TUTORIAL: Carved Cuff

 Just thought of finishing this tutorial for you while my son's in school. Missing him a lot! So quiet in the house.

Here it is..
I just love to "hoard" lots of materials that I can use with clay.

I  know lots of  you can relate with me! haha 

Polymer Clay push molds are one of the materials that I can't stop collecting or buying. Here's the proof:

I forgot to include the LP steampunk pushmolds!:) The ones in the plastic are just made by me using sculpey mold maker. Anything that I see that I think would be nice to be made into a mold,  I make a copy of it by using the mold maker! I'm a certified addict!

These push molds are very easy to use and the designs are so many...from flowers, to animals, to borders etc etc! Just spray a bit of water or powder it a bit then push the the clay inside..push it out and voila! you already have a rose, dog, cat..etc!!!:)

So I thought of putting these push molds to use and came up with this tutorial for you!:) I made 

a CUFF like this before using white clay. For today, I will teach you how to make this...

Prepare the ff: 

Pastel shades of clay. The green and yellow will be used for the leaves. As for the base of the cuff you can just use your scrap clays but for this one I used a beige colored clay. For the clay add ons (i will explain this as we go along), I also used the beige colored clay. Condition your clays until they are already soft and pliable:)

Prepare your push molds. I used my sculpey (the beige colored ones) and makin's (the transparent ones) push molds .

You will also be needing the ff: 

Metal cuff base (about 1.5 inches wide)

Water

Antiquing Medium (i use studio by sculpey)

Tissue or Baby wipes

Tissue Blade

Liquid Clay 

Alcohol Inks (optional)

Metal Leaf  (optional)

Cover the top part of your metal base with clay. Trim the excess. 

Apply Liquid clay to the surface of your clay base. (I used Fimo Decogel) This will help adhere your clay flowers and leaves to the base. 

Choose the flower designs that you like to use. Spray a bit of water  before pushing your clay in the flower mold.  (this will act as the release agent) 

Arrange your flowers and leaves the way you want them. There's no right or wrong here..just make the arrangement  that you have in mind:)  Our goal is to fill up all the spaces that we can see! 

Just trim the excess parts of the leaves or flowers. Follow the edge of your base.  

For the small spaces, you can fill it up by making small clay balls using your beige colored clay.  Then using a tool with a rounded tip, you poke the middle of the ball. This will add more texture. 

You can also make swirls just like this one and use it to fill up small spaces. 

These three pictures show my progress in filling up the surface with the flowers, leaves, balls and swirls. 

Make sure that the details of your leaves and flowers are clear. It is important that the grooves, curves and lines are visible (these details will pop out when you apply your antiquing medium) 

I just thought of adding more color by using my alcohol inks.  The effect is really nice! 

Then also thought of adding bits of gold leaf! love the effect also! :)

Then it's time to bake your piece. 275F for 30-40 mins. 

After it cooled down, time to add your patina! I use Studio by sculpey Antiquing Medium. You can also use dark colored liquid acrylic paints.  Apply it liberally on the surface. Make sure that the holes, lines, grooves are covered with the paint. 

Using your baby wipes or tissue, wipe the excess paint off.  Using a dry tissue, will make the effect darker. Using a baby wipe (because its wet), will make the real colors of your clay pop out more. 

Finished with antiquing.  Let it dry. You can make the drying faster by popping it back in the oven for about 5-10 mins. 

After it cools down or when the paints already dry, time to cover your metal base with more clay.  Cover the back part with any color of clay that you want or a color that will go well with your design. For this one, I used clay with a green shade. 

Trim the excess. 

Cut a strip of the clay that you used for the inside of the cuff. 

Then lay the strip on the side of your cuff.  This will serve as the cuff's border.
Bake your piece again.

Finished!!

Very easy right? Now you can use your push molds to the maximum! haha 

I'm thinking of using my steampunk push molds next time!

Hope you enjoy this simple tutorial! If you happen to make a project using my tute..pls share what you made with me! I would be very happy to post it here in my blog.

Have a good day everyone!:)