Focal Bead Frame

Polymer clay is so much fun to experiment with! I've created the perfect frame for a beautiful little polymer clay heart.  The heart was made with layers of gorgeous, red foiled strips of clay and needed a dramatic, yet subtle frame.

Watch my Polymer Clay Bezel Frame Pendant YouTube video tutorial!

Materials:

Aleene's Original Tacky Glue
Focal bead - it could be anything at all
Black polymer clay
Pasta machine
Cookie cutters - 1 1/2" square and 3/4" square
Tissue blade
Needle tool
Knitting needle
Rubber stamp with lots of detail
Water spritzer
Metallic paste

1. Roll your clay out on the widest setting on your pasta machine - about 1/8".

2. Cut one large square.  Double the thickness of the clay and cut one more large square.

3. Spritz the rubber stamp with water and press it into the double thick square.

4. Center the smaller cookie cutter in the stamped piece and cut.

5. Place the open frame piece carefully on the background square and press gently in place.  Trim edges, if needed with the tissue blade or smooth with the knitting needle.

6. Use the needle tool to make a hole for hanging.  Bake according to directions.

7. Use a finger to rub metallic paste on the stamped side to accent the stamp detail.

8. Glue the focal bead in place.

---

31 Days of Halloween - Day 25 - Wicked Wire Wrapping for a Pendant

 Well, here we are on day 25! That's right, and you are hopping onto the Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop! Yea!  I love all the wonderful projects that I'm seeing on my daily hops!  Take a bow, Wicked Bloggers!

Below are all the fabulous bloggers:

Terra,Tori,Kristy,Kapree,Alison,Christine,Kelli,Windy,Susan,Alex,Monique,Jane,Sugar,Black Dragon,Lisa,Shell,Jean,Julia,Jennifer,Loren,Christy,Vee,Lady Brayton,Lindsay,Little Black Kitten,Celeste,Leigh,Pam,Donna,Valerie,Helen,Sharon,Lisa,Karen,Carolyn,Pam

    Making jewelry findings can be lots of fun and way easier than you think! In this tutorial, I'll show you how to make a bail for a pendant. It can be used on anything that has a front to back hole that you want to string on a chain.

Click here to see how the cardboard pendant was made

Materials:
20 Gauge wire - 6"
Accent bead
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Wire Cutters

1. Measuring 1 1/2" from one end of the wire, bend the wire around something large enough for your pendant piece. I used a jump ring sizer, but you could use anything. Crimp the wrapped wire just below where they meet.
2. You just made the loop to go through the hole on your pendant piece. Slide the pendant piece on the loop.
3. Grasp the loop on the outside of the pendant piece using the round nose pliers. Bend the short wire tail to the side and wrap it around the long wire tail.
4. Slide on and accent bead. In the video, I didn't wrap the short tail before adding the bead. I chose a bead with a hole large enough to fit over both wire tails and wrapped the short tail above the bead. Either way is fine.
5. Starting just above the bead, wrap the long tail around a pencil (or anything you have handy) twice. At the end of the second wrap, cross the wire over to the other side of the first wrap and wrap the tail around between the double loop and the bead.

It won't look manufactured, but I happen to like the wabi-sabi style. Imperfect is charming to me!

---

31 Days of Halloween - Day 15 - Steampunk Bat Neclace

Eeek! It's day 15 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween! I am having so much fun! This is my project for this week's show. It's the Halloween show, of course! Be sure to check out all the projects for the show - they're so inspiring! Cool2Craft.com Featured on Cool2Craft TV.  Blog Hop!  This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 


Materials:
Aleene's Super Thick Tacky Glue
Craft foam - I used black, but any color would work
Pen or pencil to trace pattern
Metallic paste - copper
Washers - No larger than 1/3" wide Nuts - no larger than 1/4"
Scissors
Bead for one eye - should fit into the center of the washer Tiny bead cap for the other eye - it needs to fit next to the washer on the bat's face
Craft knife
 Hole punch - 1/8"
String or ribbon Wire - I used 20 gauge, but most any size will work
 Bat Necklace Template

1.Cut out the bat necklace template, trace on the foam and cut out.

2. Cut the gray areas out of the paper bat, keeping the head and body as one piece. Trace all the pieces on the foam and cut out.

 3. Cut out the head on the paper bat, trace on the foam and cut out.

 4. Rub copper paste on the foam pieces. Do a tiny bit at a time. You can add more if you desire.

 5. Cut a tiny "x" on one side of the individual bat head. Cut just large enough for the eye bead.

6. Place a tiny drop of glue on the cut "x" and push the bead in.

7. Glue all the foam pieces in place. **You may want to cut the ears off the whole bat piece and the body with head piece, if they don't line up with the individual head piece**

8. Punch holes just to the outsides of outer foam triangles.

9. Glue the metal pieces according to the photo above, making sure to glue the outer metal pieces over the holes. Allow to dry

10. Thread string through the holes. Tie knots and wrap the wire around the string tails and trim off excess.

---

It's day 11 of Smeared and Smudged Forum's 31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop!  This has been so much fun, hopping and commenting AND I thank everyone for the awesome comments you've give me! 
 
Hubby and I have a deal for the month of October - We don't go out to eat unless it has something to do with Halloween. It's a good plan, we've both lost weight already! The first Halloween food trip was to Krispy Kreme for doughnuts! Oh how I love Halloween doughnuts! Anyway, here's a quick project made with polymer clay and Halloween love! Materials: Polymer clay - orange and a mix of white, gold, brown, yellow and orange to make the "dough" (I use this for cookie dough, too. Glossy sealer Micro beads in green, purple and copper Needle tool or tooth pick Crochet needle or other smoothing tool

	Start by conditioning the clay.Roll it in your hands until it's easy to shape. Flatten slightly.
	Use your smoothing tool to to make holes and roll it around in there to make the hole a size you like.
	Roll balls of the orange clay and flatten as much as you can and keep it as round as possible.Use the crochet needle to push through the "icing" to reestablish the hole.
	Use your needle tool or tooth pick to make holes through both sides.Bake clay according to the directions.
	When the beads are cool, brush glossy sealer on the icing and sprinkle micro beads on the wet sealer.

---