My polymer clay button class at DFW Fiber Fest was the best! It was small, but everyone was very enthusiastic. In fact, they were so excited about the buttons they made, they scooped them up and went off to show their friends before I had a chance to take pictures.
Luckily, with a small class, I get to make buttons, too, so I’ll show you mine. We started with the incredibly easy Faux Lapis button (at left). Then we moved on to the easy and colorful swirl button (at right).
For the first time ever in one of my button classes, we did a joint project. We began with a core color, and then each person wrapped the core with different colors. We shared the resulting canes of clay, and made our own buttons. Here are mine.
The afternoon was devoted to polymer patchwork buttons, one of my specialties. Everyone’s patchwork buttons turned out well.
Any polymer project generates scraps, and I like to show how to make use of those scraps. Here are some buttons and beads I made from the patchwork button scraps.
This long piece is made from scraps of our class button project. Most polymer clay folks use this technique to make beads, which they call by several names. I prefer ‘Miracle Beads,’ because you can get such miraculous results. A person can also make buttons with the technique.
I was going to make buttons with this piece, but it turned out so cool, I decided to make it into a pendant. Can you see the kitty? Can you see the butterfly?
My class was most impressed. I told them it was just luck that it turned out that way–if I had chosen a different side to slice, it would have been completely different. They said, “We would have believed you if you had said you planned it that way!”