I had spent my Saturday day and night with housework last week. I was my love who found a solution this week. He cleaned the house just before the weekend. I went to the studio today. Then I played racquetball and finally I am writing this post. It is thanks to my love that I still can find time to do the things that I enjoy. I had to give him credit here.
Today, I will introduce a technique that will result in slate-like looking finishes. I had a hard time photographing this work because of the glare. Just trust me that it will actually look better than what is shown here.

Application: It is better to use a hard black polymer clay for this application. Fimo classic or Premo! are two of the choices. If you do not have a pasta machine, you can use a hand roller to roll the clay into about a 0.5cm (1/4 in) thin sheet as shown above. If you don’t have suitable stencils, you can just create the desired shape with a computer and print it.

Crumple the aluminum foil and open it back. Place it on the clay pieces that you cut and use a hand roller with just enough pressure to create crack patterns on the clay.

Glue the metal piece to the back of the clay shape. You can also glue an additional small piece of clay across the metal piece as shown. Now you are ready to bake. Place the buckle in the oven such that the clay parts shouldn’t contact with oven surfaces.

After baking, allow it to cool. Mix the black and white acrylic paints and apply to the crack patterned clay surface. Immedeately wipe the paint with a paper towel before it dries. The cracks will be filled paint providing a slate-like look. As a last step, use a bright varnish.