How do you make clay polymer jewelry?

Question

I've been researching on the internet for several days and I can't wrap my head around the idea of polymer clay.

I want to know how to make a pendant that looks like this.

http://ny-image1.etsy.com/il_430xN.34048073.jpg

Is there paper involved? How do you get it in that shape? What is the best clear clay to use, since I have seen various arguments on it?

Any advice is appreciated. :D

Answer 1

i bought fimo transparent liquid clay but it didn't work very well. it was not as transparent as i had hoped and you are supposed to be able to put it on a picture, bake it, then peel the picture off and the image will have transferred but the image didn't transfer well and the paper stuck to the clay. i have yet to find a good transparent clay. however, ordinary fimo clay is fine for a base or whatever - it's just the transparent stuff i had problems with. as for shaping - the solid clay can be rolled out then cut with a knife (not the liquid stuff though, obviously).

Answer 2

That effect could be created in several different ways, using polymer clay for part or all of the pendant... not sure which was used here though.

Some possibities:

...basically just "decoupaging" a photocopy (or inkjet copy sealed with acrylic spray) onto a flat baked polymer clay shape

...... the clear medium used here seems to be a bit domed near the edges, so in that case the top clear layer could be a "dimensional' acrylic glue (like Diamond Glaze or Aleene’s Paper Glaze) or it could be a poured-on epoxy resin (Envirotex Lite, Ultra Glo, etc.)

..... you can also get a semi-domed thick clear effect by using a liquid polymer clay on top (then curing)... the clearest of the brands are the ones made by Kato Polyclay and Fimo/Eberhard Faber, and the clearest result can be achieved with at least a small amount of higher heat (300 F or so)

As for the image itself, it could be just a printout, photocopy, an image cut from a magazine, etc., as mentioned, or it could be a true "transfer."  

Transfers are usually those where only the ink or toner, etc., has transferred to solid or liquid polymer clay, leaving the paper behind (it has to be done right though, or it won't work well).  

If liquid clay is used alone, the result will be a separate "decal" transfer which can be placed on the clay or onto other things... or liquid clay can be used just as a helper to place the image directly on the clay in one step (though in reverse if not reversed before).

Another way transfers used to be created with polymer clay is to use the Translucent color of polymer clay (this is still done sometimes, though more people now use liquid clay).  In that case, the ink/toner is transferred to a very thin sheet of translucent clay (the thinner translucent clay is, the clearer it will be after baking--there is no truly clear solid polymer clay unless it's very very thin), and the sheet is then placed onto a clay base (often backwards so the image will be in the correct orientation again).

You can get more info that you probably want on the many ways to transfer images to polymer clay at my website on this page:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/transfers....

(...tip: images from the pages of magazines are the easiest to transfer because of the paper they're on and the printing process used, so you might want to play with those first)

If you're more interested in sort of decoupaging the image-and-paper to the clay, check out this page too:

http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/mixing...

...click on PAPER, then read the first section under that.

(Here is just one lesson on using liquid polymer clay on top of printed paper:

http://web.mac.com/donna_kato/Site/washi... )

As for how to get that shape, there would be various ways to do that too.  

(Btw, this example looks as if it started with a thicker sheet of clay than can be created by the widest opening in a pasta machine, so the sheet could have been stacked double or triple first.... or it could have started as a round ball or log which was pressed down with something rigid and flat, then trimmed to a rectangular shape.)

For example, a similar shape could be made by:

...using a rectangular shape cutter (there are all kinds of shape cutters available in metal or even plastic)... then rounding the edges perhaps with a finger

....using a "long" blade ...that is, making 4 cuts in the sheet --one cut for each of the sides-- then removing the excess clay

....cutting a sheet of clay freeform, using the tip of a razor blade, etc., or dragging a pin-type tool at an angle through a clay sheet stuck down to a slick surface

If you're not familiar at all with polymer clay, transfers (true transfers at least) aren't perhaps the best place to start.  

If you want to learn about using polymer clay, you can find lots of lessons online and polymer groups, look at books and YouTube (quality and accuracy of info can vary a lot there though!).  

My website is a polymer clay "encyclopedia" which lists most online lessons, along with other lessons, links to examples, tips and troubleshooting, for just about any topic or technique in polymer clay.  If you'd like to check it out, you might want to start on the Table of Contents page just to see what all is there:

http://glassattic.com/polymer/contents.h...

Or here are some of the other pages at my site, in addition to the ones listed above, you might want to check out as a beginner interested in that particular pendant (click on the first letter of each page from the alphabetical navigation bar on every page):

Kids & Beginners

Pendants

Jewelry

Cutters-Blades

Tools

Groups-Online

If you have more questions about any aspect of polymer clay, join one of the groups to ask, or ask here.  I'm not quite sure which parts of polymer clay you "can't get your head around" but would be happy to respond to more specifics (be sure to use the words polymer clay in your subject line)

HTH,

Diane B.