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Customer Reviews…
- I just love your color recipes. You are very generous to share your knowledge with us! I have been using polymer clay for 9 years and have taken classes from some of the biggest names in polymer clay but you always seem to have something interesting to add or even a new technique or two. Keep up the good work. You are doing a spectacular job. ~Gayle
- Thanks for posting some recipes for all of us to share. For those of use who really don’t have an easy time figuring out how to arrive at just the right color yet, these recipes are a real helper! ~Cynister
- I totally love your recipes. I was looking for colors for my teapots and your website came up. Keep up the great information. Thank you so much. ~Nancy
- Hi Cindy. Beautiful disc beads and really like the suggestion of using the roller to achieve consistency in size which is not necessarily easy but important. ~MJ
- Thank you, you present us with stimulating topics, innovative techniques and extremely useful and helpful information. ~Ken
- Hello Cindy. I have to say, you’ve done it again! Taken something, that to new clayers (and some old ones, LOL) might be at best a tedious job, and at worst a frustrating one, and made it simple and quick. I know when I first started making beads, these especially were a bit of a pain to get the same size. But with your log roll technique it would be a simple matter to make dozens in very short order. And I like that the design is on the outside for use as spacers. Very cool. My solution to making same size disc beads was to make all my beads using a shape cutter to start with the same amount of clay for each bead. Then roll into balls and apply my slices or embellishments. When ready I would line them up in a square pattern like a tic tac toe board, making sure to leave room to allow for squishing, lol. Then I would use playing cards at the four corners to determine my thickness and press the whole bunch at once with a sheet of glass or a tile. After that, all I had to do was make holes and bake. But putting on the cane slices and rolling them took quite a while. Now with your log roll trick I can easily cut that time in half. Thank you once again for saving us all a bunch of time, by spending yours to make these great videos (Thanks to Doug too!). Is the Vatican accepting applications for internet saints yet? I’d vote for you in a nano-second. XOXO. ~Jamie
- I love how you showed us how to use large disc beads, this is the kind of help I need; how to make really cool beads and work them into a piece of jewelry. ~Anna
- I love it! I would definitely wear something like this. It gave me more ideas on things to do with the disc beads I’ve made so far. ~Joyce
- The comment about being careful with sanding your pattern background projects really hit home – I had a pretty mokune gane pattern on the inside of my tiled bracelet – well ‘had’ is the right word because I actually sanded a lot of it off. Oh well, live and learn! (The outside side still looks good though!). ~Maria
- OMG how do you come up with all these amazing polymer clay techniques? Sorry I’ve not chatted for a while but very busy at work. I can not wait to give this and your disc beads a try. Please never stop. Your truly are my inspiration. ~Paul
- Boy do I look forward to Fridays now thanks to you. I can’t wait to see what you will post next. And I’m never disappointed! This week is no exception. Another finger dancin video I must say. Cause you know the minute I see your e-mail in the inbox my fingers start itchin for some clay. And I luuurv that purple heart pattern background bead! Id join the army if they gave me one of those! The Fimo army that is. Only extruder guns here, lol. Do you ever make a bad video? Probably not right? No chance of maybe a hidden blooper reel or two? Just askin, hee hee hee. PS: I like that you come out from behind your desk and mingle with your students. And encourage others to participate too. ~Jaime
- I knew I forgot something! I hope you don’t mind if I add my 2cents for Freda. You can add cane slices directly to a bead or other item. I have done it lots of times. But then you have to spend all that time smoothing in all those little cane bits so they don’t look all bumpy. Using a pattern background sheet saves you all that work by letting the pasta machine do it. And we all know thats what Cindy does best, doesn’t she? Find us all the quickest and easiest ways to do all those tedious things that can keep us from our ‘TaDa!’ moments. I don’t know that this technique would apply in all situations, but I plan to use it on all the ones that do. I for one wont miss the process of smoothing out all those little cane bits! Thanks Cindy! XOXO. ~Jamie
- A great thing about these videos and comments (well, one of the great things) is that you can get answers from the other commenters as well as Cindy. I always look forward to getting that email each week that tells me there’s a video and blogs to read. ~Freda
- I love it! I would definitely wear something like this. It gave me more ideas on things to do with the disc beads I’ve made so far. ~Joyce
- Hi Cindy, I’m really enjoying the weekly lessons, and have learned a great deal in a short time. since I now know how to make a “clay fabric”, I have gone wild and fabriced (no such word) nearly every cane sitting on my shelves. Also made lots of beads from that fabric. Thanks. ~Judith
- I just purchased this back issue and I love the clay background pattern techniques. I had some Halloween canes and made some pillow beads out of the pattern. They came out so awesome. I’m having so much fun and catching on quite quickly. It’s very satisfying to know that I made the beads I use making the design. OK, I do not make the canes, I do buy them from Etsy, woopes. Having a Jewelry business I have to pick and choose what I can make myself. I will however, buy a rock tumbler soon. Thanks for all you knowledge. ~Mary-N
- Hi, Cindy! I simply had to say that your pillow beads look fabulous! In fact scrumptious was the first epithet that came into my mind. So shiny and appetizing! You really know how to make a lazy clayer to want to clay again! This shape is time-consuming (smoothing all the seams etc), but also very rewarding. It’s so good to hold a shiny pillow bead in your palm and simply enjoy the fact that you could make it right. And because yours are perfect (that pirate bead is one to kill for IMO), you must feel much joy to have them around you or see them worn. ~Squash
- VERY awesome pillow bead tutorial!!! “OMG! Its amazing. I watch the video and say oh that’s how you do that!! I love it… you offer a great amount of knowledge! Thanks!!!” ~Carlene
- I love these beads and have tried to make them before when I found tutorials, but they never turned out like this. This method is so much easier and more accurate! I can’t wait to try these again. You always make things so easy for us. Thank you for sharing all your wonderful tips!! ~Terri
- OK, now I think I can do it. Thank You so much for the pillow bead Video, I can just understand so much more on Video than in writing for some reason. LOL, does that have something to do with age? ~Donna
- Really great video on making the pillow beads. Your explanation is so very easy to understand as well as the visual being of great help. Thanks again for great instructions!! ~Adrienne
- I have done pillow beads before but your latest video had some helpful hints for me. Thank you so much. ~Elizabeth
- I just recently subscribed to the videos, and think that while written instructions are good IF they go into enough detail to make things clear, some visual directions are really helpful (ex. the directions for joining the edges of the pillow beads). Sometimes, if a student doesn’t understand something explained in one fashion, as an instructor you may need to try a different approach to get the lesson across. Both methods are valid but I prefer video as I can ‘see’ how something is done. ~Ken
- Amazing, I thought these were so much harder, you sure make everything thing look so easy ! Thanks. ~Tina
- Cindy my sore fingertips thank you for this rock tumbler video. I only wish I had seen it earlier before I made a bunch of pendants for our church bazaar. Oh well, there’s always next year! ~Maria
- This is the first I have heard of polishing polymer clay beads in a tumbler… wonderful for smaller beads. It gets very tiring to sand them by hand. ~Diana
- Cindy- I am so happy to see you have more un-sanded beads than I do! It was nice to a get a peak at some of those beads in the tubs. Very cute picture of Doug too. The full video on how to use the rock tumbler is excellent. I am sure it took a long time experimenting to get the results you wanted to share. Thank you for all your hard work. ~Anna
- Dear Cindy, thank you for this video- I am going to purchase a tumbler today!!! I have quite a few beads to sand and polish and had been putting off doing so because it is such a time consuming job. Good sanding and polishing is the most important stage for polymer clay beads and my fingers end up inflamed and blistered from constant sanding. I don’t mind the dremmel stage so much, because it is a quality control stage and final check- but the manual wet & dry sanding is horrible and reminds me of housework! I can now spend more time making and experimenting. Many thanks again. ~Cara
- Hi Cindy thanks for the tumbler video, I love mine. Please keep the videos coming, I’m hooked on polymer clay thanks to you and your videos. ~Paul
- Thanks so much for the Tutorial on the Rock Tumbler, My hubby got me a double one for Christmas. I was hoping to use one for sanding and one for buffing. Just watching your tutorial answered the questions I had. ~Donna
- Don’t you just love gadgets that save you from the un-fun, tedious bits? I don’t have a rotary tumbler (yet!), but I thought I’d share what I’ve found with my vibratory tumbler since this is an area where I’ve experimented a fair bit. I’ve actually had great success in having my vibratory tumbler remove fingerprints and run-of-the-mill imperfections in the process of sanding beads up ready for buffing. It doesn’t remove REALLY big imperfections, but I tend to just chuck all the beads in, tumble them as described below, and then look them over at the end when I’m doing final buffing. I spot-sand any imperfections that didn’t get tumbled out by hand at that stage: going through the grades from coarse to ultra-fine only takes a short time when there’s just a little area to do. It’s much less work than the alternative of hand-sanding everything with coarse-grade sandpaper first before tumbling, since only the really bad imperfections need it. I’m going to adapt Cindy’s suggestion from the video and make myself a heavy felt ‘inner-tube’ of the right size for my tumbler, put my beads inside that, and see how it goes. ~Sue
- Hi, Cindy — Based on your video, I am now eagerly awaiting receipt of the Lortone 3a rock tumbler I just ordered on line. While I’m waiting, can you tell me where to get the river rocks you mentioned? Do you know if Michael’s sells them? Thanks >>> Oops! Sorry, I asked my question about river rocks without realizing that you had all made such helpful comments and answered my question (and more) already. Thanks. ~Sherry
- Once again Cindy you have managed to not only inform us but entertain us as well [Reference to Lortone Rock Tumbler]. I love your STYLE!!! Your site is one of the best Polymer Clay sites around and proves over and over again to be user friendly and informative. I am a true devotee and I personally THANK YOU for taking the time and effort to put all of this together….:0) Thankx Hon. ~Pamela
- Hi, Well after reading about the rock polishers I decided to give it a try. I tried all the suggestions everyone gave. I had very good results with the rocks and water. With my tumbler came the powdered sandpaper. So I decided to throw a couple of tsps in with the rocks and water and let them tumble about 6 hours. I liked the results so much, that I cleaned out the tumbler and put the rocks, beads and a few tsps of the polishing powder and tumbled for another 3 hours. I took them out dried and buffed them. The shine was incredible. Thanks for all the wonderful tips. ~Jackie
- I just took out my first necklace worth of beads from a tumbler that is much like your Lortone. I had polished my own river pebbles for the purpose of tumbling my hand rolled and not always perfect beads. It was one of the first big batches I had made. They were all powdery looking because I had baked them in a bed of baking powder to keep the Fimo Soft white from scorching. These were soft pastels in rose, silver, white and lavender, made from a slab of folded mokume gane. Very simple round beads. Coming from the oven they had a grainy feel. So I waited for my tumbler to be ready and this morning at 11:00 I put them in with the smooth river stones and the prescribed amount of water and let it run until 6:00 this evening without stopping. The tumbling had produced its own slurry in that amount of tumbling, so the beads came out feeling as if they had been sanded with 1000 grit paper and when I hand buffed them with a lightweight duck cotton rag, they gave off a soft glow. They are now very pleasant to the touch and I will not have to sand, wax, or buff any more than just the brief wiping with the cotton cloth. I will string them with rose quartz and small silver beads into a simple pastel necklace. Yayyy for your video on the old Lortone tumbler. ~Anna-G
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