It took a couple tries to hand make a polymer clay cover.
I used to watch many YouTube videos of creators' hand making polymer clay book covers. I finally convinced myself to give it a try! It took me a couple attempts to create a 3-dimensional book cover that (I hope) won't break or fall off any time soon.
Attempt #1: "ART"
I didn't know what I was doing. Even though I watched several videos on how to make a polymer clay book cover, I couldn't remember anything I learned. My mind went completely blank.
Instead of pulling up a few videos to watch while making my own cover, I figured I'd go ahead and learn from my own hands-on experience. I risked ruining the piece completely, but I hoped a kinesthetic exercise would help me learn from my mistakes faster.
Fortunately, I didn't make any major mistakes that I know of. In fact, I liked how it turned out! Some of the paint colors I used were too dark for my liking, but that was an easy repainting fix.
After kneading some Original Sculpey polymer clay, I ran a few pieces through my clay conditioning machine. I then attached the flattened pieces together with a small hand roller.
The first mistake I made was using my clay conditioning machine at its thickest setting. I worried about its thickness and weight on a book cover that'll be opened and closed repeatedly each day.
I typically use my sketchbook away from a tabletop or other flat surface. I wasn't sure if the thick piece would somehow interfere with my use of the sketchbook while it rested on my lap no matter where I may be. Sometimes I like to hold the sketchbook up with my left hand while I drew or painted with my right hand. The sketchbook is already thick by itself.
The second mistake I made was baking the piece for too long or at a temperature too high for its size and thickness. I normally make polymer clay charms and small figures. I used the same time and temperature settings when I should've adjusted it for a thicker and larger piece.
The baked piece was burnt. The burn marks didn't bother me because I was going to paint over it anyway. However, a long crack on the surface concerned me. I worried about it being too brittle for use as a cover for a book I'll carry and use daily.
The last mistake I made was using paint colors that were too dark for the black background. I never thought about how the acrylic paints I used would dry darker than they appeared on my palette. I should've used lighter shades of blue, green, and red for a better contrast against the black background.
Despite these mistakes, I proceeded to complete the painting and protected it with a couple coats of spray varnish. While I decided not to adhere it to my sketchbook cover, I'm keeping it as a decorative item. It's currently propped up on my desk against the wall, but I'll probably relocate it onto a shelf somewhere.
Attempt #2: "CREATE"
The first attempt taught me a lot, but I still made a few mistakes with this second attempt at creating a polymer clay book cover.
I used a thinner setting on my clay conditioning machine. This piece was more than half the thickness of the one I previously made.
The first mistake I made was NOT baking the flat base before adding the 3-D parts. Because I created the entire piece in one sitting, the base warped during the baking process. I didn't have a way to flatten it with the weight of a couple heavy books. Because of this, I struggled to get the piece to stay flat on the sketchbook cover after I adhered it with E-6000 glue.
The second mistake I made was making the 3-D parts of the piece (i.e., scissors, paint tube, pencil, etc.) a bit too thick. While the base of the polymer clay piece was thinner, I think the overall thickness when I finished wasn't that much thinner than my first attempt. If I could do this over again, I wouldn't have made the 3-D parts as thick as I made them.
Because of the thick parts over a thin base, some of the 3-D parts cracked at the seams where it connected to the base. I did use bake and bond to attach all polymer clay parts to the base, but it didn't matter after baking.
The last mistake I made was NOT painting the background black before painting with other colors. I decided to paint the foreground first with hopes of maintaining vibrant colors. However, I gave myself more work with painting the background color carefully and touch-ups of the parts I accidentally painted black.
I also had a couple regrets that never crossed my mind until after I completed this piece.
First, I regret not representing different art supplies on this piece. While the scissors, marker, and pencil were items not represented in my first attempt, I wished I didn't repeat the paintbrush, paint tube, and paint splatters. If I could do this again, I would've incorporated a glue bottle, tape dispenser, and craft knife to better represent the "CREATE" theme.
Lastly, I regret using E-6000 glue to adhere the piece to the front cover of my sketchbook. The glue worked but didn't dry as quickly as I wanted. The edges of the polymer clay piece kept lifting. I was constantly applying pressure with my fingers and binder clips to keep the edges flat.
I eventually gave up and placed a couple heavy books on the cover. Unfortunately, there were some parts of the edges that don't sit flat on the sketchbook cover. If I had contact cement at home, I would've used it to adhere the polymer clay piece to the sketchbook cover.
My Thoughts
I'm glad I attempted to make a polymer clay book cover. I had fun! It was fun to create a polymer clay craft I've never tried before. It was also fun to paint the baked pieces.
The best part was seeing the finished designs, while not perfect, as creative hand-made pieces created by me!
What's Next?
To celebrate Procrastination Week, I've decided to do nothing worthwhile for the rest of this week. Cleaning, organizing, and taxes can wait until next week... or later.
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Thanks, and have a great day!
Simply Jelly Jam
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