Busy Making Clay

I've been working on some special orders and that has kept me away from my blog for a few days.

Here is a cake topper that I made for a bride who went to school with my daughter. I had to make the top out of paper mache (I didn't do a great job on the smoothness of it, but it looks OK).

The couple can be taken out of the balloon basket.


Here is a bear bride and groom . I have it on Etsy for $24.00




This mets and phillies fans cake topper is on it's way to PA.


This sock monkey graduate can be personalized with the correct tassels, year and date.
On etsy for $10.00

As you can see, I've been busy working. I've been organizing my clay room (again, again, and again). I made three goal charts with lists of clay babies I need to make for shows and etsy. Now I just need to work on that daily.

Polymer Clay Babies

The History of my name...

Someone asked me the other day why I named my website Polymer Clay Babies. Originally, I called my business Debbie's Clay Babies (it's still called that on Ebay)
. My grandmother used to stay with me a lot and loved to watch me with my salt dough (pre clay days). She would say, "are you working on your dough babies?"

I started doing the dough in 1976 but discovered polymer clay in 1982. After awhile, my grandma got the knack of the polymer clay and started to say, "are you making your clay babies?"

So when I did shows, I called my business Debbie's Clay Babies. In 2002, when I wanted to start a website, I decided to change the name to Polymer Clay Babies. I figured my site would be easier to find if someone typed in Polymer Clay and then babies.

Over the last few years, re-born babies have become popular, so when people type in Polymer Clay Babies, my site comes up. If they are looking for intricate detailed re-born babies, they are in for a disappointment, but that's not my fault. (I've had people ridicule my name because my things are not reborn babies, but, sorry, I had the name first!)

Anyway, that's the story on my business name.

Don't forget to leave a comment to put yourself in the free topper drawing.

Yesterday I featured a picture of a topper that I mailed last week to a customer who is getting married on Saturday.

Today I received an email from her stating that she still hadn't received her topper. She asked me if I had sent it to the correct address, then gave me her address. I had to double check in paypal where I had shipped it and, sure enough,it was a different address.

I contacted the customer and she explained that she had lived there 4 years before. I guess she never changed her paypal address.

She was upset, but not with me. I felt horrible, as she was so easy to deal with.

I thought about it for a few minutes, then, dropped everything I was doing, went into my clay room and started another topper. Since it was a fairly easy order, a sock monkey and a panda bear bride and groom, it didn't take me long to make it. I baked it, glued it onto a mirror base, and took it to work with me. At the end of my day, I wrapped it and taped up the box. It was in the post office by 6:2o. I sent it to her priority mail and hopefully, she will get it by Saturday.

Here's the replacement.

I did it quickly, and am not happy with the panda bear's face. She needed black around the eyes. I'm going to send my customer a note telling her that she can outline the eyes with a black sharpie. Other than that, it turned out fine.

If my customer would have waited another hour before contacting me, I doubt if I would have had time to make another. I just didn't want her to be disappointed. I just hope she gets it in time.

I learned a valuable lesson here. From now on I will double check addresses when people pay with paypal. I don't want to send my orders to anymore strangers.

Somewhere, in New York City, someone has a sock monkey and panda bear cake topper. I hope they enjoy it!

Polymer Clay Love Card

I made this little card to share with you. Feel free to right click and save it. It is for your own personal use. Please don't add to any collections that you sell.

You can add Valentine text, happy anniversary text, love, friendship, etc.

I will be offering more graphics in the future in the form of cards, post cards and clip art.

If you like that idea, let me know. I would love to hear suggestions too!

A little critique now and then helps!

Here is a little graphic you can print out and use in collage and jewelry making. I think it's the right size for a scrabble pendant.

Right click and save.

When mistakes happen

Here's a picture of the burned clay baby that I was going to fix. As I said before, I didn't test the oven and a whole batch of angels got a little toasted. Those wings on the angel are supposed to be a translucent color, a little off white. Instead, they look like wheat. I wasn't happy with it.

So, I used Polyform Products Brown Antiquing paint to antique the angels. It's really simple. I brush on the paint, covering the baked clay and then, with a soft rag, wipe it off. Here's a picture of the final outcome. It's kind of prim looking.

Plus, the letters on
the scroll really stand out. Luckily, I got to
save this batch of clay
babies and learned a valuable lesson
(once again)..Check your oven's temperature!

Polymer Clay Cards

I have been making cards with clay images on them. I just started putting the cards together, only have made a few, but
I think there is potential there. I've had
this idea for twenty years.
Sometimes I get so mad at myself
for not following through on my
ideas. It's a lot easier now, with programs and websites, to work on more of my ideas than ever before. Not all of them are good, but at least I can say I'm trying.

This card can be used as a thank you to a nurse or congratulations to a graduating nurse. As soon as I get more cards finished, I'll put a link on my blog where they can be
found. Right now, I only have about 7 cards on the site. My goal is to get 24 cards on there, then start promoting it. I get a whopping 42 cents per card. Have to start somewhere!