Swap: My Favorite Actor/Singer RECEIVED

For this swap, I picked Sully Erna from Godsmack, Milla Jovovich from The Fifth Element, and Gerard Butler from 300. My partner crafted Sully for me!

The top of the tin

The bottom of the tin

All the goodies inside

And the extra goody - a fab apron that says

Swap: My Favorite Actor/Singer SENT

The object of this swap was to craft an Altoid tin around our partner's favorite actor or singer. I thought this would be the perfect swap, since it only required an Altoid tin and an extra goody. My partner listed Pink (Alecia Moore), and John Mayer. I've never really heard either artist, but I at least knew of Pink.

Here are the items I sent:


A polymer clay covered tin, with TLS photo transfer

The inside of the tin, along with three 1" marble magnets

Knit wrist cuffs

Shrink plastic bracelet

Polymer clay earrings, using TLS photo transfer

Polymer clay pendant, using TLS photo transfer

I have yet to send the other part of the extra goody. It goes with the knit wrist cuffs.

Adventures in Polymer Clay

Kathy Cano-Murillo is known for her love of Glitter and Chicano pop-art.
Margot Potter , Jennifer Perkins, and Jackie Guerra create gorgeous works of jewelry.
Twinkie Chan inspires me with her sweet and savory crocheted scarves. (LOVE the pizza scarf!)
Maureen Carlson creates whimsical creatures in polymer clay.
Vickie Howell has gotten me to knit.
Carol Duvall is the queen of it all!

Why can't I just do one craft? I haven't decided what medium I prefer to work with when crafting. I always have to try to do different crafts, I can't just stick to one. Which is why my craft area seems to have overgrown it's happy little corner and is now trying to take over the entire third floor of my house.

But I digress. My adventures this week take me into the land of Liquid Polymer Clay. I saw the Carol Duvall episode where guest Michelle Ross used liquid polymer clay to create a photo transfer for a translucent night light. I decided that I wanted to try this technique as well.

I want to mention that I haven't really worked with PC too much, just a few small things for swaps and one other Altoid tin. I must say that I learned a few things.

Special thanks to @summergirl38 and @penguintrax (from Twitter) for their tips!

Here are some things I learned during this project:

• Don't shake the bottle. I didn't, but I read that doing so can create air bubbles. Bubbles = BAD.


• Use a thin layer of liquid clay. Let it rest after spreading, after baking and any other time you think the clay might need it. 10 minutes might be a good resting time. I don't think it would hurt if you let it rest longer.


• Bake the liquid clay. Yes, a heat gun will work, but I had better results with the oven. It requires a higher baking temp, which seems to give a brighter color transfer. Let it rest.


• Don't use Sculpey Bake n Bond to attach anything that you have to bake more than once. I've been told that the Bake n Bond doesn't do well with being baked more than once. You can use a thin layer of the liquid clay as your bonder. Let it rest.
  

• Gently place the transfer onto the item to which you are attaching it. The last thing you want is air bubbles under the image. I gently "rolled" the image onto the tin, then used an old spoon to smooth out any air bubbles trapped underneath. Let it rest.

Here is a picture of the first tin I tried, without any knowledge. I covered the top of the tin, baked it. Added the photo transfer, baked it. Still looking good at this point.

Covered the bottom of the tin, got lazy and used the toaster oven instead of the regular oven.

See all those red circles? Those are bubbles. Remember what I said about bubbles?

Bubbles = BAD.

There was no way that I could send this tin in a swap. It's sub-standard for the Fearless Crafter. Luckily, I had a second tin on hand.

Just because I was annoyed at the bubbles, I decided to peel the transfer off the tin.

It's still cool that the image transfered from the transfer to the clay. And it had a nice shiny top coat.

Keeping all this info in mind, here are my steps for creating a polymer clay-covered altoid tin with a liquid clay photo transfer on top:

Make sure your tin and work area is clean. As always, condition your clay.

If you're like me, (little Miss Perfectionist), you can create a template.

Roll out your clay, use your templates to cut out your clay in colors of your choice. Cover the entire tin with clay.
Bake the tin. I baked mine at 250 for 15 minutes.

Time to create the transfer!

Print your image onto photo paper. I've been told that not all photo paper works well with this technique. I used glossy photo paper I found at the dollar store. I also used an ink-jet printer. I don't know that a laser printer will give the same results.

Take your time, and paint a thin coat of liquid clay onto your image. Make sure you add about a 1/4" all around the image. If your image is 2" x 3", you want to make sure you cover an area that is about 2.5" x 3.5"

Let it rest. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but I cannot stress this enough. Letting your liquid clay rest will help to eliminate air bubbles. Oven bake the transfer according to the product directions. The first time around, I didn't paint a thin layer and I used a heat gun. And I didn't let it rest.

After the transfer is baked, let it rest. Paint another thin layer. Let it rest. Oven bake it again. Let it rest.

Now that everything has had a rest (hopefully you've included yourself, too!), it's time to bring it all together.

Once the liquid clay has been baked, it can now be cut with scissors. Cut your image to the size fo the tin. I lightly scored the top of the tin before adding a thin layer of liquid clay. I also applied a thin layer to the bottom of the transfer. Yes, let it rest.

Bring it all together!

Slapping the transfer on the tin is not going to yield good results. It's going to produce bubbles. Starting with one end of the transfer, gently "roll" it onto the tin. Be careful that the transfer doesn't move too much. It wants to do that. Use an old spoon to burnish out any bubbles. Depending on the photo you are transferring, you might be able to see any bubbles that may have formed through the image.

Once I was satisfied that there were no trapped bubbles, I oven baked it all again. I had one edge that wanted to raise up and not be flush with the rest of the tin. I baked it upside down, checking that it wasn't burning about every 5 minutes. However, since regular clay requires a lower baking temp than the liquid clay I baked it at around 250 degrees. I also baked it for about 20 minutes.

Here is the second, finished tin!

For pizzazz, I added silver beads that I found in the wedding crafts section of my local craft store. To make sure it's a perfect fit, you can gently press the beaded string into the unbaked clay on the tin to create indents. I used some glue to adhere them after it was all baked. If you like, you can line your tin with felt, or any pretty fabric you may have.

Swap: ~ Amigurumi ~ RECEIVED

I'd had a craptastic day, and came home to find a wonderful package waiting for me!

I got some cute little bento picks, origami paper and instructions for sea creatures

Cute little felt whale and dolphin mini clothespins

And a gorgeous whale!

A shot of her from above

A profile view

And her is her closeup and happy face!

Swap: ~ Amigurumi ~ SENT

This swap required a crocheted item, stitched up in the amigurumi fashion. Amigurumi are basically dolls (and other creatures/animals) that are crocheted in single crochet and in a spiral.

I wanted to make a mermaid for my partner, but was not satisfied with any free patterns I found on the web. So I had to create my own.

Here she is, in all her glory!
Her hair is made from about 4 balls of eyelash yarn.

I had trouble with her fins, so I used a fin pattern from a well-known yarn company. (Link will be added later)



A close up of her head. That white thing is a shell




Here is a baby mermaid, again from a yarn company. (Link added later)

Swap: OYP9 Christmas Edition RECEIVED

I've been feeling a bit down lately, and receiving this package was a perfect pick-me-up!

I am in love with this snowman can! The colors are so much more vibrant in real life.


A gorgeous clear ornament that has "Winter Wonderland"


A darling wooden tree ornament, with glittered ornaments:

A cute little Santa pot filled with candy:

Sparkly glass charms::

A matching bracelet and earring set that makes me think of Jolly Rancher candy:

Swap: Once You Pop 9 - Christmas Edition SENT

My partner's favorite Holiday color combos include red/green, blue/silver, and red/white. Her favorite Holiday motifs are woodsy, traditional, cute, snow (men,flakes), red/white (candy canes). I decided to go with woodsy and the red/white color combo.

The woodsy-country Santa can:

Polymer Clay Ornaments:

Beaded Icicles:

An advent calendar, a la Allsorts. This was a lot longer than I thought it was going to be. I also had a mishap with the ribbon between each pocket. I ran out of the original ribbon, which actually turned out to be a good thing because the new ribbon is a red and white gingham print. BTW, 9 feet of ribbon is not long enough for this project... I used almost 18 feet!

A crochet candy cane scarf, that did not want to be created in eyelash yarn so I used regular worsted weight:


I also adorned a black and silver frame with poly clay holly leaves and berries, but forgot to take a picture of it. I hope she is able to get a shot to share with me.

Swap: Once You Pop Round 8 - Halloween Edition SENT

The objective of this swap was to fill a Pringles can with homemade Halloween goodies.

I sent last week, and as far as I know, my partner got it. Here it is, in all it's Pringles glory!


The Pringles can. My partner likes Egyptian mummies, and I created this using cheesecloth, Mod Podge and those flat backed glass marbles used in planters and fish tanks. (Don't worry, they're clean!) I used two large round ones for the eyes, and an oblong oval one for the nose. Now that I think of it, it looks like I mummified Gonzo from the Muppets...

An Original Fearless Crafter Project

4 polymer clay pirate coins. My partner also likes pirates. What's a pirate without a few coins?


A polymer scarab. I got the directions from Polymer Cafe Magazine.



Barry the Bat (could be used as an ornament). Pattern



A Futurama Brain Slug, made from this pattern.


The bottom of Brain Slug. It's a hair accessory!!


A knit scarf, made of Lion Brand Incredible yarn.


I was so very tempted to keep this last piece for myself (but I didn't)! Drum roll, please! My personal favorite piece of this swap:

A polymer covered altoid tin!!

An Original Fearless Crafter Project

I covered the tin with polymer clay, black on top and red on the bottom. Then a jolly roger skull and crossbones. I used the new Sculpey Studio Bake & Bond to adhere glitter for the eyes since I didn't have any gems small enough. I used the gems I did have to create the eye sockets. Then put a thin coat of the Bake & Bond and very carefully added the glitter. As you can see, not all the glitter made it in the eye sockets.

Crafty Lesson Learned:
If you're going to use glitter with Bake & Bond, make sure you bake it right away!! My jolly roger skull has a slight case of red eye because I let it sit for a day before baking.

For the inside, I used a leftover piece of black fleece scarf to line the bottom and sides. For the lid, I cut a piece of plain white paper to fit. I then printed a pirate map from a graphic I found online. I found a section of the map that I liked, and cut it to fit the lid. I then ripped pieces off, and used a black stamp pad (I didn't have brown) to make the edges look burned. I even tore a little hole and inked the edge of that as well. I added a printed compass and the letter N, as well as the phrase "A pirate's life for me"

Swap: Craftster/FOC Pride Swap SENT

A messenger type bag with FOC (Friends Of Craftster)

It's reversible!!

















A matching Pouch (not reversible)













A coffee cozy with FOC in white



















and pink

Swap: Eddie Izzard Round 2 Swap SENT

Do you like.... bread?

An Original Fearless Crafter Project

What's more surprising than a messenger bag for the First Battalion Transvestite Brigade?













I am an Evil Giraffe. I am going to eat all the leaves.
Do you have a flag?















An Original Fearless Crafter Project