The "Personal Challenge" Continues

If you've been reading this blog recently, you know that during the month of August, several members of the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild (SCPCG) participated in a weekly challenge called the 820 Challenge.  Each person picked a personal goal, interest or challenge, and would share progress weekly with the whole group.  It was a great learning experience - and fun to see and share with others. So, we decided to continue the concept of a personal challenge.  This time, we're meeting on zoom every other week rather than weekly.  It gives us all a bit more time to experiment.
I plan to use this challenge to try some tutorials I've never done, as well as experiment with different materials or tools, and try out some ideas of my own.  Should be interesting - and fun!
For this first session, I decided to try a tutorial that uses dish detergent to create surface bubbles for decoration and texture on polymer clay.  The tutorial comes from Thinking Outside the Box and is titled "New Polymer Clay Surface Technique."    It's a fun technique, and I enjoyed giving it a try. Since this was an experiment, I didn't spend a lot of time finishing the edges.  I liked this enough to plan on doing it again, and will pre-plan edging and finishing work.  I used Magic Gloss for the resin top, while the tutorial suggests using another product.

In these two samples, you can see how the soap bubbles create a fun background look and texture.  The Lumiere halo paints also reacted differently, and the lighter color showed the bubble texture off best.  I don't know if mica powders would work well, and may just have to experiment some more. :)

Making A "Bubble" Cane

Hello! In addition to the bi-monthly challenge group, the group that made the polymer cane has decided to keep picking a cane to make, and then sharing their results.  So for September, they chose a pattern called a "Bubble Cane" and I decided to give it a try. The "bubbles" are the little bullseye canes along the side of what tends to look like a leaf.  Everyone had chosen different colors, and the results were fun to see. Above, I've posted a slice from my cane, and a couple of little flower pieces I made from the cane reduced smaller.


I also made a pod bead from multiple layers of the cane, complete with a small piece of twisting vine.  This was really a rather simple cane to put together, and many of us who made it felt the middle section needed something more.  What do you think?