wellington womble
|
PottersNo, not Harry - clay! Do we have any potters around? I want some clay stripey candy canes to go on the Christmas tree - I buy some every year, and no-one likes them here, so they go all sticky in the loft before next year. Seems such a waste, and with a nice shiny glaze, I thought they'd look realistic enough in clay, and be a bit more sustainable.
|
tahir
|
Couldn't you do them with salt dough?
|
sally_in_wales
|
Salt dough would be a great idea, air drying clay would work well too, or one of the oven baked versions perhaps. If you made them yourself they would also make ace presents for people next year perhaps 
Who was it about to go an a lampworking course? Glass ones would be very special
|
cab
|
Yeah, the bake in the oven stuff ought to be ideal for this... Fimo springs to mind as appropriate.
|
wellington womble
|
Right, so when himself comes round, and I am up to the elbows in clay, salt dough and glass (this time), I can blame you lot for encouraging me!
I might have a go, and then see if I can't consult a professional! Polished and professional is not really my greatest stregnth, but glass ones would be lovely, and would make lovely presents..........
Oh, curse you lot! Now there's another resolution added to the growing list!
|
wellington womble
|
Sally, you have an awful lot to answer for! There is a glass jewellery lampworker in Aylesbury (where I work), who runs courses, and there is one in February. I've emailed her to ask whether it would be suitable for a beginner's project, and if not whether she'll take them as a commision.
Sometimes I feel fate conspires against me! For once, I was perfectly happy to pay someone else to do it, and not add anything to my own list.  Still, it will be something interesting to look forward to in February, and my birthday's in March, so I can probably pursuade folks to contribute to it for that!
|
2steps
|
I think it was jamada who was looking into lampwork but I could be very wrong  I'd love a go but its not likely any time soon 
fimo should work and if you have a rock tumbler you can put them in there to polish them up afterwards. Personally I'm rubbish at modelling anything with anything but my OH is great so he does any projects like this
|
Jamanda
|
| 2steps wrote: | I think it was jamada who was looking into lampwork but I could be very wrong I'd love a go but its not likely any time soon
fimo should work and if you have a rock tumbler you can put them in there to polish them up afterwards. Personally I'm rubbish at modelling anything with anything but my OH is great so he does any projects like this |
Yes it was me, and I've found a course I like the look of too. I'll bear the candy canes in mind when I know what I'm doing.
|
Jamanda
|
What's fimo?
|
sally_in_wales
|
| Jamanda wrote: | | What's fimo? |
Its a polymer clay, looks a bit like stiff plasticine and comes in every colour you can imagine. You model with it, then bake it to set it when done. It sets into a dense plastic type material. Its really very versatile in skilled hands, I used to use it a fair bit in my teens and its very big in the States for beadmaking I believe
|
Jamanda
|
| sally_in_wales wrote: | | Jamanda wrote: | | What's fimo? |
Its a polymer clay, looks a bit like stiff plasticine and comes in every colour you can imagine. You model with it, then bake it to set it when done. It sets into a dense plastic type material. Its really very versatile in skilled hands, I used to use it a fair bit in my teens and its very big in the States for beadmaking I believe |
Sounds interesting. Thanks for that.
|
sally_in_wales
|
| Jamanda wrote: | | sally_in_wales wrote: | | Jamanda wrote: | | What's fimo? |
Its a polymer clay, looks a bit like stiff plasticine and comes in every colour you can imagine. You model with it, then bake it to set it when done. It sets into a dense plastic type material. Its really very versatile in skilled hands, I used to use it a fair bit in my teens and its very big in the States for beadmaking I believe |
Sounds interesting. Thanks for that. |
Somewhere I may have a wrapped block kicking around, if I find it, would you like it to try out? I think its a half block in white, but its quite fun if you havent used it before
|
2steps
|
fimo is good. I've seen some amazing stuff made with it. love the milifori stuff but sadly completly useless at it
its quite expensive but you might like PMC (precious metal clay) too Jamanda. It soft like fimo till you fire it so you can model it however you like and make pretty much anything in silver or gold
|
sally_in_wales
|
| 2steps wrote: | fimo is good. I've seen some amazing stuff made with it. love the milifori stuff but sadly completly useless at it
its quite expensive but you might like PMC (precious metal clay) too Jamanda. It soft like fimo till you fire it so you can model it however you like and make pretty much anything in silver or gold |
I made Gareth a ruby set ring in PMC last year, it came out really well, sadly it had a weak spot and he killed it after 6 months wear, but it was immense fun to work with. Ebay from the states is the cheapest way to buy the stuff, it was about half the price of UK sources, and all in all I reckoned it was a cost effective way to make a piece of jewellery if you don't already have loads of silversmithing tools. Its a bit like blu tak to model with in some ways, not quite as stringy, but thats what it reminded me of
|
2steps
|
thanks sally  Its something I'd fancied trying for ages to make stone set pendants or rings
|
sally_in_wales
|
| 2steps wrote: | | thanks sally Its something I'd fancied trying for ages to make stone set pendants or rings |
Try a pendant the first time, rings take a lot of abuse as I found out, actually, you will probably get two pieces of jewellery out of a standard sized dollop, so why not try both and see what happens, and make sure you choose heat resistant stones! (The modern lab created gems are excellent, they are fairly tough and very cheap). Do you have a blowtorch? Other than that a couple of firebricks to help focus the heat are all you will need
|
2steps
|
I have many semi precious stones, that I use in my jewellery anyway so I was thinking of using one of the harder types. I have a bloworch meant for cooking that I've never used, will that work?
|
dpack
|
i like potting but have run shy cos it could become an obsession
glazes are just nice
|
bernie-woman
|
| sally_in_wales wrote: | | 2steps wrote: | | thanks sally Its something I'd fancied trying for ages to make stone set pendants or rings |
Try a pendant the first time, rings take a lot of abuse as I found out, actually, you will probably get two pieces of jewellery out of a standard sized dollop, so why not try both and see what happens, and make sure you choose heat resistant stones! (The modern lab created gems are excellent, they are fairly tough and very cheap). Do you have a blowtorch? Other than that a couple of firebricks to help focus the heat are all you will need |
I saw a programme the other week where a woman was taking moulds of seashells and then filling them with this stuff and making some lovely jewellery but I didn't catch the name of the suff so thanks everyone for filling in the blanks
|
