Joy of Metal Clay: Snake Charming

Rolling metal clay into a snake might seem like a relatively basic concept but there are a few handy tricks that can make this skill much easier.

The first thing I learned when attempting to roll clay into a snake is not to do it directly by hand as I had learned early in those developmental years in life as a child playing with my Playdoh and plasticine. Using a hard surface such as a piece of Plexiglas with a handle will allow you to make smoother more uniform snakes.

You can purchase snake rollers, yes that is what they are called from numerous metal clay suppliers. Some companies sell just small sheets of acrylic, while others sell sheets of acrylic with handles on them.

If you want to save your money there are alternatives to buying a snake roller. Besides cutting your own sheet of acrylic - messy task (I have done it). I have found a clear plastic cassette tape case can work quite well (having a husband who won't let go of his old technology, I have lots of these on hand! and he has yet to miss them). For those of you who don't have cassette tapes a CD holder can work but is more awkward to hold in your hand, but you can glue an handle on it (such as a wooden drawer pull) on to the back to make it easier to hold.

Now you have the tool, a snake roller in hand what do you do?

First you want to have moist clay. This is a "feel thing" and hard to describe but often fresh clay right out of the package is fine but you may want to knead a little moisture into your clay to help reduce the risk of it cracking when you shape it.

Second you want to avoid using oil on your roller or surface. If you apply oil everything will slip and slid and you will be unable to roll you snake. You need to some friction in order for your clay to grab and roll. I do not oil my surface or roller and I find this works best.

Third you need to work quickly. The longer you work the clay the quicker it will dry and begin to crack.

Fourth, I recommend having plastic wrap on hand and even a slightly damp paper towel to cover your snake if you need to stop.

Rolling the snake

You can taper the ends by adjusting your pressure

An alternative to snake rolling is to extrude your clay. You can use an old syringe and fill it with clay press and Voila a thin snake:

You can cut the end of the syringe to get a thicker snake!!

Enjoy your rolling.


Heather

The Business Chat - online sales

When you have a job, you have to file your income tax return, and your employer also has to file a return with the government (Revenue Canada or the IRS) telling them that they paid you. The government can then match up what your employer reported as your income compared to what you reported as your income. The difference when you are self -employed is that you are reporting your own income and the government doesn’t have anything to match it up with. With self-employment there are a lot of opportunities to “fudge” your income, declaring less than you actually made, thereby paying less income tax. After all, if you sell your crafty work for cash who’s going to tell the government? For many small crafters the online world is just like this. You sell 10 items in a year on etsy, for a total of $250, why bother declaring it?

While this attitude is common it is a thought process than can land you in a lot of trouble. Getting into trouble with your tax department (Rev Can or the IRS) is not a good place to be.

There are approximately 400,000 registered sellers on Etsy.com. Let’s say that each one sells $10 in a year. That’s $4,000,000 (yes, 4 MILLION dollars) in sales. Ebay.com has sales 10 times greater than Etsy.com. Someone in the government has clued into the fact that there is a lot of money being made online and they would like their share of it. While many online sellers dutifully report their online income there are many who do not, either because they don’t understand that they have to, or because they figure that no one will know. Well. As of January 1, 2011 Paypal will be reporting income of any user (from any online source) who has sales of over $20,000 or 200 transactions to the IRS. So far they are not reporting to Revenue Canada. While they do not report sellers with income less than $20,000 they do have all your sales records. Revenue Canada and the IRS can request your sales income from Paypal if they suspect that you are not declaring your income.

If you make the decision to start a business of any size - making or doing or reselling anything in exchange for money - the responsibility to have a full working knowledge of the laws in your town, your county, your state, and your country falls, in their eyes, completely on YOU. You do not have to be registered as a business to still count as a business, simply selling anything puts you into the business category. If you earn income, you owe income tax on that money. If you owe them money, they will not forgive that debt in exchange for an explanation, unless they can be proved wrong. They do not care if you are a stay at home mom, a student, or a really nice person who didn't know that they were doing anything wrong.

If you haven't already started reporting your income from Etsy or Ebay on your taxes this would be a good time to start. It will also be more important than ever to keep track of your expenses and costs of goods sold, because you will need to be able to show what an item cost you to make and what costs went to operating your business so that your actual net (ie, taxable income) can be calculated.

As always there’s a disclaimer to this piece of advice. The words you read here are just that – advice. I cannot tell you exactly how to run your business. If you want someone to tell you what to do every step of the way then stay with a regular job and listen to your boss. When you make the decision to sell your work, you are making yourself the boss. As the boss it is your role to read as much advice as you can, ask questions, learn your responsibilities and then make your own decisions. This is your company, only you live with your decisions. Make them wisely.

Next week I’ll begin a series on the joys of record keeping! Yippeeee!!!

Inspiration Friday

Happy New Year all!

With a new year, how about we make a few little changes to our Inspiration Friday posts? This year, you pick your inspiration reference! There are lots of places to find inspiration. Photo's, magazines, fabric, nature, patterns, textures...Have a really good look at the little things around you, and make something - anything at all. The whole point is to get you out of your comfort zone, and experiment with new beads, materials, found objects, ephemera - anything you can find!

We'd love to see what you come up with. Send us a picture of your new creation, along with a pic, or description of your inspiration reference.  Send it to contest@beadfx.com with the subject line "Inspiration Friday"

If you have a personal blog, or etsy/artfire/bigcartel type site - send us a link to that as well!


Happy Creating!

The great reveal - Zentangle on polymer

I decided to try two different types of image transfers. Both were printed on a laser printer, as toner works far better than ink jet. I have heard of options for ink jet users - but never paid it much mind as I have a toner based printer anyway. If you have any links to share for ink jet users, please feel free to comment below.

In both instances I used Kato White Clay. I've got to admire you Kato Clay users out there....It is not easy to condition, but once you've got it conditioned - it really has a nice feel and workability.

Both were heated in the oven for 20 minutes @ 300F.
Both were applied to unbaked clay.
I used regular decent quality laser printer paper (the $10 a ream variety, not the super cheap copy paper)
To apply either - add a few drops of transfer medium to clay, then carefully burnish the paper onto the clay. I was a little more generous with the oil, and applied it both under the image, and over top of the image.

Test 1 - Image transfer using Kato clear liquid clay

You'll notice that the paper did not come off cleanly. I picked as much off as I could, then ran it under warm water while rubbing with my fingers. One of them smudged a bit, but not the other. This was most likely caused by not baking long enough. I think a few extra minutes would do the trick. You'll also notice that they are now pinkish in tone. Not quite what I was hoping for.

Test 2 - Image transfer using eucalyptus essential oil
The paper pulled off of these easily, and cleanly. Nice! They are still pink though - again not what I was hoping for.

Using Diamond Glaze on both
I haven't yet had a chance to let these dry, but the image is staying put with no lifting or smudging of the ink.  This part at least was successful. Diamond glaze, or resin should work fine with the image transfer method.  I still need to figure out how to do with with nice clean black lines though.


Edit: I just realized that the pink tones are where I had shaded my zentangle!  I'll try it again with a tangle that has not been shaded at all. Doh!  My laser printer is a colour laser - it would have used another colour to obtain the shading.

Zentangle on polymer

As you may remember from my posts just before Christmas. I ordered myself an official Zentangle kit for myself as a Christmas present. It arrived just after Christmas, and I've had a bit of a chance to do some tangles - both on paper, and on polymer clay!
Here are some of my very first 'Zentangles' that  I posted on Flickr



I tried tangling directly on a polymer clay pendant, rather than use an image transfer. For the first one, I let the ink dry for about 30 minutes, then tried doing some shading with pencil. This didn't work. As soon as I went to blend the pencil shading in, the ink smudged. I guess fired polymer isn't porous enough to actually let the ink dry properly. I then poured on a layer of diamond glaze to seal the ink - another fail! The ink started lifting as soon as I poured the glaze. You can see in the image all of the smudges and general ickyness.

I was pretty determined at this point to get it to work, so I used a heat gun for a few minutes to try to really dry the ink. This seemed to work a bit better, but you can see in the picture around the rim of the pendant hole has discolored. I do think the best method may in fact be an image transfer process.  I'll try that later tonight, and if it works, I'll outline the steps for you.  Another option would be to prime the surface of the polymer clay first with something. I'm not sure what exactly...

Stay tuned tomorrow for more attempts at getting this to work :-)

We're Back! School is now in Session.

If you've already signed up for a class this year, that means you've checked our website and seen the classes for January 2011.

Coming up next week - Jan. 11 4-8pm, is a 4-hour Introduction to Lampworking class with Dwyn Tomlinson. Have you ever wanted to learn how to make glass beads? This class will give you a little taste, and wet your appetite.



Do you have a coiling gizmo that’s just sitting there? Are you looking for new, fanciful ways to work with wire? Try the Coiling Gizmo Techniques class, Jan. 13 6-9pm.



There's one more.

This is a personal favourite as well as crowd pleaser. Introduction to Art Clay Silver, Jan. 15 10am-5pm. In this class, you'll learn how to make solid silver pieces of jewellery out of silver clay. Cool huh?



Adios Amigas and welcome to a super fantastic 2011!

Attaching Swarovski Hot Fix

Last week - I said I would talk more about actually getting the Swarovski Hot Fix Rhinestones onto the fabric.

First, a word about what you are attaching to. The hot fix glue needs some sort of surface that it can penetrate into. If you have a new garment, you need to wash it first to remove the sizing and make it so that the fibers will absorb the glue. You can do a water droplet test. If you flick water droplets onto the fabric and they stand up on the surface, you will need to wash it. If they absorb in, they the fabric is good to go. Some materials are not suitable, such as organza, smooth leather and smooth leather imitations, very tightly woven polyamides and fabrics with a silicon or wax finish that prevents absorption. Like a rain slicker. No sparkly rain slickers. Kind of a shame, really - because you need a little sparkle on a rainy day.

Often, you will get a blend of fabrics - pick a lower temperature based on the more delicate fabric - the one that will take less heat, and go for the longer of the two times.



*Trevira is some sort of artificial fabric - never heard of it here. No idea what a Technical Fabric is - "Technically - it's a fabric!" - and Fake Fur? Seriously? Rhinestones on fake fur? Gilding the lily, much?

Finding something to bling up

Well - the obvious - t-shirts, denim jackets, jeans, vests. My personal current favourite however is scarves. There are a ton of reasonably priced scarves in the stores right now, from Ardene to Walmart, in plain colours (black is always great) that can look uber-fabulous with the addition of some bling. From Drabulous to Fabulous in 20 seconds flat.

This massive, gorgeous scarf is just dying to be sparkled up!



Stuff you'll need.

Teflon sheets. 2 - one for the top, one for the bottom. The bottom one stops any glue that might sneak through the fabric from gluing itself to the next layer. If you don't have teflon sheets handy, (we sell them, or some baking supply places have them, and art clay supply) clean newsprint or butcher paper will do.

A heat proof silicon, felt, cardboard or other pad. It pays to have some squishiness - so the stones can sink down into the fabric under pressure.

Heat source. Household iron - but no steam, or industrial purpose-specific rhinestone transfer press. I can't find my iron - I use the stores' press. You can too - with the purchase of a rhinestone transfer or minimum 2 packages of hot fix stones & silicon transfer film.



So - here's the transfers that I made in the past week.


And here's another - this is a commercial transfer - is it not just to die for? I don't believe it is actually Swarovski stones - I know - sacrilege! But it is the inspiration for me to try making my own transfers!

And here is the scarf - it is a blend of fabrics, as you can see, so I decided, based on the chart above, to go with 250 degrees F and 25 seconds.

Start warming up the press or your iron while you are getting ready. It may be tougher, if you have an old iron, to actually figure out temperatures - some have them marked, some don't. You might have to work backwards from the fabric settings and guess what the temperature is most likely to be. It is also very important to NOT use steam, so you have to be able to either turn the steam off, and or dump the water out. Steam will compromise the bonding power of the glue.



Take the transfer and trim around the edge of the design. The glue from the transfer sheet will make a mark on the fabric which will fade with time and washing, but it is better to have a shape that reflects the design, instead of a big ol' rectangular box around your design.

Don't trim so much that you can't actually keep the transfer in place.



Peel the white backing off,

And flip the transfer - sticky side down, stones facing up, and place it where you want it to be. You can peel it off and move it if needed. If you are placing this on a garment where the positioning is critical, like an arm patch, put the garment on, position the transfer, and then have a friend help hold the transfer in place while you struggle out of the garment.

Position the garment and transfer in the press. The press has a silicon pad underneath, built-in, so in this case, just put a sheet of teflon underneath. If you are hot-fixing to a dimension item like sleeve - put the teflon INSIDE the sleeve, so you don't inadvertently glue the front of the sleeve to the back. (Pockets - very important to put the teflon inside the pocket - so as to not render the pocket useless by virtual of accidentally gluing it shut. Not saying it will happen - just - you know, in case. )

Smooth out the wrinkles - so you don't press wrinkles into the fabric, and pick off the dog and cat hairs, so you don't permanently glue them on as well.

If you are using an iron, the ironing board will probably have enough padding for a little give, or if you decided that ironing boards are too much work to move and gave yours up years ago, a folded blanket or sheet or towel will suffice too.

Cover with another teflon sheet for protection, ...

and swing the top of the press into place, and press the lever down. Start your timer.

For using an iron, place it in position and put some weight on it, lean on it. Do NOT, NOT, NOT "iron" - as in moving the iron around. Pressure, no movement. If the iron doesn't cover the whole transfer, do it in stages. (And - remember - no steam.)

Then, pick up the iron and move it a little to one side, and press and heat again, so that any stones that wound up in the "holes" in the face of the iron get equal time.

Let it cool for a minute or two, to let the glue set, and prevent burning yo' fingars.

Start to peel the transfer up, SLOWLY - checking that the stones have all transferred successfully.

If they have not, and are coming away with the silicon sheet, put the transfer back down in place, and reheat. Then wait longer before peeling.

The successfully transferred transfer.
And minutes later, all of them!

And the magnificent Dragon. This had slightly different timing in the instructions, so I followed the instructions - after it didn't work the first time. :-P

The finished scarf. Warm and sparkly!




(Secret Hot Tip) - You've read this far - you deserve a treat. We will be adjusting prices on the hot-fix, downward!, in the next couple of weeks - so you might want to sit tight on a major hot-fix buying binge - as you will save significant moola if you can wait!


So, what if what you really want to stick the stones to is metal, porcelain, wood, etc.? Then you need to go to the non-hot-fix flatbacks, and attach them with epoxy. The hot-fix glue is not designed for non-porous surfaces, and they won't stay stuck. This is a good thing - it prevents people from ironing their Ipads.

Oh, but you can epoxy hot-fixes to your Ipad - if hot-fixes are the only crystals you have on hand and you need to get the job done.

Happy Hot Fixing!

The Joy of Metal Clay: Creative Goals

Day two of the new year is upon us, it is often a time of setting goals.

I have been thinking about my creative goals this coming year. Here they are so far:

1. To clean up my studio. This a a constant challenge but with the recent holidays my studio has been greatly neglected.
2. Along the same theme I will work on labeling all my tools and clearing out any excess. I am a collector of stuff and realize it would be a good idea to PURGE of some of the excess that hasn't proven to be that useful.
3. To work on the cuff link idea and project I had but have yet to attempt. (I will share it, when it is done.)
4. To purchase some of Hadar's base metal clay and play with it.
5. To listen to music more often when I am in my studio (and in general).
6. To remember to take breaks and stretch while I am working.
7. To clean up my work space when I am done. I have a bad habitof leaving things out with the anticipation that I will return to it.
8. To make a spoon out of metal clay.

Are you making any goals for yourself?

Happy New Year!

The Business Chat - Futures

Happiest of happy new years my friends!

Today is the first day of a new month, first day of a new year, first day of a new decade. Today is a day where everything is shiny and new, and we all do love shiny don't we? Last time we chatted I talked about doing an annual review, basically taking a snapshot of your current business or creative life. When you want to get somewhere it's important to know where you are starting from.

Let's talk about where you want to get to. What do you want to do in 2011? Pick up your favouite notebook and pen and spend half an hour just thinking of all the things you can do in a whole year. Ignore for now the how to part. Just answer this, in 12 months time, when you are sitting on that chair, what do you want to look back and see as your accomplishments? Is this the year you take your business from part-time to full-time? Is this the year you start your business? Is this the year to take that class you've talked about? Learn that technique? Buy that piece of equipment?

A year is 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days. You can accomplish a lot in that amount of time. Somewhere in that time you can learn new skills, plant new dreams or grow a business. Especially if you plan for it.

Tell me, what do you want to do in 2011?

Well, that was unexpected

Happy New Year!

Early this morning, I had to head to the hospital for an outpatient test. What I wasn't counting on, was that I had to be admitted to the emergency department to get the results. Yeesh, that was one really, really, really long day.  :-)

And so, as we ring in the New Year, here are the rings I promised pics of last year ;-)

Jen's Running Late

Jen's stuck at a Dr. appt - now there's a fun way to spend New Year's Eve! - she just asked me to let you know that as soon as they get it in gear and let her out of there, she'll be posting, but in the meantime - here's MY ring entry!

Where's yours? Jen's running late - so you could still send it to her.

Cocktail Ring Challenge

It's the quick ring challenge...and yup, I mean quick! We all need ideas for some fabulous jewels to wear out for New Years Eve celebrations - or even dinner at home with the kidlets like me. Even If I'm not partying it up, I'll still wear my jewels ;-)

For reference: http://beadfx.blogspot.com/2010/04/birdsnest-repost.html

http://beadfx.blogspot.com/2010/11/inspired-instyle.html

For those of you still on vacation, and have a bit of time make up a ring today at some point, and send me a pic before 8am EST tomorrow morning.

Who's game?

Changing the World - One loop at a time!

Hot d4mn! The feedback that we're getting on our rapid loops is that you love it! Jen used it last night in her inspiration, I was talking to Stephanie Dixon last night, and she's all excited about it - it really is a fast way to make surprisingly great loops!

If you find that the headpin is starting to wind around the end of the pliers as you wrap - just a little change in the angle that you grab the headpin at with the pliers can make all the difference. Just experiment a little with each one you do, until you find the "sweet spot."

Cheers!

Cool Tools to Make Designing with Hot Fix Rhinestones Fast and Easy and Fun, Fun, Fun.

I know, I know - rhinestones aren't exactly beads - but by now, you've probably figured out that the bling is the thing, and so long as it sparkles - it's fair game.

First - let's clarify some terminology. Rhinestones can fall into two categories - those with a pointed back, and those with a flat back. Pointed back stones need to go into some sort of setting or mount, whereas flat backs can be glued to any reasonably flattish surface that you can get a glue to stick to.

Swarovski makes a plain, flat back rhinestone, but, because a lot of time what you want to do with rhinestones is embellish clothing with them, they also make them with a heat-sensitive glue already applied to the backs. These are called Hot Fix rhinestones.

Swarovski has put a lot of research into this glue - as they realize that if folks aren't 100% confident that the glue is going to work, they won't buy the stones. They are fanatical about their glue. Evangelical about it, even. And, I have to say, when properly applied to an appropriate surface - they are as permanent as you could want. We have staff t-shirts that have been through 100s of wash and dry cycles and they are fine - the stones as bright as the day they were applied. And still in place.

We've spent some time finding some tools that make designing with the hot-fix rhinestones easy and intuitive.

You can use a Be-Jeweler to apply the stone individually. A Be-Jeweler resembles a modified soldering iron. With some practice, you can get good at applying the stones with it. But it's not my favorite way to roll.



No - what I wanted was some way to design motifs and patterns intuitively, but without commitment. If you've ever tried arranging rhinestones on a sheet of paper to see how they will look - you quickly realize what an exercise in frustration it is. They slither around, and flip over and move if a moth breathes on them. No - what I needed was some way to have them stay in position. And to then be able to pick them up and transfer them, pattern intact, to the garment in question.

(Links to purchase cool tools at the end of this article)

First Cool Tool - the Magical Rhinestone Tray. One of the main annoyances is that the stones are top heavy, and flip up-side-down if a mouse farts. This small, plastic triangular tray has tiny bumps in the bottom, and when you gently agitate the tray from side to side, the stones catch on the bumps and flip right side up. It's quite brilliant, actually. This will save you a lot of aggravation flipping stones over. Just pour a few into the tray, shake. Use the flipped ones, when you run out - shake again, and flip more. Totally worthwhile tool.

Next, totally cool - the Tacky Mat and the Magical Pick.


The Tacky Mat is a bright blue (ok - it would be better if it wasn't blue, but can't have everything) sticky silicon mat. It comes with a plastic cover that you lift off, and it is sticky and rubbery and feels like one of those gross snot toys the boys all covet. The point is - when you put a rhinestone on it, it stays there until you pick it off. (Keep that plastic cover - you will put it back on the mat to keep it clean when you are done with it.)

The Magical Pick is a handle, sort of like a very slender chopstick, with a slightly sticky end. Press it down onto the right-side-up of a rhinestone, and it picks up and comes away on the end of the pick.

However, the tacky mat is stickier, so when you place the stone onto the mat - it pulls away from the pick, and stays there.

You can also use a lump of natural bees' wax on the end of a bamboo skewer to pick up the stones. I use both. I find that the magical pick doesn't have the holding power for the very big stones that the beeswax does - but the beeswax has the disadvantage of losing it's stickiness if it gets cold - meaning that you need to warm it up in your hand or near a light in the winter for it to work. The magical pick is always good to go - and is fine for the normal sized stones.



It's also useful to have a pair of tweezers handy for moving any stones that you need to reposition.
Here, you can see the pattern developing as I go.




Till finally - I ran out of mat. The tacky mat is 4 x 4 inches - so larger motifs will require to be done in stages, or using more mats.

Now - getting the pattern off the mat and onto the fabric.

Next, you will need Silicone Transfer Paper. This is a clear, adhesive sheet that comes with a protective backing. Cut a piece the size of the design - with a little extra room, but not much.

Separate the backing from the clear front - this may be the hardest part of the whole procedure. Try curling the sheet forwards with the tweezers, hopefully you can get enough of a gap to peel the backing off. Keep the backing.

Lay the clear, adhesive sheet down over the pattern and rub lightly but firmly to press onto the stones and adhere them to the transfer sheet.

Flip the whole thing over.

Carefully and slowly peel up the mat, making sure all the stones transfer to the silicone sheet and stay in position.
The completed, transferred, design, from the back.

Unless you are putting this directly onto the fabric for transfer, put the backing sheet on.

This is secure enough that you can pick it up, not even having to keep it level. You can move it around, put it aside while you make another, wait until you are ready to transfer a whole bunch at once.
Here's a little pinwheel design, still on the tacky mat. It's easy to design freehand, or work over a design that is under the transparent tacky mat. You can see the colours as you are working with them, and if you change your mind, you can start over. No fear of commitment!

And the same design, on the transfer paper.

When you go to apply the design to your fabric - you simply take off the white backing sheet and place your transfer in position, glue side down and stones facing up, and heat with an iron or a heat press. When you have finished heating, you peel the transfer paper up from a corner, carefully, making sure all the stones have adhered properly.

Here's cute little pony motif, applied to fabric.

I'll go more into the specifics of heat and timing next Monday. In the meantime, check out tomorrow's inspiration for details on the stones used and a helpful grid to make designing a rhinestone snowflake easy - and addictive.

Here are links to the tools mentioned above.




Tools - Magical Rhinestone Pick - (1)









Tools - Sorting/Counting - Triangular Bead Trays - Magical - For Rhinestones (1)








Tools - Silicone Transfer Film - (Sheet)








Design Tools - Tacky Bead Mat - (1)









Tools - Tweezers - Straight Fine (1)

Oh, and the Hot-Fix Rhinestones are here:
Swarovski Elements Hot Fix Rhinestones