| One way to use the Lazertran Silk Transfer Paper | |||
(Regular Lazertran package shown) |
Lazertran Silk
Take your collage of photographs or your printed images to a copy shop and have them copied to the glossy side of the Lazertran Silk. The only brand of copier not recommended is the Hewlett Packard brand. Ricoh, Minolta, Canon and Xerox - any of those would be fine. I used a Canon for my first experiments, and it seemed to work well. The images darken slightly in curing, so try to either make sure that your original is just a tad lighter than you eventually want, or have the copy shop lighten the images a little in the copying. There is no need to leave a margin if you don't want to, so you can pack a lot of images onto one sheet of Lazertran. Do not allow the shiny face of your transfer page to get wet... even the tiniest drop of water can ruin that part of the transfer. |
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Cut out the part of the image that you'll use. Turn it face down onto a sheet of clay, and rub it down carefully to make sure that you've got good adherence. |
Some images I've burnished well with a bone folder, others I have used just my fingers, and it doesn't seem to have any effect on the finished transfer, one way or the other. |
You can either hold the clay under running water, or drip water onto it or dab at the paper with a wet towel. Let the water soak in. Wait for a few seconds to a minute. |
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Either lift one edge of the paper, or just slide the wet paper off of the sheet of clay. Dry any surface moisture. It won't smudge or smear. |
Trim excess clay away. The clay can be manipulated at this point, to curve around a bead or other object or other clay surface. Cure. |
These are cured transfers waiting for frames. The Lazertran Silk doesn't leave any trace of an edge or shiny surface on the clay... just a very clean, detailed transfer. |
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Lazertran Silk transfer paper is shown on our miscellaneous page .
| Extruded Clay | ||
The extruded clay techniques are meticulous, but if you have a caulking gun to assist your clay gun, it doesn't have to hurt your hands. This bowl took four barrels of extruded clay to cover... it takes longer to remove the clay gun and fill and replace it than it does to actually extrude the clay. |
I used a block made of a Skinner blended rainbow of colors in Premo white pearl. Cut barrel-sized canes from the block, roll them slightly, and load the clay gun. |
Look for interesting things with which to pattern the extruded clay. I used a tiny technicians set of screwdrivers, a couple of hollow brass tubes and a small disposable scalpel which can get into tight corners and cut precise angles. I use nitrile gloves to minimize fingerprints. |
Just start with a single spiral, anywhere you want. After you've got the first one down, you'll immediately see where to put different shapes, where to echo curves in expanding arcs, where you'll want to add detail and where you'll want a smooth space for the eye to rest. You can cure this in stages. |
You can roll endless little tiny balls, or you can get almost the same effect with the hollow brass tube. The phillips screwdriver made an interesting kind of design. The dents from the flat follow several different patterns for more interest. Continue a pattern for the entire length of a strand, or just pattern a section of a strand. |
Lit from outside, a soft, muted mauve-y look:
Lit from inside, brighter pastels: 
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The extra thrust caulking gun is available on our equipment page , and the Sculpey Clay Gun is available on our tools page .
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Order safely on line - your card will not be charged until your order is shipped. |
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