DIY Cuff / bangle form : Inexpensive & Quick

Hi !

When I started making bangles & cuffs , the first obstacle I faced was finding the right form to base my bangle around. I started making them using an empty soda can. I could wear it with a bit of discomfort , but I was finding it difficult to find a measurement that fit me exactly.

One way to find your size is by making a few bangles on different forms , such as tumblers , glass bottles and big sized cookie cutters. The drawback is that if the size is not right , you may have a few unusable bangles in your hand.And of course potentially wasted clay.

Then there are a few of us who find even this quite difficult because we cannot find the right sized form to use, even after much trial . This DIY is particularly for you.


MAKING YOUR OWN BANGLE/ CUFF FORM ( The lazy girl trick )
Please read the notes ( on the bottom of the post) as well before starting this project.

Supplies : Bangle , Caliper, Toilet paper roll & Aluminium foil roll. 

Materials Needed 

1. Aluminium foil
2. Toilet paper roll
3. Circular Bangle that fits you correctly 
                            or

    measuring tape / scale & string / Caliper tool

Time taken : Ten minutes

Measuring 

If you have a bangle that fits you right , measure the diameter of it (1st measurement) . Reduce 2.5 or 3 millimeters from this measurement ( 2nd measurement).

OR

My husbands hand for reference

If you do not have a bangle ,then take the string or measuring tape and keep it ready.

1.Measure around the widest area of your palm.Make note of the measurement.

In my case it is : 21 cm.
2.Divide this measurement by 3. ( 7 cm for me) - 1st measurement.
3.Now minus .5 cm or 5 millimeters from this measurement ( 6.5 cm for me) - 2nd measurement 


                                                                                                   Getting the form ready

Unravel the toilet paper roll , till the diameter of the roll is the 2nd measurement. In my case 6.5 cm.

Tear the aluminium foil to go around the ( now smaller roll) paper 2 to 3 times.

Holding the now aluminium foil wrapped roll, slowly tuck in the excess amount sticking out from either side , into the empty core of the roll.




Also:

• This measurement is for a bangle/cuff that fits snugly over your knuckles and falls to your wrist.If you regularly wear bangles , this would be correct for you.
• If you prefer your bangle to be of a looser fit around the knuckles, deduct .25 cm from your first measurement rather than .5 cm

                                                                                  OR

The truly lazy method ( which I use )

• Measure around your hand as in the picture I have attached.Make a note of the measurement. 
• Start tearing away the paper roll till it starts becoming thinner. periodically measure around it , so that the circumference of the roll is same as that of your hand.
• Tear away a few more sheets so that the roll circumference is a few millimeters less than your hand measurement.
• Tear the aluminium foil to go around the ( now smaller)paper roll 2 to 3 times.
• Holding the now aluminium foil wrapped roll, slowly tuck in the excess amount sticking out from either side , into the empty core of the roll.

That's it ! 

The total cost of purchase I incurred was around Rs. 90/-.
I have only used half a roll of toilet paper + a quarter roll of aluminium foil , thus  I actually utilized materials of about only Rs.40/-

Note : 

• Since the inside is tissue paper , I will not recommend using this more than few times.If you liked making bangles , and would like to do it regularly , it would be wise to invest in a form that is sold commercially. If that is not possible , try making a form similar to this , but only using aluminium foil.
• A kitchen roll could be substituted for the toilet paper roll. You might need to cut it down to size to fit in the oven better.
• The extra tissue can be used for armature building or for wiping down your work space etc.

If you have any questions , I would be happy to answer them.
Thanks for reading ! have a great day !

#2015PCChallenge : Week 35 : caned bangles

Hi !

I discovered that I had a 2oz slab of Premo wasabi with me . I was not sure what I could do with it. I made a skinner blend of it with white and paired it with a skinner blend of navy blue & white. These were the results.
I actually liked the cane and the color wasabi waaay more than I thought I would. I unfortunately reduced the canes too much ( never know when to stop :( ).

Thanks for dropping in ! Have a great day :)

#2015PCChallenge : Week 33 & 34 combo

Happy Onam everyone !

This week I am posting for both week 33 & 34. I could not post last week due to an internet issue, which is now rectified ( thank God ! ).

So,week 33 : Batik Printing on Polymer clay with Alchohol ink

I had been planning on trying out a batik effect for a while , but I kept putting it off. Recently I have been seeing the batik effect on polymer clay , popping up quite often online. Last week I was talking to Preethy ( fellow clayer & friend ) , and I mentioned this.She very helpfully explained to me the process that is followed for textiles. Keeping that information in mind , I gave this a try.

While I am quite happy with this  , I don't think it completely captures the spirit of Batik printing. I certainly could not get the veiny effect , which is something I love.I have not varnished this since I like this texture.I made this for me , so I might as well as check out how the colors fade in time.
I have a semi idea in my head to get the veins as well , hopefully it works out :)

Artybecca has a pretty great tutorial on this. She also has other amazing stuff if you are wondering. Thank you Artybecca :) I am certain that , this is the reason I was able to do this technique quite easily.

For some reason the rubber cement / masking fluid I had was not working very well with the clay , and I was rather stuck the last time.This time ,I was playing with some split fevicol and discovered that white glue does this job just fine.It worked much better than I anticipated.

Week 34 : Simple textures

I was planning on doing an Onam themed challenge , but I finally changed course and made something I could wear for onam :)
Little selfish huh ?

so here it is , week 34 :

Primary piece : Chunky  rustic earring , translucent clay with acrylic

I love translucent clay. I dont know why I am fascinated with it , but its probably tied with my love for alcohol inks. So when I realized that all stores have run out of translucent clay here I was very sad. I finally found a few bars a few weeks before  and I ordered it immediately. The clay I received was super crumbly and I was absolutely unable to work wit it.

I was very upset , so I hid it away.

This week I wanted to make a floral cane ( which I did not make btw ), and I wanted some translucent clay to fill in the spaces. Since all I had were the crumbly clay , and no amount hammering was helping me out in making them workable , I finally decided to give a go with baby oil to soften it up.

I was very hesitant about doing this , because the very first pack of translucent clay I bought was crumbly, and I attempted to soften it by adding baby oil. It unfortunately backfired. All the pieces I attempted  using that batch were crumbly after baking, even though the other pieces ( which did not contain translucent) baked just fine.

Yes , I can use TLS / clay softner as well , but the thing is , TLS & clay softners are rare here.they are impossible to find. I do not want to use TLS here , and finish my stash , so this was the only option.And with so many clayers swearing by it , it must contain some truth ,even if my first experiment was a disaster.

Anyway, this time it worked.

What did I do differently ?
 I worked the oil in without natural absorption the first time , baked it within a few hours to a day after softening it.
The second time , I smashed the clay and put it in a ziploc. Poured more oil than I planned, and forgot about it for around four days,Then made it into an oily (icky) blob and wrapped with a printer paper , and left it to leach for half a day.This resulting clay was softer , but not even. So I then worked it with my hands , part by part ( took me a few hours ) eventually resulting in an even soft texture. I left it for a day ( in another ziploc) and then took a small piece and randomly put in a few drops of alcohol ink. Baked it and Tada ! it

So the end result is not spectacular to look at , but what it stands for is pretty amazing to me :)

Secondary piece : My selfish piece for Onam

This is my great grand piece to wear with my kerala saree ( when I get to it).

 It took an awful amount of time and a nice  little boil sort of thing on my finger with all the chaffing from the mini pliers.

 I bought a few ball end pins last month.Even though it was clearly mentioned 20 mm , I happily bought it ( I didnt see ( UGH )). What happened was that they were too tiny for my original plan , so I had to scrap that . For the next trial I used some gold colored seed beads instead. They were still surprisingly difficult to wrap around.
Then I tried to reduce the thickness of the clay instead ( made other disks) , but they crumbled( after already using up quite a number of my limited stock of ball ends).So I went back to the original plan. As you can see, the wrapping is below par , some have one wrap , some have two. I am too exhausted to sit and redo it, since it only for me,I guess I will just keep fixing it if something happens. On the other hand they are quite snug , and I don't think they will fall off.

Both the earrings look quite heavy , but they are quite light weight ! The second one looks quite dressy and its gold , so hopefully I can wear it for some function soon.


Thanks for reading this lengthy & rambly post :) Happy Onam everyone ! Wishing you & your family peace & prosperity !Have a great day :)

#2015PCChallenge : Week 32 : Colorful Rustic cuffs

Hi !

This time I made a simple, yet colorful rustic style cuffs.These are the first attempts of this style for me , so will be working on this style for the next two weeks as well.
I have wanted to make these ever since I bought the Rustic beads tutorial from the BlueBottleTree blog , but I kept putting it off.I was feeling rather "off" for the last month, so I thought I shall revisit the basics and this was the result.
While I am quite happy with them , there are quite few kinks to be worked out.
Just one pic with both the bangles this time.

Thanks for reading & have a great day !

The Dremel Trial

Hi !

I finally received my Dremel around 2 days back. I was very very excited to try it out. I had tried using a manicure drill previously for buffing the jewelry pieces , however the RPM was too low and I didn't get any particular result from it.

While I was very excited about the Dremel , I was also quite worried about it. I have never ever worked with power tools , and it frankly scared me quite a lot.

The only thing I learnt because of the manicure drill episode was not to use the felt buffing wheel provided. While I think the buffing wheel can be used ( very carefully ) to perhaps even out the texture , it does not help in any way with the polishing.

I read this article on Desired Creations , about how to rig your own Dremel wheel for polymer clay
and I have followed the tutorial for unstitched rig.This site has lots of other interesting topics too.

 So , I did make my own rig by cutting up a very fine and soft cotton dupatta , ( A shawl worn with a churidar) which has been lying around since I snagged it on a nail, a few years ago. The next question was what would be the right RPM. I tried 5000 ( the minimum) , then 10000  ( not enough ) , then 15000. I was comfortable with 15000, however I tried to check with 20,000 , and the pieces just kept getting flung around. I believe 15,000 is my optimal RPM.

Lots of trial left , anyway first pics of my trial.The top picture is before the dremel buff , the second after. They have been sanded from 320grit to 1000 grit.

This pic was shot on different days , one cloudy and the other quite sunny. The banded ones are shinier than in the pic.

Thanks for reading :)
Have a good day !

Week 8 : Polymer Clay Challenge : Flowers in the jungle : Bangle and cuff

Hi !

This post is dedicated to my mother , the lover of flowers , the person responsible for me looking at everything in a different way. She taught me beauty is everywhere , and just because others may not always see it, it does not make its existence invalid.

I finally made something tangible with my pasta machine :) Yaaay ! I am so happy. This simple machine has reduced my work by more than half  and I was finally able to make some Skinner blends.
The jungle leaves were my second attempt , the orange petals my third and the pink petals my fourth.It was fun to make and I love wearing them. They looked perfect to me when it was fresh , but now that I have sanded and tried to buff the inside as much as possible , I can certainly see the areas where I must improve.

So here they are , entry for week 8 for the polymer clay challenge.The primary piece and companion piece are photographed together. The bangle is the primary piece and the cuff is the companion piece.

Thankd for reading :) Have a good day !

Week 7 : Polymer Clay Challenge : Dragon Cuff & Bangle

Hi !

I am presenting both original and companion piece together : My dragon cuff ( primary) and my dragon bangle ( companion)

This is a bit of miracle as far as I am concerned , you see this is a floral bangle that got burned. I had somehow turned the temp knob up and I did not notice it. My nose isn't too functional ( myriad allergies) so I did not smell it out.When I happily went after an hour, opened the oven and saw it spewing out the toxic smoke , my heart was broken.I mechanically went through the crazing process, that's what dunking it in ice cold water is called, and waited for the smell to go away.

After a few sad hours I went back to the bangle / bracelet and I looked at them. Strangely , I liked it. I wore it for a few hours, then my husband came back from office and was all " whoa , that's a cool dragon bracelet ! " I was a happy girl.

I am also a lazy girl , I hate sanding.So this was lying around for a few weeks now and I found it a while back and I tried to fix it :) I love the end result !

Thanks for reading :)

Week 5 : Polymer clay challenge

Hi !

I am finally done with my companion bangle.It was done yesterday, but it was dark by the time I got done , so I couldnt take any photos till today.

And Tada ! Here it is : Rustic cuff in dusky rose ( I am going to work on naming them ).

I am happier with this than the blue snaky one.

Thanks for your feedback, and have a great day!

Week 5 : Polymer Clay Challenge 2015

Hi !

Here I am with my first post for the #2015PCchallenge. Hopefully , this challenge is not only going to help me push my creative boundaries , but also teach me some discipline !

I jump started directly on to the week 5 , but this is my first submission.

I had started with 2 bracelet / cuffs last week before entering the contest , I was able to complete one for this challenge.

As usual, all I can see are glaring mistakes and lack of finishing. While these are a pretty good improvement over my very first trials ( you can see the disastrous earrings in the first few entries) , their finish still leave a lot to be desired.

It was very difficult to sand the little bumps.I completely changed the shape of most them trying to get the original colour back. The tiny snakes and bumps were linty and I was lost quite lost trying to clean them up.

If anyone interested in polymer clay is reading,this I would appreciate it if you could share the way you clean out and sand tiny crevices in your polymer clay projects.

There is a partner bangle to this blue fellow , I am trying to clean up that one without distorting the original form. I shall try to put my final version soon .

Thank you for reading.I appreciate comments and feedback. :)

Have a good day!