I did use the largest circle on the extruder and I cut all the pieces the same length so I could have all the cats heads the same size.  The ears were harder to keep the same size but it's ok, I like them.  I think they are cute and I think they will sell well at the Demo & Do in April!  

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Candy Hearts

No, they are not real!  They are made of polymer clay. 

This week I was playing with clay and I thought I should finish up some of the projects I started.  I have both of my worktables full of clay things that are not completed.  I keep finding things that I want to try (clay techniques) and I set what I'm doing aside and try the new thing.  Some of the techniques are a bit more intense than others and some are more fun.  I have bits and pieces of projects left and I'm not sure what to do with them. Maybe make some beads.  I know I can't remake the other components because the clay colors won't match.  That's the bad thing with the polymer clay.  You need to mix up a big batch so you have enough to make your projects.  

The clay never goes to waste.  It can be made into beads.  I have some clay veneer that I made using a retro blend a I can just slice the blend and lay it over the scrap clay and make some fun beads.  I did make some last month and I just now got them polished.  I hate polishing them.  I am now covered in bits of fabric threads!  I attached a pile of fabric circles to my Dremmel and use it to polish the clay.  Bits of fabric are always flying off it and they cling to me like a magnet!!!  I'll show you those beads some other time.

These beads are ready to go to the shop to be sold.  They needed white ones.  I don't have any colored ones on hand either.  They sell fast this time of year.  I am sure I will need to make more for the shop but this is all I have made right now.  I don't have any molds on hand but I will be getting some in my web store soon.  I'll post a message on here and on my beading blog when they are available.  

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Mr. & Mrs. Frosty and Cat

Just a little change of pace today and I'll be back at it tomorrow with a very fun background technique.  I promise!!

I just wanted to share with you the ornament I made for my niece and her husband.  She asked me to make her an ornament to commemorate their first Christmas together and to quote, "It has to have a cat on it."  So the same night (two days before Christmas) I'm in my workroom playing with clay.  She had seen a cute snowman and snowlady ornament that she thought was cute so I thought I would go that route.  I got out the clay and began to play!  I

I even took some scrap clay and made the kitty and stuck it to the side of the snowlady.  It's kind of hard to see in the photo but it's there!  

The second photo is of the backside of the ornament.  I had made it so the snowman's arm was around the snowlady but it got hidden behind the veil.  

I was not thrilled with the flowers.  I like how they looked but not at the bottom where I had affixed them to the head with liquid Sculpey.  I should have done something different.  But now I know so the next time I make these they will look better.  

And I'm not thrilled with the wire in the back either.  I had to make a wire to hang them and then I had to split the wire at the end so a piece could go into each character. There was no way just to put one hanger in the middle of them.  That is something I will have to work on later when I have more time.  Something like that is all about balance.  Had I stuck the hanger in the man it would have hung in one direction and had I stuck it on the lady it would have hung the other direction.  It needed to be in the middle.  I may have to add a wire first and then attach the two bodies together.  That is something I'll work on the next time I make a pair of these!  

But the most important part of this was that when they opened them and saw it they loved it!!!  That made me happy!!  They were fun to make.  Anytime I get my hands all oily from the clay is fun!

Thank you SO much for visiting today,
Wanda

Gingerbread House Christmas Ornament

I thought I would share with you a Christmas ornament I made just 2 days before Christmas.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get things done!!!  

I made this out of polymer clay (Fimo and Sculpey).  Polymer clay has always been one of my favorite things to play with.  I actually have three craft mediums I love to play with and they are polymer clay, rubber stamping and beading.  Clay being the cheapest of all of them!!!  Clay is something that I can actually run out of.  The stamps and beads, well that would be unheard of!!! LOL  

When I started this ornament I had a different house in mind.  But I do like how this one turned out.  I had this little jar half full of little clay candies so it was easy to just add them to the door trim. I whipped up a couple of  candy canes and with the snow on the roof and ground I was going to leave it as it was.  But then I realized I didn't have any room for the year so I added the little clay charms (the gingerbread boy and girl and heart).  And that completed the ornament.  I was now proud to give it as a gift!

It was very fun to make and I may make some to sell in my web store but not for a few months.  I need to recover a bit longer from the holidays before I dip into Christmas stuff again!

Thank you for visiting today,
Wanda