Life as a Creative Adventure: Polymer Clay Inspiration

Fun with Clay!

Donna Kato, Poly Clay Diva

A couple of days ago I was visiting my Mom and she showed me a website she had found - it was called CraftArtEdu.com. It is a site of online classes on several different types of art. One is polymer clay. It's been years since I made anything with polymer clay - but back then I was totally into it and still have all my supplies. I came home and watched a few of the free Donna Kato videos - amazing colors and technique. After seeing some of the new stuff, especially stuff made by her, I decided to get out my clay and play. The one thing I remember about clay is what a great escape it is! Time seems to fly by as I knead and roll and combine colors to make canes. It is mesmerizing. Plus the colors are so vivid - I love it!

So I thought I would show some beads I made. I started with some black clay and a few canes I made.

Next I took the lump of black clay and rolled it into a log, and measured it with a special tool (so I can cut the log into equal parts).

Next I cut it into four parts.

Then rolled each part into a ball.

Next, I made a hole through each bead.

Now comes the fun part. I start adding slices of the colorful "canes".

They still look a little plain, so I added more embellishments.

Here are the finished beads.

These are still a little rough, but I think they turned out pretty good for my first clay play in years! After that success I made another piece - a heart pendant . . . .