Tuesday 14 April 2015

Video tutorial: Birthday cake - polymer clay miniature


Here is a tutorial of how to make miniature cake from polymer clay.

This is a simple way of making a miniature cake from polymer or air dry clays with a rather cute result. You do not need a lot of equipment and the tools I've used in this tutorial can be substituted by the other objects you have probably already got in the house. For example, if you have not got a crinkled blade you can just use the x-acto knife to cut the same pattern. If you have not got liquid clay – not a problem, you can use PVA to glue not only baked polymer clay pieces together but also the unbaked decoration. 
In order to get “muted” or pale clay colour just mix white clay with the artist’ pastels. I have just scrapped the pastels with the knife and mixed it into the clay. The intensity of colour can be easily controlled.
The hearts can be effortlessly made into the petals, just roll from one wide side to another. This cake is not just for a doll house, but can be made into a pendant, key-ring or even used for decoden. The choice is yours. 







Thank you for watching.
Any questions please ask. And enjoy!








Friday 10 April 2015

Please watch my video demonstration of making polymer clay doll using FIMO mold "Lilly"



Some comments about making this doll from the mold:
Hands and feet were ready to be modelled, though I found hands required more attention than feet. The upper body is incomplete. For me it would have been easier to make the whole torso from scratch, but for the purpose of the demonstration I have used the top part of the trunk from the mold.
Bear in mind that the back of the legs, as well, as the back of the top part of the torso required building up, though you can make them 3D whilst clay is still in the mold, but it could be tricky to maintain the correct proportion.
Speaking of which, what I liked about this mold is that the form helped me to keep the proportions right. I usually have problems with it.
I was surprised how detailed the face turned out. I did not do much to it sculpting wise, just inserted the eyes into the sockets, painted the face and glossed. That was it.

One thing about using a mold is that you will need to be very patient and up to date with your clay "smoothing" skills.

Here are some pictures of the completed doll. She is a red head, as I used to be one :D The hair is made from the wool (obtained from HobbyCraft store). The wool was simply glued on to her head.
The dress is made from polymer clay and textured using a texturing sheet.















Wednesday 8 April 2015

Chinese/Japanese book review about making cats and cute kittens from polymer clay or air dry clay

This is a review for Chinese or Japanese language book about making cats from clay. The book is amazing and I would recommend getting it.  In my video review you will see the whole book and I will show you couple of my cats I have made from the book. Hope you'll enjoy!




If you love cats - you'll love the book

Tuesday 7 April 2015

Bleeeaaahhh Such a disappointing trip to HobbyCraft store (Cambridge)

I do not visit HobbyCraft stote often and usually find craft-y things I need on-line, but I thought after Easter holiday the store is bound to be full of discounts and special offers.


Well, I was naive, even Easter chicks were still marked at full price. Ooo?  I went to the Cambridge store to get some clay, paints, liquid latex, varnish and just for general atmosphere of "hobbiness". I was disillusioned almost immediately. The shelves were bare, I had to fight for black block of clay, I have only managed to get my hand on translucent red Sculpey and 2 blocks of "brakemyfingers" hobbycraft own brand polymer clay (I reviewed this clay previously, you can click here to check it out).


At the checkout I spent 10 minutes (I am not joking), 10 minutes waiting for cashier find a bar code for Sculpey clay and packs of wool! Really? When I asked what's happened to the store, she asked me "what do you mean?" I said that the shelves are all empty, especially clay section, where nothing left apart from a lonely pack of mix quick from Fimo and overpriced acrylic rollers. I would have given her an Oscar for the answer: "Ahhh, it is a high theft section". I wanted to say that it seems like the whole store is a big theft section, but restrained myself, of course :)

Anyway, I am so disappointed, I wanted this trip to make my day and make my crazy busy life a little bit relaxed, but NO...Life is cruel :)

Well, anyway, the rant is over. Here are my bits and bobs I managed to retrieve from the store.


Not much, I know :((

But the good news were: I got my 10% student discount and that pack of acrylic stamps (bird and owl) was only 25p!! And it is their regular price. So, bear this in mind!

Happy crafting, folks and check my youtube videos out for some clay related topics :)