I have had some medical problems lately and have been behind in my writing. I am presently working on some great topics so visit often for new lessons.

I also have a new blog named "Living with Lupus"
http://lupusinmylife.blogspot.com
Pretty self-explanatory. If you live with lupus come read my story maybe my experiences will help you with your journey dealing with lupus. Enjoy.

Also, My Etsy store is offering free shipping with any order. Visit my store for more information. http://www.susanscraftcorner.etsy.com

Our pet contest entries are filling up fast. The deadline for "sleeping Beauties" is the end July 2010. Get your entries in soon to win gift certificates to Susan's Craft Corner. For more information go to http://www.susanscraftcorner.com

Until next time folks. Stay happy and healthy!

Susan Larivee, Owner & Operator
Susan's Craft Corner.com

Colors and Clay

Below are a few colors I have exspirenmented with myself but, I am sure there might be a slight difference in color depending on what shade of "blue" you used.    Do your own exspirementing for the shade your looking to achieve.

Antigue White =  white + yellow    12:1      ( 12 equal parts to 1 equal part)

Neutral Gray =  white +blue + burnt umber  1:1:1

Olive Green = burnt umber + yellow + blue  1:1:1

Light Leaf Green = yellow + blue  4:1

Dark Flesh = red + burnt umber +yellow + white  1:1:1:1

Pale Yellow = white + yellow 2:1

Here is where your pasta machine can really make a difference in mixing the colors completly.  I found some great sites for you to view.  They all have a great professional insite on clay colors. 

About Kato Clay

Clay Color Mixing Recipes

Mixing Colors and Color Chart

 I hope this was helpful in planning your next project that involes colors.

Susan

P.S.  A must go see link below on color recipes.   Cindy Lietz has some great vidoes that teach much about mixing colors.     Cindy has inspired me to get involved in creating with clay.  She has great posts.  She is always a position writer and just is real good at what she does.  Please see her views on creating color with her color receipes.  She is fantastic!     

http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/polymer-clay-color-recipes-blue-african-violet-premo-sculpey/8020/ 

There are several types of clay. Some clays do not need conditioning. I enjoy using polymers clay in my work. To learn more about Polymers Clay go to:

http://www.eugenascreations.com/polymer-clay-beginners-tutorial.html

The polymers clay I use needs to be baked in a toaster oven to become hard. Some polymers clay can be air dry but, I am not familiar with that type. I suggest you research different clays to find out what is best for your planned projects. Here are some links I think might be helpful:

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/clay/a/playclay.htm

http://www.eugenascreations.com/polymer-clay-types-tutorial.html

Before we begin using the clay it need be conditioned. Unwrap the clay in break it in sections. Hold in hand to warm the clay. Then flatten the clay. Place pasta machine on highest setting (9). (Note: Once pasta machine is used for clay it cannot be used for food). Do not force clay through machine. The clay needs to go through the pasta machine several times on each setting (10 to 15 times). Fold the clay and place it in the pasta machine fold first to prevent air bubbles. The clay will become smooth and shinny making it very easy to work.

When your clay is conditioned you are ready to begin your project. Conditioning the clay is necessary so the clay will not bubble when baked. Click below for a great website I found for beginners.

http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/masterindex.html#lessonsprojects

Pasta machine should be cleaned each time you change color. To clean your pasta machine use isopropyl alcohol. Be sure to clean completely after each use.

Bye for now
Susan Larivee, Owner and Operating
Susan's Craft Corner
http://susanscraftcorner.etsy.com to visit my store

I created this necklace for a very close friend and thought I would share how it was made.  It was sooo... fun to make.  The idea came from an article I had read in May/June 2009 issue of  "Today's Creative Home Arts"   The magazine is generated from the Home Arts Club which I am a life time member.  This is a fabulous bi-monthly magazine and totally worth every penny.  Check out the website!  www.creativehomeartsclub.com  by becoming a member you can enter some great contests, get patterns, enter give-a-ways, and more. 

This piece was created by first making a clay cane jelly-roll snake using three colors.   After the cane is created you will take an old credit card and push length wide into cane snake making several indentations.   Reduce the cane and let set for about 20 minutes.   This will make the cane easier to slice.  Notice how the old credit card created the clay to drag together making it appear like rose peddles.  Cool huh!

While your cane is resting, so to speak.  You could begin to roll scrap clay balls or what-ever the shape you plan to make your beads.  I made several shapes.  Put aside.  Now with a very sharp blade begin to slice your cane.  Thin slices are all you need to create your bead.

Slice the cane giving you several pieces to work with.  The clay balls now will come into play.  With a tooth pick  carefully grab the slice on the side of the slice so you do not make a hole in the slice and place on your clay ball.  As seen below.

After you have placed you slices around the clay ball I use a piece of glass to roll and smooth the slices onto clay ball.  By using the glass it eliminates fingerprints in the clay and the friction gives the bead a nice smooth surface.  My work space is on a large slab of glass.  So glass on the bottom and a piece of glass for rolling.

After rolling the bead you want to make your holes.  After making your hole you want to take cornstarch to again rid any finger prints and create a smooth surface.  The beads are then placed on a piece of card stock that has been folded like a fan creating wells in the cardstock.  This is so bead does not bake with flatten areas.  Bake your beads in a toaster oven following the directions on your clay package.  Remember be sure the toaster oven is just used for clay.  Making food in the oven after baking clay is NOT recommended. 

Above you can see some of the finished product.  I would change one thing if I was to create this project again.  The beads above were sanded and glazed.  I would have to go with my tumbler  procedure that is dicussed in my article "Sanding Clay Beads" to create a more natural shine of the clay.  The glaze is nice but as you can see with one of the above beads the glaze tends to drip making more work in re-sanding and re-glazing. 

I am making a whole line of this beautiful design and should be on my webpage by the third week of February 2010.  So please check out my new webpage and add to your favs for new up-coming products I know you will love!

www.susanscraftcorner.com

I would love to see some of your finished products if you choose to use this  idea.   If you have any questions I will be checking this blog often to guide you through. 

Have fun!

Susan

These beads were tumbled for 24 hours using cut-up 600 grit sandpaper and water.

Hello everyone:

 I have been doing much investigating on clay sanding techniques.   Many artisans’ seem to be using a "rock tumbler"  to cut down on the time it takes to sand a bead to perfection.   Some find great progress with vibrating rock tumblers and other are very happy with rotary tumblers.   My experiments have used the rotary tumbler. 

There are also several different techniques in regards to the potions.  Some artisans are using fine sand and water in the rotary tumbler while others use cut-up sandpaper.  I have read that the vibrating tumbler works well using beans from a beanie baby.    Myself , I have used the rotary tumbler with a  very fine beach sand (sifted through a nylon stocking) and water mixture.  I ran the tumbler for 24 hours and found it to work well.  The round beads came out very smooth.  Odd shapes appeared to need more sanding. 

 I also experimented with the plastics beads from beanie babies.  After gutting all the beanie babies in the house ( sorry guys)  I tumbled them in my rotary tumbler for about 12 hours with noticing little results.   So, I would stick to using these beans with your vibrating tumbler like originally mentioned.   I also used the sand paper idea that worked really well.  One artisan mentioned to cut-up a whole piece of 600 grit sand paper, place in tumbler (rotary) fill with beads and then with water (3/4 of barrel).  Let it run over-night.  Nice results!  The sand paper will curl causing these little tunnels of sandpaper that are great for small round and long beads.   

 Thanks to Cindy Lietz!  She has some great ideas and how to’s using a "rock tumbler" to sand the beads. 

 Here is Cindy's site address.    http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/rock-tumbler-professional-polymer-clay-beads/5263/   This page in particular helps us with our topic today which is rock tumblers.  She has some great collections of videos that teach you about different techniques in creating with clay. 

Please, share your ideas with us.  I would love to hear them.

By for now.

But, after a bit more exspirementing. LOL

Susan