StencilGirl Blog Hop – Polymer Clay Dress

Welcome to another Blog Hop with StencilGirl.

By the way, did you take advantage of StencilGirl’s Cyber Monday shopping deals? Well, I’m just sayin that someone that you know who writes this blog took advantage of it and got herself some early Christmas presents, that’s all.  I am so looking forward to the holiday break where our company shuts down for over a week.  I plan on taking some serious time in my studio to create with my new “toys”.  Wish you could join me.

Ok.. let’s hop to it.

The stencil I’m using this time is by Sue Pelletier’s called “Loose Dress #2”

I decided to make a cute dress out of polymer clay.  My goal was to create a gift for a “welcome baby girl” or young girl.

I used Premo clay. I wanted pink for a girl, so I made some pink clay mixing white and a little red.  It took quite a while to condition this clay by keeping in warm in my hands and trying to squeeze and smoosh it to keep it warm and soften it. Once it softened up, I let the pasta machine help me to the rest –  set at the largest roller width.  Probably went through about 20 passes before it was soft and pliable.

It needed to be a little bigger than the dress stencil which is 6″x6″.  Spray the clay with water.  Lay the stencil down on the spritzed clay.  Put them through the pasta machine together, but do not hold them while they run through. The width was one size smaller than the largest setting.

If you don’t have a pasta machine you can use an acrylic roller or a rolling pin dedicate to clay (not food).  Push down firmly while rolling on a piece of card stock.

Now, take the stencil and clay and lay them down (they should be stuck together).  Gently peel the stencil off of the clay.  Cool, huh?

With an exacto knife gently cut around the dress form.. I am only taking the dress, not any other shapes outside of the dress form.  Now, you will see that the edges are a bit rough.  Take a piece of plastic wrap and lay it over the edges and gently smooth around the edge of the dress.  Now it’s ready to bake. I put it on a ceramic tile.  Last photo is baked and cooled.

     

Tips: Follow the clay package instructions for baking.  I have a clay dedicated oven for baking my clay. If you do not, you can use a lined parchment paper cookie sheet. Lay the clay piece on the parchment paper and tent the clay with aluminum foil.  DO NOT BURN THE CLAY.  Oven vary; make sure your oven is accurate with temperature.

While the dress cooled down, I made tiny buttons to put on the dress.  I took turquoise clay and make tiny balls and pushed each ball into an old button I used for texture. I tried to take a clear picture of the buttons before I baked them, but I could not manage a good close up.  Bake the buttons.  Once cool, glue them onto the dress using your favorite strong glue.  Let buttons dry thoroughly.. I waited overnight.

 

Looking good so far, don’t you think.. soooooooo cute. Say it with me.. all together… “AWE”.

Now it’s time to “antique” the dress and make it look old and vintagy.  Yup, that’s a word… now.

Take brown acrylic paint, and begin to smoosh it into the dress, making sure to get it into the crevices. I find my finger is best.  With a damp paper towel, gently wipe off the excess paint.  This may take some time, as you want pating to say in the crevices.   In some of the smaller areas, you can use a cotton swab and alcohol to get the paint off.

 

When you get the dress to where you like it, let that dry completely.  Now, it’s time to shine it up.  If you had read my clay tutorials before, I use Future Floor Finish. You could also any clear sealer.  I wanted to add one of my polymer clay hearts to the dress, but which one? After I glued the heart on the dress, I also glued a ribbon to the back as a hanger.

 

… .and here you are.. a cute little pink girly dress.   Doesn’t this just look so adorable hanging up?  Imagine it on a little girl’s bedroom door.  You could take a white gel pen and put the child’s name on one of the ruffles of the dress also.  I had thought about blinging the dress up with rhinestones, pearls or glitter glue, but I wanted to keep it simply vintage.  You could do SO much with this.

Let me know if you give it a try. I’d be happy to help if you get stuck.

Time for a give-a-way –   Music to my ears.  Leave a comment here and on all the blogs in the list below.  All comments on the hop are eligible for the giveaway. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win. Giveaway will close on Monday, December 16th at 11:59PM Central Time.

Now off you go…. next on the list from my blog is Corrine.

StencilGirl Talk
Sue Pelletier
Carolyn Dube
Mary C. Nasser
Judy Shea  (hate to see you go, but I know you must)
Corrine Gilman
Linda Kittmer
Kirsten Reed
Jessica Sporn
Janet Joehlin

As always, I thank you for stopping by to visit and leave comments.  Your support is so amazing.

Judy  ♥ ♥ ♥