Upcycled Pens from the UK

Dear Chicago House,

So one of our most popular posts, How to make polymer clay covered pens has been inspiring a couple of teens in the UK.

Look at what they have made!

Matt and Jamie were set a school project and tasked with setting up a company “up-cycling” everyday items and adding value.

I think they are onto a winner and there will be A+ on their report cards.

Well done lads!

love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Craft Projects, polymer, Pretty, teenager

Polymer Clay Easter Eggs

Dear Chicago House,

With Easter this weekend I thought I'd have a bash at making some funky decorated Easter eggs. I have seen so many fab ideas on Pinterest and I am a bit late to the game but here we go ...Polymer clay covered Easter Eggs

and so easy to make!

Here is what you will need

1. Plastic eggs ( or you could use hard boiled real ones)
2. Polymer Clay in a number of contrasting colors
3. Knife and cutting board.
4. A bit of patience!

You need to start by making polymer clay tiles like these

I have already written two tutorials outlining techniques for creating these  the spotty tile here and a marbled tile here.

Once you have your tiles stick them all over your eggs and don't worry about the gaps.

Then roll the eggs around to flatten and smooth out the clay and the gaps will disappear.

I didn't bother to bake the eggs, I was a bit worried the plastic egg would melt.

Enjoy!

If you make any I'd love to see them.

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Craft Projects, Holiday Projects, polymer, Pretty, Tutorials

Polymer Clay Pens: Marble Tutorial

Dear Chicago House,

What do you know, those polymer clay covered pens have been a huge hit in blog land and I did promise a more techniques on creating them. So it is about time I shared a tutorial on making a marble design, and in celebration of up coming valentines day they are in pink

Lets kick off with the finished product.

You will need

• A few blocks of polymer clay- contrasting colors work best and I use Sculpey
• Cheap pens that the ink stick can be removed from. I generally use pens my husband picks up from hotels, the ones that solid white plastic seem to work best.

To make a Marble Pattern
Start by softening the clay in your hands, some colors take a lot longer to soften than others. When they are nicely pliable roll into 12" sausages, then twist together fold in half and roll this out into a 12" sausage again. Cut sausage in half and repeat this process about 4 times.

To make the pen

Slice the sausage into thin slices, remove the ink from the pen barrel and tile the clay pieces on as show, don't worry about gaps. Then roll the pen on a flat surface and the gaps will dissapear.

Bake according to the directions on your clay, re insert the ink and voila!

Here are some more ideas. You can use more than two colors and multiple patterns on one pen barrel.

Enjoy, I'd love to see photos of your results. Send them to me at creativeinchi@gmail.com and I will feature them!

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XX

Categories: Craft Projects, How to, polymer, Pretty, Tutorials

How to make polymer clay covered pens.

Dear Chicago House,

Remember these lovely colorful pens that added a pop of color to my desk I shared with you earlier this week.

Well here is a little "how to" on how to make them.

You will need

• A couple of blocks of oven bake polymer clay
• A cheap bic type pen, the sort you can pull the ink cartridge from
• A rolling pin
• A sharp knife

Here is what you do.

Using half of the clay from each packet, soften it and one roll one piece flat and form the other into a sausage.

Trim the flat piece into a rectangle

Wrap the flat piece around the sausage and cut of excess sausage ends.

 

On a flat surface start rolling until your new sausage is about 12" long

 

Then cut it into 6 or 7 equal lengths.

And stack them together like this

Now roll out again to make a a sausage of about 12" again.

Take your knife and slice off the end ... sweet!

Cut the thin slices of the sausage to make tiles. You will need about 30 and will have a lot of sausage left. Store it in air tight container and it will stay soft for your next creation.

Now remove the ink from your pen.

And start sticking on your clay tiles in a brick pattern fashion. Don't worry about spaces.

Once you have your pen covered roll it on a flat surface, hey presto all the spaces disappear.

To harden the clay bake in a 275 deg F ( 13p deg C) oven for about 15 minutes. When cool you can put back your ink.

Aren't they they fun. There are all sorts of techniques you can use to make different tile designs. I will share those another day. ( at last got around to sharing the marble technique HERE)

Love from

Creative in Chicago

XXX

Categories: Craft Projects, How to, polymer