Commission

This is what I have been working on in the last week, A watercolour commission of my friend's dog Oscar.  A4 hot pressed Arches watercolour paper and Winsor and Newton artists watercolour paints and some white Gouache. I also realised that its been many months since I have done any painting, maybe I should make it my new years resolution to paint more, maybe a little painting each day like Inktober.















And I've been playing with fimo again, following this tutorial for Faux leather tags. So my Christmas presents this year are going to have these tags.

How to make: Air-Dry Clay Christmas Decorations

I've been busy making decorations for the tree, this year its going to be a white theme. These were pretty easy (and messy) to make so I thought I'd write how to make them.

To begin with you will need:
Some Air Drying clay (whatever colour you want the decorations to be)
A rolling pin
A selection of cookie cutters
An easy to clean surface, as its going to get messy! maybe some newspaper as well
And a bowl of water to rehydrate the clay if it starts drying out

For finishing touches:
Sandpaper
Maybe a small file
Some pretty ribbon or string to hang the decorations with.

First off grab a handful of clay and mould it into a ball

Roll it out, making sure to keep it all the same thickness

Decide how thick you want the decorations to be, the thicker they are the longer they will take to dry

Start cutting the clay with the cutters, being as economical with the placement to make the most of the clay.

Remove the excess clay and find a straw and make some holes at the top big enough to fit the string or ribbon through.

If you want get something flat and neaten the edges, but you don't have to as we have sandpaper to neaten the edges once they are dry.

Move them on to a tray or a surface that is not going to have cats sit on them or something and let them dry for 24 hours. You can tell they are drying as the edges will start to become whiter. Now I found that some of the decorations the edges started turning up as they were drying, so every few hours I would turn them over.

Once they are completely dry thread your string or ribbon through the holes and then get your sandpaper and neaten those edges!

and if you have snowflakes like mine a small file is useful for getting the middle bits

Here is a comparison of the wet and dry clay for anyone who like me panicked and thought the clay wasn't white enough when it was wet.

Half a pack of DAS 500g makes this amount of decorations. Now you can paint them if you wish or leave them natural like mine.

Any left over clay remember to put in a grip seal bag or an air tight container as it will dry out and become useless.

Yay now you have pretty decorations to hang on the tree or wherever you want!

Playing with metallic clay

I found a tutorial on you tube showing how to do black antiquing or patina on fimo! This is something I have tried before but not had much success and I believe its to do with the acrylic I used.

I only have System 3 and Galeria which I would say are in the middle in terms of quality, they are not the cheapest but they are not the most expensive. So after watching the tutorial I went out and got myself some cheap craft acrylic and it works waaaay better as its runnier. So yay!

I also got to play with my Pearl Ex powders which I have been collecting and not using hehe.

I'm really happy that Folksy are now doing discount codes so NOVEMBER14 works in both my Etsy and Folksy  Yay!

Lino Christmas cards trial

I've been playing with lino printing today, I want to print my own Christmas cards this year. I had cut out my lino a few weeks ago and today I finally started practice pieces to see what colour card and ink to use:

Out of these I like the brown card better but I don't know if its festive enough.

I didn't expect the gold and silver ink to show up very well one white card but I like it way better then on the black card.

My favourite is the silver one. I like the robin's pose better then my previous lino  but I am not sure if I should have reversed what bits I cut out and what bits print, hmmmm...

Tablet case

It's been awhile since I've posted a sewing project (been awhile since I've actually DONE a sewing project lol)  Here is something I made this week:

This is my new tablet case/cover for my Samsung tab 2.

I initially started following a tutorial I found in a magazine which was all well and good up till a point. The problem with magazine tutorials is that they can be scarce on details so they can fit it all on one page and lack decent photos illustrating tricky bits.

After I ironed the fusible volume fleece on both the outer fabrics (a step the tutorial neglected to mention) I went freestyle and made
the rest of the tablet case the way I make my little zipped purses.


Having never made anything with a flap before this took 2 tries and a lot of unpicking he he.

Its not perfect, the button is off centre and the flap inside fabric is not sewn in places, but it does its job of keeping my tablet nice and cosy. Its not too tight nor baggy around the tablet. With any luck it shouldn't fall apart just yet lol.

I've had this fabric lying around since April and I was dying to do something with it, I know its not going to stay white for long but the fabric is just so pretty. It's called Herb garden by Prestigious textiles if anyone is interested.

Tiny Christmas pudding stud earrings

I've been busy this week making some new earrings for Christmas. These tiny earrings are 1cm big and made from fimo. They are up for sale in my Etsy shop.






I did find a very old Christmas pudding prototype earring I made many years ago (I have no idea how many years)

Look at how awful it is! (the one on the right lol) Its flat, the white fimo is filthy and don't get me started on the holly and berries no wonder I abandoned it.

My 5 favourite Christmas decorations

I love the decorations John Lewis sell and I try to buy a few each year so I can build up a nice collection of pretty baubles. This year it seems white, clear and frosted are in, so here are a few of my favourites:

Feather Bauble!

Clear and frosted stripes (I have this one!) I love how the glass is tapered into the hook.

 Pretty etched snowflake glass bauble

My absolute favourite! Love this clear reindeer (I have this one too, I really want another though..)

And a ceramic feather, I really like this but I am wondering if I could make my own from polymer clay.....

Pink dragon remake

So I was looking through some old cds the other day and I came across this dragon I had made in 2005. I had made it as an entry for Neopets Draik day, an art gallery submission. I had completely forgot about this and the other Neopets I made out of fimo. I never baked them as I would reuse the clay for other sculptures so its probably why i forgot about it. 

Anyway as you can see I have remade it just to see how much I have improved, I think the most noticeable is the absence of fingernail marks lol. When I was making the new one I tried to stay true to the original design of a Pink Draik so I added a few details that 9 years ago me didn't (or couldn't?) do.

Etsy discount code

From now until 31st October 15% off items in my Etsy shop use HALLOWEEN14 at the checkout.

I'm working on Inktober this month, over at my Facebook page I'm posting the pics each day, good practice although I'm running out of ideas lol.

Halloween D20 dragon

I have had this guy made for a while now but wanted to wait till closer to Halloween to post him but as my productivity is zilch at the moment (due to a bad back that prevents me from sitting at a desk comfortably) I thought I'd post him now. Also I really love him and waiting to show him off was getting too much lol.


Made from Fimo Polymer clay which means the tail stayed lovely and curved, The D20 is removable. I suppose he doesn't really look Halloweeny but it was definitely my inspiration when making him.

Halloween and dragons

Halloween earrings that I have been working on for the last few months are listed in my Etsy. New for this year are the eyeball jar earrings and the plain pumpkin earrings. I am currently working on some Jack o Lantern stud earrings but they are proving tricky.

Watercolour Wednesday

This is a commission that has been on the drawing board for a few months now and I finished it last week. I am really pleased with it and enjoyed working on it.

A4 on Arches watercolour paper, mostly watercolour with white gouache for highlights.

W.i.p wednesday

Something I am working on at the moment.

Fimo Friday

I've been making these earrings this week. I love these pastel shades!

Only 1cm big! Each of the colours are for sale in my Etsy shop. Also have a few hearts as well.

I made this dragon last week and forgot to blog it here :( Another dragon using Premo's Accents clay, this time Pearl green.

Polymer clay colour chart

Every single colour of polymer clay that I own, rolled out, cut into circles, baked and varnished! My new polymer clay colour chart! On the back of each one is the name of the colour and the brand, there are both Fimo and Sculpey clay here.

As you can see I've only varnished half of the circles so I can see how much the colour changes when a glossy varnish is applied.

See how much the metallics change when the varnish is applied. They are much clearer and sparkly and with out the varnish they are quite dull.

The same happens with the Premo Accents clay

Fimo Friday

Its not too late for Fimo Friday is it?

Purple and Gold D20 dice dragon. She was originally suppose to have the d20 directly under her paws but in the oven she tipped forward a bit (without the support of the d20, I didn't want to risk it melting in the oven). So now the d20 doesn't fit, oh well, live and learn...

Instead of making the body out of Premo Sculpey like my previous dragons, I made this one out of Fimo which allowed the curl of the tail to remain curled. As I have found that the Premo clay is quite springy and in the oven the tails unfurl.

March Art

Weeee! another dog commission! March was spent mostly working on this painting of a friends dog, and then I was away on holiday for a week so unable to post online. Any way Watercolours on Arches watercolour paper, A4.

I was also able to work on this drawing as well, which if anyone has liked my Facebook page will have already seen it. I really like how it turned out, and it started as a quick sketch when I was out with my best friend.