My 2nd Attempt at a Zippered, Gathered Clutch

I decided last night to make another attempt at a zippered, gathered clutch. This time however, I decided to follow the instructions just a liiiiittle bit better. If you recall, the last time I tried making one, it turned out pretty alright, it just didn't have a pocket inside, I didn't do the lining right so you could see the seams on the inside and the strap wasn't quite right (it started fraying pretty bad):

Original post here : My First Zippered Pouch/Wristlet

It was however my first attempt at a gather and only my 2nd ever attempt at a zipper!! I believe it may also have been the first time I put a strap on anything too?

Anywho, last night I decided I should try making something that ISN'T perlers and something that I could maybe actually use! I again pulled up the awesome tutorial over at Noodlehead  and decided to follow the instructions for doing not only the lining properly, but also the band across the front.

For the 1st attempt I did, I folded under the edge of the strip and stitched that down, and THEN attached it to the pouch front. If I'd only read the instructions better, I would have seen that you're supposed to fold the strip over length-wise, stitch, turn inside out and then with the seam in the middle of the underside, you stitch the sides down. This process is much cleaner and much nicer!!

I also pulled out my instruction manual for my sewing machine for the first time ever that I can recall in the 10 or so years I've had it!! I had to look up how to change out to my zipper foot (first time using it and I kinda like it!) and also double-check how to change the tension for the gathering stitch. I don't think I ever realized that it should always be at 4 when I do normal stitching on projects and the process goes much smoother and quicker! D'oh!!

I am so excited I was able to stick some card pockets in here though! I aaaalmost didn't do them but decided at the last minute, why not!!

The only thing with this guy is I got so excited to get the fabric stitched down as close as I could to the zipper, that I kinda went too close to the zipper in a couple parts. I fixed what I could with doing a stitch on top of the fabric at the zipper's edge while pulling it as tight as I could and it helps, but it's still a little hard to not get the fabric stuck in a couple small spots.

All in all, I am really happy with this finished product and I can't wait to make some more!! What do you guys think?!

Craft ya laters!!

Polymer clay pendants using various canes

Previously on Artfire: Published On: 10-01-2012

Here are some sneak peaks at things I've been working on lately to give you an idea of what could be coming to the store soon!!




The above were made with a kaleidoscope cane.
This is my first brain cane!!



Made using a checkerboard cane!

These were made using a mokume gane technique! The first picture is skins that will be used for accent beads and above are focals made from the original block of clay.
This one is my favorite so far!! I used my brain cane to make a pendant, gave it a backing layer to thicken it up, put my own clay frame around it and put a top of there with a hole so you don't need an additional bezel or hole put in it!! Now to polish it up a bit and/or varnish it up... although I might dome it with resin instead...


All of these were made with polymer clay and have yet to be finished, just wanted to give you guys an idea of what should be showing up in the store at some point!!

Clay techniques - rolled cane and faux woodgrain

Previously on Artfire: Published On: 09-11-2012 

I was reading through one of my clay bead making books and finally got some inspiration after not having any for so long!! Look what I made!!!



These are my faux woodgrain with brown, metallic gold and gold.


This is my new purple, blue, pink and black cane!!

Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Skinner Blend Method - Pink, white, blue and silver

Previously on Artfire: Published On: 07-16-2012

I have had my pasta machine for playing with clay for about as long as I've had all my clay but had yet to properly do the Skinner Blend method to get a really good color shift going...until yesterday!


Colors used : pink, blue and white


This is after about 7 or 8 runs through the pasta machine.


This is after about 15 or so runs through the pasta machine.


All done!!!

I brought out all my cutters and wanted to do a good variety of shapes:





The 2 ovals missing were pieces that stuck in the cutter at first so I set them aside on my silicone baking mat.

As you can see, I did a good deal of cutting, as well as using my zig-zag blade and getting a few strips in the middle.



Look at all the awesome pieces I got!!! Most were from the original strip of blended clay, but a few I got from using silver with glitter as a base (for the broken hearts and the circles with swapped flower inserts) and then I used the silver for its own pieces bc it got a little blue and pink on the edges and when I ran through the pasta machine to ready for more backs, I saw the pink and blue stripes in there and couldn't resist them being their own pieces!

The butterflies on the bottom left as well as the squares were used with the silver base and broken pieces from the original rollout and pieces of the zig-zag cuts I'd made and then rolled into the silver using the pasta machine.

The top left section has a few free-form cuts I made just to see what they'd look like.


Junk pieces on silver.

Swapped flower inserts.

Friendship heart necklace pendants.
Ice cream cones and free-form.
More free-form.
Totally outrageous Jem earring pieces? ;)


Regular cuttings.
Kind of weathered looking pieces I might put floating sand/beach related floaters in under resin coating?

I can't wait to get some of these framed/sealed in resin, some maybe with a layer of filler as if they were in a bezel!!