Me and My Frugal Crafting Purchases.. Revisted

Original Post:

Ok..so I've been promising a new review for a while now and I think it's about time I post one.  This next "tool" is really quite multi-functional and VERY economic.  So, a little test first, are you game? Ok..so here goes...

Take a look at these two pictures...

are they different? or are they the same?

I'll let you think about it for a minute, and no I'm not trying to trick you..:)..

Ready?  Ok..they're both. Yup..Both are teflon sheets..same material..same size.  But they are different in the fact that you will pay double the cost of the first one for the second.  

The first item is a teflon sheet from a very successful ebay seller who sells them for heat transfer presses for T-shirts and the like. A 15"x15" sheet usually sells for around $5.  The second is Ranger's Utee Non-Stick Crafting sheet, which Tim Holtz and the like have been praising the daylights out of em in the past year or so.  The Ranger sheet retails for around $16.

I felt that Ranger's price was way too high and wanted an alternative source.  That's when I scoured ebay and the web for a similar product, because I was pretty darn sure that Ranger wasn't  solely manufacturing the item.  I found a generic one listed by 3447joseph  on eBay which was VERY cheap and right in my price range. It didn't take him long at all to ship it to me and I was ready to go and test it out when it arrived.

This Teflon sheet was just as thick as Ranger's and held up to the same abuse that they claim their item can handle. It is still holding up very well after months of use. The generic sheet is very heat resistant and will not burn under a heat gun. It also makes a wonderful paint pallet, just gob on the paint directly from the bottle or tubes. Once you are done, just let it harden and you can easily peel off the dried paint. This also works well for glues and acrylic mediums. If you had thinned down your paint just simply rinse the sheet off under some warm water and wipe dry. This sheet is also flexible enough to use as a mat for embossing powders or glitter. Once you are done sprinkling the powders just fold up the sheet to pour the excess back into the bottle. As far as sharp objects are concerned, I would still use a cutting mat, but for oopses it holds up well under an exacto knife or claying blades.

So folks, I hope you can see that just because an item is too expensive doesn't mean we have go without. With a little research there are viable alternatives to crafting tools...just gotta find em and not expect the "Name Brand" to be the only source for us.


All the best!


Update:  After revisiting my post some years later..I find the information I originally wrote about to still hold true.  Unfortunately the eBay vendor to which I linked to is no longer selling.  Therefore I have researched a similar vendor  "Turnone-Graphics " and found their prices to be very reasonable. Yes, prices have increased..but still it is quite a bit cheaper than the heavily advertised versions.  Something else I never mentioned as well is that you have a variety of sizes to choose from when purchasing these sheets off of eBay.  You could customize your sheet size to match the exact working surface of your worktable area, something you cannot do with the Ranger sheets.

Happy Crafting~ Cindy

Tool Review: That Silver Thingey Over There...

Okay..who wouldn't accumulate tons of the "latest and greatest" tools if presented with unlimited funds. Right...exactly...the key term here is unlimited funds. Even with my "Limited Funds" I have to watch what I spend, so I kept that in mind as I headed off to the Marley Flea Market last month.

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My intention was to be open-minded and focus on finding something that would work as a wonderful tool for my claying. I knew ahead of time that there would be those "Guy" booths selling, so I marched right over to them. You know the kind, they sell all sorts of items...files, electrical plugs, wire twisters, plastic levels, cheap paint brushes and rejected dental tools.

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Yup, you read right...dental tools. I don't know how, I don't know where they get them, but they do. They had a few different styles not limited to the normal jab your gums kinds of picks and mirrors. But they had some that resembled small spackling knives and others I can't even describe properly. However, I did find one that seemed like it would work well.

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As I examined this tool I noticed it had a good balance in my hand and a comfortable grip. On the one end it had a sort of spear type shape where the edges were softly rounded to an edge. On the opposite end it had an angled shape with a rounded end. One side was completely flat the other was domed and curved softly to the edges. I also noticed that the symmetry wasn't completely perfect on both ends, but it wasn't anything drastic. Perhaps the best feature, I noticed, was the price. It was selling for a whopping 2 dollars. ("Cha-Ching...SOLD!") I thought in my head. I handed the vendor his money and tucked that baby in my purse, anxious to try it out.

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When I had a chance to test drive this little gem, I noticed it would indeed work well. Both ends were perfect for blending due to their round tapering nature. One end, spear end, was perfect for detailing finger nails or for scoring lines and the other end was ideal for removing excess clay. Being that it was made of steel, it's hard surface was perfect for unforgiving, merciless pressure when needed or for gentile finesses as called for. The slight symmetry flaws that I previously noticed were easily correctable by light sanding with a foam sanding block and polishing with an emery board.

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This dental tool is fitting in well with the rest of my collection of tools and is used pretty much every time I clay. It fit well within my budget, worked precisely and was a good "multi-tasker".

If you are on a budget, I highley recommend you keep your eyes peeled in unusual places. Don't think of looking for traditional mass produced claying tools, think of what function you want to accomplish, what is your goal? With an open mind,a function as a goal, and limited funds, you can pretty much find a claying tool anywhere you look.

The Clay Shaper Tool

Always looking for the latest and greatest claying tools in the claying world, I was briefly introduced to clay shapers in an instructional booklet. It was listed as one of those , “when you become really involved in it” kind of tools.

So, off I went to the stores to search out for this most excellent tool. I soon discovered that the Clay Shaper (originally double ended now single ended) is not easily available in regular craft stores in the suburban Chicago area. After a few phone calls and a few weeks of waiting I was finally able to obtain one from small art supply store by special order only. Which is a shame, because this brand of tool has so much to offer in the claying world.

Ok, enough of the “Ah Ha!“ moment and onto the facts. The Clay Shaper is manufactured by the Royal Sovereign Line of Products which is a part of West Design Products from the UK. It comes in a variety of sizes and shapes. It basically consists of a silicone tip attached to a handle similar to a paint brush. This company also produces a Colour Shaper which comes in 5 sizes and 3 types of firmness.

The clay shaper is available in the following shapes and is promoted by the companies website to do the following : Cup Chisel (Adjust contours and edges. Carve and remove clay) . Taper Point (Carve patterns through slips and glazes. Create clean linear strokes and make broad forceful marks). Flat Chisel(Apply and carve clay. Create flat even strokes) Cup round (Smooth throwing and scoring marks. Create soft edge strokes) Angle Chisel (Create expressive strokes. Work from thick to thin and make precise marks).
All versions are available in sizes 0,2,6,10,16.

I had purchased the #2 Taper Point for around $8 (US). Normally I’m a bargain shopper looking for the lowest cost possible, but let me tell you…this was $8 well spent. This little shaper works excellent for blending seams, poking of a variety of hole sizes, applying small pieces of clay where fingers are too big, blending liquid clay with color, application of liquid clay, shape contouring and a bunch more.

This is definitely one tool that is soon to become a series of tools in my work bin. I highly recommend it. And if you can find the original double ended version, grab it, because there are not too many left on the shelves or in dealers stock. The best places to find these tools are either through a special order at your local art supply store or through the internet. There are numerous websites that carry these items, however you may have to pay shipping.