Ohio Star Quilt Block in Polymer Clay


It looked so easy!   I had almost all the tools.  When I was at the Quiltedinclay.com website, I thought, “ooh what fun that will be.”  So I ordered one of the quilt disc sets and later realized if I was serious about this project, I should have ordered the 2nd set.  So I did.
I decided to make the ‘Ohio Star’ pattern when the disc set came.  I read the instructions – 3 times.  Since I wanted to make the extrusions that night, I had to find enough light and dark clay of one color for the project.  Yellow and Copper. 
It seems I need more practice reading instructions.  I kind of ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ and when I see something I make up my own instructions to get it done.  Usually that works.  But I know enough about quilting to know these shapes of clay need to be precise. 
24" long extruded triangle and squares

I figured out I would need a total of 13 long extrusions of dark and light colored clay. The extrusions as you can see in the photo are about 24” long.  That is quite a bit of clay.  Well that worked.  But after I finished I understood that the directions told me to make one extrusion and see how many 4 ½” pieces I could get and make as many extrusions as it would take to get the correct number.  That would have given me one 4 ½” x 1” cane.  My way gave me about five 8” canes -a lot more than I needed or perhaps wanted.
A yellow and a copper triangle are put together to become larger triangles.
There were a few other problems going on in this learning experience.  I used Kato clay which is great polymer clay but it is very stiff.  Probably not the choice I should have made but remember it was all I have in the quantity I thought I needed.  I used the Bullen's Wullens Adapter, the Makins Ultimate Extruder, and my drill for the extrusions.  (I talked about those tools last Friday in my post.)  All went well for the first 4 extrusions and then I noticed the drill was getting really hot.  I stopped and got another drill.  This one started smoking.  Not a good sign
Stages:  extrusions in the left lower, triangles in the center, squares on the right of the tray.
After talking with my brother, who is tool knowledgeable, I went to Lowe’s and bought a bigger drill with lower rpm.  As I finished the last extrusions, I had stripped the threads in the extruder.  But I finished all the triangles and squares I needed....
Today I bought some FIMO clay and a new extruder.   I’m going to conduct some experiments on drills versus clay!  I’m determined to understand what I’m doing!  In the meantime, I have my first quilt canes.

 
Finished Canes - Only the two on the right are the Ohio Star
Labels:
Location: 100-198 E Goodwin St, Prescott, AZ 86303, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning As We Go!

Image
Viking knit is the oldest method of chain making and I've become fascinated by it.  Once I conquered the single knit, I decided to add beads.  I could have googled or asked how it was done but it seemed like something I could just figure out.  And I've learned a lot as I proceeded first with tumbled turquoise beads and then with pearls.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.   Iif you want a great tutorial on viking knit technique, Trina Ann at http://blog.trinaann.com/  has written a clear concise easy to understand tutorial.  I highly recommend it.    Tumbled tuquoise beads in viking knit  I used tumbled turquoise beads in the first viking knit chain and I did not really know what I was doing.  But I went right ahead and as it turned out, I liked the end result.  Since the beads were irregular in shape there was a random quality to the finished product. During that process, I began to really understand the technique of viking knit.  Loo
Read more

Polymer Clay Conversation

Image
One of the polymer clay groups on FaceBook is 'Polymer Clay Collective'.  This is a group of artists working in polymer clay who share ideas and support each other.  I'm so glad to be a part.  A new feature of this group is the 'Polymer Clay Collective Conversations' where a different member answers a set  of questions.  I get to be first - the trailblazer! I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and in two weeks I get to learn more about someone else. • Tell us a bit about where you live. I live in Prescott AZ right next to the national forest.   When I look out my studio windows, I often see large black ravens swooping between the pine trees.   Binoculars are always available for close viewing of our smaller forest birds.   You’ve probably read about the forest fires we have had in our area this summer.   The monsoon rains we are having are so welcome. • What do you do when you're not polymer claying? As of 2010, I became a retired interi
Read more

Giving New Meaning to UPCYCLE!

Image
My first ever ‘Do Over Challenge’ was such fun!  I signed up to participate in Jeannie K Dukic ’s 6th Do Over Challenge not really knowing anything about how it worked.  I received a necklace that was very sweet with copper wire connections and pinkish pearls.  It sat on my work space for a couple of weeks while I pondered my next move.  One day I opened my polymer bead collection and was drawn to the pinkish and green beads.  They really looked good with the pearls.  I found some green crystal beads and a few other contenders.  But when I tried the small striped beads, I knew my combination!  This is the finished product for most of the pearls in the original necklace. It was the week to finish some of my long term projects.  I kept the wires with the red and green rubber bands from the braces I wore for 3 years.  When they finally came off, I asked the orthodontist if I could have them.  He wanted to know why since almost NO ONE wanted them and I told him I wante
Read more