A few weeks back I shared how to create a silicone mould for casting tags that will be attached to the bonbonnieres for my daughter's wedding. With the mould made, it's now time to cast the 100 tags needed.   We chose polymer clay as the casting medium for the tags - it gives them a nice weight. And because they will all be painted later on, we were able to use up lots of scrap clay that I had in the studio. To begin, roll out the clay to the thickness of two wooden stir sticks. Timesaving tip: Use a pasta machine to roll out a whole sheet of clay to the desired thickness rather than rolling out enough clay for one or two tags at a time. M y brain was a bit foggy with project overload before the wedding but i f I had been thinking clearly, I could have saved a heap of time! Cut the clay using the same oval cutter that the mould was made from.   Insert the cut tag into the mould positioning it so that it lines up. Press the clay down into the mould so that the clay is impresse......

Ahoy me maties..... there's something a bit fishy going on today! Starfishy, to be precise! One of the items I had to prepare for the Glass House resin workshop kits this weekend is a batch of polymer clay starfish. It's really hard to come by the real thing these days so a while back I made a mould of a tiny little starfish and began casting my own. Actually, it was a two step process - I didn't really like the original starfish shape. It was too rigid and a bit too small. So I cast a starfish from that mould and then set about manipulating it into a slightly larger, and much more interesting starfish. I turned this one into the mould I use for these great little starfish. But it's a fiddly little piece to get out of the mould so today I want to show you not only how to get it out but also how to give it a bit more personality before baking it. I use beige and white Sculpey mixed together in roughly equal quantities and then pinch off small balls. Roll the ball into a ......

During CHA I had the wonderful pleasure of chatting with Marie Segal (polymer clay artist extraordinaire) whilst she was conducting make and takes at the Rupert, Gibbon and Spider booth. I also got to play with Cernit, the pthalate free polymer clay and create this little piece below. This one is going to my daughter who has joined a youth ministry team for the next 12 months and will be living away from home for the first time...... I'm sad to be letting go of her, but happy knowing that she will be enjoying what she's doing! But what I want to chat about today is Marie's very clever word moulds which we used to create the words for the top layer of our pendants. Marie has generously shared her idea and how she created her moulds on her blog here . Do check it out, it's such a neat idea! Now if you're in Australia, you're unlikely to find the alphabet noodles that she talks about in the Mexican aisle at your local supermarket but check out the Italian aisle and......