Arquivo da Categoria: Fimo

Colar Marinho – Ocean Necklace

Colar de tema marinho com componentes de Fimo esculpido,conchas, missangas e contas de vidro.

Este colar demorou vários dias a concluir. Desde a mistura das cores à  escultura minuciosa das peças em Fimo, montagem e colocação do verniz, todo o processo foi efectuado com entusiasmo e a convicção de estar a criar uma peça muito especial que continua a ser uma das minhas favoritas. Foi inspirada pelos fabulosos trabalhos da Christi Friesen, uma das grande especialistas na escultura em Fimo.

Pode encomendar a partir da loja ou pedir informações preenchendo o formulário de contacto.

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– Necklace with a seascape theme, carefully sculpted from polymer clay, with shells, seed beads and glass beads.

Available to order through the shop.

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– The Nut Factory – Nutter button

– My brother and my husband made a really cool game called Nut Factory for iphone and ipad. They spent a year of late nights and weekends working on it and I’m still surprised at how great it turned out considering it was just the two of them.

I wanted to help promote the game because the hard part with these things is getting people to realize such a game even exists. Being jewelry inclined, I decided to made a funny button to help take the message to the streets.

I made the button in dark blue polymer clay and stamped the message on it before painting it with white acrylic paint and wiping away the excess to highlight the letters and give it a textured look. For something so simple I think it turned out pretty cool.

I textured the back using a netting mesh and used a thin square to attach the pin.

And here’s how it looks on a real person:

If you want to know what the Nut Factory game is all about, you can visit the blog or the Facebook page.

Keep cutting!

Edit from 2018: the game is no longer available.

– New Locket Pendants

– The photo locket pendant seems to have been a popular idea so I’m posting two other examples.

The first is actually just a small photo frame and not a pendant. It was made for a couple’s 60th wedding anniversary.

The base color is silver and the texture was highlighted with gold and burnt umber paint. The gold gives it a very ornate and old-fashioned look but I thought it was appropriate for an older couple.

This time I used ribbon to join the two parts and an amethyst on the cover. I think it looked better with just the silver but it’s still an interesting color detail.

The back has a heart with the number 60 stamped on it, as a reference to the wedding anniversary.

The inside has pictures of the couple taken on their wedding day. The picture of the groom gave me some trouble because his skin was so dark and I couldn’t get a good contrast to make the features pop. After three tries I finally got it but the bride still looks better. Her hat, however, was another problem because it was white, against a white background so it looked like there was a bit of her head missing. I opted to paint it in with acrylic paint to define it better.

The second example is a pendant but it was done in black and white.

I won’t show the inside pictures because I didn’t ask permission from the client but it looks the same as the others apart from color.

The base was black and the texture highlighted with white acrylic paint. I used ribbon again for the hinge.

Actually, the hinge is made from three ribbons for stability. The center ribbon crosses the entire pendant so you can tie a bow on the other end to keep it closed.

The stone on the front is a hematite cabochon to go with the black and white theme.

I was very pleased with this last one. Even though it still has the antique looking texture, the black and white gives it a more modern feel.

– Picture Locket

– I’ve been playing around with polymer clay again and I liked the idea of transferring black and white images onto the clay. It’s a simple process, though you have to practice a little bit because it’s easy to rub the ink off along with the paper if you’re not careful, and the result is an antique-looking image.

You can make just a pendant out of if and I thought about using pictures of my children to try it out, but since I have two I didn’t want to have to choose just one and getting a picture of the both of them is not an easy feat.

All this thinking got me to the conclusion that the best option for what I had in mind would be to make an old-fashioned locket since I could place both pictures inside. I was inspired by a picture of an icon box (you can check out my inspiration board on Pinterest) and made my locket out of copper-colored polymer clay.

I textured and aged it with acrylic paint and applied a gloss varnish. The pictures were transfered onto light flesh-tone clay. I used a natural stone cabochon on the cover, thread to bind both pictures and a lobster clasp to close it and also on top to attach it to a necklace, key-chain or anything else I want.

It turned out a bit larger than I had planned at first – 4 cm – because I didn’t anticipate the inside frame when I started making it, but since it’s polymer clay, it’s still quite lightweight. I plan to make a simpler version next and maybe a round one instead of square.

I think these lockets are a great idea for moms, especially if they like antique-looking objects, since they can have an original piece of jewellery and also pictures of their kids all in one.

Video: moldes de silicone para usar com Fimo – Silicone mold tutorial video

Estive ontem a fazer um pequeno và­deo que ensina a fazer moldes de silicone de pequenos objectos que se podem depois usar para fazer cópias em Fimo, resina ou PMC.

O và­deo está falado em inglês mas penso que a imagem é clara o suficiente mesmo para quem não compreende bem a lingua. O material que uso no và­deo chama-se Siligum e é um silicone em duas partes que é preciso misturar em quantidades iguais. O objecto deve ser pressionado sobre o silicone no espaço de um minuto desde que se começa a misturar os dois componentes porque o material endurece muito depressa.

Espero que gostem do và­deo.

– I made a video on how to make silicone molds out of small objects to use with polymer clay or resin.

I use Siligum, a two part silicone compound that dries quickly and makes a flexible mold. This material makes a clear impression and captures every detail of the object being molded. You can use the mold to make duplicates of the objects in polymer clay, metal clay or resin. I focus on the difference between molding a thin or a thicker object and how to fix a hole in your mold.

I hope it’s helpful.

– Bijutaria em FimoBijutaria em Fimo

colar marinho (detalhe)

Actualizei a loja com diversas peças de bijutaria esculpida em Fimo que tenho andado a realizar ao longo dos últimos meses. Espero que visitem e gostem das peças.

Tenho aprendido imenso sobre esculpir em Fimo e descobri que gosto muito de o fazer. A parte mais atraente é poder usar cor à  vontade e construir componentes à  medida das necessidades da peça. Aqui não há o problema de faltar mais uma conta para terminar o design perfeito – se for preciso faz-se mais uma.

As peças que mais gosto de fazer são os colares, pela complexidade, e graças a uns tutorials fabulosos da Christi Friesen consegui fazer umas peças muito giras. Depois de fazer o colar da selva seguindo o tutorial (tirando a flor decidi fazer em vez do pavão sugerido) desenhei o colar marinho utilizando a mesma técnica base mas criando do nada todas as formas e texturas e é a minha peça favorita do momento.

colar marinho (detalhe)

Actualizei a loja com diversas peças de bijutaria esculpida em Fimo que tenho andado a realizar ao longo dos últimos meses. Espero que visitem e gostem das peças.

Tenho aprendido imenso sobre esculpir em Fimo e descobri que gosto muito de o fazer. A parte mais atraente é poder usar cor à  vontade e construir componentes à  medida das necessidades da peça. Aqui não há o problema de faltar mais uma conta para terminar o design perfeito – se for preciso faz-se mais uma.

As peças que mais gosto de fazer são os colares, pela complexidade, e graças a uns tutorials fabulosos da Christi Friesen consegui fazer umas peças muito giras. Depois de fazer o colar da selva seguindo o tutorial (tirando a flor decidi fazer em vez do pavão sugerido) desenhei o colar marinho utilizando a mesma técnica base mas criando do nada todas as formas e texturas e é a minha peça favorita do momento.

Polymergence Newsletter – edição de Abril – Polymergence Newsletter – April edition

Há umas semanas fui contactada por uma simpática senhora chamada Charlene Therien a pedir para incluir uma foto dos meus brincos de ovo estrelado na edição de Abril da Newsletter da International Polymer Clay Association, chamada Polymergence.
Fiquei feliz por poder contribuir uma peça e escrevi um pequeno parágrafo para acompanhar a foto.

fried_eggs_dee_02

Todos os trabalhos desta edição são baseados em ovos mas numa grande variedade de estilos, mostrado mais uma vez como a cerâmica plástica pode ser tão versátil. Os meus brincos destacam-se das restantes peças pelo facto de serem os únicos a ilustrar o interior do ovo em vez de se basearem na sua forma exterior mas isso não implica que sejam a peça mais interessante ou mais bonita.

Podem ler a newsletter aqui, e ver todas as outras fabulosas criações de diversos talentosos artistas de cerâmica plástica. – A few weeks ago I was contacted by a nice lady called Charlene Therien, asking if she could include a picture of my Fried Egg earrings on the April edition of the International Polymer Clay Association Newsletter, Polymergence.
I was happy to contribute and wrote a small paragraph to go with the picture.

fried_eggs_dee_02

All the pieces presented in this issue are egg-related but in a wide range of styles, showing how versatile polymer clay can be. My earrings stick out from the rest because they were the only item depicting the inside of the egg instead of being based on the outer egg shape but they’re hardly the most interesting or attractive piece.

You may read the newsletter here, and see for yourself all the fabulous creations by several talented polymer clay artists.

– Adventures in Polymer Clay

– When it comes to polymer clay I’m still very much a beginner. I’ve made a few things I like but haven’t developed enough of a technique to be able to make really perfect pieces. Not that perfection is always important. As with everything handmade, sometimes leaving your mark is actually a plus and, like everything else, the more you work the better you get.

I’ve picked up polymer clay again now because I wanted to do a specific pendant with color gradients. When I picked up the clay I noticed it had gotten really hard and flaky – it had been at least a year since I last used it for anything so that was no surprise. It was just a bit frustrating because instead of making my pendant I spent days reconditioning clay before I could get anything else done.

To recondition the clay I tried using baby oil, sewing machine oil and even a glycerin lubricant. Each seemed to work fine and none of the initial experiments seemed to have a negative effect on the curing process or the end result. I decided to stick with baby oil because it seemed the most harmless.

This was my reconditioning technique: I hammered the dry clay with a plastic hammer until it was reasonably flat and then rolled it on the pasta machine. It came out in flaky bits at the bottom so I added some baby oil and mushed it all into a ball. I let it sit for a bit (while rolling another color in the pasta machine, for example) and then come back to it, hammer it again and roll it again. After rolling it in the pasta machine about 10 times the clay started to get to the right consistency one more. Once or twice I added too much oil and it got really sticky so I let it sit for a few hours or overnight and it was fine again.

So after a day or two of this I finally got the pendant done and decided I should stick with the clay for a while longer, learn a few things and use up the leftover clay so it won’t get crumbly again.

I started by making a necklace from a tutorial by clay artist Christi Friesen. I had the tutorial for ages because I love the organic look of those leaves, even though it’s not a look I would have ever come up with on my own (I naturally tend towards more geometrical and abstract patterns) but I never got around to trying it out. I like the way the necklace turned out and I think I managed the general feel of the thing but some of the tendrils got a bit more squished than I would have liked and I’m sure it will turn out better if I make it again. I didn’t have mica powder to brush over the leaves so I used a loose powder eye shadow that worked just as well.

The matching earrings I made later turned out a little better.

At this point I wanted to explore color palettes so I picked up the last book I bought on the subject called Polymer clay color inspirations. It’s a really good book to help you brush up on color theory. I studied that in college and I’ve always been rather intuitive when it comes to color but it’s always helpful to refine some concepts once in a while. Also, I’ve used color in webdesign for many years but that is totally different from mixing clay in order to come up with a specific tone. It’s harder to fix mistakes, for one. The theory is the same but to instinctively know how much magenta or yellow to add is a trial and error process.

I wanted to make an Art Nouveau pendant and a flower cane seemed like a fun way to do it. Unfortunately I didn’t like the end result so I scrapped the cane. While I was cutting up the clay I decided to roll some of it that had an interesting color scheme through the pasta machine and ended up making a pendant and some earrings out of it.

I like the earrings because they look like a painting. I textured the surface to add a little extra interest.

After this failed attempt I decided to stick to color schemes that can’t go wrong and went with warm colors and a different technique.

I made a bunch of sheets in tones of yellow, orange, red and burgundy, cut circles out of each, stacked them up, extruded the resulting log that I then cut into nine parts, arranged them into a cube and cut that into slices. From these square slices I made a brooch and some earrings that remind me of Kandinski’s farbstudie quadrate painting (only not so colourful).

You can still tell where the seam is because I didn’t want to mess with the surface of the pendant too much. Apart from that I think it works.

Next I think I’m going to tackle surface textures. I just need the picture of the finished product to pop up in my head first because even when I’m working on book or tutorial projects I never like to do something that’s exactly like the example given. What’s the point in that? I believe you should always put a bit of yourself in everything you do even if it’s based on someone else’s work.