Polymer Clay Leaves

I purchased a mini leaf paper punch at a thrift shop and used it to cut out leaves on some golden-brown Fimo. I textured the clay with crumpled foil and then I just used pastels to add some colors. These can be used for a variety of projects in mini but they'd be great for earrings as well.

Miniature Fimo Easter Bunny

I wanted to make some miniature chocolate Easter bunnies using polymer clay. First I designed the bunny shape I wanted, and I knew it should not be over an inch tall so I aimed at that. I cut out the shape thick and then rounded the edges and added details like the eye and ears. Then I made a mold of that, and used that mold to make another one more refined. The advantage of using a mold is that the textures, such as the fur, look more molded in if in a mold. So I ended up making 4 molds, each more refined, until I had what I wanted. Then I worked in the same way for the bow tie. I used Amazing Mold Putty for the molding material.

I figure I can use these for a dollhouse or for jewelry. It did take quite a long time but it was fun to do.

Perfect Pearls on Fimo

Here I did a test of the copper Perfect Pearls on brown clay and on white clay and you can see the difference that it made.

Mica Powders

I decided to test two different brands, Pearl-Ex and Perfect Pearls, brushing them on a pink raw clay. On the right is PP, for Perfect Pearls, and PX on the left, for Pearl-Ex. After cooking I took this picture, and then used my finger for rubbing off the powder. The Perfect Pearls did rub off, but not as bad as the Pearl-Ex. I then washed the piece, and again, I felt more of the Perfect Pearls stayed on. All of the mica powder products, I've read, need some type of coating to protect them.

The coloring, as you can see, is quite similar. But I felt the coverage was better for these and the other tests I did of Perfect Pearls. But both products are great to use for special effects.

Another Valentine's Miniature Tree

This time I decided to do a simple white tree with just pink roses, hearts and candy canes. The candy canes don't show up as well, though. I'll use this as the centerpiece for my dining room table. I've got a dome to fit over the whole tree, and a little tree skirt to add.

Gingerbread Scene

This was fairly easy to make, and fun as well because I had to make some gingerbread and some ginger cookies to get the models. :) There is a little bowl with the gingerbread mixed in it on the table, so again, I wanted to know exactly what the real thing looked like. I made gingerbread men cookies by first cooking polymer clay after rolling it out thin and texturing it, and then after cooking I just used a paper punch to make the cookies. I found a book on Christmas cookies and used that as the background for the scene, for the walls, with a page open showing gingerbread cookies. I used a pen to scribe in boards on the luan plywood floors, and then stained that. I really like using that plywood to simulate wood floors.

Fimo Bowls

I've been testing some of the newer Fimo special effects clays and this mustard-colored clay had flecks in it that I thought might work for old ceramic "yellowware" mixing bowls. I've learned I prefer Fimo to Premo for bowls and plates because it is more flexible and less brittle for me. I need to add an elastic clay for Premo to prevent the breaking of such thin pieces.

Experimenting with bricks

I pressed terra-cotta colored clay onto a metal brick mold so see how it would look in clay. After baking this test piece, I wiped on a white acrylic paint, taking most off the raised areas. I'll try to make a fireplace with it next.

Real Gold Leaf Plates

My grandfather gave me some genuine gold leaf that's about a hundred years old and was made in Germany. I used a little of that to cover polymer clay and create these dollhouse plates. The crackle finish comes from rolling the clay a bit after adding the gold.