Simple Fish Tutorial

I decided that I would post a tutorial once in awhile for those you want to make their own beads or centers for bows..These will even work for scrapbook embellishments, cardmaking, magnets, pins...etc.

   Please do not copy my tutorial & publish it elsewhere (anywhere in anyway). Give me credit for the tut & the fish design!! You can sell your bows & clippies & stuff with this fish on them..Just give me credit for the design! (You can not mass produce this design)

This tutorial is assuming you know the basics of working with polymer clay!

To make this fish you need:
Polymer clay (I used, tropical green, wasabi, sunflower & white of Fimo Soft and Studio)
Cutters: sizes are approximate 1/2" heart, 3/4" circle,1/4" teardrop, circle & flower
Brayer or roller, needle tool, black acrylic paint

Roll out your clay. The white will be the eyes so it can be pretty thin. The wasabi & tropical green should be thicker as its the fishes body & tail.

Cut out: 3 teardrops & one heart from tropical green, largest circle from wasabi, flower from yellow, 2 small circles from white.

Pinch the end of the heart to form a sharp end. Shape the end into a rounded point.

Use your stylus or needle tool & poke a hole about 1/8" deep into the end of the wasabi circle.

Insert the pointed end of the heart into the hole (you can dab it with superglue or tls first if you want)
Make some lines on your tail with the needle tool

Use your small circle cutter to cut off the rounded end from two of the teardrops (these will be top fin & side fin)

Add your fins & eyes to the fish as shown in the photo below. Indent line on the fins with your needle tool.

Add the flower to the fish. Roll a tiny ball of wasabi & press into the flower for the center. Use your stylus dipped into black acrylic paint to dot on the eyes. Use the needle tool to draw in a mouth.

Bake your fish in the oven at recommended time & temp per clay package.

(I bake mine at 260 for 25 minutes on an old cookie sheet lined with plain white printer paper)

Here's a look at some of the combo's I came up with!

Some Recent Beads!

 Snail is about an inch tall $2.50
One Gnome with one mushroom set $4.00
Seahorse $2.50

Stuff for Cakes!

In February I did quite a bit of clay for cakes. I had a customer whose son wanted a frog cake for his 6th bday party. Just plain ol' green frogs and he likes the colors yellow & orange so I  incorporated those colors. He also is a boy so flies were cool to have on the cake also!
I built the frog armatures from lightweight super sculpey & then covered them in premo/fimo. The sticks in their feet poke into the cake to support the toppers & help them stand straight.

The birthday boy was pretty happy with the frogs. At least that's what his mom told me!

Then I made a little cake topper that I sold on Etsy. Its an owl & a single birthday candle fits in the top of his hat. His legs are wooden & painted in stripes. I even put little holes in the bottom of his feet so that toothpicks can be inserted &  poked into the cake. 

Then lastly I had a request to make 2 mermaids in green/hot pink & green/orange with flat backs to be glued onto wooden numbers that would be the cake topper. She also wanted the two little starfish. They are about 1.5 inches & the mermaids were about 2.5 inches tall.

It's been awhile...I am soo bad!

Ok guys.. I know I have been really bad at staying on top of this.
The good news is I will be forced to now.. I went to update my website & found that my program on my lap top is messed up & some stuff is corrupted so I cant update my website and I have to start it all over again!
So...I am thinking about giving up my dot com and just using this blog and facebook to show my newest creations and take orders via email. Any suggestions or ideas about this? Input is always good!
Here is a new owl..just for bead eye candy!

Bean Cake Topper

Hi all. Hope your holidays were goof & your New Year is off to a great start.
I am on a roll again. I was recently commissioned to make a wedding cake topper.
Its really different. Its based on a photo I was given from a story called A Tale of Two beans.
The bride to be wanted something as close to the photo as possible. I added a veil & top hat/bow tie to dress them up some. I added her wedding colors (blue/raspberry) in the flowers & there is alot of wood at the venue so I stood the beans on a wood grain textured base.
Here is the photo they are based on:

I made an armature for each bean from Sculpey Ultralight Clay so they wont be too heavy.

I then covered them in the tan color whe requested for the "skin". The arms & legs are toothpicks covered in clay & added into the armatures with liquid clay so they are very sturdy.

Here they are laying on my sketch.

They are about 3 inches tall.

Here they are all done!

Pretty cool huh? Different for sure!

Anyone want a cool cake topper??!