Suzanne's Polymer Clay Blog

  This post is a continuation of a previous post where I talked about how sometimes things do not go smoothly, and you learn from your mistakes, etc. Well. What you see below are two shapes. Backstory: I bought a left and right cutter...keep this in mind. I took a slab of pearl clay and shaved tiny pieces of five different clay colors onto the slab to create a speckled effect. It took a long time to do the front and back of the slab and then smooth it out. Then I used the cutter to cut out my shapes. When I used the cutter, apparently, I only used the LEFT cutter and cut out 6 left earrings. After I baked them and sealed them, and prepared to attach jump rings and hooks, I realized I had made 6 left earrings and 0 right earrings. I was pretty pissed.  Undaunted, I went through the whole process again using up a whole bar of pearl clay and re-shaving these tiny speckles of different colored clay, front and back, etc.. Then I cut out the other 6 earring shapes so they'd match an...

 More hearts. My favorite shape. Something is very satisfying about the shape of a heart. I think of hearts as being very feminine. Let me tell you, I am so grateful that I have a creative outlet. It sure helps me to take my mind off the stuff that bothers me.  Lately I have decided to try to tackle something that I do not do well, and that is making post earrings. I am challenged by post earrings. You have to put the post in the exact, right spot so it hugs the ear correctly. It's pretty difficult to practice on myself because the woman who pierced my ears did not do them perfectly! They are crooked. Therefore, I rarely wear posts because one earring is always higher than the other. 😣 These pairs came out great! The blue ones have a shimmer of mica powder.      Just a polish on these pink posts. No sealing coat. Work in progress, as always. Fini.

  What you see here is an oopsie. Clearly I bought a left/right pair of cutters, and somehow ended up making 12 single earrings instead of 6 pairs of earrings. I didn’t even realize it until I was about to start putting them together after I baked, sanded, and buffed them. I picked up the first “pair” and realized I had two left earrings, not a left and right earring. I feel like that’s what this blog is. A running list of oopsies and a hooray or two, depending on how the week went.   I do make a lot of mistakes that frustrate me. The mistake above. Or trying to mix some clays together and finding that it just makes a turd color. Using inferior quality ear hooks that tarnish. Having posts fall off the back of an earring. Seeing light-colored clay turn dark during a bake. It’s a lot to learn and I am teaching myself. I wish there was a class I could take but there isn’t. Mistakes are part of life, but I get very frustrated at times and have to remind myself that I cann...

  When something doesn't work out as planned, it goes in the dreaded scrap/junk drawer. Some of the stuff in the drawer was a test. Sometimes I make something hideous. Or sometimes it breaks. The scraps go in the drawer.   Making clay jewelry is not as easy and not as hard as you might think. Creating can be the easy part depending on what you're doing. Sometimes the pieces I liked as raw clay are hideous when baked. Or I just didn't know what I was doing. This drawer is small now, but as I progress, I'll probably need a bigger drawer. Fini.

  People keep asking me why I am not selling my earrings on Etsy. The truth is, I did have an online shop on Aftcra, but I think they are close to going bankrupt. I do not want to sell anything on Etsy. Etsy eats up almost 1/3 of your profits and I think it's more for professionals who know how to photograph their product and who do not have very brain-intense, full time jobs. I could be wrong, but I don't have a lot of brain power left over after my day job to perfect every listing. Also, I am a paralegal, not a photographer, and it shows. 🤓 👆 There is another reason why I haven't gone whole full hog (a Texas saying?) on selling my earrings. I am still learning! I only sell a fraction of the earrings I make. I only sell them if I am 100% comfortable doing so. *************** Speaking of being a beginner...the clay I used for the earrings below is called "Pearl". It's a very light, pearl color. How EVER , when I baked it, the clay turned into "Unin...

The degree to which I love making Texas earrings astonishes me.       I just cannot stop making them. I love how recognizable the shape is. When I see that shape, I can taste sausage and cheese kolaches, Whataburger onion rings, tamales from a van on the side of the road, and good refried beans. I can feel saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico drying on my arms and warmth on my skin. I remember many days applying aloe vera to sunburns, playing kickball in 90 degree heat and humidity, and the constant sheen of summer sweat, even in my scalp. I know to avoid 610 and 59 in Houston at any time of the day and the purple jellyfish balloons on a Texas beach. I miss crawfish boils (I've been to many) and  quinceañera  parties (even though I've only been to one). I miss seeing Texas flags everywhere, cowboy hats and cowboy boots. I suppose I will always be a Texas girl, through and through, to my core. I was made in Texas. I grew up in Texas. I will die in Texas (hopefu...

 It's like this - sometimes I make stuff I don't even like. 😬 ********** These, for instance. Sometimes I try a thing and the thing fails. Sculpey sent some tiny clay cutters to me as a bonus, and I thought, "They are too small for me to make post earrings with them, so maybe I use them to cut out a design in a bigger piece of clay".  Do you see a bird, a dinosaur, something else? Yeah, that's the problem. It's supposed to be a bird. Then there are these beauties. I used a color that I wouldn't use for a flower, much less a rose.  I uses flower mold like one of these: The good news was that I did a decent job using the mold to make the flower.  I like blue, but not this blue.   ::shudder:: Then there is this disaster: I mixed the clay colors, used a cutter for the shape, baked the clay, and then it broke when I was trying to add a brush-on sealant to it.   Now that makes me mad and breaking finished earrings almost made me pack up all my clay and...

I started making polymer clay earrings in February, 2021. I picked up this "covid" hobby because I had been watching a lot of TikToks by a woman who made beautiful earrings out of polymer clay. When I watched her videos I thought, "I can do that!"  Shortly after picking up this hobby my mom started having some issues and eventually she was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. It has been a terrible year for our family. I have found that my hobby has become both an escape and a coping mechanism for me.  My mother is an artist who appreciates and lauds creativity. She has always been my biggest cheerleader and it is HARD to see her suffering from this disease. Every single pair of earrings I make, I make for her, in a way. She would LOVE THEM. Not just because her girl made them, but because she'd love that I am being creative and that I love what I am doing, and because she loves jewelry. She used to be the full package every time she walked out the door, decked ou...