Crafts by Chris » Crafts by Chris

monthly muse – tribal

Chris — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:28:11 +0000

February’s Monthly Muse inspiration is all about tribal prints in neutral colors like black, white and tan (Nomad). If you’re feeling bold… try adding a pop of color, like Tangerine Tango or Deep Orchid. Or add rich gold for a luxurious look.

I did manage to find a little time to make something for January’s Monthly Muse inspiration…

I’ve been hard at work on the color mixes for the Kato Spring 2012 polymer clay color recipe ebook and hope to have it ready to go soon. Next on the agenda is working on taxes and cleaning my studio. It’s amazing how quickly the mess gets out of hand. What are your plans for the month of February? Anyone working on something new and exciting?

FIMO spring 2012 color recipes and a blast from the past

Chris — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:50:49 +0000

Yes! The FIMO Spring 2012 color recipes are done and the ebook is now available right here on my website and in my Etsy shop.

The blast from the past happened a couple of days ago on Facebook. My friend Amy posted a couple photos….

…These were the beads that were on the cover of of Polymer Cafe magazine (Summer 2006). The frenzy refers to the good ole days of eBay when bidding frenzies often occurred.

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…..

Color Recipe Ebooks

Chris — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:44:15 +0000

Premo!
Premo Spring 2012 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $10.00	Premo! Fall 2011 Color Recipe ebook Price: $5.00	Premo! Spring 2011 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00	Premo! More Fall 2010 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00
Premo! Fall 2010 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00	Premo! Spring 2010 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00
FIMO Classic:
FIMO Classic Spring 2012 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $10.00	FIMO Classic Fall 2011 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00	FIMO Classic Spring 2011 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00
Kato Polyclay:
Kato Fall 2011 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00	Kato Spring 2011 Color Recipe Ebook Price: $5.00

What others are saying:
“It saved me so much time and taught me quite a bit about colour mixing as well.” P., United Kingdom

“I make up samples of each and glue to cards as Chris suggests. Then you can play with the samples to come up with combinations.” S., Iowa

“What an incredibly useful tool!” W., Texas

“Another excellent set of recipes, lovely colours and exceptional service.” S., New Zealand

“Great color guide! I never would’ve thought to put some of these combinations of clay together. This is now my new source for color combos!” L., Florida

in the studio – back to the basics

Chris — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:18:08 +0000

It’s back to the basics with a new line of polymer clay pendants, beads, jewelry, etc. that I’m currently working on. Often, less is more. Basic colors and shapes combined with simple lines give way to a crisp, clean look.

I decided to make the first pendant using the colors from this week’s color palette a week (CPAW).

I’m easing back into production work as I’ve been seriously slacking these past few months. Well, not really slacking…I have been working on color mixes for the polymer clay color recipe ebooks, things for From Polymer To Art magazine (the Orange Issue will be out soon) and the occasional bead here and there.

continuing concern over the possible loss of Premo zinc yellow and cobalt blue

Chris — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:33:58 +0000

Let me start by saying that Polyform Products has NOT said that they will be discontinuing cobalt blue or zinc yellow. However…..

If you work with polymer clay, you should read Carol Simmons’ recent blog post about the POSSIBLE future loss of zinc yellow and cobalt blue and weigh-in with your thoughts. While this issue mainly involves Premo polymer clay, it comes down to a numbers issue (number of sales), which somewhere down the road may affect other brands of polymer clay.

This is something that I brought up in this post when Polyform Products first announced that cobalt blue and zinc yellow would continue to be available through three online retailers.

“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.”

Now, let’s take a look at the even bigger picture. Polymer clay artists have worked hard to get to the point where polymer clay is considered an acceptable art medium. Then consider, said artists, having a limited color palette to work with. Imagine for a minute that Vincent van Gogh had denim blue instead of cobalt blue as a primary color to work with for his “The Starry Night” painting. It would be pretty drab, wouldn’t it?

I’ve been asked over and over again if I will continue to do seasonal color recipe ebooks with the “new colors” if it gets to the point that cobalt and zinc yellow are no longer available. The short answer is NO. The longer response is that I may continue to do color recipe ebooks, but they won’t be based on a specific seasonal color palette like they are now because there would be too many colors that can’t be matched without cobalt blue and zinc yellow.