Laurel's Prize Tourney

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

>Just a general nosey question...
>Where did you find the ivory substitite?  All these neat descritions have
>stated to make my hands itch.
>
>Saffiya

That one's real easy....

First, you need about 2 1-lb bricks each of Fimo, one in white, the other
must be what is called "art translucent" meaning the 00-Translucent, which
you have to get from an art supply like The Clay Factory of Escondido (Hobby
Lobby and <Michael's don't carry the stuff at all).

You also need a small (2 oz) package of a brown.

[Wait... what is Fimo, you ask?  It's PVC.  No, I am not kidding.  It's a
polymer clay, the same stuff the white plumbing pipes are made of.  Similar
stuff in other brands is called Sculpey, Cernit, or ProMat.  It comes
pre-colored. To harden you bake in the oven at 270 degrees F. ]

OK...  to begin working with the clay, you have to "condition" it.  The clay
when you get it is hard and crumbly.  You smoosh it around with your hands,
rolling it up, rolling out long snakes, rolling that into balls again... as
the clay warms up and is worked, it gets soft and pliable.  If the clay is
really hard, you may need to also use a little plasticizer to help it
soften... you but it commercially as "Mix Quick" and it's also a Fimo
product.  Start with a small amount of clay.  Once it's conditioned, fold
another chunk of unconditioned into it.  I work clay watching TV.

Once you have the white conditioned, add a small amount of brown in... like
healf of a pea-sized piece.   Work until the color is even.  You are trying
to achieve a cream color (i.e., ivory).

Condition the translucent.  Make sure no crumbles of brown are left laying
around that might contaminate it.

OK, the next step *can* technically be done using some improvised rolling
pin only, but the *real* way I do it is to take a pasta-rolling machine
(hand-cranked, stainless steel) that you will never use for food again...
it's about to become a dedicated Fimo tool.  Roll the cream-colored clay
through on progressively thinner settings until you have it on #1, and you
should have a sheet as wide as the machine and about 2-3 times as long.

You will makes sheets like this of alternating cream and translucent, and
stack them like a sandwich.  Notice the edge?  There's the graining so
typical of ivory!

Now, you take a long thin blade (for this I used an acrylic ruler with a
very thin edge) and slice 1" rows off the long edge of the stack.  Turn the
slice on edge.  Cut into 3 (possibly 4, if your stack is real long)
sections.  stack two side by side, smash them together gently,  and then run
them through the pasta machine on the thickest setting.  

Voila! You have a sheet of faux ivory.  

If you are going to carve the stuff, bake it in your pre-heated oven at 270
deg. F for about 10 minutes.  The clay will still be soft, but won't take
fingerprints.  You will need to keep the piece supported on either the
cooking pan, or I actually baked the ivory slabs right on top of the wooden
box pieces (all pre-assembly).

You can carve this stuff with an exacto knife, rather like cutting cream
cheese.  Once you have carved it to your heart's content, bake another 20
minutes at 270 deg F.

Now you have a tough decision.  You can glaze the "ivory" using Fimo gloss
varnish ($3 per 1 oz jar).  You can usewet sanding at progressively finer
grits and a buffing wheel to shine it up.  Or you can go to the grocery
store and buy some Future Floor Polish ($3 for a quart) and glaze the
"ivory" with that.  No, I am not kidding.  Check out the Usenet newsgroup
rec.crafts.polymer-clay if you don't believe me.

Last step is to antique the surface.  Pretty much any brown paint will work,
wipe on, wipe off with a wet sponge.  I personally like to use the stuff
Tandy sells for antiquing and highlighting leather (I have it around the
house anyway).  You apply it with a wool dauber, let it dry, wipe the excess
off with a wet sponge 10 minutes later.

Other bells and whistles...

Using the art translucent in combination with the appropriate color, you can
make faux turquoise or coral and "inlay" the faux ivory with it after you've
baked the ivory hard... then bake again to set the inlays.

You can make faux malachite, by layering a couple of shades of green, some
art translucent, a smidge of white, and be sure to use a little of the
pearlescent dark green in the mix.  Run the mix through the pasta machine a
few times to get the marbled effect.

You can make faux agate, same way, use browns and reds, plus a little white
and some art translucent.

How about faux butter amber?  Use white, yellow, a smidge of magenta, and
lots of art translucent.

You can make faux jade... take art translucent and add a small amount of
green. mix until color is completely blended.

Supposedly one can do faux opals, but I haven't had much success.  Take
ultrafine Aurora Borealis glitter (AB glitter) the glitter size should be
like sugar.  roll a small ball of fimo in the glitter until well coated.
Cover with as thin a piece of art translucent as possible.  After baking,
wet sand until there's only about a 1/32" of the translucent left.  Glaze.

ONE WARNING....

As anyone who's tried it knows, this polymer clay stuff is ADDICTIVE.  I not
only do faux gems, I do millefiori beads, too.  The joke is that Gunnora can
do ANYTHING using Fimo (and it's not too far from the truth!!)  Enjoy!

Wassail,

::GUNNORA::



Gunnora Hallakarva
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