My Personal Polymer Clay Workshop! Day 2 - Imprint Design

What a good idea I had bringing all my polymer clay (well a lot of it) and tools to Tucson for my self imposed 'Personal Polymer Clay Workshop'.  I decided to make a big change from yesterday's rock and explore imprinted techniques.

I love the various effects and the surprise of each cut.  One of my favorite books is by Julie Picarello Patterns in Polymer - Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques.

Beginning with the ‘Basic Imprint Technique', I picked a color scheme of Fimo Orange 04, a Skinner Blend of Green 05 and Emerald Green 56, Turquoise 32, and Glitter Gold 112. 

Following the directions on p.33 of Julie’s book, I built my stack of colors, selected my tools to imprint and planned my design.  I love the star cutter and used it for focal point of the design.  I also like the dimension created when some circles were removed to create missing shapes in the design.

Consistent slicing is one of the most difficult procedures for me.  I think I’ll make a device to help that soon.  When I cut uneven slices, I put them through the pasta machine at #4 setting.  Since there is no right or wrong to this process, these layers became expanded the impression of the original design.

Deciding which layers I would keep and use for smaller items was a big part of the fun.  Each thin layer I sliced produced a different pattern that I carefully put aside on sandwich paper.  I imprinted again when I was about half way through the stack.  I rolled some of the scrap clay through my #1 setting on the pasta machine and then placed the imprinted layers on the scrap clay to be used for pendants, buttons, beads, earrings, etc.  As you can see there are lots of pieces from my original stack of clay. 

I decided to make a few pieces into pendants and added clay to the back of the pendant for a chain. 

After curing the pieces, I sanded, buffed and added Renaissance Wax. 

I love the color combination with the little bit of glitter.  What a fun day!