Charm WIPs + tips & tricks

My cousin wanted some charms of Angry Birds. And I made a whole bunch of the green pigs instead LOL. They turned out to be so much easier to make than the birds themselves!! So I guess I got kinda carried away.. ><" I also decided to make some dango... they were also easy and so fun to make, I should've made them years ago!! -_-|||


Work-in-progress... I made the red birds but sadly they're the worst of the bunch. The little blue ones are my favourite from the game. :D


I also made a Kurara charm from Kuragehime as a part of a trade with Jess. I'm so happy with how it turned out!!! (＾▽＾) I actually wanted to make jellyfish charms for Anime North but I didn't have time. Oh all the things I could make if I had the time...! ;__;

And here is some random babble about clay tips/things I've noted while working with clay recently. It's about to get wordy...

Firm clay is best for making charms. For the most part, clays like Sculpey's Bake Shop is meant for kids and so it's extremely easy to work with. Too easy. If your hands are really warm... it could probably melt in your fingertips and turn into a sticky mess even. I've learned the hard way; it may be cheaper than Sculpey III but it doesn't have the same firmness. Also the colour choices are horrible and it's all packaged up so you can't even tell what colour the clay really is!

Sculpey III, Premo & FIMO (some of them vary in hardness depending on the colour, I've noticed... or they may differ from batches altogether) may tire out your fingers and hands after conditioning it into a workable consistency, but the result is worth it. It holds its form better and does not pick up fingerprints as much! Which is always a plus.

Fingerprints. I hate them! I've grown accustomed to wearing a latex glove on my non-dominant hand to avoid putting finger prints all over my finished product. Some one has also told me liquid bandages work as well, but I have yet to try that out.

Dust & lint. This stuff is EVIL. Specks of dust and lint in clay drives me insane @_@ As much as I try to work in a dust-free environment (kinda impossible unless I live in a vacuum lol) I still find random bits of specks... and as soon as I spot them, I try to pick them off with a sharp razor blade/Xacto knife. It's better to scrape off dust/lint while the clay is raw (not baked/cured) otherwise a mark may show. (But you can also sand polymer clay after you've baked it to get rid of any marks... I tend not to do this because I am too lazy)

Painting vs Not Painting. I prefer using coloured clay because painting takes a lot more work. However, you don't have to worry about marks/dust on your clay if you paint over it.
Painting Tips:
-Paint in layers. Wait until one coat dries completely before painting on another
-To get smooth edges, load up your paint brush with a lot of paint and then starting in the middle, place a dab of paint on the spot and using the brush, slowly 'push' the paint along to create your edge (learned this from painting my nails, haha)
-If you are glazing your piece after wards, you don't have to worry too much about brush strokes being too obvious; make sure your paint isn't too thick
-Use super fine paintbrushes for detail work
-Practice makes perfect... and also being extremely patient helps!

Finishing.
I wanted to give my pig charms (above) a matte finishing, different from the usual glossy finish I give most of my charms. I used a spray can product but after it dried, the surface was tacky :( Maybe I'm doing something wrong? >< I should've done some more research instead. (For a split second I considered MSC, lol... because that truly is a perfect matte finish)

So I went back to Sculpey Glaze. It's the only thing I've been using up to date because it gives a non-tacky, shiny surface. I like shiny. I've considered using Varathane because many polymer clay artists use it ... but I'm not quite ready to give up Sculpey Glaze. Also avoid Modge Podge, biiig mistake. ><

Finally, here is a tip on how I add arms/tails/legs/tentacles/general parts that stick out to my charms. For small pieces, it is difficult to insert metal wire to reinforce the part, so I use this method instead:

1) Make a shallow hole on the central piece where you want to attach the part. Taper down the end of the part that you want to add onto the central piece.


2) Insert the part into the hole of the central piece. It helps to add a dab of Translucent Liquid Sculpey between the two pieces to make the bond stronger since TLS is supposed to act as glue.

And that's all I have for this post. I hope all this was somewhat useful! New items will be added to my Etsy shop within a few weeks. Thank you for reading! :D