Knitting is all the rage lately. Young and old are hopping on the bandwagon. I recently started a project that needle several stitch markers to hold my place along the needles. Why use boring plastic circles when I could make jewelry for my knitting? And with the new colors of Sculpey III, I was able to use the trendy pink and black color scheme as well.
Materials and Tools:
- 2 oz Vanilla Crème Sculpey III #1207
- 2 oz Ballerina Sculpey III #1209
- 2 oz Elephant Gray Sculpey III #1645
- 2 oz Black Sculpey III #042
- Pasta machine (numbers here refer to the Atlas machine)
- Clay gun
- Sculpey Super Slicer
- Sculpey Acrylic roller
- Knitting needle #10
- 24 G silver colored wire
- Head pins
- Small pearls
- Daisy spacers
- Chain nosed pliers
- Round nosed pliers
Instructions:
1. Condition the polymer clay. Roll small logs of each color to the length and diameter of the clay gun.
2. Cut small sections from each log using the Sculpey Super Slicer.
3. Recombine these small sections into a new clay log. Roll the log to adhere all the sections together.
4. Place this new log into the clay gun, and extrude using a square dye.
5. Stack these logs together into a three log by three log cane. Compress the square cane together using the Sculpey Acrylic Roller. Roll the cane equally on all four sides.
6. Roll out a #4 sheet of ballerina clay. Use this sheet to wrap the cane on all four sides. You can reduce the cane at this point to be the exact size of bead that you will use in the final stitch marker. I reduced the cane to 3/4 inch square, measuring on my quilting template grip. Use the acrylic roller to help you keep the cane square.
7. Cut equally sized slices from the reduced cane using the Sculpey Super Slicer.
8. Use a needle tool to pierce each bead from top to bottom. If the bead becomes a bit misshapen, now is the time to straighten it out. I use the grid on my work table to help make things even.
9. Bake the beads at 275 degrees F for 20 minutes, and allow them to cool.
Thread a head pin through a small pearl, a silver daisy spacer and then the polymer bead. Wrap the 24G wire twice around the knitting needle.
10. At this point you can make a split ring, by cutting the wire after it has looped twice around the knitting needle. You could also cut a bit of extra wire and wrap it around both loops for a more secure ring. On the left is a split ring (sort of like a key chain), and on the right I have twisted some extra wire for a more secure ring.
Create a loop at the end of the head pin, to attach the pin and beads to the ring. Wire wrap the end of the head pin around itself for a secure finish.
Use any of the surface or cane design elements you are familiar with to create a whole set of stitch markers. Commonly, the rings are the same diameter as needles #8, #10 and #13, but you can make whatever you need for your project.
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