Hi there.
Sandy here.
Welcome to another polymer clay video at my YouTube channel and my blog KeepsakeCrafts.net.
Today is part two in our series on making our own polymer clay bezels and then filling
them with these really cool paint effects.
So in part one of this series, I showed you how to make these bezels out of polymer clay
and you can make them any shapes you like and then what we're going to fill them with
are these Pebeo Prisme fantasy paints.
Now instead of using brushes with these, I just use some skewer sticks.
I cut them in half and I use them.
That way I don't have to clean brushes.
I have a bit of paper towels near by and then I have several bezels ready to go at once
because I don't want to waste the paint.
So if you're not familiar with working with these Pebeo fantasy paints, I made an introductory
video that you can check out here that gives you some of the details.
What I've done now is I've opened all my bottles and stirred them all thoroughly.
That's very important if you want to get the full effect that they're supposed to give.
You need to stir the solvent in completely.
I also made a sample tile just showing me what each of these paints looks like and that
will give me some ideas for color combinations.
Now instead of using brushes that have to be cleaned with mineral spirits or paint thinner,
I'm just using skewer sticks that I cut in half and you'll notice that every time I go
for a color I stir it and then if you scrape off one edge, it helps you control the dripping
a little bit.
And then you can start playing.
It's good to have several bezels going at one time.
This helps you be a little bit more efficient with your paint and also having them all open
with their own sticks.
If you were filling large areas with the paints, a pipette might be helpful.
And really with these paints, it's not about getting a particular shape or anything because
when they dry they look completely different than what you've manipulated them into.
Instead it's more about just finding a nice composition and balance of colors.
I tend to prefer analogous combinations, colors that are close to each other on the color
wheel, like purple, green and blue.
Although these paints don't mix like other colors where you might end up with mud if
you mix purple and yellow for example, but this is something you just have to experiment
with.
It's fun to put the colors next to each other and then watch what they do.
You don't even have to manipulate them.
Put to work on a surface that will clean out easily and if you find that you want to manipulate
your colors, a toothpick is a great tool.
I'm going to kind of use this to nudge some of this paint into the corner of the heart
and then drag it up in here.
Although that looks wonderful right now, I guarantee it will not look quite like that
once we're done.
And then you can just wipe it off on a paper towel in between.
So really the best thing to do with these is to just play and experiment.
I've sped this up a little.
Although unlike in many other projects, watching paint dry in this case is actually kind of
cool.
And if you wipe off most of your stick you can then add little dots.
Now all of the paints that I have here are Prisme, the ones that will give you this honeycomb
effect except for this one.
This is a Moon paint and instead of giving that effect, it's more like a mother of pearlescent
look.
You can see how that is giving you that hexagonal cellular look.
The Moon paint is kind of fun.
If you just put it next to one of these other ones and then watch what it does.
See how it's just kind of crawling into there.
It's really cool.
And as you're doing this, you'll realize why when we made our polymer clay bezels we wanted
to make them a little bit on the deep side because the thicker you put this paint in,
the more you get the effect.
Now it's important to note the drying directions on this paint.
It is not a quick whip-it-up-tonight project.
They say it takes six hours until it's dry to the touch and not fully cured for 72 hours.
So before we add our resin dome, we really need to let it cure for that full 72 hours
at least.
And I found sometimes if you just put a single drop of color in, it will get swallowed up.
So you'll need to add a little bit more than you think you need if you want it to be stronger
in a certain area.
And then as you finish with the colors, all you need to do is wipe off your sticks with
a paper towel.
And as long as you didn't spill any or make a mess, that's it for clean up.
So I'm going to leave these here to finish doing their thing and then I'll come back
and show you the results after a few hours.
So here are my pieces.
They've actually been sitting for about three days so they are 100% dry and completely done
doing their thing.
It's interesting.
The ones you thought that you'd really love don't always turn out to be your favorites
and some of them move more than others.
This one wasn't one I was absolutely in love with, but I think it's one of my favorites
now.
I just love the way these colors combined and I'm always a fan of the blue and silver.
Now as long as you didn't fill up your bezels completely, if there are some you don't love
the look of, then you can go ahead, get out your paints and start over again.
Cover this up and try again with different colors.
Maybe mix them better if they didn't mix properly or do a different combination.
Do let them dry and sit for the full 72 hour curing time before we move on to the next
step, which is adding the resin dome.
So once your pieces are all dried and you're happy with them, you can add a lovely resin
dome using Magic Glos.
You can use any resin you want.
I really like Magic Glos because it's quick, it just gets the job done.
I like the look and so the way you use it is you fill your bezel.
I have the big bottle here, but you can buy it in a smaller one and just take your time.
Kind of bring it to the edges and this stuff is self doming.
You get a nice dome on the edges.
You just slowly and carefully pour it in until it fills the area that you want.
If you need to, like this has kind of tight corners, so I'm just going to nudge it gently
into those corners.
Now you can see you have this lovely dome here and that's great.
You may have a few bubbles and if you wait a little while, the bubbles will generally
rise to the surface.
Sometimes you can give it a few gentle taps to let the bubbles rise and you can let it
sit for a few minutes, but keep in mind that it won't hold the surface tension forever.
After a while it will release and then it will spill all over the place.
So don't let it sit for too long.
And then once that's poured, you just need to put it out in the sunshine for 10-15 minutes
or if you have a UV light, that works great too.
And here are a few of my pieces with their resin domes all done.
And here's a trick for you.
It's a blustery windy day outside at my house so what I did was for each of my pieces, I
just took a glue dot, you'll find them in the scrapbooking section, and then stuck it
down to a tile.
Unfortunately you can see what I did here.
I flexed this as I pushed it down on the tile and it had already started to cure in the
sun so my dome is a little rippled.
Bummer!
But this one I didn't do that.
I just pressed it down.
You can see it's nice and smooth and it didn't blow away.
And you can also see this bezel is kind of shaped like a potato chip.
It wasn't particularly flat or deep so it's kind of spilled over the edges.
So that's something to keep in mind as you're making your clay bezels is that the flatter
and the deeper you make them, the easier the finishing step will be, but I still like the
way this looks.
So if you used a purchased bezel like this one, of course you can just string it.
It's already got a bail on there.
You can just string it onto chain or cord and you have a piece of jewelry.
For these clay ones, what you can do, you can drill a hole just using a little drill
bit and then here I've attached a jump ring and a tube bail, which is really nice for
using any kind of cording, but there are other types of bails.
There's this type, which is a pinch bail so I could drill a hole and then just squeeze
it right on there.
This is a glue on bail.
You just glue it on to the back of your piece and then add whatever you want for stringing
materials and you've turned your pieces into pendants.
So if you're interested in the supplies I used in this project, there's a link in the
upper right to go to my accompanying blog post.
If you're new here and you haven't already subscribed to my YouTube channel, make sure
you do for three new video tutorials each week.
I upload every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
And if you're interested in supporting my videos, check out my Patreon page.
You could also share your ideas for future projects in the comments below and I'll see
if I can make you a video.
So here's another look at the project we made.
If you liked it, give it a thumbs up, share and leave me a comment.
Happy creating.
Bye bye.