Faux turquoise polymer clay

Polymer clay faux turquoise

Turquoise has a long history of being associated with Holy and sacred things. The early Persians believed that turquoise represents the heavens because of it's beautiful blue colour which is believed to be a symbol for happiness and a conquerer against negative energy.The gem was used to cover domes of palaces and places of worship as it is believed to be a Holy stone. The brightness of the colour is a symbol for happiness and increases a person's self confidence. With the rich mythology of the stone, it is no wonder why it has grown in popularity over the generations and has become a statement piece in many a jewellery box.

However, for those of you who don't want to buy the genuine article but still want the effect with the option for customisation to add to your wardrobe, I have provided the technique to create your own faux turquoise polymer clay jewellery.

What you will need:

1. Polymer clay- For those of you who have never used the clay, it is a variety of oven bake clays that come in a range of colours and brands that harden to a plastic like finish and are available at your local craft store.

The colours I used were turquoise, translucent blue, white (substitute this for transparent, if you have it) and navy blue in the Premo brand

2. An X-acto Knife

3. Acrylic paint- in Natural/brown colours that you want the grain in the stone to be

4. Sanding paper- preferably wet/dry 

5. A tool to make holes in the bead such as a screwdriver or a drill

6. Jewellery findings or just some string for a simpler design

Method

1. First of all, you will need to put the clay in the freezer for 10 mins to harden it so that when you chop it up, it won't lose too much shape and definition.

2. Take the clay out of the freezer and cut off irregular and uneven pieces of clay from the block which will form the base of the turquoise stone. Do this with all of your chosen colours apart from the white, keeping in mind how much of each colour you want to show through in the finish product. I didn't want too much dark blue in the mix as I only wanted it as an impurity in the stone.

3. After dicing as much as needed of each colour, cut chunks of and 

roll them into log shapes.

4. Begin the marbling technique by rolling them and twisting them in your hands over and over again. When the logs get too long, loop them over and twist them again. Repeat this step until you are satisfied with the amount of marbling in your clay

5. Roll your newly marbled clay into a ball and begin randomly slicing pieces off like in step 2. As the clay is softer by now, you may want to re-insert it into the freezer to harden it again and reduce distortion.

Note: At this stage, I realised that the finished product would have looked much more realistic if I had replaced the white clay with translucent, which would give the rippling effect a glass like depth found in turquoise, however, white worked fairly successfully as a substitute.

6. Mix all of your clay chunks together, being careful not to handle the clay too much as the heat from your hands will distort the structure.

7. Now, at this stage you could clump them together, bake your piece and call it finished if you wanted to. However, to add an extra element of realism you will want to include the gains found in natural turquoise. To do this take your acrylic paint and squirt some on your mixed up clay chunks and stir the paint making sure that your clay is all evenly coated. If you want a more natural look, you could include some sand in your paint or only add the paint to half of your clay, which will make it look irregular as if it had just been mined.

8. Now, here comes the messy part. Get your hands in there and grab small handfuls of clay, the size your want your finished piece to be. Compact the clay together, so there are no large holes or cracks in the centre and begin to form the sticky mess in your hands to the shape you want your turquoise to be. I chose to create a few horn type shapes along with a couple of tube beads. You may need to remove some of the excess paint at this stage of the process to make the clay stick better to each other.

9. This may seem counter- intuitive, but the next step is to bake your clay in the oven, still coated in the acrylic paint to the manufacturer's instructions printed on the packaging. I promise you, it will be fine, as long you don't bake on any oven utensils that you plan on reusing for food and make sure to open a window to diffuse some of the fumes from the oven, especially after baking.

10. Take the pieces out of the oven and allow to cool before doing anything with them as they are still flexible and brittle at this point and become more durable when cool.

11. Take a piece of medium grit sandpaper to the surface of the clay and watch the magic be revealed as the paint is removed, revealing the turquoise-like surface underneath.

If you have sandpaper in different grits, then begin with a low grit sandpaper and move higher and higher until the clay has a smooth surface. To add extra sheen, use an old t-shirt or other cotton fabric and buff the piece until shiny.

You can add some gloss are varnish to your pieces for even more polished shine if you desire. And there are your finished beads. If you didn't poke a hole in them before baking then you can do that now with a screwdriver or drill to add some jewellery findings or just thread a piece of string through for a simple boho necklace.

And there you have it! a faux turquoise polymer clay bead/pendant which can be slammed up or down depending on the occasion and can be customised by changing your colour recipes!

Hope you enjoyed and Thanks for reading!
Harry x

Recycled paint palette wall art

Recycled colour block Paint Palette wall art

Hey!

I'm going to let you in on a bit of a secret (well, not so much) but, anyway, here it is. I am a horder! There I said it. I don't like to throw things away if it has the slightest amount of sentimental value to me or I feel I could repurpose it in some way, even though most of the time I never get around to it and it just ends up shoved in a long forgotten draw for all of time, creating what looks to be a scene out of Wall-e. So, enough of the backstory. Recently, my school had been having a clear out in art supplies to make room for all new stuff. When I saw these paint palettes lying in the bin, I couldn't help but feel the urge to rescue them and take them home to re-use them, though at the time I had no clue as to what to use them for.

Then I decided. I could make some cool, artistic wall hart that transforms any room into a cool artist's studio.

What you will need:

• Paint palettes- Old or new, it doesn't matter, as long as you don't mind covering them in paint
• Spray paint- All purpose or any kind that sticks to plastic
• Acrylic paint- In an array of colours, depending on your colour scheme
• String
• Beads
• Glass screen wash

Method

1.Take your palettes,which might be covered in old, dried up paint like mine were and brainstorm ideas of what you want to do with them. I decided to use both of mine in the same piece.

2.The next step is to remove some of the excess clumps of paint to make it easier for the spray paint to stick to the surface and give the piece a smoother, finished look.

I used sandpaper to remove some of the larger pieces of paint and then left some glass screen wash on the palette for around 10 minutes to help with some of the more stubborn stains.

3. By now, your palette should be fairly clean and without all of the uneven patches of paint that will ruin your finish. This means that you can now whip out the spray paint. I used this white satin finish spray paint by Rust-oleum that you can find here.

Word of warning: If possible, work in a well ventilated area, or preferably, outside to disperse the fumes. Also, lay down a surface such as newspaper underneath your palette to avoid spraying all of your furniture white (unless that's what you want, of course!).

Spray an even coat over the whole of the palette's surface and leave to dry over night. Apply several coats in this fashion to give your piece an even surface that covers all of the minor flaws such as any paint that you couldn't remove in Step 2.

4. Now that you have a clean surface to work on, you can use your acrylic paints on it. I chose to create a rainbow effect to add a pop of colour to the plain white background.

Squeeze a tiny bit of the paint in to palette sections and slowly spread the paint around and up to the edges of the bowl. At first, I wanted a kind of scrappy look as if the palette was still being used, an organised mess, if you will. However, after the paint dried, I didn't like that you could see the white underneath the paint, so I added a second coat of paint to each section to smooth out the surface and give it more of a colour block effect.

Leave the palette to dry for now and move on to the next one.

5. For my other palette, I really liked the wooden effect and the paint that was already on the surface. So, all I decided to do was give it a simple tribal look to contrast with the clean, white surface of the previous palette.

Tie a knot of twine or other natural material around the thumb hole and string a bead on to it. If you want to achieve the kind of African look, then be sure to use natural beads such as wood and I even used a bone effect one. After you've done that, keep wrapping the string until it has all been used up and you have a layered and textured wrapped palette handle.

Thats it really! Now all you have to do is decide how you want to display them. You could stand them up on a mantel piece to create a background to your collection of picture frames, or you could use picture hooks to hang them individually.

I chose to attach string between them, so that they hang vertically.
I even attached an old paint brush to the top, to really nail the artistic look.

Note: For display purposes, I only used sellotape to attach the string to the palettes which is not very durable (trust me, they kept falling off every two minutes) so of a longer period of time, you might need to glue them together or drill holes through the palettes to tie the strings through.

And voila! There you have the finished product. I hung mine on the back of my bathroom door to make use of the blank space.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and comment any suggestions for future posts!

As always, follow me on Pinterest and Tumblr and Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!!

Hope to see you again soon!
Harry x

Project 365 days 4-6/ back to school fashion

Project 365 Days 4-7

Day 4

Now that Christmas is over, the nights are getting longer, and what a better time to get out in the fresh, cool air as the still winter sun sets and casts elongated golden shadows across the landscape. It is all too easy to forget to be thankful once Christmas has finished and we all need reminding to be grateful for the life that nature has given us. When you have some spare time, make a point of getting outside to breathe in the fresh air and admire the wonders of the Earth, because, after all without every transition and flaw, the Earth would not be able to sustain our lives. (Alright, that's enough of the cheesy stuff for one day!)

Day 5

The other day, I wondered out into the garden, looking for some wood for a possible future D.I.Y project (hint hint) and barefoot I might add. While my toes were in the process of transforming into stubby little icicles, I spotted this pair of pegs on the washing line. While many would look upon this sight and think to themselves 'So what?, they're just pegs", they reminded me of a couple in love just suspended in balance, while the glowing sun shone through them, obscuring all other subjects out of focus. Is that too farfetched? eh. who cares, this is Project 365 after all. you're supposed to use you're imagination and alter your perspective of the things around you!

Day 6

What else does the New Year bring? Oh, yes. That's right. The dreaded place where happiness goes to die. Also known as school.

Do you know what makes school even worse? Having to walk down there in the freezing cold. So you want to be able to bundle up and be cozy, but at the same time look presentable, and not like a giant marshmallow that can barely walk due to all the layers.

It's not usually like me to talk about fashion and style but I hope you like this Autumn/ Winter look.

Blue and cream cable knit jumper from Primark
Dark Red Fairisle tassel hem scarf from New Look
Skinny jeans with leather look patch detail from Asos 
Dreamcatcher necklace from Asos
Handmade leather rucksack bought from Spain
Argyle camera strap from Phatstraps

Day 7

After my first fashion post, I decided to try D.I.Y. fashion. My first attempt was a bleached shirt, which I think was really successful. You can read the full post here. Again, the colour lends itself to Winter/Autumn fashion but the light and airy design means it is perfect for any time of the year.

Thanks for reading! Remember to follow me on Bloglovin' (button up at the top) as well as Pinterest and Tumblr!

Tune in for another D.I.Y. on Tuesday!

Harry x