How I make my decorative bowls (caning with Fimo/Polymer clay)

Have you wondered how I manage to get the same picture repeated so accurately?

What about the mystery that is how I managed to make pictures at all, considering I don't use paint  (it's all coloured clay?

I use a technique called caning.  I  have heard manycomplicated explanations on how to do this,  but I think I can make it very simple.

Your aim is to make a big picture 20 + centimetres at least.  It doesn't have to be perfect, as it will be shrunk down.  It needs to be at least a few centimetres thick.  So, if you wanted a circle,  you would make a sausage shape with the ends flat.

I advise putting a thin layer of black around the sides of the elements of the picture,  as this will give it a drawn effect.

You then need to add a background.  This is because the last stage is far easier if the picture is either round,  square or rectangular.

You then need to sandwich it between 2 glass tiles.  This is so that when you do the last stage,  it all pulls up evenly.  Without this you will end up with a lot of cane that is unusable.

Once it is sandwiched,  either leave it alone for a few hours  (which I never havethe patients for) or whack it in the fridge for 10 minutes.  If you don't do this and go straight to the last stage,  it will end up with the picture going wonky.


We are finally on to the last stage and it looks like magic!

Using your hands,  you start adding even pressure to the middle of the sides pushing outwards to the glass plates.  You need to make sure you do all the sides the same amount in order to keep your image central.

You do this until the image has shrunk down to the desired size. You can always shrink down some of the cane some more at a later point, but you can not enlarge it again.

Your image will go through the whole clay stick likein a rock sweet.  Then you can use slices.

You can use this technique to make tons of different designs. For example,
flowers

Or bullseye canes make good foliage

If you are interested in trying this,  I suggest you look on YouTube or Pintrest for Polymer clay cane tutorials.

Commissions; how I learn what you want and make it

I truly love making commissions.  I  have had quite a few and all of them have taught me loads and where really fun to do. 

I know that a lot of people who would commission work don't do so because they don't know what will happen. I can't say how other artists do theirs,  but I this is my process.

It starts by me receiving a message earlier on etsy,  Facebook, on here etc. Some have exactly what they want in their head already and some only have a really vague idea.

I start by asking a lot of questions and generally talking it over.  I  give all the options,  so that you can be the one making decisions.  There is not a lot that I refuse to make.

I tend to send pictures as well as text, as it is far better than trying to describe things. I am not a good drawer, but I have used drawings in the past.

I make sure that the customer knows that I want them to feel free to say what they think.  I am very hard to annoy,  so no worries are needed.

Once we both feel happy that the commission is properly understood,  I  work out a price.  This is not as high as you fear ☺. It will be in line with the prices in my shop.

I will also tell you at this stage or before,  how many outstanding commissions I have and when I expect to get to yours. There are a lot of times when I don't have any,  so I can get onto yours immediately.

Once you have agreed to everything,  I  take a payment of half of the price up front.  I  didn't always do this,  but I have had people who have not bought their commission.  If you have to wait until I have finished outstanding work,  I will not want payment until I get to yours.  I take payments via etsy,  PayPal and direct debit.

While I am making your item,  I will send you pictures of my progress at important bits and at the end of each working day.  This is so that you can make changes to what I have done. 

Do note that if there are an excessive amount of changes or things get added to the project,  this may increase the end price.  I  will discuss this before doinganything.

I will get your clearance before baking  (most projects get baked several times at different stages) as once baked,  you can not change it.

Once it is finished,  I will find out how much it will cost to post,  then add that to the outstanding bill  (with any extra costs from bits added ect) and give you a final bill.

Once this is paid,  I will post you your item.

I would really appreciate it if you left a review for your purchase in my shop and you tell all of your friends about me.

It is a fun process for you as well as me and I have actually made some really good friends from commission customers.

The latest decorative boxes (17th September 2016)

These are the latest batch of boxes that I have been making for the past week.  They are all my smallest size.

I decided that I was not going to use the swerly patterned clay that I have used for almost all my boxes.  This was because I had something different in mind. 

You should be able to see that all  (except for the tulip) has picture designs around them.  All except for the clovers where done using the Sutton slice technique.

This is done with rubber stamps.  Instead of putting ink on the raised bit like normal,  I  smear clay in the indented part.  I then use a blade to take the clay back until I can see the rubber of the raised bits and they are clean of clay.  I then stamp the pot.

Because I can't help myself,  I  added tiny crystals into a lot of the designs.  These have to be added after you have stamped the design.

I am going to make one more and then they are off to the oven.

After this,  it's my favourite part;  making the models for the lids.  I am thinking this lot will be getting dragons.

Nature, my favourite artist

There are many themes that run through my work;  it's all made from Fimo,  it's all on the colourful side and it's all inspired by nature.

I don't look at pictures of other people's creations when I am modeling,  I  look at pictures of the actual animal or flower etc.  I look to nature for my colour combinations and my inspiration. 

Even my dragons.  How you ask?  I  look at pictures of lizards. 

I learnt that we all become desensitised to the awesomeness of nature,  because it has been a part of your life since birth. 

Take the common pigeon.  Look again at their colours;  lavenders, dusky heathers, soft grey blues.  Then you get the band of metallic rainbows in some  ( like in a soap bubble).  If you saw someone's living room in the same colours, you would be in love with it.

It's not just the colours nature uses,  but the awesome visual displays. There is so much variety of beautiful things,  that I am never stuck for inspiration.

Using other materials with Fimo /Polymer clay

As you know,  my primary material is Fimo professional  (polymer clay,  but I do mount them on other materials and use other things to decorate.

I think I should split them into 2 categories;

1) Bits I bake

If it can survive 110oc without catching fire or melting,  then you can use it with your raw clay and bake it all together. 

This includes obvious things like metal, glass, crystal, ceramic and stone. But there are things that you would not expect like polystyrene,  wood, some cloths and even some plastics.

I would first Google the meting temperature and ignition temperature of the item.  Failing that, it's time to experiment.

I  try a bit of the thing I want to add  (or the whole thing) in the oven at 110oc and keep an eye on it and a old wet cloth to put any fire out.  If it survives 40 minutes,  you can use it.

You would not believe the things that I have heard used. Sweet wrappers as armature space fillers,  even some bloke who made monster models,  who used his toenail clippings as teeth!  I  don't think he told his customers. Gross.

2) Attach afterwards

I will keep this brief as it's pretty obvious, but if it's not going to survive the oven then stick it on afterwards. So, let's talk glue.

Polymer clay is in the plastic family and anything acetone will simply melt the surface of the clay and fall off.  This is what happens when you use superglue,  don't use superglue.

My glue of choice is 2 part epoxy.  You have to make sure that the 2 liquids are mixed until it goes cloudy,  then you have around 20 seconds before it sets.  Only mix a small amount and make sure you have planned where the glue is going and exactly how you are attaching the 2 bits.  You do not have time to make any decisions once you get mixing.

If I want something that has a thicker consistency,  I  use No more nails.  It dries white,  but I bet you could add a colour in. 

I will let you know if I discover any new ones.

How I make my armatures

I have found that I can get metal coat hangers cheaper than I can get thick crafting wire,  so I use this for anything that needs to be strong. I use florists wire for more delicate things like wings.

I use metal epoxy putty for all the joins.  It is clean to work with  (if you use gloves) and sets very quickly. Once set it is as strong as if you welded it.

I then use scrunched up tinfoil to fill any large spaces  (like the body of a horse) and use masking tape to hold it in place.

Once I have finished,  I cover it all in masking tape.  This is because my clay will stick to masking tape,  where it will slide on the smooth metal. 

Also, trying to cover tinfoil in clay without the tape is a disaster! You wind up with loads of it poking through the clay, where it's not gripping.  That was a really annoying day,  learning this the hard way.

I would also like to mention that you need to check that you are making it in a pose that will hold well and look natural.  I  look online at pictures of the thing I am trying to make. 

As a rule,  if your armature falls over when you put it down,  then so will your model.  It is possible to change this by the weight of the clay,  but not easily.  It's far easier to get it right at this stage. 

Armatures, why give your model a skeleton?

A armature is an open framework on which a sculpture is moulded with clay or similar material. But why bother with this when sculpting from Fimo?

I  didn't for almost a year.  I could not see of a way I could make them without welding the joints and that would not be safe to do in bed,  like I do my clay.  I  looked on various arts and crafts suppliers and those who sold them wanted ridiculous amounts of money.

There are 2 big drawbacks to not using them;

1) you can't make anything thin and delicate without it almost certainly breaking off.  So, lots of chunky creations.

Since the clay softens a bit in the oven before it does its change over to the hard plastic, you will have the awful situation of watching it fall to pieces. This has happened to me several times and it really smarts. 

I learned to lay out the broken parts and finish their baking.  Once they are cool,  I use raw clay to fix them back together.  You then have to finda way to support it through another bake,  as it will just fall apart again if you put it in the same as you did the first time.

2) if you are making something thick like a model, you have the risk of its core remaining as raw clay. 

The baking process works because when polymer clay is exposed to 110oc,  it changes from a play dough texture to a hard and slightly flexible plastic. If the center dosn't get to 110oc, then it's as stable as a Smartie  (candy covered chocolate). Yes, it's as bad as you are imaging.

I decided to research a way to make them myself.  My savior came in a little red tube with 'Metal epoxy putty' written on the front.  You need to use gloves with it,  as you mix it with your fingers.  It is really clean to use and doesn't have a strong smell. 

I now give most of my creations an armature. My next post will be how I make them.