While Waiting for your Pardo Translucent Clay …

April 24, 2013

It’s funny how many comments and emails I got on Monday when I mentioned that I had untouched blocks of Pardo translucent clay in my studio. There is such a demand and yet so little available. I have had email conversations with a contact at Viva Decor but I never got a straight answer as to why its in such short supply or when we might expect to see it more readily available. So what’s a frustrated artist to do? As far as actually getting your hands on some, your best bet in the US seems to be getting on PolyClayPlay.com’s waiting list. (Is it any easier getting it in Europe by chance?)

In the meantime, I say go play with our other options. Pardo may be the clearest (so we’ve heard) but only in the clays themselves. The absolute clearest polymer you can work with is Fimo Decorating Gel. Although it can also be tough to locate in some places, it’s not impossible to get a hold of. (See our post last year regarding Fimo Gel and a false rumor; I listed places to find it.) You may not consider Fimo Gel to be a primary polymer to create forms with but with a little outside-the-box thinking, you’ll find you certainly can work with it as something other than an addition to the surface of clay.

Kathrin Neumaier has been playing extensively with both Pardo Translucent Art Clay and Fimo Gel, sometimes interchangeably. Here is a piece in Pardo Tranlucent clay (and what a fun piece!):

8238403764_6961ae7532

And here are basically the same forms but created in Fimo Gel:

8416763493_dcabfd6e27

 

So, yes, you can form pieces from liquid polymer and get a translucene as good if not better than with the elusive Pardo. And just think … there’s no conditioning!

The easiest way I found to work with liquid polymer as a form is to start out making sheets of cured lpc. You simply drizzle then lightly brush out the liquid polymer on a clean and very smooth, flat surface and bake it like that. A piece of tempered glass or polished sheet metal is an ideal surface. If you don’t have either, you can use a sheet of window glass (you can buy small panes at hardware stores or take the glass out of a picture frame) but you should put untempered glass into a cold oven and wait until it’s completely cooled before taking it out–rapid temperature changes can cause the glass to crack. (And tape up the raw glass edges with masking tape–let’s not cut ourselves!)

If the liquid polymer comes out of the oven still a little milky in spots wave a heat gun over it, keeping the heat a couple inches (50mm) away until it goes clear. (If you baked it on untempered glass, take it off the glass first.) Then you can cut whatever forms you want from that sheet. You can even add more liquid polymer to build it up or add color.

I would say about half the work I did in the first couple years I worked with polymer was created with lpc forms made this way and not just with Fimo Gel. After practicing for a bit, I could get any lpc to got completely clear. It just takes a little patience but its wonderful fun.

Kathrin has made all kinds of forms from liquid polymer including hollow beads and one piece collar necklaces. If you have the translucent bug, you need to take some time to browse through her Flickr pages for some inspiring ideas on what you might try while waiting for your Pardo.

Sheer Black

January 21, 2013

Translucent polymer has really been enjoying a resurgence this past year. Much of this is likely due to the excitement over the high level of transparency possible with Pardo’s translucent clay as well as Rie Nagumo’s Enlightened Polymer Clay book which focuses quite a bit on translucent clays.

My fascination has been in the area of coloring translucents which, of course, diminishes the transparency, but you can get a beautiful luminous sheerness. Hélène JeanClaude who was inspired by Rie Nagumo’s book, went for mixing in black during her experiments with translucents and then she played with layering it.  Layering the discs below nicely varies the transparency  in the back-lit shot. Most of this translucence is lost when the necklace is laid out on on a solid background. I was thinking though that this kind of work would do well as dangle earrings where there would be the opportunity for light to play through the layers as the wearer moves about.

black sheer black sheerNecklace

 

Hélène actually created these with Premo rather than the increasingly popular Pardo. Coloring the clay reduces or eliminates noticeable yellowing, which is a great solution for those of you put off by the yellowing that comes from baking but haven’t been able to get your hands on Pardo yet. However, a little yellowing isn’t such a bad thing sometimes. See what you think of her uncolored versions of this necklace here on her blog.

 

 

Hope for Translucents

I’ve been keeping an eye on the experiments people have making with the Pardo translucent clay. At this point, I think it’s pretty obvious that it is the clearest translucent on the market. It also seems to be the most elusive which is probably because it’s becoming quite popular. Just look at what can be done with it.

Here we have a Lindly Haunani inspired pinch petal necklace by Nora Pero of San Diego, California. The petals look to be made from sheets that, judging by the other photos she has on her Flickr site, are probably 2 cards thicks and yet the dark background comes through with no visible yellowing. How cool is that?

When I was in Atlanta last month, I got to see and handle some pieces made by Ellen Prophater with this clay. So clear with no yellowing, I was amazed. They sold it there but since I was traveling by car in the south, there was no point in packing some up as it’d likely be baked in my Subaru-style oven. What the heck, I’d seen it at a local hobby store. I’ll get it when I get back home.

But alas, there has been no translucent, and very little Pardo to be found all along the Colorado front range. Some intensive research on the internet brought up only two sources — Amazon, where someone who has realized the value of the rare material was selling it at twice its retail price and our friends at Poly Clay Play.

I have, however, written my contact at Viva Decor to get the scoop on the translucent clay supply. I will update you as I get information!

While Waiting for your Pardo Translucent Clay …

April 24, 2013
Posted in

It’s funny how many comments and emails I got on Monday when I mentioned that I had untouched blocks of Pardo translucent clay in my studio. There is such a demand and yet so little available. I have had email conversations with a contact at Viva Decor but I never got a straight answer as to why its in such short supply or when we might expect to see it more readily available. So what’s a frustrated artist to do? As far as actually getting your hands on some, your best bet in the US seems to be getting on PolyClayPlay.com’s waiting list. (Is it any easier getting it in Europe by chance?)

In the meantime, I say go play with our other options. Pardo may be the clearest (so we’ve heard) but only in the clays themselves. The absolute clearest polymer you can work with is Fimo Decorating Gel. Although it can also be tough to locate in some places, it’s not impossible to get a hold of. (See our post last year regarding Fimo Gel and a false rumor; I listed places to find it.) You may not consider Fimo Gel to be a primary polymer to create forms with but with a little outside-the-box thinking, you’ll find you certainly can work with it as something other than an addition to the surface of clay.

Kathrin Neumaier has been playing extensively with both Pardo Translucent Art Clay and Fimo Gel, sometimes interchangeably. Here is a piece in Pardo Tranlucent clay (and what a fun piece!):

8238403764_6961ae7532

And here are basically the same forms but created in Fimo Gel:

8416763493_dcabfd6e27

 

So, yes, you can form pieces from liquid polymer and get a translucene as good if not better than with the elusive Pardo. And just think … there’s no conditioning!

The easiest way I found to work with liquid polymer as a form is to start out making sheets of cured lpc. You simply drizzle then lightly brush out the liquid polymer on a clean and very smooth, flat surface and bake it like that. A piece of tempered glass or polished sheet metal is an ideal surface. If you don’t have either, you can use a sheet of window glass (you can buy small panes at hardware stores or take the glass out of a picture frame) but you should put untempered glass into a cold oven and wait until it’s completely cooled before taking it out–rapid temperature changes can cause the glass to crack. (And tape up the raw glass edges with masking tape–let’s not cut ourselves!)

If the liquid polymer comes out of the oven still a little milky in spots wave a heat gun over it, keeping the heat a couple inches (50mm) away until it goes clear. (If you baked it on untempered glass, take it off the glass first.) Then you can cut whatever forms you want from that sheet. You can even add more liquid polymer to build it up or add color.

I would say about half the work I did in the first couple years I worked with polymer was created with lpc forms made this way and not just with Fimo Gel. After practicing for a bit, I could get any lpc to got completely clear. It just takes a little patience but its wonderful fun.

Kathrin has made all kinds of forms from liquid polymer including hollow beads and one piece collar necklaces. If you have the translucent bug, you need to take some time to browse through her Flickr pages for some inspiring ideas on what you might try while waiting for your Pardo.

Read More

Sheer Black

January 21, 2013
Posted in

Translucent polymer has really been enjoying a resurgence this past year. Much of this is likely due to the excitement over the high level of transparency possible with Pardo’s translucent clay as well as Rie Nagumo’s Enlightened Polymer Clay book which focuses quite a bit on translucent clays.

My fascination has been in the area of coloring translucents which, of course, diminishes the transparency, but you can get a beautiful luminous sheerness. Hélène JeanClaude who was inspired by Rie Nagumo’s book, went for mixing in black during her experiments with translucents and then she played with layering it.  Layering the discs below nicely varies the transparency  in the back-lit shot. Most of this translucence is lost when the necklace is laid out on on a solid background. I was thinking though that this kind of work would do well as dangle earrings where there would be the opportunity for light to play through the layers as the wearer moves about.

black sheer black sheerNecklace

 

Hélène actually created these with Premo rather than the increasingly popular Pardo. Coloring the clay reduces or eliminates noticeable yellowing, which is a great solution for those of you put off by the yellowing that comes from baking but haven’t been able to get your hands on Pardo yet. However, a little yellowing isn’t such a bad thing sometimes. See what you think of her uncolored versions of this necklace here on her blog.

 

 

Read More

Hope for Translucents

October 20, 2012
Posted in ,

I’ve been keeping an eye on the experiments people have making with the Pardo translucent clay. At this point, I think it’s pretty obvious that it is the clearest translucent on the market. It also seems to be the most elusive which is probably because it’s becoming quite popular. Just look at what can be done with it.

Here we have a Lindly Haunani inspired pinch petal necklace by Nora Pero of San Diego, California. The petals look to be made from sheets that, judging by the other photos she has on her Flickr site, are probably 2 cards thicks and yet the dark background comes through with no visible yellowing. How cool is that?

When I was in Atlanta last month, I got to see and handle some pieces made by Ellen Prophater with this clay. So clear with no yellowing, I was amazed. They sold it there but since I was traveling by car in the south, there was no point in packing some up as it’d likely be baked in my Subaru-style oven. What the heck, I’d seen it at a local hobby store. I’ll get it when I get back home.

But alas, there has been no translucent, and very little Pardo to be found all along the Colorado front range. Some intensive research on the internet brought up only two sources — Amazon, where someone who has realized the value of the rare material was selling it at twice its retail price and our friends at Poly Clay Play.

I have, however, written my contact at Viva Decor to get the scoop on the translucent clay supply. I will update you as I get information!

Read More
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