Coming to FaerieCon, I'll be showing you how to incorporate beautiful flickering lights into your costumes and art projects!  No knowledge of Ohm's Law necessary ;).  I'll teach you just what you need to know to begin to develop your own soft circuits using LED lights and microprocessors.  

We'll be doing some sewing, but nothing an absolute beginner couldn't accomplish.  There will only be a few spots available for this class, but the project and some variations on it will be made into an ebook and an online course this winter.

I sure hope you can join me in Baltimore to add some mystical glow to an industrial looking hotel ball room!

One super important thing to keep in mind about 2-part epoxy clay is that it is permanent.  Really, really permanent.  This stuff bonds stronger than super glue and does not come off with a little acetone like glue does.  Once it is on something, you better love it there because it is staying.  

How, may you ask, did I discover the epic bonding power of epoxy clay?  Well it wasn't from reading the instructions or any warnings.  I didn't so much as peep at a blog post about it.  Nope.  I jumped right in and started making stuff.  I ruined my folding work table in the process.  It looked like it had broken out putty grey acne.  No zit cream will help epoxy acne!  But the best part was the glob I got on my left thumbnail.  It was an amorphous blob hanging right by the cuticle.  I did not wash my hands frequently enough and it set up on there.

It looked like the tiniest hinkypunk took a crap on my nail, and I had to let it grow out.  Worst.  Nail art.  Ever.  So avoid my tragic mistakes:  learn about the media, wash your hands, and protect your work surface.  

So here are some things you'll need to get into working in epoxy clay!

One of the wonderful things about epoxy clay is that it holds sharp detail well.  It will brilliantly hold detail from a silicon mold.  You can see above my absolute favorite and my least favorite 2 part silicone molding compounds.  The purply-pink stuff is what Michael's and other craft stores tend to carry.  Don't be fooled by it.  It is garbage.  When it sets up it's limper than a pancake in the rain.  Soon as you begin to press some clay in there it flattens out like a pancake in the rain under my truck tire.  

The larger containers are the best 2 part silicone molding compound I have ever tried.  It's called Alley Goop and you can get it from Clay  Alley.  These molds are firm, not limp; a firm mold is better (wink).  They are firm enough to not completely distort as you press clay into them, yet flexible enough to easily pop your casting out.  They really take a detailed impression as you can see from the crow original next to his mold.  If you plan to mold your epoxy, get some goop!

Finally, the same tools you feel comfortable using for polymer clay tend to work well for epoxy.  Just remember to wash them often.  Soap and water does the trick.  I often rub the mineral oil over them before I work and after a wash to give an added layer of protection from having that clay set up on my tools.  

Next up, blending and working with the clay and some tips on coloring it yourself!  There is an art to timing here, you won't want to miss it!  If any questions have come up for you, pop them below and I will answer them!  In a short time I'll have the newsletter exclusive project up for newsletter members, you can sign up below!

I've been nursing a growing dissatisfaction with polymer clay for a long time.  I still like part of what it lets me do, but I think it has become too constricting.  It's brittle, it will fade out in sunlight, and it has to bake all the way through to have a long life.  Proper curing is a science of its own.  

My mind is filled with bird feeders and fountains.  I want to make wispy and delicate jewelry.  I have fallen in love with lights and want to make sconces and chandeliers.  Very different things from my past work, and polymer clay is not well suited.  

I've been using Epoxy for some time now, specifically Aves Apoxiesulpt.  My customers have really loved their pieces and my students have been asking me to teach the medium.  So here goes!  Over the next few weeks I'll be working on some blog posts discussing how to use epoxy.  Today we'll discuss the many kinds of epoxy clays and the pros and cons of the epoxy vs. polymer.  In the next week I'll show you some tools and other things you will need to work well with epoxy.  I'll post a few tips and tricks, like how to color the white epoxy clays.  At the end of the basics, I'll pop up a simple project to get you used to the feel of the clay.  You'll want to be on my newsletter, because I am doing an exclusive tutorial right in the newsletter using epoxy.  Sign up to the right or on the bottom of the page.  

This is my favorite kind of epoxy clay.  Aves Apoxie Clay  I have tried a few others, Crystal Clay and Magic-Sculpt among them.  I like the Aves better because the Clay is firmer and holds detail well.  Epoxy clay works very differently from polymer.  Polymer clay is PVC and a plasticizer that hardens when the clay reaches the right temperature for the right amount of time.  Epoxy is a self-hardening clay.  Like liquid resin, two parts are mixed together, beginning a chemical reaction.  Over a 24 hour period the clay hardens.  No kiln needed, no oven required.

Let's get down to the real nitty gritty.  What are the key differences between the clays.

Next up, the dos and don'ts of epoxy!  What I want you to do now is to comment or e-mail me with anything you want to know about epoxy clays.  I'll answer as many of them as I can!