Silk Screen Beads

Silk screening on polymer has been around a while.  I finally broke down and bought a small kit and some paint.  There is some really lovely acrylic paints out there, so I bought a nice set of metallic paints.  I hurried home and applied it to a stencil I had, since I hadn't picked up the silk screen kit yet.  I waited for the paint to dry.  And waited.  *sigh* And waited.  Apparently, some acrylic paints do not work with polymer and remain tacky and not very usable for my purposes.  So I bought the kit and used the paint in it.  Huge difference.  And it turned out quite well:

I used two screens on the kimono...one screen with gold paint and one with silver and just silver on the obi.  And oh, I like the way it turned out!

Of course, I couldn't make just one:

And I tried those metallic paints again; this time with a silk screen (I was hoping it would work this time).  Still a little tacky, but it baked okay and didn't smear too badly.  I'm not sure if I'll try it again.  I figure I'll find some use for the paints.  They really are beautiful colors.

I bought some of those cheap little sets of acrylic paints...you know, those ones in the little tiny tubs.  They worked like a charm, so I'll have to use them next....

Hey, look what I did with a leftover limited edition quilt cane!

I had some leftover cane from that first limited edition quilt I did for the Quilt Museum.  It wasn't really usable as an ornament, but there was enough of it to make one of my Kimono Angels:

I used my new stencils and paint for the obi.  It was a little tricky, as the clay was almost four years old and took a while to be made pliable.  So it's a little distorted in places.  I don't care, though...I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

And it's for me!  Although, when I showed it to my mom, she asked if I was going to make her one.  I think I might have enough left....

Beads, beads, and more beads!

I finished that batch of kimono beads I was working on.  I  made some two inch ones:

And some smaller ones, one inch or so:

Boy, when you blow them up and put them on the blog, you can see every little flaw.  I think I need new glasses...I'm still happy with them, though.

New technique...

I got to go to the Vancouver Polymer Clay Guild meeting this month.  They're such a great group of people and I always have a ton of fun.  Joanne and I car-pooled, but I still managed to get lost and make a couple of wrong turns and got there late.  At least we had a great time when we got there.

The last thing I need is for some new technique to grab me and shake me and make me run out and buy a bunch of new supplies.  Oh well, it stretches me artistically, so there is that.  I've been resisting the whole silk-screening/paint on polymer thing, but one of the samples I made looked so much like tapestry cloth that I couldn't resist making it into a Kimono Angel:

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture...I used my daughter's old camera and it just didn't work well.  It's among the ornaments at the quilt museum, so I couldn't get a good picture as I didn't have my new camera yet.  I've made a couple of beads with this process, but I'll save it for another post....

Finally! A camera again...

So my camera died on me a while back and I haven't been able to afford a new one until recently.  It was used, but still works well.  One teensy little problem...no data cable.  I finally got a card reader--so back in business!

I've been making kimono beads in a couple of different sizes.  This one is about two inches tall:

And this one is about an inch tall (isn't she cute?!):

I've got fifteen more in progress:

Hopefully, I'll finish them up tomorrow.  The quilt museum is going to sell them in their gift shop.  It's a bit of a departure from the Christmas ornaments, so I hope they do well.  I took up a bunch of ornaments--there's a quilt show the first weekend in October and there was some room in the gift shop for them.  So excited!