BBSweets

Thanks so much guys! Hmm... Yes, I think I could do the clip on type earrings. I'm pretty sure I have some of those somewhere! I'm really excited about all of my faerie accessories. I've always loved faeries and I wanted to incorporate that into jewelry and other trinkets. I'm so glad you guys like my things!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share some of my new designs with you! These are part of my new Faerie Collection: Faerie Bracelet Berry Earrings to match the bracelet Faerie Journal (The little butterfly is the journal!) Magical Wishing Stones Pixie Dust I hope you guys like them! They're supposed to be made of things that faeries use - berries, flowers, pixie dust, etc. Let me know what you think!

Oh I love those! So cute!

Thanks so much everyone! elle110, I sent you an e-mail!

Thanks again everyone! I just love working with polymer clay; it's so relaxing... Most of the time! :pI love the whole design process, too. Except for when I have more ideas than I have time to try them out! Oh! IndyGirl and thesoapbox, I sent you guys an e-mail!

Thanks! I think they turned really well. They look just like little candles! Done! I think... My computer did something weird after I hit the submit button. Let me know if it didn't go through. I would have sent another message, but I didn't want to clutter up your inbox, in case it did go through!

That's good to know. I was wondering about ordering from them. At least that's one supplier I can mark off my list for FO!!

The advice I always give to new polyclayers is to practice, practice, practice!! I learned very early on that this is a craft that requires a great deal of patience! I almost gave up in the very beginning. After you've done it for a while, you sort of get a 'feel' for it, and you know how much pressure to apply, etc. I tried to get my mom and my sister-in-law into it, but they didn't get very far. I see a lot of people try it and not like it because they aren't able to get the clay to do exactly what they want. Just go into it knowing that there is going to be a lot of trial and error involved!

Okay, so after Laura's post, I got inspired to make some little votive charms! Here's the charms: I went ahead and put one on a necklace to see how it would hang. And here's a couple of bracelets that I made with the charms: The little candles are a little over 1/2" tall, and made of polymer clay! I would love to know what you guys think!

Thanks everyone! That is a wonderful idea!!! :yay:I think I'm going to go play around with that idea right now!

Thanks guys! I don't use any molds or anything. Everything is smooshed into shape by me. LOL I've been working with polyclay for nearly 7 years now! I also love working with beads and making jewelry, so most of the time I just tell people that I make jewelry because that covers most of my hobbies! I've also done candy making/cake decorating, crocheting, scrapbooking. Plus I collect travel memorabilia (postcards, guidebooks, etc.) and I love Disney World! Oh how I love Disney World! I've been there 13 times, the most recent was back in January and my next trip will be in January 2008!!! I love to answer questions about Disney World and help people plan their trips - so if any of you are going soon, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have! I am more than happy to help! Hmm... Looks like I'm really typeative this morning!

How neat that everyone can share other hobbies they have! I do a lot of things with polymer clay: Cinnamon rolls with icing! Tropical charm collection Tinkerbell cupcake! LOL SnowCones Parfaits Ice cream scoops A Day at the Beach bracelet with a polymer clay sandcastle. Castle charms Lollipop bracelet with real encased jellybean charms Little princess bracelet Birthday Cupcake Necklace w/ candle Chocolate chip cookie necklace This is only a small portion of the things I have done. I'm always making something with polyclay! All of the polymer clay charms are ones that I made. No molds, no paint. All of them are around or under 1" since they are meant for jewelry and other trinkets. I hope you guys enjoy!

Same here. I think it's just plain silly. (I guess some people don't know about the PrintScreen button!) I like to save all kinds of pictures to my computer, especially around Christmas time, to help me decide on gifts and such for friends and family. It's much easier to save a picture, and use the website's name as the title, than it is to bookmark a bunch of websites that I may or may not remember why I even bookmarked in the first place. Not to mention I e-mail my Mom all the time with pictures of cool things I've found online! One thing I don't understand... Why would someone even want to use someone else's pictures of craft products and such?? When the customer got their merchandise in the mail, wouldn't it look totally different from the picture??

Oooh... That's probably better! That's great that they have their FO out for sniffing. There's quite a few on their site that I've had my eye on. Cheesecake, Cinnamon Bun, Gingerbread... Plus, I'm going to get my aroma beads from there, too.

You can have your order waiting for you??? Oh my goodness. Now that's service! LOL Although I think it would be fun to wander around looking at everything, too. Of course 'wandering around' in a store usually gets me in trouble!

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I read on there that someone uses a toaster/craft oven for their ornies, so that's what I'm going to use. At least at first. I just want to make a few smaller ones and see how that goes. But I am still curious about getting the smell out of your oven. Or maybe since they're only in the oven for a few minutes, it doesn't leave much of a smell...? I guess I'll find out!

I live right off Broadway! I can't believe there's a candle supplies store so close. That is really good to know that they are a good place to shop. I just hate paying for shipping. Well, actually, I hate paying the 'handling' fees. I guess shipping charges aren't that bad if you can find a place that just charges the actual shipping cost. Plus, I'm very impatient. So I'm really glad to have a place that I can just make a quick trip to pick up quick little items.

Thanks so much for all the help and tips! I'm really excited to start working on some ornies for Christmas! I just found out that Aztec International is only about 7 miles from my house, so I'm going to stop by there tomorrow and get some aroma beads. I already have a bunch of cookie cutters, so I"m just going to use those at first. And then I have the links to all the great cookie cutter places... Thanks again for all your help!

I've been searching forever trying to find a color chart for the liquid dyes at www.thecandlemakersstore.com. I want to get dyes from here because they are available in the 1/2 oz. bottles. They also look like they have a wonderful color selection, but I can't find any information about any of the colors! No color chart or anything! Here's the page I'm looking at: http://www.thecandlemakersstore.com/category/candlecolorsdye.candle_colors_brand_dyes/ The custom colors sound really neat as well... But there's no further information about them! And when I click on the Dye & Color Information link, it brings up a blank page. Has anyone ordered dyes from here before? Or can someone help me with what their colors look like? I've sent them a message asking for more info., but I'm really impatient, so I thought I'd post here as well. Thanks for any help!

After spending most of they day either on these boards or melting wax, I have decided that I want to try some Aroma Bead ornies! They sound like so much fun! Really I think I’ve just become addicted to melting and scenting things… I’m really looking for a cute little trinket that will really give off a lot of scent. I plan on using them as a little free gift when people order jewelry from me. Since I’ve seen that these are used as air fresheners, I’m guessing these will work great! I do have a few unanswered questions though… When looking for fragrance oils to use for the ornies, should I look for oils that have a good cold throw? Is that a good indicator of how well the scent will travel? Or am I just totally misunderstanding the whole concept of scent throw with fragrances? LOL Also, some of my FOs smell quite funky OOB. And I know that OOB is not the best way to get the most out of the FOs. Sooo… Will the ornies sort of… You know… Smell better after they have been actually made into ornies? Are all aroma beads created equal? I’ve been looking online and some suppliers say their aroma beads can absorb up to 60% FO, while most absorb 30-40% FO. Is there really a difference in scent when using different aroma beads? I mean they all look the same… What is a good size to make the ornies? I’m thinking maybe 1 1/2”-3” at most. Since they’re just going to be a little free gift. How far in advance can you make and store them? I just had the thought of making them for craft shows for this fall, to include in customers’ bags. Will they hold their scent better if they are stored in little plastic bags? I was going to package them like that anyway, so will that work? I think that’s all of my questions for now! I can’t wait to get started on these!

I'm so excited about my first little melting project! I used beeswax, a bit of red candle coloring block, and rose FO. They smell so wonderful! For the little hanger things, I just pushed an eye pin into the wax before it was completely cooled. I read the suggestion in one of Henryk's posts and I think it's going to work great! I haven't decided on the type of stringing material I'm going to use though. Ribbon, silver/gold thread, etc. Actually, so far the natural hemp string looks the best. What else could I use? I think I'm going to make up a few different batches and send them as a little free gift when people order my jewelry. What would be a cute way to package them? I have so many ideas for color/scent combinations. Not to mention all the molds that I could use! I would love to hear everyone's thoughts and ideas about my melties!

Oh my goodness! That is very helpful!! Thank you so much! Your ornies are gorgeous! So glittery and beautiful; I love them!! (LOL I was searching for 'ornaments' - a quick search for 'ornie' brought up twice as many results just now! Thanks for the tip!) Did you ever figure out a good way to hang yours? I think what you were talking about in your thread were eye pins. I do a lot of jewelry making, and it sounded like you were describing eye pins. I use those a lot. I think that would be a wonderful way to hang the smaller ornies. I don't know if the heavier ones would slide off; do you think they would, or would the beeswax hold on really well? Maybe if you sanded the ends of the eye pins first that would help keep them from going anywhere! Do I need to use any sort of mold release since the beeswax is sticky? Or will they be okay without it if I use the silicon or rubber molds? I read somewhere that someone had to spray a mold release on their tart molds first. Did you add your glitter after they were molded and everything? If I sprinkle glitter in the molds first, will that work? I'm guessing that since BW is more opaque, mixing it in will not turn out great results...? I guess I'm just sort of thinking out loud right now. I have a bunch of Art Glitter that I think would be great to add a little pizzazz. I'm going through several different methods of adding the glitter in my head right now, but I'm not sure which would be the best way. Thanks again so much for your help, Henryk! I'm getting a lot of ideas for little things I could do with these! I think I'm gonna like these boards!!

Hmm... I think this would be the right place for these questions... I found a website the other day that gave some very brief instructions on melting beeswax, adding red coloring and cinnamon oil, and then molding into little hearts using a candy mold. And that was about the extent of the instructions!! Basically you ended up with a little scented, heart-shaped beeswax item to add to gift baskets and such. I would love to do something like this to add to my Christmas gift baskets this year. But I really don't know what all I'm supposed to do... Where do you get beeswax? Is there a good online supplier? What would be the best way to melt the wax? Do you have to use a double-boiler? Would another type of wax be easier/work better for this? Beeswax is really a yellow color; is there a wax that would work that is white? Is there anything I should add to the beeswax to make this work? What type of colorant should I use? Can you use any type of FO with beeswax? What about molds? Do you have to use a certain type of mold for this sort of thing? From what I read, these weren't meant to be heated in a tart warmer or anything. You just put them in a sunny window or near a heating vent to give off a little whiff of the scent every now and then. I don't think I would want mine to be cinnamon scented; I would like a different Christmasy scent. Would other scents be strong enough to cover the beeswax scent? Eee... I didn't realize I had asked so many questions! I'm so excited about this project; I just got carried away thinking of more questions! LOL I would like to do a few practice batches before Christmas to make sure I get it right. LOL Okay, I lied. I really just want to make a bunch of them right now because they sound fun! If anyone can help me, or point me in the direction of some more detailed instructions for something similar, that would be wonderful! Thanks guys!