PageSage Product Review
Polymer Clay Treasures DVD
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| Randi's Review |
Andrea's Review |
Lynn Anne's Review |
Catherine's Review |
Eli's Review |
Review by Randi
I always expect a treat when I review a PageSage DVD, and "Polymer Clay Treasures" met that expectation. As a total novice to polymer clays, I NEEDED this DVD! Clay artist Lisa Pavelka made the world of polymers look easy. The first section of this 139 minute DVD was on "Clay Basics." Lisa showed the different types of clay and the tools needed to work with them. She went on to explain the various adhesives that work well with polymers, and the proper type of work surfaces. She demonstrated baking, sanding and polishing the finished pieces, then summed it up with storage and clean-up. After seeing the "Clay Basics" I felt that I had a really good introduction to polymers. I was able to find the additional supplies I needed for this review with confidence.
The second section of the DVD was the fun stuff...PROJECTS! It showed step-by-step how to create
- Treasured Tools
- Faux Art Glass
- Business Card Holder
- Dream Purse Pen
- Transformed Tins
- Hinged Pillow Bead
Rachael Grad Reception, 05-26
Pink, Yellow clay, FIMO
Textured Gallery background, Stampabilities
Patterned paper, BasicGrey
Iced Pink, Spring Willow Medium cardstock, Prism
Letter Stickers, BasicGrey
Ribbon
Brads, JoAnn Scrap Essentials
Dimensional Glue and Permanent Glue Runner, Ad Tech
Polymer Clay Treasures also featured an Interactive Gallery with more than 65 additional photos of artwork. Simply click on the project you like, and the DVD takes you to that section for a complete explanation of how to make it yourself. Finally, you'll find the fun Bloopers section that PageSage adds at the end of each DVD.
I have avoided the use of polymers in the past believing them to be difficult and time consuming. What I found was that with some instruction (and PageSage is an expert at that) and the proper tools, polymer clay isn't a big mystery or even hard to work with. While it is true that creating the clay pieces took much more time than placing a sticker, the satisfaction of having made it myself outweighed the time factor. I enjoyed my "play day" with the polymers and anticipate more days of creating the elements that will later make their way onto my layouts. Thanks again, PageSage! I couldn't have done it without you.
Review by Andrea
Polymer Clay secrets revealed here!
Each PageSage DVD brings an entire list of new projects that I would like to try with Polymer Clay Treasures being right up there! I must admit that polymer clay has been a mystery to me for quite some time, not because I was afraid to work with the product, but that I wasn't sure where to start. In true PageSage style, this fear was dispelled after watching the first 30 minutes! I was very interested to continue as the visual feast of beautiful projects appealed to my sense of craftiness.
The DVD itself is wonderfully packaged in a plastic clamshell including a full-color sleeve explaining all about the DVD contents. The covers and inside pages show fantastic creations made with clay. The inside contains the chapters of the DVD and what the supplies are needed beyond the Basic Clay Tool Kit for each one. There is a short biography about Lisa Pavelka on the back cover along with a general content overview. The DVD plays for over 139 minutes including the gallery and extras like the bloopers and general PageSage information.
I have not worked with polymer clay before, so ANY information was helpful. Lisa is a true master of the art indeed! She explained Clay Basics well, concentrating a lot on the tools of the trade: clay, cutting tools, basic tools, texturing tools, adhesives, work surfaces and pasta machines. Working with the clay was a tremendous help too, covering clay conditioning, baking, sanding & polishing, storage and clean-up. I knew after these section that I was not completely covered in the tool department to work with clay, but figured that I could be as creative as I could with what I had. Lisa often improvises making tools out of items you might have around the house, like knitting needles, pens and Future floor polish. It was made clear that although clay is non-toxic, the tools used in working with clay should be dedicated to that purpose from then on. The tools are difficult to clean 100% of the clay residue from them and rather than spend a bunch of time trying to get them back to pristine condition, just dedicate the tool to the craft. I believe that when adding things to the clay like Pearl Ex or Armor All to stop from sticking to the roller, it touches the tools and transfers very easily. These products are not non-toxic and could be dangerous to ingest. I felt it best to follow Lisa's advice and keep a polymer clay tool kit dedicated to the craft.
The projects, chapter after chapter, are stunning. I thought that I would be a success at polymer clay if my creations looked 1/2 this good! Step-by-step, Lisa walks you through each project explaining how to get there. I felt comfortable to undertake almost every project even being a novice polymer clay crafter. I decided to start with the Treasured Tools project of covering your frequently used tools with clay, not only for decoration, but for ease of grip. I chose some rather bright colors so that I could easily find my paper piercer among my other tools quickly. I found that I implemented many of Lisa's tips while creating my treasured tool! I cut out small flower shapes to use as the final clay layer which don't show up well in the scan unfortunately, but are visible in person. I also used one of Tim Holtz' tips to use the Ranger Melting Pot for a polymer clay oven instead of investing in a new oven for just the clay or tenting my project with foil in my existing toaster oven. It worked wonderfully! So well as a matter of fact that I used it for all of my recent polymer clay projects!
Title: Funky Paper Piercer
Products used: Paper Piercer (Making Memories)
Clay (AMACO FIMO Soft Polymer Clay: orange, red, green)
Tools (AMACO Modeling Tools and Makin's Clay Flower Cutter)
Oven (Ranger Melting Pot)
Sandpaper (GatorGrit 600)
Fiber & Charms (unknown)
Project & Technique (PageSage Polymer Clay Treasures)
The content of this DVD was a little different than what I had expected. I thought it would include more techniques for combining colors to make patterns that I've seen on the Carol Duvall Show and other craft programs. I then realized that practically all the projects were using clay to embellish your everyday treasures like craft tools, business card holder, pens and tins. Two of the projects did create items from scratch, but the main focus was enhancing items with the clay. This was completely fine with me as altering items is one of my favorite activities and Lisa provided many ideas that can be adapted to other areas of working with polymer clay. Maybe PageSage can create another polymer clay DVD to show things like "canes" and the "skinner blend" with a myriad of new projects!
Overall, this DVD was very informative and helpful from a novice's point of view. I have no doubt that polymer clay artists would also find this DVD useful for all the tips that Lisa includes. If you've ever wanted to make clay embellishments for your scrapbooking or other crafting, this DVD will give you the necessary skills in the comfort of your own home. Watching the segments at any time you want and zipping right to a specific technique with the push of a button are both huge advantages to owning a DVD like this for a mere $29.95. Lisa Pavelka is truly a polymer clay "guru" and I highly recommend PageSage's Polymer Clay Treasures for all you clay artist wanna-be's out there! Please visit the PageSage gallery for more projects using the techniques from this DVD.
Review by Lynn AnnePageSage has pulled another outstanding artist to provide top-notch inspirational instruction on their latest DVD Release, Polymer Clay Treasures with Lisa Pavelka. Crafters interested in altered art and rubber stampers will be especially interested in the projects provided, and the instruction is appropriate for everyone from polymer clay novices to those experienced in 'claying.' Polymer clay is a strong, flexible clay that hardens by being baked in an oven, making them a more practical option than clays that require firing in a kiln. I can't say that viewing the DVD has made claying my 'passion,' as Pavelka says she hopes in the DVD's introduction, but it's given me a new respect for polymer clay art and its myriad uses on a variety of projects.
My earliest impression of this DVD came from looking at the projects displayed on and inside the DVD jacket itself. Wow! Watching 139-minute DVD would teach me how to make these professional-looking treasures? I saw a business card holder that looked like it was made from a collage of dinosaur skins, a stunning pendant made of 'Faux Art Glass,' an altered tin with a filigree design, and more. There's a light-year of difference between these projects and the summer-camp sculpey beads that were my first impression of polymer clay, years ago. I couldn't wait to get started!
But professional projects require professional-level tools and equipment, as I quickly found out when perusing the first segment of the DVD, which features detailed discussion of 'basic' tools for working with clay. The pasta machine (the second most important tool for working with polymer clay?) was intimidating enough - the motor-driven polishing tool looked like a major investment. Pavelka does mention alternatives to using the big machines, such as hand-conditioning smaller pieces of clay (and I know from experience that the Wizard die cut machine is another useful substitute), but it seems having the 'right' tools will get the job done more easily. By covering all of the options, however, Pavelka makes her craft accessible to novices with a passing interest, as well as those diving headfirst into this art form.
In the first project segment, Pavelka demonstrates how to use polymer clay to customize and beautify the very tools used to work with polymer clay. Wood and metal handles of needle tools and more are artfully adorned with colorful but relatively simple-to-do polymer clay techniques. I was particularly impressed to see the difference that polishing can make for a finished piece. My first attempt was the wooden handle of a clay wheel by Ten Second Studios. I removed the wheel from its handle, and actually impressed the clay with it before baking, so that I will always have an easy-to-see example at hand of what the pattern looks like in clay. I grew impatient trying to polish by hand with a sandpaper block (I didn't have the kind recommended), but loved the glossy look of Pavelka's polished pieces. So I 'cheated' by finishing the baked piece with glossy Krylon finishing sprays instead.
Supplies:
FIMO polymer clay by Eberhart Faber
Make it Pearl! Spray by Krylon
Crystal Clear Acrylic Coating by Krylon
Tool by Ten Second Studios
Many of the other projects were interesting to watch in production, but I didn't see much use for them from a papercrafting perspective in particular. Some of the techniques taught with the projects segments, on the other hand, led to stunning effects that can easily be translated into scrapbook embellishments. I am particularly enamored of a technique that uses a detailed rubber stamp and two colors of clay to create a delicate filigree look, taught in the altered tin segment. The faux art glass technique, which uses polymer clay foil, is another strong candidate for papercraft embellishment.
Polymer Clay Treasures includes all of the useful features we've learned to expect from PageSage productions. An interactive gallery of inspirational projects brings viewers back to the technique used to create each one, with the simple press of a button. A detailed index of tips from projects shows a DVD segment introducing or explaining each tip, but again one click can bring the viewer back to the entire project if necessary. The 'extras' section also includes information on products used in the DVD projects, as well as a fun 'bloopers' segment.
Papercrafters looking for specific instruction and project ideas that can be used on a scrapbook page may choose to pass on Polymer Clay Treasures, since the emphasis here is clearly on altered pieces and three-dimensional art. But for a primer on basic and not-so-basic techniques that can be translated to paper applications with a little imagination, this PageSage offering can't be beat. PageSage has produced another winner with this fine instructional DVD.
Review by Catherine
Educational DVD videos from PageSage are well-known in the crafting community to be high quality and informative videos. Each PageSage video offers an in home class packed full of information and beautiful projects. The newest video, Polymer Clay Treasures, is no exception and the wonderful projects demonstrated will leave your hands itching to use polymer clay!
The Polymer Clay Treasures DVD with Lisa Pavelka comes packaged in a clear plastic case with a color insert describing the DVD contents, as well as listing the supplies needed for each project in the video. The DVD runs approximately 140 minutes long, making this a two-hour long class absolutely filled with information. The video begins with an introductory lesson on Clay Basics. This introductory lesson is very much appreciated. Even though I have worked with polymer clay quite a bit in the past, there were several points in the Clay Basics section that I learned.
Next on the video is the Projects section. Some of the different projects in the video include decorating Treasured Tools, making Faux Art Glass, covering a Business Card Holder, creating a Dream Purse Pen, altering Transformed Tins, and Creating a Hinged Pillow Bead. Each of these projects are beautiful and interesting. Such versatile techniques and projects are included, that makes the video interesting. The only thing that I would change would be the length of the title sections. The title sections which separate each part of the video are illustrated by writing the title in clay before moving into the section. This makes the video move a little slow, and appear slightly choppy. Again, that would be the only thing I would like to see changed about the video, as I am very impressed with the information and overall quality contained in the video.
After watching the Polymer Clay Treasures video, I was inspired to cover a small notebook with clay. I used different colors of clay, and a variety of different techniques shown on the video for my project.
Notes Book:
Products used:
Clay: Eberhard Faber – FIMO soft
Pigment Powder: Perfect Pearls - Ranger
Chalk: Craf-T Glimmer Chalks Kit #2
Stamp: Limited Edition
Beads: Flair Designs
Charms: Darice
If you have ever wanted to use polymer clay to create wonderful creations, or to create embellishments for your paper crafts, Polymer Clay Treasures is definitely a video to pick up. There are so many things to learn in watching this video, that I suggest you watch it again and again. I’ve said it before, but this video is a very high quality production, and is packed full of useful information.
Review by Eli
There are many days when I reach up high on a shelf in our kitchen and get down a special basket of treasures. Inside is a colorful lot of tools, toys and fun. Onto the kitchen table it goes and Hannah, my daughter, digs into it for a pile of Play-Doh, clay stamps, tools and molds. Moments later, and for hours at a time, creations come to life. Ahhh, the life of a 6 year old!
When will it be my turn, I wonder? Oh, to get my hands into a colorful block of fun. Well, with the help of PageSage, my turn (and yours if you want it) is now. PageSage brings, Polymer Clay Treasures, to their collection of art instruction DVD’s. This one features the accomplished clay artist, Lisa Pavelka who shares clay basics, a variety of projects and safety issues. Having this DVD is like bringing a personal instructor, right into your TV or computer room—only better. It is set up in sections and project chapters that can be quickly navigated with your remote. Stop Ms. Pavelka at any time to answer the phone or attend to a child or rewind to hear something again. A notable feature of PageSage DVD’s is their interactive features within several sections. When you see something in the tips section that you need more information on, just click on it and you will be whisked away to the portion of the DVD featuring that topic. The Gallery works the same way.
I totally enjoyed this production. I have always wanted to try polymer clay but was fairly intimidated. After watching the DVD, I thought, “Hey, I can do this.” Some of the features that I especially appreciated include: Basics, Work Surfaces, Conditioning, Baking and of course, the amazing projects.
My only “issues” with the DVD is that several sections have sound quality problems. This does not diminish Lisa’s ability to teach, but was distracting. I was also frustrated that my DVD would not play in my computer’s DVD drive. I have watched other PageSage productions on it so I was surprised that it would not work. I like watching it on my computer which sits in my craft room. Then while I work on a project, I can go back to a section of it for easy reference.
While watching the project section, I was inspired to create a variety of projects but I decided to start by covering an X-acto knife. To make the work easier, I did purchase a clay blade. I didn’t use any other tools that I didn’t already have at home just to see if I could complete a project to my own satisfaction that didn’t include any major investments. I conditioned the clay by hand and used only the portion of the block that I needed. I used a ¼ inch dowel to roll it out and smoothed the little bumps with my fingers.
I wrapped the knife with a layer of black and then a stripe that I created from bits of clay remnants giving me a marbled effect. After adding the marbled stripe, I rolled it so they would fuse. I added some funky ball and strip embellishments and put a hole in the end so I could add a ring to it that would allow me to hang it up. I also created a stand for my clay blade…wow that is sharp. I baked these according to manufacturers directions and this is what I got…
Striped craft knife and blade holder
Craft knife (X-acto)
FIMO polymer clay in #50 green; #42 orange, #61 orchid, #33 blue and black
(EberhardFaber)
¼" dowel
Kato NuBlade (AMACO)
Conclusion: This DVD is a great one for clay artists who are beginners and for those who are more advanced. Lisa offers plenty of tips and tricks to help make anyone successful. I enjoy the interactive features of all their DVD’s and I always poke around the Extras sections to watch the hilarious Bloopers section and Credits as they often have some of the more priceless moments of the production. If you are new to polymer clay and want to try or are seasoned but want some fresh ideas, this is a great video to have in your library. Recommended.
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