I am pleased to announce that I have developed seven different dichroic mica powders for use with polymer clay. Imagine being able to make faux dichroic glass beads and pendants that actually shift color depending on the viewing angle just like the real dichroic glass does. Here is a link to see examples of each of the colors in action on a black clay background.

www.flickr.com/photos/polymerclayeclectic/sets/72157603862539925/

My Dazzling Dichros lineup consists of:

  • Mirrim- shifts from green to reddish purple
  • Sharra- shifts from red to golden orange
  • Audiva- shifts from turquoise to purple and has silvery sparkles
  • Oklina- shifts from golden green to metallic brown
  • Manora- shifts from purple to green and has silvery sparkles
  • Desdra- shifts from coppery red to bronze green
  • Menolly- shifts from silvery green to brilliant blue

A little of this powder goes a long way. Each of these colors will be available in a 2ml vial filled with 1.5 grams of powder for $2.50 (US) plus shipping. Or a complete set of seven will be $15.00 (US) plus shipping. I have made my initial order to my suppliers for the materials and packaging, but I am not quite ready to take orders for the product yet. I will make another announcement when I am ready to take orders.

In the meantime if you have any questions or want to be put on the mailing list for announcements, please contact me at polymerart (at) gmail (dot) com.

Comments No Comments »

Happy Holidays to all. Here is my gift to you this holiday season.

Step by step instructions to make this filigree ornament - cat not included :)

These are the supplies you will need. A clay extruder with a fine thread/hair disk,

one block of Premo red pearl clay, gold mica powder,

a glass ornament,

and a baking stand made from a length of dowel inserted into a blob of scrap clay.

Condition about 1/3 of the block of clay, roll it into a log and insert what will fit into the extruder.

Extrude several lengths of the clay.

Take a 4″ length of clay and begin to coil one end.

Flip it over and start coiling the other end in the opposite direction to make an s-scroll.

Continue coiling the two ends until they are near the middle but not touching.

Remove the metal end cap of the ornament and begin placing s-scrolls around the middle of the ornament. Alternate directions and note that they touch on the “outside” portion of the scrolls only. That leaves gap on the other end and gives you more wiggle room to adjust placement as needed to completely encircle your ornament.

This is what you will have after finishing the first row. I used 16 s-scrolls for this ornament.

Next take a 4″ length of clay and make a large open c-scroll.

Place the c-scroll so that the coils fit into the open areas at the bottom of the first row. As shown you will have two coils of the s-scrolls touching in between the coils of the c-scroll. It is important that the clay actually touches so that it will bond together. You will be making a kind of a net around the glass and all of the joins need to be firm. This way you will not have pieces falling off years later.

Make and place 3 more large open c-scrolls.

Make 4 more open c-scrolls from 3″ lengths of clay and add to the bottom as shown.

Next make closed c-scrolls from 2″ lengths of clay. You want these to be taller than they are wide. You will need 8 of these.

Apply the closed c-scrolls in the openings between s-scrolls above the first row.

The last claying step is to make 8 larger closed c-scrolls from about 3″ lengths of clay and arrange them to bridge between the previous row of closed c-scrolls. You want to make sure that they touch each other as well as the c-scrolls of the row below.

Place a small amount of gold mica powder onto a smooth surface like a tile, and pick up a little with the pad of your finger. Pat your finger on the tile to knock off the loose powder.

Pat the powder onto the clay trying to keep it from getting into the crevasses between and within the scrolls.

Continue applying gold mica to the entire ornament. Make sure to firmly pat it into place so it does not rub off after baking. You can actually rub lightly after the mica is first applied to make sure it is well adhered. Baking is where the stand comes in. Just place the ornament upside down on the stand and bake following the manufacturers directions. By suspending the ornament you will not risk any distortion of your design.

After baking let the ornament cool. Then wash it with soap and water to remove the extra gold mica powder from the glass. Don’t worry, it won’t come off the clay without vigorous scrubbing.

Here is what you will end up with. The red darkens a little from the baking which is an effect I like. Now pick your own colors and see what you can come up with.

Comments 19 Comments »

…here are some better pics.

Mica shift Phantom Butterfly done with dichroic powder mixed with SculpeyIII translucent on black background and framed in black.

Mica shift Shadow Shield. Dichroic powder and dark blue mica powder mixed with Sculpey III translucent on black background. The dichro effect shows up a little better in this one. I used the same powder in both. Face on it looks bright turquoise/teal but at a strong angle it shifts toward purpley blue. This is not as clear or dramatic as the powder straight on black (it works best on dark colors) but mixing in the dark blue does help it show up better than just the translucent.

 

I think that using a thinner layer of translucent may work better, but I have to be careful not to go too thin. I do love the depth of the image in these though.

Oh, and if the formatting on this looks strange it is because I am still trying to figure out how to put captions with my pictures. I really wanted to have the words under the two different sets of pics, but this is the best I could get it to do.

Later,

Meche

Comments No Comments »

Here is a quick photo of the newest pieces I am playing with. four pendants in the works

The two on the left have not been sanded. The two on the right have. I will try to get better pictures later.

Meche

Comments 2 Comments »

The Handmade Parade has come and gone. It was a very successful show in a number of ways. I sold about 1/4 of the items I brought, I gave out about 40 business cards, and I got lots of complements on my work. All in all a good public intro for Polymer Clay Eclectic.
Unfortunately I forgot my camera (as well as my lunch), so I don’t have any pictures to share with you. I will be taking pictures of some experiments I am working on today or tomorrow. I am playing with mixing dichroic mica powder into translucent clay. I am starting to get some really interesting results with mica shift and that mixture.

Until later,

Meche

Comments 1 Comment »

I have a show coming up on the 10th of November!

Can you tell I am excited about getting into this show? I was nervous about getting in because it is a juried show. I hope to have a lot of fun there. If anybody is near Tidewater, Virginia on the 10th, come on by.

Comments No Comments »

…the blog of my creative endeavors. I will try to post at least once a week to keep you updated as to what I am working on currently (projects, experiments, upcoming shows or sales), and to give you a place to give me feedback about the directions I am taking my work.

A photo of myself spinning with one of my polymer clay spindles

I thought I would start out with a picture of myself. Here I am spinning silk thread behind a display of some of my spindles.

Comments 2 Comments »