Crafts by Chris » Crafts by Chris

in the studio – where does the time go

Chris — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:17:33 +0000

Where does the the time go? It’s May already. So much going on. I had company Thursday through Sunday last week. Twenty years ago today my hubby and I were married. Our oldest son graduates in less than three weeks. We also have three nieces graduating this year (hubby comes from a big family). Oh, Mother’s day and the son’s 18th birthday are in there too.

So, what’s going on in the studio? A custom bead order. Color mixes for the Premo Fall 2012 polymer clay color recipe ebook, which I hope to get done sometime this month. I probably won’t get to the Kato and FIMO versions until June. I’m also working on my homework for Teaching Art Online class.

My Etsy shop was looking rather chaotic with color recipe ebooks, tutorials, beads and jewelry, so I split out the beads and jewelry into a new shop – Crafts by Chris Studio B. I’m still working on moving things over and adding newer things, but it’s getting there.

FIMO Classic Spring 2012 Color Recipe Ebook

Chris — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:40:57 +0000

Whether you aren’t comfortable mixing colors or just want to save yourself some time, these recipes are for you.

Bigger and better!

* 80 polymer clay color recipes from PANTONE’s Spring/Summer 2012 color trends.

* 47 pages in PDF format

* Trend info by color collection

* All recipes use FIMO Classic polymer clay.

* Recipes are formatted as printable “recipe cards”.

* Ideas for organizing your color recipe cards.

Price: $10.00

one of those mornings and spring 2012 colors

Chris — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:46:34 +0000

It’s been one of those mornings. I slept through my alarm, which meant the youngest missed his bus and I had to drive him to school. It was very frosty this morning….drivers side door wouldn’t unlock…got in through passenger side and hit the door lock…scrape frost off windows…get the kid in… my door won’t shut…drive kid to school holding on to door (which is very hard to do)…door shuts fine when I get home…imagine that. I’m hoping the rest of the day goes much better, even though it’s a busy one.

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.”
~Claude Monet

As you might have guessed by the above quote and photo, I have been mixing Spring 2012 colors. My goal is to have the Premo Spring 2012 Polymer Clay Color Recipe Ebook in my shop by this weekend. I also hope to have the FIMO and Kato versions finished before the end of the month. Of course, I’ve yet to put up Christmas decorations or do any Christmas shopping…..

new website

Chris — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:19:52 +0000

My new website is live! Please take a look around and let me know what you think. There will be more fun things coming, but the basics are covered. My polymer clay color recipe ebooks and tutorials can be purchased though the shop link and are set up for instant download. NICE! For the time being, beads and jewelry haven’t been added to the website, but can still be purchased in my Etsy shop.

Speaking up my Etsy shop, I’m currently having a sale.

Just a heads up, I will be out of town November 10th through the 16th. My Etsy shop will be on vacation during that time. So, if you need something, you might want to get it before then. Did I mention the sale going on now? Color recipe ebooks and tutorials will still be available for purchase though my website.

Have a great weekend!

lookee what came in the mail today

Chris — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:00:24 +0000

Several months ago I was asked to do a color article for the new, “From Polymer To Art” magazine. A simple color article grew to include cut out color recipe cards, trends article and collectable Deal-A-Muse cards (which is part of a larger project in the works). You can purchase the magazine at From Polymer To Art website. Also available from Polka Dot Creations.

Looking for more color recipes? You will find seasonal polymer clay color recipes available in my ArtFire shop or my Etsy shop.

four letter word

Chris — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:30:29 +0000

Get your mind out of the gutter, this four letter word is snow. Spring was upon us….we even had our first tornado warning of the season, but Mother Nature is a tease.

What’s going on in the studio? I’m just about finished with the Premo! fall polymer clay color recipes, but I’m waiting on a clay order to finish up. For those of you that have been collecting these recipes from the beginning, your pile of recipe cards is getting rather big. Since I’ve added FIMO recipes to the mix and will be adding Kato recipes soon, I needed a better way to store them all.

My solution was to print the recipes on business cards and insert them in plastic protector sheets for business cards. Each brand of clay has it’s own binder. I’m looking into the best way to produce the cards in a format that can be printed directly to business cards, which would be easier than printing on card stock and cutting out all the little cards….

more on Premo cobalt blue and zinc yellow

Chris — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 17:04:06 +0000

Polyform Products has announced that cobalt blue and zinc yellow will continue to be available through Polymer Clay Express, Munro Crafts and Creative Wholesale.

While it’s wonderful that these colors will still be available, I get the uneasy feeling that it may not last. Why? This is the way that Polymer Clay Express announced it on their blog, “We will be carrying Zinc Yellow and Cobalt Blue Premo throughout 2011!!”. The throughout 2011 part is what concerns me. My guess is that Polyform Products will reevaluate 2011 sales of cobalt blue and zinc yellow and may or may not continue them beyond 2011.

Unfortunately the sales will probably not end up being enough to support continuing these colors. The main reason being the limited availability. While the die hard professional artists will order the colors to be able to continue their color palettes, hobbyists will probably not bother. Pörrö, brought up another issue in her comment to this post, mainly that these colors won’t be available wholesale to non-US businesses.

What does this mean for my Premo polymer clay color recipe ebooks? Well, for now they still include cobalt blue and zinc yellow in the mixes, including the most recent spring/summer 2011 version. Sometime after the first of the year when I get my hands on the new colors I will do some mixing, but I just don’t think that you’re going to be able to match the colors without cobalt and zinc yellow. I do have plans to add color recipe ebooks for FIMO, Kato and possibly Pardo Art Clay.