News from Clayaround
News, tips, information about new colours, new ideas, new methods, anythng and everything that matters to you as serial crafters like me!
More change
We have decided that Crafters'cards needs to be on a separate website to Clayaround and that website is in the process of being built. And - because of our delight in ALL crafts we have changed the name to "Thecraftersmind" - so watch out for more news soon
March 23
We will be opening a new Mailchimp account this month and it will be called “Thecraftersmind” as we want to include all crafters – so there will be hints and tips on all sorts of crafts: so stay with us.
Apologies for the inconvenience this month
March 2023
Neon Fimo yellow
What fun you can have creating images - or designs - with neon yellow clay especialy to brighten up your Easter decorations. and there are lots more bright neon colours too
February 23
Best Flexible molds
These moulds are partricularly good quality - designed and made by an american who has now retired. You will inevitably find some useful shapes amongst all of these.
March 23
Black and white
Do you see your work in black and white? There are so many possibilities. We are selling our Fimo at the 2022 prices still so why not have a go at doing something different. (work by Libby Mills)
Fimo soft
February 2023
Cosmic Shimmer gilding Polish
Cosmic Shimmer gilding polish has such vibrant colours – you obviously don’t realise just how valuable these inexpensive enhancements to your work are – and there is even a brush built into the lid.
February 2023
Cernit 500gm
Cernit have discontinued making their beige 500 gm clay - if it was one of your 'must go to' clays then we have TWO left if you want to grab them!
And whilst you are there White is always a necessary colour and we have as much as you want available of the white cernit!
February 23
Souffle pack
Have the souffle fans forgotten that they can buy a pack in which there are colours old and new?
February 2023
Gr;ay Granite 8oz - 20% discount
Gray Granite is such a useful clay for it can not only be mixed to make more subtle colours but it can act as an excellent background for so many designs. We are offering 20% discount on the 8oz blocks. Just put in the code gray20 at the checkout to get tyhe deal- this is only until 14th February
gray granite
February
Lots of Stencils
The British polymer clay Guild have kindly published a review of some of the Clayaround 'Larkrise Concepts' stencils. There are five in the revue but there are many many more that can be found here.
Remember too that Valentine's day is coming up and our Heart stencils are just what you need to send to your greeting to your loved one!
To see the review you need to log in to your membership and then into the membership area on the BPCG website
February 2023
New Blue Pigment Click this link and you will see details of a new pigment that has been discovered
January 23
Magnets
There are so many uses for magnets, not the least holding down your work to keep it steady when making cards. And they are ideal for embedding in polymer clay to make clasps or to make jewelery.
January 2023
Hobbrian cutters on sale
We have 20% discount on all the Hobbyrian cutters. Cutters that have a reputation for being by far the sharpest cutters on the market. Take the opportunity now and see what a choice we have.
January 2023
Clayaround with Crafters' Cards has arrived
Special Christmas Push moulds
This mould includes this tree, a Santa, some stockings to hang, and lots of tiny Christmas goodies too. The mould is 11cm x 8.6cm and there are instructions included - and they are such fun to make and to decorate!
We have many of these top quality original moulds but there are some in particular that are for Christmas . This is this one on the left
And there are so many more (look for Santa's Elves and Santa;s face with Holly
December 22
Sculpey Nature Texture sheets
here is an example of a sculpey texture sheet. I have cut it into pieces and can now apply it to my clay ready for using either the texture or even colouring the texture. See how clear the example is on the red clay. (They provide a bonus second sheet too.)
November 2022
Black Friday Bezel/findings pack
Until Christmas these packs (example of one pack on the right) are going to be available for £6 plus free postage on our website. Every pack will be different.
ALL the proceeds go to BreastCancerUK so do your bit for Charity this Christmas and get a surprise value for money pack into the bargain!
Christms Stencils
We have many stencil designs but here in particular you will see stencils that are ideal for your Christmas makes.
November 2022
Discounted tutorials
Nik's work is very special for she was an engineer and understands the construction of her work. The skills she show us are eminently transferable for if you break them down they are very simple, and she demonstrates them in her tutorials with great clarity. Do grab your opportunity for a discount on her excellent tutorials - the offer ends tomorrow, Wednesday 2nd November
1 November 22
Cernit textures
There is such a large variety of textures available in these inexpensive Cernit texture sheets. Have a look:
October 2022
Bezels
this clever piece of work is done by puting clay behind as well as on top of the many bezel filigree pieces there are available for sale for Breast Cancer UK on behalf of the estate of one of our community who died.
October 2022
Liquid Clay idea
We have liquid clay from Sculpey and liquid clay from Fimo (and soon to have a delivery from Kato I hope!) - this is so simple. Just draw a design from the nozzle of your liquid clay bottle onto a rolled out piece of clay, and cure it. Once cured, then add colour into the design. Even better you could simply impress this stencil (on the left) into your clay in order to create a design!
sculpey or fimo liquid clay
Stencils
September 22
Change is on its way
We have finally completed all the changes to the new improved website - and here we have Lizzie adding the finishing touches. We have explained more in our newsletter so if you don't already receive it then subscribe now for more information and further possible interesting news on a monthly basis.
September 2022
Kato Soft clay 1lb block
We at Clayaround gambled on bringing some into the UK from the US for our customers. However, once it was here Van Aken, after testing, contacted me and explained that there is still work to be done. Since then we have been testing it too and have had a number of people testing it for us as well.
We at Clayaround gambled on bringing some into the UK from the US for our customers. However, once it was here Van Aken, after testing, contacted me and explained that there is still work to be done. Since then we have been testing it too and have had a number of people testing it for us as well.
It has been met with various responses.
- If you are a fan of Cernit or Premo clay it is a comparable clay as it is as soft.
- For regular Kato user it is ‘too soft’ especially if you undertake a lot of caning.
- My experience is that it is quite wonderful when a small amount is mixed with my regular Kato clay as it softens it and thus makes it more malleable: as a result it responds very like the new conditioning bar.
- It mixes well with all the other manufactures’ clays thus giving extensive options.
- Van Aken have found that for large projects like sculpture it is inclined to crack, but for small projects like jewellery it is quite satisfactory.
- The conclusion is that as is it is a useful addition to your stock of clay. Once the soft clay is available to the public it will be sold at the standard price for other Kato clays. We have a supply of this white ‘beta clay’ that we are now selling to offset import costs. We are offering this at £5 per 1lb bar and we have it available on our ‘Bargains page’. So if you love polymer clay, and you like a bargain, this is an opportunity for you!
September 1st 2022
Carol Blackburn necklace
Carol Blackburn is the master of colour. Her choice of clay Fimo Professional and she is one of the leading polymer clay artists in the UK
September 2022
The Same but different
Cernit have a range of wonderful mica powders that help you to give sparkle to your work.
They have a range of mica powders all with a selection of lovely colours:
Diamond: is just that: lots of sparkle
Metallic has a richer darker effect
Interference gives a different effect in a different light on your piece.
September 2022
Sarah spanu pendant
This beautiful pendant is sent into a similar bezel base to those we have available to sell on behalf of Breast Cancer UK. What wonderful possibilities there are with those bezels
August 2022
Work of Barb Fajardo
Barb Fajardo has been teaching and working with polymer clay for over 20 years. Her work is outstanding and distinctive. Do look at her website to get inspiration and to admire her style. You can even find some free tutorials amonst the many tutorials that she has produced.
August 2022
Translucent Cernit clay
Are you person who likes claying options? Then translucent clay will give you that. The possibilities are as many as your imangination will give you. For instance - try adding some translucent to the Cernit neon I was talking about a few days ago: a really stunning effect. Add some white clay as well to the translucent and neon.....I could go on. Experimenting is not only an excellent way to learn, but it is a way to get wonderful surprises!
August 2022
Nik Orson Mini tutorial
NIkolina has just written this clever little tutorial and it is at an exceptionally good price for UK buyers. She is a talented and thorough artist who writes quite excellent tutorials that are well worth the money you pay. Her style may well not be your style - but don't reject her tutorials for you can learn so much from them and adapt to your own ideas as a result.
August 2022
cernit polymer clay
Cernit is such an excellent clay. When premo wasn't available it was discovered by so many people as it is pliable, easy to condition, excellent for scupture as well as jewellery, and has a vast array of colours. If you haven't tried it yet I recommend you take the opportunity now with Hallowene coming up to try out the neon colours.
August 2022
Texture Sheets
These texture sheets are designed by Helen Breil - do look at her website if you want inspiration as a result of quality work. The variety is considerable, and the quality of the sheets high. They can be used not only for textures on your work, but are deep enough to be used for the sutton Slice by Lisa Pavelka: it is a fun teqnique - look it up. You can see my attempt on the right
August 2022
Colour shift paint
Are you even aware that this fascinating colour shift paint exists? You paint it on your piece and the colour changes according to which direction you look at it!
July 2022
Pencil sculpture
I constantly look for inspiration and it is amazing where it sometimes comes from. Looking at the work of this artist I realised that one can create from just about anything if one is, as polymer clay people are, inventive and creative. This piece is sculpted into the lead of a pencil (he must have amazing eyesight!) and my initial thought is 'what else is there one could make into a hollow piece (clay of course) into which one could put interesting objects or created shapes......? The possibilities are endless!
Fimo Leather effect
This bracelet is made with a simple cut strip of leather effect. She has then used a stencil for the design putting mica powder over the stencil to get the pattern. What is so great is that because Leather Effect is flexible after it is cured it can be bent into any shape you wish.
July 2022
By Loretta Lam
Loretta Lam is an exceptional artist with an insight into colour blending that is second to none. I have been to more than one of her workshops. I would even recommend, if you are looking for a valuable learning experience, that you enrol on one of her workshops. Meanwhile look at her website to see how she so cleverly combines colours.
This is her website
Petoskye Stone
This stone is a fossilized coral and there are very many of them in Michigan as you will see on the image on the left. This one is polished and many US jewelers use them for their decorative pieces. They reminded me of the work of Melanie West, as you wil see with the picture on the right uses natural formation in her designs.
Design on clay
Judy Youssef is a particularly creative polymer clay artist. She has shown us here what is possible when one simply takes coloured markers and creates designs on ones white polymer clay. To great effect. I quote Judy:
"I do a short pre-bake on the white blanks (20 minutes), draw the design and then return them to the oven for a 45 minute full cure, covered with a paper “tent” to reduce any chance of scorching. I haven’t found it necessary to varnish over the paint as it appears to be strong enough without."
I will add that I cut the blanks with deli paper on top to create a nice bevelled edge.
July 2022
Digital Downloads
We are excited to announce that we are now selling digital tutorials for Nik Orson - these are particularly valuable to UK customers as the price here is considerably cheaper than the same tutorials that are being sold on Etsy. The reason? Clayaround are not charging Nik the ridiculous fees for hosting her tutorials. This is especially for Clayaround's customers.
July 2022
Faux Opals
Faux opals can be made easily!
Use a mixture of Premo colours: pearl, translucent white and/or translucent, plus pearl. For colour use mica powder or embossing powder and/or glitter. Mix different colours of your choice in the clay. Chop the pieces as if you were finely chopping vegetables and squeeze together the colours that you like into one ‘pile’. You can add some translucent white liquid clay to bind them. Make them into the size you want, maybe add a coating of thinly rolled opal clay and shape into the shape you want.
You can find all the things you need on the clayaround website
Premo 2oz Mica powders embossing powder Liquid clay
July 2022
Ragged Daisies
Why would I want to put a picture of Ragged Daisies, appart from the fact they are stunningly beautiful when in full blook, and exceptionally unusual.
Well they also show just how bright and beautiful are whites and working with white polymer clay is also a worthwhile activity.
Before you use your pasta machine run a piece of old scrap clay through it to clean the rollers and/or even run a baby wipe through it to clean the rollers! Wash your hands if you have been using colours. Keep your pets out of the way! And put your pieces on clean tiles or clean pieces of parchment paper.
You can get wonderful results by curing some white clay, cutting some interesting shapens and then drawing on them with coloured markers.
White Premo White Kato White Cernit Platinum Pardo
ideal markers
July 2022
Fridge Magnets
Fridge magnets with a difference. Make your fridge magnets using magnets and polymer clay designs, but add large paper clips so that they hold messages or documents. A utilitarian decorative idea.
June 2022
Ragged Daisies
Your path to endless possibilities. A large variety of tools available to help you with creating what ever you want to create with your polymer clay!
tools
June 2022
Liquid Clays
There are so many liquid clays now and a new one has recently been added: Gold Mica by Kato. Kato also have a full range of coloured liquid clays that lend themselves to fascinating possibilities.
Helen Breil textures
Helen Breil's texture stamps are particularly high quality and very inventive designs - often multiple design in one sheet. She has many examples of the results of the textures on her website if you look for them (just google for 'Helen Breil Designs' as her website is fascinating) Meanwhile look at the vast variety of desings that are available on our website
Helen Breil textures
June 2022
