Polymer Clay Pearls

 I LOVE PEARLS... and I enjoy making them!

 

 It is amazing to me that I can cut a piece of Polymer Clay, roll and shape it, add luster, cure it and have any size or color of pearl imaginable to use in my PC creations. 

I want to show you the steps I use to make

  pearls, but first, the following pictures show some of my PC pieces decorated with pearls.

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Let's get started...

You will need Polymer Clay, (any color will do)

(I use Premo for just about everything.)

Pearl Ex, Powdered Pigments #652

(This is what I use but I am sure other pearl mica powders or eye shadows would work)

Cutting tool

Fan folded card stock for baking. 

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First, condition your clay to make it easy to shape. 

I usually roll the clay into a long strip (you can also use an extruder for this step) and cut the desired amount for each pearl according to the size you want to make. 

Pearl Ex Powdered Pigments, Macropearl #652

It's useful to have a little container handy so you can measure out a small amount of the Pearl Ex powder, you certainly don't want to take the risk of tipping over a full bottle of mica powder, trust me. ^^  After dipping your finger in the powder, roll it onto the clay while holding it in your opposite palm.

Place the pearls on the folded card stock for baking. 

To Cure, I start with a cold oven

 and set it at 275 degrees for 1 hour Plus 20 minutes for preheating. This is only how I do it but it may not work for your oven.  

If you have questions about baking your clay, check out this article at The Blue Bottle Tree Tutorials.

The Blue Bottle Tree (Baking Polymer Clay)

Pearls all finished, sorted and ready to go.

Decorative Hair Combs

This is a short post with no tutorial, these decorative hair combs are not that hard to make. I haven’t been working much with clay lately. After a long period of non-stop work, I am feeling a bit burned out but these combs are fun to make so I thought I would post them.  

The prongs on this comb are made with polymer clay. They don't have wire in them and they get flimsy from body heat when worn, so I tried to add wire to my next project below.

I extruded a wide ribbon of clay, placed a piece of wire in the middle and worked the clay around it.  

These prongs were baked sepreately then added to the decrative portion of the comb.  Even though I had two raw sections of clay with the prongs in the middle, they did not stick so the next time I added Bake and Bond to adhere them firmly.

These Red, White and Blue comb are

 perfect for those Patriotic Holiday outfits this Summer. 

Black combs are my favorites because they show up well on my light hair, so I made several in all black.

I found these metal combs on Amazon, they come from China and they are very inexpensive. Shipping takes a long time, but it is free and well worth the wait. 

 

Hope you have as much fun as I do making these Hair Ornaments. 

Heirloom Wedding Anniversary Book

 

With our 60th Anniversary fast approaching, I decided to do something with the book that was presented to us by the pastor who performed our wedding ceremony. It is a lovely book entitled. "Day By Day, We Magnify Thee", but after 60 years sitting on the shelf, it was getting a little tired looking.  

I started the refurbishing by carefully painting the entire cover with Metallic Gold Acrylic paint.  It was delicate work painting the small border inside the cover, but I think it looks much better. 

 The polymer clay decorations were pretty much as shown and where applied to a Gold polymer clay base which you can see in the photo. The flat clay base cover was baked and cooled before gluing it on to the book. I had some Swarovski Chrystals, so I glued them into the flower centers and I love the way they look, adds just a touch of bling. ^^

The little picture of us is laminated to keep it looking fresh. 

This is just another example of the many artistic uses for Polymer Clay, hope it gives you some creative ideas of your own.