Fun with Fimo (Clay) Canes

Last week, I couldn't help myself, and ordered some clay canes from BeautyTech (linked to the right). Basically, these are made from fimo or other clays, and rolled together into a pattern, then reduced to itty-bitty diameters for nail art (and other things, of course). Above you can see some of the canes I bought - I picked out several, and got two "grab bags" of ends/imperfects. I'm pretty pleased with what I ended up with...

So of course I had to try them out right away when I got them on Friday, and decided the green leaves went best with my green marbled nails. You can see how small they are in the picture above. These particular canes are baked before they're sent out, and then you have to slice them yourself. This isn't too difficult, except the thinner the slice the better, and that really does take practice. You really want to just shave off a very thin slice, which is easier said than done. But I didn't do too badly, I don't think. I'll keep practicing. Here's how those turned out (bad flash, sorry):

So this week, I wanted those red maple leaves on my nails. Unfortunately, I didn't get them sliced as thinly as I'd like, and I think what I may do with the rest is go back and hold them with wide stamp tweezers so I can slice them thinner. They don't look too bad as is, I don't think - just like transparent bubbles on my nails with leaves suspended in them. The ones on my middle and pinky finger are the thinnest I sliced - both are thinner than the average 3-D nail sticker.

I did get them sliced thinner than the leaf cane, so even just two canes into it, I'm getting better at slicing. It's occured to me that I need a teeny tiny little mandoline for slicing (like I have in the kitchen for onions & tomatoes). That would really make easy work of it, and I could adjust the size of the slices as needed (sometimes it would be nice to vary the heights and layer them). Maybe I'll see if I can make one out of a wood planer or some such tool.

This week's polish is China Glaze "Cross Iron" with a stripe of OPI's 18k Ginza Gold on top.

It was quite a lot of work to get the clay slices back *off* my nails last night - especially since I ran out of my favorite Zoya polish remover. I think I may have to soak my nails for a few minutes in polish remover with the clay. Once they're on, they're on! I just applied them in a coat of wet topcoat, then a very generous top coat layer to finish.

I'm hoping to get some more fun nail art items in the near future, but these should keep me busy for awhile. I do love playing with new things!