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I’ve read about the liquid filled ampules some kaleidoscope artists make. You can see examples here.

I got some glass tubes - 5mm flint glass scraps from www.sciplus.com (along with lots of other good stuff). I think I’ve concluded that I can’t do a liquid filled ampule with my current equipment and knowledge but I did come up with something I liked.

I’m using a tiny little $9 butane torch from the hardware store. It works great on melting 1mm stringer and can bend 2mm but it takes longer. I heated the end of one tube and then twisted it shut. The twists look a bit messy but I think they’d probably still look good in an image. Then I filled a short section of the tube with tiny holeless beads. I then heated and twisted (or compressed and pulled) a bit above the beads to close off the tube and pull the section free.

It worked pretty well but I think it took longer than a liquid could handle and I don’t think I always got a perfect end seal. The neat thing is now I
can suspend tiny objects within the cell so they don’t all clump at the bottom of the object chamber. It does take some time and patience though - at least without an actual glass torch.

So guess what I did? I ordered a beginners glass torch! We’ll see how much I end up using it

I found this article which gives directions for kids on how to sculpt some simple critters. It’s nice to see these types of articles encouraging kids to be creative and try polymer clay.

It’s Spring here in New England, although it’s a bit chilly today… I’m so happy to see green again. The crocuses and daffodils are out and I saw turtles sunning themselves this weekend. Time to play with some color I think.

Are you stuck in a color rut? Not really sure what to do with a color wheel? There are some great tools on the web for easily finding color schemes. They are meant for website design but you can use them for polymer clay, beading, gems, or any other media.

Choose a starting color and play with the options to find different combinations. Make your colors lighter or darker, or choose a monochromatic, contrasting, triad, tetrad, or analogic scheme. You might discover a wonderful new color palette that will really enhance your art!

To find these tools do a search online for color scheme tool or try one of the following:
http://wellstyled.com/tools/colorscheme2/index-en.html
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
http://www.siteprocentral.com/html_color_code.html

Now I just have to follow my own advice and try something new