Polymer Clay Sea Glass, Limestone and Mixed Media, Oh My!

Polymer clay craftiness!

So my super awesome creative sister,  Amy,  visited last week from Mississippi while the hubby was out of town and we had a great time!  When the cat (read:super neat hubby) is away, the crazy messy creative mice will play.  Amy and I really do craft well together and we made an epic mess of the house, but it was all worth it.

We started our crafting journey by visiting Joanne’s twice, Michaels, A C Moore, and ordered even more stuff from Amazon.  Then we finally decided maybe we should start working on the projects we bought all this stuff for!

Amy made polymer clay sea glass and limestone from a couple of tutorials she owned. Aren’t they neat?

The limestone is so interesting the way she embedded tiny shells and pressed impressions of others on the surface.  They were made with a combination of translucent, ecru and white polymer clay and Amy hand formed them.  After they were baked she stained the pieces with brown and gold paints.

The sea glass was translucent clay tinted with alcohol inks.  I think they looked so realistic.  They even have the look of little chips in them.  The starfish was a mold that I made forever ago and I’m glad we found it.

If you are interested in the tutorials Amy used, here are the links:

Faux Limestone Tutorial

Polymer Clay Sea Glass Tutorial

What was I doing this whole time?  Well, I ended up squandering half my time away piddling with stamps and embossing powder. I’m afraid I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole where all the scrapbook supplies live because I’ve just realized theres a whole section missing in my craft room!  Which then lead me into the whole mixed media and art journal bandwagon that I never hopped on, but am quickly becoming obsessed with.

The idea of mixed media really appeals to me because I love the freedom of putting whatever I want together.  When I took art in high school, sometimes I’d stress out searching for perfection.  It had to be just right, and still today, it’s really, really hard to let go and let the crazy flow.  But I’m working on it..

I played with embossing powder, did some cool ink stained paper using salt and stamps and a water bottle which I think I’ll save for another post.  We both did our mixed media paintings in acrylic and also used stamps and other doodads and what-nots that we found laying around.  I always have a ton of shells lying about because every time I go to the beach I pick more up.  Amy’s painting is sea themed.  Isn’t her’s adorable?  I love the drain plug chain and washers she used for bubbles and her oceany colors.

Mine?  I have mixed feelings (insert eye-roll here).  I started off with a vision but the harder I tried, the harder the painting decided it didn’t want to be that.  I can’t even begin to tell you how many layers are on that thing.  But I have to admit I didn’t really have a theme in mind when I started, I was just thinking of like an old vintage metallic look, but I’m not sure what I got.  I think one of the issues is that I still don’t understand mixed media totally.  It’s that perfectionist in me that won’t let go!  I’ve been watching some great youtube videos lately though and I fully intend to do more.

I guess it’s the journey, right? Someone just please tell me to get my panties out of a wad.

So that’s this weeks craftiness.  Have y’all ever played with mixed media painting?  Have some cool polymer tutorials you’d like to share or just make a comment?  Please do!  I would love to hear from you.

Thanks!
Angie