Fun with a Belt Sander

At the recommendation of my friend Peggy Ward (owner of the Bead Chick in St. Augustine, FL), I bought a small belt sander. It's a 1" x 30" model, which cost about $40 at Harbor Freight. I had never even seen one before, but the project Peggy demonstrated for the First Coast Polymer Clay Guild was so cool, I just had to try it. 

This sander won't give your beads a beautiful smooth finish. Quite the contrary! It will beat 'em up, knock 'em around, and make 'em look like they've been through a war. But sometimes that's just what you want! 

Project 1: Man’s Necklace

I came up with this design a few years ago and made necklaces for my husband, son, and grandsons. They all wore them, and I don't think they did it just to humor me! This updated version makes use of the belt sander and some paint. I think this treatment adds visual texture and enhances the masculine quality of the design. Here are the basic steps: 

 

• Make the long, curved, two-tone beads and cure them.
• Scuff them up on every surface with the belt sander (60-grit belt).
• Brush on acrylic paint, rub off most of it, and allow it to dry. 
• Hand-sand the surface lightly with 220-grit sandpaper; wash the beads, and let them dry. 
• Seal with one coat of Sculpey gloss glaze (optional, but I like it). 

 Speaking of Paint: I’m grateful to Meredith Arnold for introducing me to Plaid’s Folk Art acrylic paint in Wrought Iron color (number 925). The greenish off-black shade really works well for antique effects. It’s available in most craft stores.

Project 2: Disk Beads

I wanted some large-holed, round, flat beads for a particular project. After curing them, I had one of those “What the heck was I thinking?!!” reactions. They looked like Life Savers (above, left). I didn’t like them and decided not to use them in the project.

Later, having nothing to lose, I decided to cut grooves and facets in them with my belt sander. Then I gave them the same paint-and-glaze treatment as the necklace (above, right). Now I have beads that are definitely usable!

Do You Need a Belt Sander?

You probably could achieve many of the same effects by hand-sanding with very coarse-grit sandpaper, but it would take a lot longer. And I think it would be hard to achieve the same irregular, random look, which is what I love about these belt-sanded pieces.

Is This Some Kind of a Bust?

Ok, now that I have the attention of all of you Naked Gun movie fans out there (yay!), let me explain.

Well-endowed female suspect: "Is this some kind of a bust?"
Detective Frank Dreben: "Yes, it's very impressive, but there's no time for that now."


One of the mannikin busts in the Second Chance Store had lost its head, and its neck hole was looking pretty sad. Being an intrepid crafter, I brought it home to fix. It was a pretty easy 4-step process, requiring only some polymer clay, a little gold acrylic paint, and 2 clip earrings, which were rejects from the store.

If you ever need to do something like this, here's how:

1. Create a ring of polymer clay that fits well inside the neck hole, cure it, and affix it to the inside of the neck hole with super glue (and a little duct tape just for insurance--not shown).
2. Create a circle of cloth-textured white polymer that will cover the neck hole completely. Cure it and rub it with gold acrylic paint.
3. Remove the clips from the earrings. Remove the pink plastic gem from one and the gold metal disk from the other. Glue the disk inside the setting from the pink gem, and glue the piece to the center of the neck cover.
4. Glue the underside of the embellished gold circle to the top of the polymer neck ring. Voila! Is this some kind of a bust, or what?

Speaking of Dog Portraits . . .

I'm so thrilled with the responses to my Polymer Painting Workshop at Polymer Clay Adventure! Several of the students were interested in painting portraits of their pets. I've never used my dogs as painting subjects, but I did make some dog face canes and used them on bracelet tiles. I want to share them with you here.

The top one is a Chihuahua (in case you can't tell), and the bottom one is a Boston Terrier. I made the basic face canes without the ears, chest, or collar. Then I added those elements to each tile individually so that each dog would have a slightly different look.

I made these several years ago, but hearing people talk about portraying their pets in clay makes me want to have another go!

Re-purposing Costume Jewelry for a Good Cause

Things to Do with Old Clip-on Earrings (Chapter 2)

 

Here's another idea for turning old, unlovable clip-on earrings into wearable (and saleable) costume jewelry.

The middle earring (above, left) had no mate, but it did have a interesting shape and design that I thought would translate well into a pendant.

First, I removed the clip finding from the back with a pair of pliers. Generally, you can just pull them off without too much muscle. Sometimes you may need to file off some rough edges on the back.

Next, I removed the crystal-bead dangles from the other pair of clip-ons. I could have opened the eye pins to remove them, but it was easier to cut up the thin metal backing with metal snips and remove the closed eye pins that way.

The next step was to attach each dangle to the earring-now-pendant with an inexpensive jump ring. The dangles slide freely on the rings of the pendant, casting light from their facets for extra bling.

Finally, another jump ring attaches the sparkly pendant to a thrift-store chain. (I hadn't yet attached a clasp when the photo was taken.) Again, this may not be a great example of the jeweler's art, but it is an attractive costume piece made from throw-away items.

The clip-on at left was another "single." Again, I thought it would make a nice pendant and could be combined with the plain wooden beads and another pair of clip-ons shown at right. (I decided not to use the zebra in this design, but don't worry--it will be used eventually.)

I removed the beads from their string and dyed them with alcohol inks. This is easy! Just put them in a glass container, spritz them with isopropyl alcohol, add several ink drops directly from the bottle, and shake the container lightly to swirl. Let the beads dry in the container overnight, and you have brilliant, lasting color!

I removed the findings and the blue crystals from the donut-shaped amber resin earrings (shown inside the original necklace), and they instantly became focal beads. I drilled a hole through the copper earring/pendant and strung it on the bead strand with a jump ring.

I'm actually quite proud of the resulting necklace, shown below. I'm sure it'll sell quickly and bring a decent price to help homeless pets in Nassau County, Florida.

I still have more ideas for using clip-on earrings, which I'll share in the next few days.

Re-purposing Costume Jewelry for a Good Cause

Things to Do with Old Clip-on Earrings (Chapter 1)

My Facebook friends may have already seen this photo of a mixed lot of "junk" jewelry I got from Second Chance, a resale shop that benefits the Nassau Humane Society, where I'm a volunteer.

My first task was to sort this and clean and repair what could be made resale-ready without too much effort. I reclaimed seven pairs of pierced earrings with just a little metal polish and some inexpensive earring backs.

That's when the fun really began! I looked at the whole lot, deciding which pieces might be combined to create new/old pieces. There were several pairs of clip-on earrings (and a few single earrings) that included some good beads and elements that could be detached and used in new designs

This necklace (at right)  combines beaded elements from clip-on earrings and a partial macrame shell necklace (above, left). The beads were on eye-pins that could be easily detached from the earrings' thin metal base and strung directly between the shells and black beads. I only added stringing wire, a clasp, and some inexpensive aluminum beads from my stash.

The result might not win any design awards, but it's a pretty and wearable necklace that someone will buy at Second Chance to benefit the cats and dogs.

The clip-on coin earrings (below, left) needed a good cleaning. I removed the clip from the back with a pair of pliers, added a jump ring and a chain (also from a resale shop), and voila--a new/old pendant.

Stay tuned for more adventures in reclaiming usable (and even cool!) elements from old clip-on earrings.

Time Is Flying a Little Faster Than Expected

Polymer Clay Painting Workshop Coming Soon to Your Electronic Device!

Yikes! My video workshop at Polymer Clay Adventure has been rescheduled from April to February. I'm pleased because I'm anxious to hear how people like it. But I find myself a little "behind the 8-ball" when it comes to filling orders for the polymer painting tool/supply kit and providing photo images for you to paint (if you choose not to draw from your own photos, memories, or imaginations).

As of this evening, I've run out of a couple of items needed for the supply kits. I will reorder right away, but there will be a delay of a few days in filling your orders while I wait for my own orders to arrive. So all you Adventurers who still plan to order supply kits, please be patient. And let me explain again that it's not necessary for you to order the kits. I just like to make available a few of the tools I find most useful, and it may be convenient for you to receive them all in one bundle. But the video will show you exactly what the tools are (including stock numbers in some cases), so you can source them yourselves if you choose to.

Those photo images will be coming very soon! I plan to post them here and on the PCA website. Many Adventurers are also my Facebook friends, so I'll update you there on the status of the photos and supply kits.

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