Suzanne's Polymer Clay Blog

  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...