Sunday, 12 August 2012

Polymer Clay Buttons

Hello

A very busy week this week so only a very short post today.  We went for a wonderful walk along the Devon coast around Salcombe yesterday.  There are far too many photos to add to this post so if you would like to see how beautiful this area is please click on the link.

First I would like to say thank you for all your comments last week and the help in naming Maisy's little tiny friend.  I finally decided to go with the name Minnie as suggested by Catkin Jane.  She really is very minnie and I love the idea of 'wearing purple' when I'm a grandma.  Thank you all for your help, it makes it far more fun than thinking up a name on my own!

You may have noticed for the past few weeks I have been answering each comment.  I hope you like this idea, I know it's not necessary but it feels a little more personal.

This week I have been having a fiddle with polymer clay buttons.  I hopefully will be running a short workshop on how to make a very simple crochet flower and turn it into a brooch or hair tie.  As there will be no crochet knowledge necessary for this workshop I need to make these as simple as possible.  Therefore I thought a button centre would be perfect.  As you can see from the picture below  I haven't got around to adding the holes yet and I will still be experimenting with other colours.


Below are a couple of ideas for the finished article



Thank you for stopping by :)  
I'm off to see what everyone else has been up to 
over on Handmade Monday.  
See you there!

46 comments:

  1. Love those buttons but admit I am a button collecting addict, will now wait for the tutorial

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    1. Oooh I've never done a tutorial before! Will have to see what I can come up with!

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  2. Buttons! I love them! I have a large jar full of bought buttons I dare not use, so no idea how I would make myself use ones I actually made. They look great :) I like finished article number 1

    Karen x

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    1. Glad you like them. I did them because buttons of this size (about 25mm)are so expensive to buy. I need to work on them a bit more but I'm getting there.

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  3. I love buttons too and I love what you've done with them. Gorgeous.

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  4. your little flowers look so cute! the buttons finnish the off perfectly :)

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    1. Thank you. They need to be completed in a two hour session by someone with no knowledge of crochet. This seemed to be the easiest way!

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  5. What a wonderful idea for a workshop! I'm sure its going to be a great success, I would love to be there. Love the polymer clay buttons! They look great with the crochet flower!

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  6. Perfect. You have hit the nail on the head with the buttons. I lovely finishing touch.

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  7. I love the smooth button to compliment the lovely fuzzy crochet. I like the boldness of your patterns on your buttons too- they do look lovely and striking against the wool.

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  8. Lovely flowers and using a handmade button as detail is a very good idea.

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  9. Love the buttons and they look great as flowers.

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  10. I'm very honoured that she's called Minnie :)
    Salcombe is such a lovely area, I have fantastic memories of childhood holidays around there.
    Love the button brooches :)

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    1. I was hoping someone may recognise the area. It really is beautiful and on our doorstep!

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  11. What a fab idea! A tutorial would be great as I've tried making buttons like this before and they were a disaster! Shame I live too far away for a workshop. Have a good week. Jo x

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    1. I'll have to see what I can do about a workshop. I made some more today, I should have taken photos!!!!

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  12. These are great. You're very creative, I love the idea of being able to make the perfect button to suit your item.

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    1. It saves traipsing around the shops at least - more crafting time :)

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  13. What fabulous button designs... so why do you add the holes after, rather than before firing... isn't there a risk that they will split? I love the idea of creating the perfect button for a garment... I have a cardigan that I made 25 years ago that still has no buttons!

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    1. I find them easier to handle when they have been fired. The shape can distort too easily beforehand. It's just a matter of preference. The polymer clay is quite flexible after it is fired so shouldn't split. If it does, they've probably been baked for too long. Let me know the colour of your 25 year old cardi and I'll make you a few! It'll be vintage by now!!!! :)(Big smile!)

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  14. Love the buttons and brooches! I run crochet workshops too and might well have a go at adding buttons to brooches for my more advanced groups - but I'll teach them to cover the buttons in crochet first. I grew up in Devon and have fond memories of the coast around Salcombe, Slapton and Bigbury :-)

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    1. It's a lovely area, glad it brought back fond memories :)

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  15. I love buttons too! My father-in-law recently gave me some buttons from an old sewing box he bought at an auction, I was so pleased with them, as they are great for vintage cards.

    Your crochet flowers are lovely, I think the buttons make them very unique.

    Melanie x.

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    1. Thank you Melanie. They certainly are unique, I don't seem to have been able to master the technique well enough to make them identical. Lol!

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  16. Ohhhhh pretty :)

    Have you thought about make Christmas Tree decs out of them? Something a bit different. Might need to play around with a way to hang them, but an idea.

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    1. No I haven't but that's a good idea. Bit of sparkly wool to look a bit more like snow flakes .... mmm! I'll give it some thought :) Thank you :)

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  17. Those are outstanding! I love them, so so pretty. They seem like a lot of work.

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    1. When I (if I!!) get around to doing a tutorial, you'll see they are quite simple although as most crafts quite time consuming!

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  18. Lovely buttons and love the way you've used them with the yarn

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  19. Bit of a button lover too. Like both of your blue versions. Hugs mrs a.

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    1. Buttons do seem to be quite popular these days (OMG that makes me sound old!!!)

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  20. I love your buttons they are so pretty :)

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    1. Thank you, I've done some black and white ones now and some bronzeish ones!

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  21. I just wanna say, I think it is very considereate of you to answer the comments that you get. I usually answer mine via email, it does say in a way that you appreciate what others have to say. and I too am experimenting with polymer clay buttons, no results yet to show, tho.

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    1. Thank you for this, I can never quite work out how to answer them for the best. I'm hoping that people who like to receive answers subscribe by email so should hopefully get a notification. Would love to see your buttons when they're done :) They can be a little time consuming and mine are only very simple.

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  22. I recently bought a stash of polymer clay as I wanted to give it ago with jewellery - also think buttons are a good idea as yours look gorgeous. Lots of nice colours. Hope you have a good week.

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    1. That's why I bought the polymer clay in the first place - to make jewellery! As I had a fair bit left over though, buttons seemed a good idea - although I have not tried them on something that needs regular washing yet!

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  23. Very cute. I need to know how to make the crochet flowers...NOW!!!

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I really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave so thank you for taking precious time to do this.