Polymer Clay podcast and TV

If you love Halloween like we do, there's almost no better time to enjoy the various and sundry ways to use clay- to imitate surfaces, to decorate, to scare up a good time! Check it out as we take you on a tour of fun things to make with polymer clay for this spooky holiday.

Enjoy our discussion this week, regarding the upcoming Clay Event in France in March next spring, happenings in the latest Art Jewelry Magazine, and all the fun you can have making ghoulish accessories for Halloween out of polymer clay.

This week, I'll show you how easy it is to use a silicone mold, UV resin, and polymer clay to make a beautiful pendant. You can use any silicone mold that is not too deep- the UV light from the sun or a special lamp has to be able to penetrate all areas of the mold. You can also layer the resin in a deeper mold, it will stick to itself. And you can bake it! We used Magic Glos, a Lisa Pavelka product.

Listen as Ilysa and Kira discuss what's going on this week in polymer clay. Kira has a special technique to share with you, making a mold with Amazing Mold Putty and then layering UV curing resin to create her own molded clear beads! Next week she'll show you on Polymer Clay TV. If you are new to clay, or even an old hat, be sure to check out our workshop on www.CreativeWorkshops.ning.com. With over 2 hours of video, 10 videos on techniques and 2 project videos, plus direct interaction with us in a private forum, it's well worth it, and it will be fun! Also check out the challenge at www.PCAGOE.com this week, you could win a prize just for voting!

Clay characters are fun to make. Thanks to Owen, who was interviewed last week on our show and has the website address www.FiendishThingies.com, we have taken a fresh new look at the category of funky polymer clay characters and monsters. Enjoy this little tour through Etsy and Flickr!

Owen, who makes awesome polymer clay character sculptures, contacted us this summer about somehow getting involved with our website. So we asked him for two things- an interview, and a portrait of us in polymer clay! Of course, we pressured him to do the "glamour shots" version. We'll see what he comes up with! Enjoy the interview, and visit Owen's site: www.fiendishthingies.com.

Watch as Ilysa does a demo on how to hand sew on raw polymer clay! She also shows off an eyeglass case, ready for embellishment, that she baked, then sewed. Polymer clay is so versatile, you can do anything with it- even turn it into an emroidery project. Have fun!

Why not trying sewing on polymer clay? Cured or pre-cure, there are lots of ways to do it. You'll see some next week.

The company sent us some to try, so Ilysa will tell you all about it in today's video. It's a spray, and lots of sprays do pose a problem with polymer clay. I suspect it's something in the propellant, although I'm not a chemist. But most sprays stay sticky and never dry on cured clay. I learned that the hard way long ago when I spray-sealed something with a Krylon fixative and ruined a large, important piece. The stickyness often doesn't show up until later- sometimes months later, so be warned- when trying a new sealer, use test pieces and give them time to age. But PYMII appears to test well with the clay. We suggest sealing your pigment powder and Magic Transfer pieces with it for longevity of the finish. Enjoy!

Next week, we'll be showing PYMII- Preserve Your Memories II, as a sealer. It is a spray that was sent to us by Precision-Blue.com, and some folks in the polymer clay community have been mentioning that it works great as a sealer, so we're going to test the theory! We also reviewed this month's Art Jewelry mag, so have a listen!

Check it out- Ilysa playing with the "new" Pardo clay from Viva-Decor. We got some from them at CHA this summer, and we'll be showing it and talking about it some more soon. We even have some to give away, so if you want to win, just send us a nice email to polymerclaypodcast@yahoo.com.

Sorry folks, a little late due to the fact that we have Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg in the studio filming her first DVDs, as well as Tommie Howell doing some video with us on his area of expertise- figure sculpting. Their videos will be released in time for the Holiday shopping season- so stay tuned for that! Well, the CHA show was a blast as usual- although the only clay company in attendance was Viva-Decor, who gave us lots of Pardo, as well as a couple other products, to try out. The one I am most excited about is actually an air-dry clay that can be reconstituted with water. I am imagining the possibilities right now. Next week we think we'll show our tests with Pardo clay, so be sure to come back for Polymer Clay TV.

Thanks to Lisa Pavelka and Viva-Decor, who discussed and showed off the new Pardo Clay from Germany. By the way, Viva-Decor has WAY more than just the clay. I am very interested in some of their paint products, and plan to try them out on some mixed-media projects I have coming up. We got lots of Pardo to try out, and we'll be doing a PCTV on the clay in the next month or so, so stay tuned!

Well, next week we're off to the Craft and Hobby Association show. It's always a lot of fun to go and see what's debuting in the crafting world. This time we plan to do, and film ourselves doing, a lot of the make & take activities. We figure if we try out some products and tools we'll come up with new ways to use them with clay! Be sure to visit next week, we'll be putting up some of that footage for PCTV.

Today, let's take a tour of flickr. I searched for "polymer clay food" and these are some of the wonderful artists that came up. Shay Aaron appears to be a pro- creating a prolific variety of perfectly executed miniature food items in dollhouse scale. Other artists, such as FilthyFox and Weggart, create food novelty item jewelry with realistic pizza, desserts, donuts and other sundries! Check them out, all their names are in the video so you can find them on flickr. We've created a fun project related to faux food, over at Polymer Clay Classroom-learn a citrus cane and make a fun dessert!