Fun stuff to put in polymer
I put together this free polymer clay tutorial using eye-pencil shavings as inclusions. Consider this a thank you to everyone who voted in the December Polymer Clay Artist’s Guild of Etsy monthly challenge focusing on recycled projects.
Free Tutorial: Eye Pencil Shavings Inclusions
Step 1: Grab some sharpener shavings from your coolest colored eye pencils (the key is to have a pencil with a really soft lead to get the color to blend into the clay).
Step 2: Decide if you want the shape of the shavings to remain intact (image on left) or become more abstract (image on left).
Step 3: For the first example you place some whole shavings on top of a well-conditioned sheet of translucent clay then gently roll another thin layer of clay on top to seal in the shavings.
For the second example, grab a bunch of shavings and mix them into well-conditioned translucent clay by running it through your pasta machine to break up the shavings and mix the color throughout the translucent clay.
Step 4: Cut out the shape you want for your pendant. In this case I used a small heart cutter. Add a hole unless you plan to glue on a bail afterward.
Step 5: Bake according to the package instructions.
Step 6: Cut out another heart shape for the pendant back and attach to the front with liquid clay. You may also add some trim to the sides at this point. Remember that if you added a hole to your pendant, you will need to poke the hole though the back layer before you rebake to set everything.
More polymer inclusion techniques posts
Want to see more fun stuff on inclusions? Try these posts:
Polymer Clay Inclusions
Mokume Gane Scrap Clay Tutorial
Such a brilliant idea!
Thank you!