Replicate Lampwork Beads With Clay - Tutorial

Recently I saw this and was in awe. I have seen what appeared to be lampwork glass blown beads created by another artist and I wondered how in the world did she get them to look that shiny. They were ovals with the centers cut out in the shape of round circles and the insides which I remember she referred to as "Inners" were the most beautiful of the beads she had created using this method I imagine. Nothing went to waste and the colors were just wonderful.

I would love to see anyones creations should they use this wonderful tutorial by Judy Belcher on Home & Garden Television.


Enjoy!!!
Replicate Lampwork Beads With Clay : Crafting : Home & Garden Television


Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

PHOTO BEAD BRACELET TUTORIAL

This is a neat tutorial on how to make photo beads. Here shown in the tutorial is a bracelet however there are many other items you can make from these same type of beads. All you need is some images you can resize, some clear - see through (Non iridescent) marble 1/2's from the floral department of Wall-Mart or other home department or craft store. These are like mini magnifiers.

You need a printer for your computer to print out your resized images and glue one of each of the images to each one of each of the 1/2 marbles. Make beads with Fimo, Sculpey or other polymer clay and fasten a marble 1/2 with photo hot glued to the flat bottom on top of the clay bead. Fasten with clay.

Air dry clay I am sure can be used since there is no need to bake it, however I think that using a glue gun glue to glue the images to the marble 1/2 which is recommended as this type of glue because it will not yellow when being heated (Good tip to know). The curing process does something as it reheats and re-melts the glue so I believe there are no bubbles in the finished and cured bead.

Tips from Cre8:
Use different colors for you beads.
Try using cane slices.
Try making lentil swirl beads and then applying the 1/2 marbles with the images to make the beads.

They suggest making pins, magnets, key chains and other neat items. How about making a pen with a fat end tapering to a thin end of the pen and on the back (fat end) add a 1/2 marble with the image under it to the tip.

Enjoy!

PHOTO BEAD BRACELET

Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

How-to-make-beads-from-Polymer Clay

Well this is from Silastones. A talented polymer clay artist who has made some neat slide show tutorials as well as there are instructions on making the wonderful Lava Beads using Rock (Coarse) Salt.

This artist like many others I have been finding lately do not have the FOLLOW feature within their blog page. I think they don't wish to be followed, but perhaps they do not even know what the follow feature is. Well without it I can not seem to add them to the list of blogs on Blogger I do follow. When I list blogs my followers can see which blogs I am following. This helps out everyone, so please if your an artist, or even just a blogger, please do Add the Follow Gadget to your blogs so you can easily be followed. Subscribing to your blog apparently is not the same thing.

In addition there is a tutorial for beads using 5 different colors which is cool and produced some really nice beads, and then there is the Skinner Blend Gane. Make a Frame for that thing and or make a shaved magic or whatever you call it pendant.

How-to-make-beads-from-Polymerclay

PS: I found another blog of Silastones at http://www.silastones.blogspot.com/ which is full of some very colorful and unique polymer clay wearables and art. Check it out. Still I can not follow her. I hope having this post here will allow me and others a way back to continue to keep an eye on her wonderful things.

Enjoy!!
Cre8ively Yours
Andrea "Cre8"

What Is On My Craft Work-Table

Currently I am working on a few things that has been keeping me grounded. Anyone who knows crafts and hobbies can tell you having something you love to do can really help take your mind off things in the real world, and definitely can help you to relax.

I get the most of my relief from stress by crafting and working with polymer clay. I never knew such joy in my creativity than with polymer clay and now I am addicted to bending and twisting wire.

The jewelry I have been creating is beautiful and I now dress in style, everyone wants to know where did I get that? I am happy to tell them I made them myself, my husband is quick to tell them I made it and I couldn't be happier with my artistic abilities than I am when I am wire wrapping my polymer clay beads and making wearable art everyone seems to love.

Its a wonderful feeling to know my husband thinks so much of my creations that he finds ways to play with my jewelry while were out in public so that he basically is pointing things out to others when he is doing it. Just last night at a restaurant when the waitress was taking our order he grabbed my hand and started to play with my chunky square rose bead ring that I wire wrapped with copper wire to fasten it as a wearable design I could comfortably wear on my middle finger (The fattest one on my left hand).

The waitress complimented the ring and asked me how I was able to make those flowers in the glass like that. I felt so good telling her it was not glass but polymer clay. She was amazed and said she would certainly wear that. It would have ended up a nice tip for her but in these time money pays bills not nice jewelry and I love my ring and really did not want to part with it, not just yet anyway.


Wire wrapped polymer clay beads made from rose cane slices from the very 1st real flower cane I ever made from taking a class taught to me by Jane Zhao http://www.janezhaoarts.com/ .

The green gem was one I found with a few others inside a Chinese Bamboo plant I purchased for hubby for Valentines day. Apparently they put in a handful of these cut glass looking gems in with other stones to make a drainage system for the plant inside a decorative planter. They were pre-drilled with holes in them when I fished them out of the planer so I was able to wire wrap it with ease. The results are a beautiful focal piece to be worn with my other polymer clay beads, wire cage beads, metal chains, cord, black satin ribbon, pearl strand or anything else that just might go with it as it appears that just about everything would look great with it.

I made some pillow beads which are more squared then puffed like a pillow but I did make some puffed pillow beads that are a bit smaller so I wanted these shown above to look more squared and less pillow like. I wired them with copper wire and joined them all with copper jump rings I made myself.

I don't have the package to the copper wire I had used so I am not sure of the exact gauge wire it was, but I can tell you that it was soft and I feel the jewelry looks good but not everything you see would be as sturdy pieces as I would have liked for them to be. I know if I wear them I will be very careful, but I know for future pieces I create I will use stronger wire that is less likely to come undone on you.

Additionally I have made the altered book you see. The cover of the book was tiled using polymer clay tiles I created from scrap clay and Dap Dynaflex230 Window and Door Molding Premium Elastometric Latex Sealant (Caulking) in Brilliant White for the grout. The lettering are tiny letters sold for decorating fingernails. Then the whole thing was coated with Mod Podge Gloss - Lustre. The center was left untiled and I painted it with copper acrylic paint and bordered with real copper wires cut to size. The inside of the book is not complete.

Little baby is for the Miniature Collectors Club monthly on-going challenge for June.

Cre8ively Yours

Andrea "Cre8"