Polymer Experiment Step by Step ~ Fragments of Time

 Hi guys, how have you been? Finally, a new blog post, woho! 

 I have ordered some ceramic decals from Etsy ( something new for me to play with, yay ) so I was super excited to start working with them. I made many errors but have learned a few things as well, that I will share with you.

So, here is my little polymer experiment. What I tried to achieve were small tiles that would look as made of stone or wood, with art images that seem to have faded with time, like the ones below. 

 

Below are my results ~ they took me about five hours to finish because they have many layers of paint and glaze and I had to let each layer dry.

I'm going to try to explain the process in a few very simple steps, if you want to give it a try.

Start with a sheet of polymer clay, I have used white Sculpey, about 1/3 inch thick, bake it according to the instructions on the package and while the clay is still warm, apply a coat of this ceramic glaze that will act as a glue for your decals.

 When applying the decals try to get as many air bubbles out as you can and then, to get the rough effect on the edges, cut the polymer sheet with a pair of scissors. The tricky part is to do all this while the polymer is still warm, because after it cools down it becomes harder to cut. I love how the tiles above came out: the faded, mysterious images and coarse, stony edges ~ just what I have hoped for!

The decals don't have to be perfectly positioned on the clay and you can cut them in any shapes you like. I went for broken ceramic tile effect for the pair above. The backs are also important, adding a few simple patterns looks better than leaving them blank, me thinks.

 The way you apply the acrylic colors and the layers of glaze is entirely up to your artistic vision. It is usually easier if you have something in mind before you start painting. There is so much inspiration online, you can choose the material you want to go for: a type of mineral, wood, ceramic, glass, also a color palette. For this mystic Peacock's Eye pendant I went for a rough Lapis Lazuli effect that also matches the decal's color palette.

 For these ladies I tried to mimic a very dark kind of stone with gold painted edges. Excuse my terrible nails. I applied the glaze in layers and have used my mini heat gun and sand paper to create the texture.

 Here is another view, I am absolutely in love with the textures in this pair!

This one came out pretty cool too, again sanded and burnt with my heat gun and the edges are painted with black acrylics ~  doesn't it look like it survived an ancient fire?!:)

I have sanded off most of the glaze, the image is not very strong and somehow the shine was very distracting.

A pair of art nouveau swans in light turquoise "stone". The edges came out looking really good! big smile

This one has awesome textures but I might have faded the image a bit too much...oh well, it's supposed to look old and worn out so...I guess it's good.

The rest of my little fragments of time polymers as I call them, a couple of them have lots of air bubbles, like the bird down left, I'll try to see if I can fix them somehow...perhaps sand them off ?

 I hope this helps and inspires you, I can't think of any other steps now, bad teacher, but if you guys have any questions I'll try to answer them if I can.

 If any of you have suggestions, advises, techniques that would like to share, I know that many of you are very good with poly clay ~ please do share, there's always room for improvement.

More on polymer clay:
Rustic Polymer
Rustic Bead Soup
Polymer Roses

My ETSY SHOP

I check my Instagram Feeriee13 daily, you can contact me there too if you have an Instagram account. 

Talk to you soon!! 

Laura ❤