Knitting, Quilting and Embroidery with Polymer Clay

Today I am proud to show you three fantastic polymer clay artists that have incorporated Knitting, Quilting and Embroidery into their wonderful creations.

Claire Wallis

She's been featured on Polymerclay Daily! : The Polymer Clay Daily archive reads like a who's who of polymer clay featuring some of the worlds most renowned polymer clay artists including her personal inspiration Melanie West, so she is thrilled to have been featured! : )

She's a self taught artist living near the south coast of England. She has a keen interest in art, ceramics and polymer clay and loves the sheer scope of possibility's both for color and form that working with polymer clay provides. She has been working with polymer clay for about a year and loves creating her own jewelry, especially bangles!

More of her work can be found either on her website or her deviant art page : originalbunny.deviantart.com/gallery/

Tutorial knitted polymer clay (reverse stocking stitch)

step 1: extrude strands of the desired thickness in your chosen colour and cut lengths of about 2.5 cm with a craft knife or a tissue blade.

step 2: take one of the cut lengths and push the ends together to form a loop. repeat.
group the loops together as shown.

step 3: take a length of extruded clay and lay it across the group of loops as shown.

step 4: using the back of the blade deeply indent the clay making sure the indents are aligned with the centre of the loop.

step 5: I flatten the tails of the loops with a cocktail stick, this ensures each line of loops will lie reasonably flat. if you are making long lines you will need to do this bit at a time. Be careful you don't mark the 'stitches' with your fingers/nails as you roll the cocktail stick.

repeat steps 1 to 5

step 6: place one line of stitches overlapping the flattened tails of the loops.

Love2Knit

A little something for valentines day : ) a 'knitted' heart shaped brooch. polymer clay. approx 2 by 3 inches.

You can use this effect on its own or experiment with knitted cables, plaits etc

knitted cuff bracelet

More an experimental piece than anything else. I'm not entirely happy with it. I wanted to give the cuff a curved shape but it was hard to achieve without squashing and distorting the 'stitches'

I think next time it would be easier to create an armature and layer the stitching as I go rather than create a sheet to cover the armature with. I think this would reduce the distortion.

I kept the colour a light cream both the keep the emphasis on the texture of the bangle and to mimic the colour of undyed wool.

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Beth Seng

In 1995, Beth came in contact with a woman from Germany who had crafted a refrigerator magnet of a pot with the tiniest, most delicate flowers. Beth inquired as to what this medium was and this was her serendipitous introduction to polymer clay. She immediately purchased some clay and began making and selling earrings, necklaces, and figurines. One day, a woman asked if she could make "storyteller" earrings. A storyteller is a Native American doll that depicts an elder telling the children the legends and traditions of their people. This request and Beth's eventual completed design turned out to be "one very significant change in my art work"

Dresden Blue

Quilt Angel polymer clay

From hookedonclay

This beautiful angel is made completely with polymer clay, excluding the needle and thread. The dresden blue quilt is formed by an intricate method called millefiori, using shapes of extruded clay which are set in a “log”, and cut. The hair on this angel is very dark hair with copper highlights. The angel stands nearly 4 inches high.

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Penni Jo Couch
Claylady 43

I am a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother. I am also a designer, teacher, sculptor and writer.

In 1981 I found a clay called Fimo at a miniature meeting and began to play with this wonderful material making doll house scale miniatures like teddy bears, rocking horses, carousel horses, babies, dishes, food, candlesticks, what ever was needed or wanted for a doll house. The resulting interest in these tiny sculptures inspired me to open a studio in my home where, for the next 7 years, I was a stay at home mom, designing and sculpting one of a kind miniatures and a signature line called PenniBears for the miniature market.

After spending the next 15 years as a commercial designer/sculptor for United Design Corporation in Noble, Oklahoma, I started my own design company and then teamed up with Miss Martha of Miss Martha Originals, working with her to start the subsidiary company, Sweetbrier Studio™, The main product of this company is rubber push molds for use with polymer or metal clay.

In February of 08 I retired from commercial designing and am now creating original designs in both Polymer Clay and sculpting for original molds to make lovely and fun Ceramics.

Creating beautiful things is a rich joy to me and sharing my knowledge with others is a blessing.

Polymer Clay Faux Ribbon Embroidery Sampler

Polymer Clay Faux Ribbon Embroidery Sampler. Size: approx. 3 inches wide.

Note the split running stitch as it changes color from pink to ivory to blue. Made from a tiny slice of skinner blend.

I'll be teaching this class and other faux embroidery at Orlando Clay Fandango in May of 2011

You can see Penni Jo's beautiful creations at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pennijo/

Penni Jo also makes wonderful molds. Please visit her website at: http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/

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~ Please read me a bedtime story ~
By Sandy Prenzi

Here is one of my newest creations. I had such fun making this little guy. You can visit him and see more of my creations in my Etsy Shop at: Sandy's Creations by mstp on Etsy