Polymer Clay Man eating plant- Part 2

Once everything was baked, painted and dry i assembled all the pieces in the pot. For the roots i used tacky glue and for the stem i used hot glue....a lot of hot glue.

After assembling everything my hands were stained green, so i tried rubbing a bit of the paint off but it didn't work and green paint was still coming off

This was because i had mixed up my tubes of acrylic and watercolours!

I contemplated using pva to coat it but figured it would either make the paint bleed or eventually peal off.

So in the end i used a glossy craft varnish which fixed the paint problem and gave it a nice shine

I did buy matte mod podge a couple of days later which would have worked.

I added a small amount of moss just to cover up the hot glue and joins before adding leaves

The leaves are just felt that i painted with acrylic paint and more of the gloss varnish.

Before adding the gloss i really didn't like how they looked, probably because the contrasted so much with the body.

While the gloss was still tacky i put the leaves in round pots to give them some shape and once completely dried i hot glued them into place

Finally i added more moss and tacky glue the leaves to the pot to keep them in place.

And that's finished

Thanks for ready

Polymer Clay Man eating plant- Part 1

I started with a wire base and added two loops to the top to make the upper and lower jaw.This was made from one continuous piece of wire as I've not been successful with attaching separate pieces of wire together

Then wrapped tin foil to make a flat surface.

I've had success with this method but would love you have new ideas if anyone has done something like this already

I'd already got a pot that I wanted to use for this, which you can see in my previous post, and had been using it as a size reference.

I hadn't got enough green clay to make this piece so decided to use yellow and paint over it. Using a pale colour worked the best and meant I didn't need to add tons of paint. You'll see in a photo later what affect different coloured clay will have on the paint later.

For the stalk I rolled a long snake of clay out, not particularly worrying about thickness, and wrapped it around the wire. I originally wanted a very smooth stalk but liked the look of a more bumpy one. I used soft fimo so it was easy to manipulate.

I didn't photograph it because I didn't think it was necessary but instead of using a big lump of clay for the head it rolled up some foil and then added a thin sheet of clay over the top. This means I use less clay and it won't take as long to bake

It did actually stand by itself but didn't want to risk it falling whilst i was baking. I use the convection setting on my microwave so it turns as it bakes, this works just the same as using an oven.

You should not use a regular microwave setting to bake fimo clay.

I then moved onto making the roots, you'll see in the previous post i had cut out two holes in the pot. As i was making the pot with the intention of using it for this project I have an idea already of how big I wanted to roots.

You don't need to cut hole in your pot, it would look just as effective to paint a crack onto it.

This root is a long cone shape and then I twisted it to add a more natural look.

In total I made three roots, as i had run out of yellow clay i used some scrap purple clay instead.

The yellow was chunky enough that i wasn't worried about it falling over whilst baking but for the others i propped them up with jam jars and lids.

The tongue was also made of purple clay, i used a ball tool to add texture.  

As I was making the tongue i placed it inside the mouth to check how it look and where it needed more detail or reshaping. I smoothed down the back part so it would blend in with he mouth.

For the teeth i used glow in the dark clay, just because i had some left over and wanted to use it up. Not not the easiest colour to use.

I wasn't too picky with how they looked and wanted a selection of lengths and widths. So i didn't measure any of the sections.

I made them into cones and baked them

I sponged on a thin layer of green acrylic paint to the roots, as you may be able to see the colour difference between the yellow clay and purple is quite significant. This didn't matter a great deal as i would be adding a few layers but i'm not sure what the effect would have been if the clay was a more obscure colour like bright pink, which is one of the colours i always have left  over

I prefer sponging paint onto things like this as you can be quite sparse with the paint and it added a great texture.

Once everything was baked, painted and dried i added the tongue into the mouth with tacky glue. I did paint the tongue a baby pink colour with small splotched of red.

I had accidentally used watercolours for some of the green paint which meant it didn't dry properly and kept coming off on my hands when i held it. This was fixed later on

I used tacky glue to attach the roots

I did end up cutting thin layers off some of the roots just so they would fit more smugly into the cracks and a wedge off the big root so it would sit flat

Using a pair of pointy tweezers i dipped the flat end of each tooth into tacky glue and then positioned them into place. A few of the ends snapped off but I didn't mind as this added to the look i was going for.

I do wish i has made the tongue a big narrower as it was difficult to add teeth further back and I ended up cutting the teeth to fit which was difficult as they were so fragile.

I added the top row in the same way making sure the the teeth went in between the bottom row. I could have added loads more to really fill up the mouth but i liked the way it look with just a few in.

Although i did cut just the tips off and added them to the bottom as i felt it looked empty


Thanks for reading

Stay tuned for the next post where i will be assembling to pot and fixing the sticky paint problem

Miniature Granny Knitting Chair

 As i acquired a hand held sanding tool i decided to start by standing down the varnish and colour on the chair 

This was a mistake; it was very messy, too a very long time and due to the small details was difficult to get into all the crevasses and even after applying several coats of gesso it was still a pink tinged colour (not exactly what i was going for)

I had faced the same problem with the fabric and padding on the chairs as i did with the bed; they all smelt moldy. So i replaced the padding with plastic foam (the type you get in boxes when shipping them) and replaced the fabric






As i had such troubled sanding the first chair i decided to leave the second one and just add gesso over the top, this worked far better and i actually used less in the end. I applied the gesso with a sponge wedge















I simply traced a rough outline on the fabric i wanted to used leaving enough to wrap around the bottom and to allow for the domed top.

The chair i wanted to use as a knitting chair had plain blue fabric (pictured Left) and the wooden one has a two tone damask design with speckles of gold (pictured below)

The base for the chair with arms had two indents to allow for the arms although i don't think they were really needed

In this picture you can see the leg that snapped of one of the chairs, this is how i bought it. I painted both the chair and dismembered leg then reattached and sanded down the join before putting the final layer of paint on.

For the wool basket i used the same foam to fill the bottom and then made little balls of "wool" from embroidery thread then added a couple of long pins for knitting needles

I had paint left from the Shabby Chic dresser so i painted the knitting chair in the same style

I think the basket is a little big for the chair but i can always used it as a pin cushion :)

At the last minute i decided i wanted the cushion to have a dimple, so i attached a bead to the end of a bit of wire. Made a small hole with a needle tool in the wooden base (which was super easy as it was so thin) then pushed the wire through and bend it over pulling it tight

Finally i used hot glue to attach the cushion to the chair


This wasn't one of my most enjoyable projects but it looks really good next to dresser

Thanks for reading :)

Distressing miniature pots

I wanted to add some holes into the miniature pots to make them look aged, It was not as simple as i thought it would be

The first attempt was a disaster, i wrapped the pot in a tea towel and "gently" hit it with a chunky pair of wire cutters. It broke into many pieces (i did retrieve it from the bin later and glue it back together for a different project)

The second attempt was much better, i started by roughly drawing how big it want the hole to be. It didn't have to be exact and was better making it a bit smaller than intended as it will be enlarged when sanding detail in later

It's always better to make holes smaller as you can always make them larger but it impossible to reverse it

I used a hand held sanding disc to cut through the pot. The disc was slightly too big so I didn't cut all the way through as it would have been too large

You can see how large it would have been with the little indents left on the bottom edge

After i cut a second hole and sanded the edges down to add some interest it created allot of mess

I suggest if you want to do anything similar to this to wear protective goggle, wear something you don't mind getting dusty, and stay in a ventilated room. 

As not only did I end up with clay dust all over my work space but on my clothes, glasses and in the air, resulting in a sneezing fit :(

Depending on what you want to do with your pots you may be able to skip this step

I painted a piece of thick card and used tacky glue to stick it to the inside, i used way to much glue and ended up paining over it once it had dried. I wanted it to be matte instead of the glossy

Inside view- you don't want to card to be too thick as it will be difficult to fit the curve of the pot

As this hole was so close to the bottom its not flush with the sides but instead has a slight slope.

I couldn't get a great photo of this but as this isn't a necessary step

You can cut little wedges around the top and paint on a little acrylic depending on how old you want it to look.

Optionally stuff and glue a round of card to finish off

This was necessary for what i was using it for as i needed a solid platform. 

Thanks for reading

Stay tuned for the next part of this project 

Miniature Garden-Base

 I had a cheaply made wooden table but the legs were on badly and i had planned to reassemble it. However after consideration I thought it would be better if used for something else.

 Luckily this all coincided with getting a few other dollhouse items. Including what i can only assume if a balcony railing.

I decided to use it as a garden example, just to practice what sort of things work with each other. I drilled holes in the base and painted it with a thin coat of brown acrylic. Then traced the outline on thick card and drew sketched some crazy paving on it







 I knew roughly what i wanted to do and used a few pictures from google for texture and colour reference. Drawing out each individual stone like this worked really well and meant i had more control over the arrangement.  

Each piece was glued down as they were cut out and only a couple were cut down. I had made sure to keep the hole for the trailing which meant pocking a small hole in the of the back stones 

I used Flower Soft high tack PVA glue for between the stones as this stayed exactly where it was put, didn't absorb into the wood instantly and dried relatively quickly. The moss was collected from my allotment and all i did with it was cut it into little pieces so they'd fit in the gaps. 

The rest of the wood was covered in chunks of moss and I used a thinner pva as it was a larger space.

I fastened the railing to the base with thin wire (most of which was cut off or hidden later). Then on the mossy end and backside I put a thick blob of hot glue to further secure it. All the hot was covered in moss once it has completely dried

Miniature decorative Hydrangeas

 Start by cutting out lots of little coloured circles, I've used a paper punch that has a crimped edge but plain circles would work as well.However a hole punch will be too big. I also used three different shades of purple for my flowers, it just depends how you want them to look. Hydrangea flowers can range from bright blue to purple depending on the Ph of the soil. 

To add shape to the petals i individually pressed each one into a piece of foam with a blunt needle tool. If you use too sharp a tool or even press too hard it will puncture the paper or push it through the foam (speaking from experience)  

Depending on the thickness of the paper this will impact on how easily it will keep its shape. With the thicker paper i actually shaped them with my fingertips and needle tool. 

 This is what they look like after, the paper punch i am using came as a kit which included a pair of fine tipped tweezers. These would perfect to pick up all the petals as it didn't change the shape of them. 






For the base of the Hydrangeas i used baked green polymer clay with a headpin pushed into it. After finishing them i realized i should have used a colour matching the petals, but it didn't affect it too much

I had started by putting glue on small sections of the base then adding flowers but found it easier to dip the petals on glue then position them on. I found that the petals that had more glue on them lost their shape. 


Once all the space is filled i pushed it into more of the foam from before to let it dry. Thankfully non of the petals fell off. After a while i did go in a press the petals down a little just so the shape from more spherical. Once it was completely dry i added a couple of small petals to cover up any blank spaces 



These flowers will be for a dresser i'm making so they will go in a vase, all they need doing if for the stem to be painted green and to add a few leaves. I do have a blog post for how i made the dresser if you want to check that out: 

http://itssomesortofdeliciousbiscuit.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/shabby-chic-miniature-dresser.html

I'll post a photo to my facebook page once the dresser is finished. 

Miniature Bed Cover

    

This is a very simple bed frame, When i bought it it did have a cover and "pillow" but because of the poor condition they were all in, the fabric smelt very musty. Because i wanted to put my own style into this piece i decided to remove the fabric, but as they foam underneath also had a musty smell i still had to use fabreze on it 

I've just used a simple stitch for all of the cover, most of it is in white thread but some is a pale blue.

So i could start the stitching right at the end of the fabric i used a scrap piece first and sewed right to the edge before continuing.

Trimmed the excess fabric to leave a neat finish

I used the same scrap fabric technique when adding a lace trim between the two fabric.

Finished bed, all it needs is to be ironed and an under sheet added. As i want to make more covers it will not be fixed to the bed