Thank you for sharing it this year, 2024, I hadn't seen this yet! Love your tutorials, they are so helpful and I have so much fun trying out your methods.
Fiona! I love your tutorials and I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this! Little tips like with the finger nail make my life so much easier. Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day!💕
Thank you Fiona! My mojo has been kick started! What a delightful keepsake box 💖 And as they are lightweight, I can send them to the people I love and miss. 😊
Thank you for another exceptional tutorial. I have followed many polymer clay artists on the Internet, (UA-cam, ETAL) and I seem to keep returning to your channel. Perhaps it's because of your teaching. Or, maybe it is because of the projects that you create? I'm not sure. The one thing that I am certain of is that your tutorials are straight forward and concise. And I appreciate the way you are able to explain an otherwise complicated project and simplify it for those of us that want to move into a more challenging project. Also, because I live in the USA, I appreciate that you use the standard measurement system and compliment it with the metric system. Thank you Fiona, Keep up the great work that you are doing. And God Bless you!
Thank you Glenda, I generally do one a fortnight :) they take a while to do, and are of course free, so I need some time to work on my clay pieces that I earn money from, a girl has to make a living ;)
Hi Fiona, Thank you so much for sharing your talent and knowledge with us. And these little boxes look indeed very cute! I have a query about the liquid clay. You mentioned that strictly speaking, there is no need to apply liquid clay on baked clay when we want to stick it on unbaked clay. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but it's just my feeling, that applying liquid clay onto baked clay to be joined onto unbaked clay, gives it a stronger support. Thank you for your tip.
Yes, to my mind it definitley gives it a stronger support, as it gets into any crevice that a flat sheet of clay, next to another one, may leave gaps in. But for many people starting out, a pot of liquid clay is another expense, so I try and let people know what is essential, and what they can 'get away with'. Of course it will stick to itself without it, but if you have some, I would add it in - I hope that helps explain why I said it 😉🙂
Those are adorable! I am very grateful for the time and effort it takes for you to develop, film, and edit these projects. I don't have a large enough heart cutter, but I am sure I can find some cutter to use.🙂 thank you.
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals no thank you I adore your work and have been binge watching all your videos again lol. Your talents are truly remarkable in everything you do from your clay work to oil painting even down to how you present the videos. You are a very talented and incredible lady Thankyou for sharing and bringing such amazingly beautiful art work into the world 💐
You always make it look so easy. Your videos are my textbooks! Keep up the amazing designs. My question is when you bake a piece then join it to another piece and bake again, do you bake the first piece for the for the full time or just a fraction of the recommended time?
Thank you Maria. I always bake for the full time - even a little longer - as you need the clay to get to the correct temperature for the needed time in order for it to properly cure at each stage :)
Hi Fiona: Please will you tell me whether or not clay can be "over-conditioned"? That is, if you are permitting questions from beginners here? Otherwise, I just want to say I aspire to your level of skill and design brilliance. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts.
If you work with it for a very long time, kneeding it and warming it up, it can become too soft for what you are trying to do with it. So it is not so much over conditioned, as just a little bit overwarmed :) If that happens, just put it to one side to rest for a bit and it should stiffen again slightly :) Have you seen the articles by Ginger Davis Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree ? She has doen numerous research on all things polymer clay and has the answer to most questions you may have. She has free articles and some amazing tutorials to buy too, so if you havent seen her sight, pop on over and check out the articles for loads of really useful information :) thebluebottletree.com/category/articles/ I hope that helps :)
Thanks very much! I’m trying to learn from quality people such as yourself, Fiona, so I do appreciate your kindness in what must be fundamental answers to a beginner’s ignorance of materials, tools and the arts. I’ll go there to learn more! Thanks for being you, and for the helpful advice and link. Highest respect, k
Thanks Tracey :) It obviously doesn't give as good a bond, and you need to make sure the unbaked is fully 'suctioned' - can't think of a better word to describe it just at the moment ;) - to the baked, but yes, it will be stuck together after the curing process :)
I have never tried doing polymer clay art but your videos make me want to try it so bad! 🌸I absolutely love your work ❤️ if you had to recommend a project for a first timer what would you say I should start with?
Thank you so much Hannah :) If you wanted to do a box, then this is the easiest I have done :) The pens are very rewarding, both to do, and to give as presents, and my easy Kaleidoscope Cane is probably the best cane to start with :) I'll put the link to the other two here for you. I hope that helps? Pen - ua-cam.com/video/zCykR8Knxq4/v-deo.html , cane - ua-cam.com/video/uk32o_OY7eY/v-deo.html
Great tutorial. A pleasure to watch you create. Would it be a good idea to varnish this box, since there is gold leaf so that the leafing does not wear off?
Thank you Therese, and yes, I do varnish it, as I explain, for exactly that reason :) I mention the varnish at the end of the list of equipment, and at the very end of the video when I say I have varnished the finished piece :) i hope that helps :)
Thank you for this in-depth tutorial Fiona as always :) I have made a box for my Mum for Mother’s Day, I used silver leaf but majority of it has flaked off the sides of the box. (I did briefly sand the bottom edge with wet dry sandpaper so not sure if the water has made it come loose) Do you have any suggestion to stop this happening? Thanks in advance! :)
Hi Rosa, how lovely of you to make one for mother's day :) yes sadly, sanding, and exposing the leaf to water will have helped it become loose :( If you can, try and neaten the edges before baking to save on any sanding. You could also try varnishing the piece prior to sanding, that way it should hold the leaf in place more. Okay, what to do now. It is very difficlut to get the leaf to stick to the clay after baking, particularly in a nice random fashion. Maybe get a spong and lightly dab some PVA glue, sparingly down the sides, so hardly touching. When the glue has nearly dried, add some more leaf. Hopefully it will only stick to the glued areas, the rest will brush off, and then you can varnish over once the glue is fully dried. Alternatively you could add some gilders paste, or metallic acrylic paint onto the tip of your finger, again sparingly, and rub/dab some over the sides where the leaf has flaked off. Maybe practice on a piece of paper first till you are happy with the technique. I hope some of that helps :) Many thanks, Fiona
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals Thank you so much for that extremely detailed response! I will definitely try those methods out on paper and work out what will be best :) I will 100% be making this box again and I can perfect it for next time, thank you again! :D x
No you are not doing anything wrong. When clay sticks to the tiles and bakes, where it is on the tile it will often come out shiny, That is why I often bake with a sheet of card between the clay and the tile. However, for this project, the clay needed to be rolled onto the tile so that it held there firmly and stayed flat. There is the possibility then that the lid will come out shiny. Some tiles create more of a shine than others. Because I was then varnishing the final box, it didn't matter if the lid had some shiny spots, as the whole thing would become shiny with the varnish. I hope that helps a bit, and reassures you that you are not doing anything wrong :)
I'm a newbie. The only other thing I made was your fish (which turned out great!) But I'm wondering: how is polymer clay supposed to feel? I am attempting a box and my baked clay looks and feels like cheap plastic. Your projects never seem to have that look.
Some of the clays have a more 'plastic' look than others, so it does depend on which brand you use. My first thought though was that it sounds as though it has been baked at too high a heat? Is it possible your oven is not accurate? As you see in my videos I always tent my tile, or whatever I am baking on/in as this helps to protect against temperature spikes. That may be the cause. I hope that helps :)
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals Since this was my first box, I didn't want to use my best clay. So I used the cheaper Amazon no brand clay. I baked at 275 (my temp fluctuated from 260 to 288) while baking. But I use a convection toaster oven and per your recommendation, tented in foil prior to baking. So I am really hoping its the cheap clay. Is Fimo your brand of Choice?
@@teressa7666 It must be the clay you are using then. I have used FIMO for so many years, and it was the brand I started out using - I am talking FIMO Soft here - so I use it again and agian as I have quite a bit in stock ;) and I am so used to it. However in the past week I have also used some Premo and some Kato, so I do swap around between them quite a bit ;)
Which paper sheet? I do normally put wording under the list of equipment so that people can see what I am talking about? Let me know and I can tell you :)
Sublime !!! Merci ❤
Merci beaucoup 🙂
Love the blue and silver
Thanks so much Sandy :)
This is hands down the best clay trinket box tutorial I have seen. Thank you for sharing your experience, techniques, and best practices!
Thank you so much Jennifer 🙂
This is a delightful box, taken me a while to get to it for some unknown reason...really enjoyed it!
Thanks so much Fran :)
They are cool
Thanks so much :)
Love them
Thanks so much Susan :)
Thank you for sharing it this year, 2024, I hadn't seen this yet! Love your tutorials, they are so helpful and I have so much fun trying out your methods.
I am so glad you enjoy the videos, thanks so much 🙂
Brilliant and beautiful as always. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful ideas x
I am so glad you liked it, thanks so much 🙂
Very nice tutorial. - thank you for your time
Thank you very much :)
I love this box!! Thank you.
thank you so much Susan :)
I love heart shaped boxes and these are especially loveable 💜 really well made tutorial thank you for sharing some joy with us
thank you so much :)
Fiona thank you so much
You're welcome, thanks Mary :)
You are such a great teacher!! The trinket box is beautiful.
Thank you so much :)
Fiona! I love your tutorials and I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this! Little tips like with the finger nail make my life so much easier. Thank you and Happy Valentine’s Day!💕
Thank you so much Rhonda, so glad it helped, just don't go too far down, I got a nasty cut doing that once when I wasn't paying attention !! :)
A lovely box tutorial, you make it look quite easy! Thanks again for the pains you took to video and edit this to make it so watchable.
Thank you very much Janet :)
Thank you Fiona! My mojo has been kick started! What a delightful keepsake box 💖 And as they are lightweight, I can send them to the people I love and miss. 😊
Oh yes, that's a lovely idea :) Thanks Liz :)
An elegant little box. I’m gonna give it a go. Thank you so much for showing us how to make it.
thank you very much Leona :)
As always I look forward to your next tutorial and am never disappointed. Thank you for providing help and wonderful ideas to encourage others.
Thank you so much Kathy :)
Beautiful boxes, very well explained. I will definitely give it a try.
Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy making some :)
Hermoso !! Gracias x compartir.
muchas gracias :)
Another delightful tutorial. So classic and elegant. I love the heart shape. Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you very much Andrea :)
What a lovely trinket box, Fiona! And, as always, a wonderfully detailed yet easy to follow tutorial. Thank you Fiona!
Thank you so much Jennifer :)
So enjoyable to watch your tutorials Fiona, thank you.
Thank you so much Melinda :)
Fiona I love these, I will make one for my daughter and granddaughters, thank you!
Brilliant, that sounds like great fun, thanks Donna :)
This is a wonderful tutorial, as always!
Thanks so much Deb :)
These are exquisite Fiona! Happy Valentine's to you!
thank you so much, and the same to you Melissa :)
Absolutely fantastic Fiona.Thank you for sharing. 💖
Thanks so much Sarah :)
Thank you for another exceptional tutorial. I have followed many polymer clay artists on the Internet, (UA-cam, ETAL) and I seem to keep returning to your channel.
Perhaps it's because of your teaching. Or, maybe it is because of the projects that you create? I'm not sure.
The one thing that I am certain of is that your tutorials are straight forward and concise. And I appreciate the way you are able to explain an otherwise complicated project and simplify it for those of us that want to move into a more challenging project. Also, because I live in the USA, I appreciate that you use the standard measurement system and compliment it with the metric system.
Thank you Fiona,
Keep up the great work that you are doing.
And God Bless you!
What a truly wonderful compliment, thank you so much Joseph, I really appreciate that :)
so gorgeous!
Thank you so much :)
Love love love this little trinket box! It’s a must-do ❤️ Thank you soooo much for sharing! xox
Thank you so much Beverly :)
Thank you so much.... I sure wish you did more videos....
Thank you Glenda, I generally do one a fortnight :) they take a while to do, and are of course free, so I need some time to work on my clay pieces that I earn money from, a girl has to make a living ;)
I love this one! I can’t wait to make some.
Thank you so much :)
Hi Fiona, Thank you so much for sharing your talent and knowledge with us. And these little boxes look indeed very cute!
I have a query about the liquid clay. You mentioned that strictly speaking, there is no need to apply liquid clay on baked clay when we want to stick it on unbaked clay. I'm not sure if I'm doing it right, but it's just my feeling, that applying liquid clay onto baked clay to be joined onto unbaked clay, gives it a stronger support. Thank you for your tip.
Yes, to my mind it definitley gives it a stronger support, as it gets into any crevice that a flat sheet of clay, next to another one, may leave gaps in. But for many people starting out, a pot of liquid clay is another expense, so I try and let people know what is essential, and what they can 'get away with'. Of course it will stick to itself without it, but if you have some, I would add it in - I hope that helps explain why I said it 😉🙂
Hi Fiona, Yes absolutely 😊
Hi Fiona, this heart box is so pretty, I love it! 💖Thank you so much for sharing your talent!
Thank you so much Karin, I am so glad you like it :)
These are so lovely! Thank you for your wonderful instruction! ❤️🙏🏻☮️
Thank you so much Kim :)
Прекрасно, как и всегда!
Большое спасибо :)
So fun and adorable
thank you very much :)
Beautiful thank you Fiona
Thank you very much Eileen :)
Love these
Thanks so much Jeannie :)
Those are adorable! I am very grateful for the time and effort it takes for you to develop, film, and edit these projects. I don't have a large enough heart cutter, but I am sure I can find some cutter to use.🙂 thank you.
thanks so much Wendy, and yes, just adapt it for any cutter :)
Those are just super cute. You certainly could have so much fun with different colours. Such a neat little gift.💜
Thank you so much Cherry :)
Fiona Abel-Smith PolyOriginals Yw💜
Wow Fiona I’m only seconds in and this is just beautiful
aww, thanks so much Jay, you have made my day already :)
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals no thank you I adore your work and have been binge watching all your videos again lol. Your talents are truly remarkable in everything you do from your clay work to oil painting even down to how you present the videos. You are a very talented and incredible lady Thankyou for sharing and bringing such amazingly beautiful art work into the world 💐
@@jaypenfold8637 Oh wow, thanks so much :)
Splendide bravoooo 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 j’adore 😻
Merci beaucoup :)
Beautiful❤❤❤❤❤
Thanks so much 😊
You always make it look so easy. Your videos are my textbooks! Keep up the amazing designs. My question is when you bake a piece then join it to another piece and bake again, do you bake the first piece for the for the full time or just a fraction of the recommended time?
Thank you Maria. I always bake for the full time - even a little longer - as you need the clay to get to the correct temperature for the needed time in order for it to properly cure at each stage :)
Hi Fiona: Please will you tell me whether or not clay can be "over-conditioned"? That is, if you are permitting questions from beginners here? Otherwise, I just want to say I aspire to your level of skill and design brilliance. Thank you so much for sharing your gifts.
If you work with it for a very long time, kneeding it and warming it up, it can become too soft for what you are trying to do with it. So it is not so much over conditioned, as just a little bit overwarmed :) If that happens, just put it to one side to rest for a bit and it should stiffen again slightly :) Have you seen the articles by Ginger Davis Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree ? She has doen numerous research on all things polymer clay and has the answer to most questions you may have. She has free articles and some amazing tutorials to buy too, so if you havent seen her sight, pop on over and check out the articles for loads of really useful information :) thebluebottletree.com/category/articles/ I hope that helps :)
Thanks very much! I’m trying to learn from quality people such as yourself, Fiona, so I do appreciate your kindness in what must be fundamental answers to a beginner’s ignorance of materials, tools and the arts.
I’ll go there to learn more! Thanks for being you, and for the helpful advice and link.
Highest respect, k
@@user-zr3ro5pd4b You are very welcome, just have fun and enjoy the experience :)
Great tutorial Fiona, I didn’t realise you don’t actually need anything to adhere raw clay to baked.
Thanks Tracey :) It obviously doesn't give as good a bond, and you need to make sure the unbaked is fully 'suctioned' - can't think of a better word to describe it just at the moment ;) - to the baked, but yes, it will be stuck together after the curing process :)
I have never tried doing polymer clay art but your videos make me want to try it so bad! 🌸I absolutely love your work ❤️ if you had to recommend a project for a first timer what would you say I should start with?
Thank you so much Hannah :) If you wanted to do a box, then this is the easiest I have done :) The pens are very rewarding, both to do, and to give as presents, and my easy Kaleidoscope Cane is probably the best cane to start with :) I'll put the link to the other two here for you. I hope that helps? Pen - ua-cam.com/video/zCykR8Knxq4/v-deo.html , cane - ua-cam.com/video/uk32o_OY7eY/v-deo.html
Great tutorial. A pleasure to watch you create. Would it be a good idea to varnish this box, since there is gold leaf so that the leafing does not wear off?
Thank you Therese, and yes, I do varnish it, as I explain, for exactly that reason :) I mention the varnish at the end of the list of equipment, and at the very end of the video when I say I have varnished the finished piece :) i hope that helps :)
Thank you for this in-depth tutorial Fiona as always :) I have made a box for my Mum for Mother’s Day, I used silver leaf but majority of it has flaked off the sides of the box. (I did briefly sand the bottom edge with wet dry sandpaper so not sure if the water has made it come loose) Do you have any suggestion to stop this happening? Thanks in advance! :)
Hi Rosa, how lovely of you to make one for mother's day :) yes sadly, sanding, and exposing the leaf to water will have helped it become loose :( If you can, try and neaten the edges before baking to save on any sanding. You could also try varnishing the piece prior to sanding, that way it should hold the leaf in place more.
Okay, what to do now. It is very difficlut to get the leaf to stick to the clay after baking, particularly in a nice random fashion. Maybe get a spong and lightly dab some PVA glue, sparingly down the sides, so hardly touching. When the glue has nearly dried, add some more leaf. Hopefully it will only stick to the glued areas, the rest will brush off, and then you can varnish over once the glue is fully dried. Alternatively you could add some gilders paste, or metallic acrylic paint onto the tip of your finger, again sparingly, and rub/dab some over the sides where the leaf has flaked off. Maybe practice on a piece of paper first till you are happy with the technique. I hope some of that helps :) Many thanks, Fiona
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals Thank you so much for that extremely detailed response! I will definitely try those methods out on paper and work out what will be best :) I will 100% be making this box again and I can perfect it for next time, thank you again! :D x
@@Richardsonn23 You're welcome, have fun :)
lovely work as usual =-)
Thank you very much :)
When baking in the tile, my lids come out shiny, but it didn’t seem like yours were. Am I doing something wrong?
No you are not doing anything wrong. When clay sticks to the tiles and bakes, where it is on the tile it will often come out shiny, That is why I often bake with a sheet of card between the clay and the tile. However, for this project, the clay needed to be rolled onto the tile so that it held there firmly and stayed flat. There is the possibility then that the lid will come out shiny. Some tiles create more of a shine than others. Because I was then varnishing the final box, it didn't matter if the lid had some shiny spots, as the whole thing would become shiny with the varnish. I hope that helps a bit, and reassures you that you are not doing anything wrong :)
Have you ever thaught of putting greaseproof paper in between the cutter and the clay, just in case it sticks?would it work???
I'm a newbie. The only other thing I made was your fish (which turned out great!) But I'm wondering: how is polymer clay supposed to feel? I am attempting a box and my baked clay looks and feels like cheap plastic. Your projects never seem to have that look.
Some of the clays have a more 'plastic' look than others, so it does depend on which brand you use. My first thought though was that it sounds as though it has been baked at too high a heat? Is it possible your oven is not accurate? As you see in my videos I always tent my tile, or whatever I am baking on/in as this helps to protect against temperature spikes. That may be the cause. I hope that helps :)
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals Since this was my first box, I didn't want to use my best clay. So I used the cheaper Amazon no brand clay. I baked at 275 (my temp fluctuated from 260 to 288) while baking. But I use a convection toaster oven and per your recommendation, tented in foil prior to baking. So I am really hoping its the cheap clay. Is Fimo your brand of Choice?
@@teressa7666 It must be the clay you are using then. I have used FIMO for so many years, and it was the brand I started out using - I am talking FIMO Soft here - so I use it again and agian as I have quite a bit in stock ;) and I am so used to it. However in the past week I have also used some Premo and some Kato, so I do swap around between them quite a bit ;)
What was your paper sheet called could not find it?
Which paper sheet? I do normally put wording under the list of equipment so that people can see what I am talking about? Let me know and I can tell you :)
❤❤
Let Kurt Cobain out
Thanks Jasmine :)
@@FionaAbelSmithPolyOriginals no problemo, sweet thaang