The Sun melts butter and hardens clay….

It has been far too long since I posted here but since the apple cake I’ve been on holiday with my parents (Cornwall – yay!) and been up and down like a zip.

Anyway.  In terms of crafting, knitting and crochet have continued as usual (Christmas is coming people) but a newer activity has been raising it’s head (since the buttons on my red cardi)….. polymer clay.

Yesterday I tried three new techniques and I thought I would share them here.

Using temporary tattoo’s on clay.

This is a fairly simple technique using just clay, a tattoo and water.

Roll out a mixture of white and translucent clay, check that the plaque cutter will fit, and peel the clear cover from the tattoo.

Place the tattoo face down onto the clay and CAREFULLY wet the back of the paper (not the clay).  Lift the backing paper, I used forceps to avoid leaving fingerprints.  Put a hole at the top if you plan for it to be a pendant, leave this out to make a brooch.

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a rose cutter.

A rose cutter is a cutter designed to help you make a rose from fondant icing – but anything that works for icing works for clay.

Roll out a mixture of translucent, red and red glitter clay (bits and pieces together) until there is enough space for the cutter.  Lift the shape with a blade, this ensures that the next step does not glue the clay to the surface.

Gently press down the edges of all the rounds with a rounding tool then fold carefully in half.  Roll up, pressing the folded edge rather than the top to leave the petals free.  Spread out the petals to resemble a rose more accurately, then cut off the base of excess clay and place in a tray to bake.

  

  

 

Using a flower mould.

A silicone mould again designed for fondant is the third technique I tried this week. First I dusted the inside with cornflour, to make sure the clay would come out.

     

Using the same mix of clay as the cutter roses you need to make sure that the clay is very warm and flexible.  Press the clay into the mould then use a blade to slice the clay off level with the top of the mould.

     

Then turn out the flower by flexing the mould and bake.

 

Final results.

I feel happy with these results and so I’ve ordered some fancier tattoos and will try with them….. yay!!!