In the interest of full disclosure I feel obligated to let you all know that I bought the 7/8-inch dowel I use in the video at least a year ago, maybe more. It has been quietly leaning in a corner of my studio all that time. Occasionally I would look at it and say, “Oh yeah, I should mark that and bring it down the basement and cut it up….”
…. but I never did. I don’t know why. My husband taught me how to safely use his chop saw, and I’ve used it many times before. In fact, I kind of like using it, as it makes me feel rather powerful!
Anyhow, the dowel got taken out of its corner when I cleaned the carpets in my studio and hubby offered to cut it up for me. So I quickly marked it and gave it to him. He cut the pieces and even sanded the ends for me. (Maybe that’s why I was putting it off? I hate sanding, and knew it would need to be done as well. Hmmmm….. funny thing, the subconscious mind.)
So, I was thrilled when I sat down to experiment with my new tools and found how wonderfully they work. Thrilled, and truly annoyed with myself for putting it off for so long, lol.
All that babble to say, if you use Skinner blends at all, you NEED to make yourself the simple tools I show in the video. 🙂
One thing I didn’t mention in the video is that the end of the dowel next to the clay in the machine will get clay smeared on it. When you are done just lay a baby wipe on the table and scrub the end of the dowel over it and it will be clean and ready for next time.
Oh, and here’s how I decided to store them to keep ’em corralled and from rolling all about. All five fit nicely in a half-pint canning jar. The smallest two are stacked on each other.
There isn’t really much of a supply list to go with this project, but here are a few things you might find helpful:
- Usually you can find wooden dowels in the model making section of craft stores. Or at places like Home Depot. If you have to shop for them online you could cut all your pieces out of this set of wooden dowels, they’d just be different diameters, from 1-inch down to 1/2-inch.
- If you are shopping for a pasta machine, I recommend you read this series of articles by Ginger Davis Allman at The Blue Bottle Tree. She’s done extensive tests and reviews and is very helpful. (I own the “Monafied” Atlas 180 and absolutely love it.)
- Learn details about making polymer clay blends in my video on Skinner Blends.
- Have I got you itching to buy some clay yet?
Enjoy the video and happy creating!
Watch the How To Control the Width of Polymer Clay Blends-Friday Findings Tutorial at YouTube.
That’s a great tip Sandy with the dowels. Thanks for sharing.
You’re very welcome, Ida, hope you found it helpful! 🙂