Sunday, October 29, 2006

Polymer Clay Snowman Buttons

Polymer clay is a wonderful thing for crafters and knitters can use it to make customized buttons for their garments. I am going to make buttons for the snowman vest and I'm going to show you how I do it. Almost every polymer clay book out there has the same technique (called "caning") that I'm going to use. It's taken from glasswork and you can use it to make many very detailed, nearly identical buttons.

The first step is to match the blues for the buttons. These are the colors I wanted to match. I used blue and white to match the left and blue and a little black to match the dark blue. Easy. I then made up larger amounts.



This is how to make the snowman face. I started with a hollowed out tube of white and added white and black strips for the smile. I then added more white and strips for the eyes. Then I rolled the cylinder to make the snowman face.




I then added two white body cylinders.







I surrounded the snowman with light blue and then dark blue.






Then, I rolled the cylinder down to about the size of a dime.






It's ready to be cut.







And we have buttons. I cut about 25 off the cane and I poked holes to sew them onto the vest and cooked them according to package directions.

Labels: , ,

12 Comments:

Blogger Jessica said...

Great tutorial. Thanks.

12:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those buttons will be great!

I haven't done a ny caning with polymer clay, but I shall have to give it a try at some point I'm sure! Thanks for the tutorial!

12:29 PM  
Blogger Debi said...

Very cool and cute Ali! Thanks!

12:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow! That is a very neat process indeed, thanks so much for the photo tutorial I want to try it sometime to make buttons. Yours came out perfectly! Does the clay remain durable after prolonged use as well?

3:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness- that is way, way, way neat!!!!!!

You are really, just too cool Alison.

6:32 PM  
Blogger Cheryl said...

Wow, can you believe I've never seen that done before! I thought each button was made individually, and I always wondered how people made several that looked so alike!

9:10 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness, those are soo cute!

12:51 PM  
Blogger maryse said...

i'm always amazed at how that works. and why the clay doesn't get all messed up.

really cute buttons.

1:34 PM  
Blogger Opal said...

And you do PMC?! You floor me with your talents! Those buttons are gonna be so cute.

4:38 PM  
Blogger Dorothy said...

Wow! You make it look so easy! I ordered the yarn to make the snowman vest for myself. Probably won't get to it until next year, but I love the pattern. Can't wait to see your finished with those lovely buttons.
dswaite@mac.com

12:25 AM  
Blogger al said...

that's incredible. i would be scared out of my mind to smush such a perfect-looking snowman into a tube of blue. but the tiny snowmen are still perfect! good job!

2:42 AM  
Blogger Chris said...

That's really cool - thanks for sharing!

10:07 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home