Thursday, October 21, 2010

What it takes to create...

I was curious to see just how much time it takes me to make a set of clay stitch markers, so this time I kept track. And took some photos of the process. I thought it was interesting. And I discovered that I was pretty dang close to my time estimates.

Here we have the creation of Alpaca stitch markers, 7 sets of 4...

Making the parts - 1 hr & 15 min


Next comes the sculpting...



After putting on the final details - 2 hrs & 48 min


My little heard ready to go in the oven!


Out of the oven & ready to finish up. (I didn't include oven time)


7 sets of 4 Alpaca Stitch markers - Glazed, finished & ready for packaging - 1 hr & 13 min


Total time for 7 sets - 5 hrs & 16 min
Total time for 1 set of Alpaca stitch markers - 45 min
(actually just over 45 min, but under 46. close enough)

I think this is a good time estimate for just about all of my markers. There are a few sets that I have that are more time intensive (it's all in the details!), and some that are less time intensive. I think they would all be fairly close though. I could probably make a set of the hot peppers in about 30 min, but the sheep probably take at least an hour for a set.

So.... if anyone was wondering how long it took to make a few clay alpacas, now you do. :)

6 comments:

SissySees said...

Wow... And that doesn't count oven time still, right?!

Lapdog Creations said...

Very interesting... thanks for sharing and including the pics! :) I love your work!

Robin said...

That is totally amazing!! I love your stitchmarkers...have several sets of my own (and they are very cherished)

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

Very cool Anita! So interesting to see how you went about it. I have a bunch of polymer clay as at one point I intended to make jewelry but never actually did it....

Your little needle felted sheep is adorable!!!! I love the fluffy fleece you used to make him and I may have to copy you - LOL

gMarie said...

Wow! Do you think you sell them too inexpensively? I'd love a bloodhound WPI tool!! g

gypsyknits said...

But they're cute when finished ;).

Takes more time to do this stuff than ppl realize.