What Is Antiquing?
Antiquing is basically using a darker color to age or antique a creation. For polymer clay this means to create an illusion that something is antique.
Why Should I Antique?
Many may feel that I will never use this technique, as many times it is used for only certain creations, or occasions. This isn't really true. Antiquing a creation gives it a unique look all it's own, it can be quite the bold statement.
Also this technique is great for faux creations such as bone, and jade. Many faux creations look better when antiqued, feel free to experiment. ;)
How Do I Antique?
1) First condition some clay, any color will do, and make sure to have some way of texturing at your disposal. I used a texture sheet as shown in the picture below.
2) Shape the clay in any shape you so desire. For this pendant I decided to make it a moon. Next you will need to texture it.
With my texture sheet I sprayed it with a release agent...water. ;) This is to prevent the clay from stinking to the texture sheet and making a very sticky mess. As you can see from the picture on the right part of the texture sheet has a bit of stuck on clay. I forgot to do the water the first time around and had to start all over! This was also very hard to get off the texture sheet later on. :P
If you don't have a texture sheet handy, make your own textures. One can carve textures directly into the clay, or even use textures around the house. For example, I have a nice shaving can lid with a beautiful flower engraved into the top. This makes for a great stamped flower into clay.
3) When you are done texturing and your creation is complete its time to bake it. Please bake according to the clay's instructions, I use Fimo Soft often thus my settings are shown below.
4) After your creation cools you will now need to antique it. For this I recommend using a small paintbrush. One can antique using acrylic paints, inks, glosses, transferable antiqued images, or even antique backings.
For this pendant I used "burnt sienna" brown acrylic paint. You will want to brush over the entire piece and it may end up looking a bit like a blob like mine. *points* ;)
Do not let the paint dry like this though!
5) Finally wipe the excess paint, or whatever you used to antique with, with a paper towel, or even a slightly damp cotton ball. When you are done, your creation may look a tad like this:
6) You will need to sand it lightly, especially spots that may have dried paint on it where it isn't suppose to be. Now, remember how I told you I "made" my husband work on it well here are the little charms he made, antiqued, and sanded. These charms will hang from the moon pendant later on.
This only proves that even someone who has never worked with polymer clay can use the technique of antiquing! I'm so very proud. :)
7) As a final step, you may want to put a thin coat of glaze over your creation to protect the paint from rubbing off if it is used on a daily basis. I personally use "Pledge Floor Finish with Future Shine." I love to use this as a glaze, because it is very thin and makes things glossier, while protecting them. It can be found by the mops in a regular store. I found mine in Meijers. ;)
For example this is a picture of two ring napkin holders I have made with a thin coating of glaze over them.
8) I do hope you all have fun experimenting with antiquing! Also I leave you with one good resource on the subject, take a look. :)
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/cyclopedia/antiquing.html
PS: My hands are no longer purple, thanks for you comments on this. I really enjoyed them hehe. :P
Question to answer in comments today is....
Q: Which one of these items do you think were antiqued naturally, and which one antiqued by hand?
You have either A) the belt:
or B) the compass:
6 comments:
Very clever! I never knew you could use pledge to put a clear coat on with!
Thanks giftbearer, I just saw you on Etsy forums haha. ;) Pledges floor finish really does the job, and a lot less expensive then the commercial glazes. Just make sure its the one I have in the picture though. :)
So that's called "antiquing"? I've been calling it "glazing", since I didn't know the right term. I've been doing it with all my leaves for ages. It's the very best way to get all those details we work so hard for to pop!
Pledge, eh? How well does it stay on over time?
I am loving your blog to death, I fear.
thanks for sharing!! very cool
Yupe carapace, that is antiquing. I love the bold look it can give to my creations. :)
The pledge floor finish stays on very well over time, it doesn't yellow nor does it get sticky. It does need to be the exact floor finish I showed though, as not all pledges stuff works well.
The great part is you can put it on one thin coat at a time to get the exact shineyness you want.
Oh and your welcome estela. :) Glad you like it!
Thanks cbsplyworks. What a great blog. I've really learned a lot!
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