Polymer Clay by

Tamila J. Darling

Artist-Designer-Instructor

featuring the

The birth of the

For years many clay artists have pleaded with manufacturer's to make more miniature cookie cutters in different shapes.  Not since 1997 have I seen any new cutters come out by Kemper and I just got tired of waiting!  Initially I paid a lot of money to get some custom made cutters done.  While they were worth every penny I paid for them, at an average cost of $10.00 per cutter and a minimum of a 30 day wait to receive them this process became cumbersome and expensive.  Making drawings, sending them out, waiting for a quote, then giving and approval and finally waiting for it to be made and sent.  While custom cutters are a great investment if its a shape that you will utilize many times, for those that you might only use occasionally, I couldn't justify the costs.

One afternoon while trying to clean & organize my studio (sound familiar?) my mind started wandering.  Looking at things on my table and thinking of things I wished I could do I stopped cleaning and started playing.  Now this is typically how I end up with new designs, concepts and techniques.  Not while pro-actively thinking about them, but when I feel no pressure to do anything.  That's one of the things that makes clay so much fun for me.  

I sat down and began to orchestrate an idea, something simple and basic, yet unlike anything I had ever seen or heard of in my experience with clay.  Before I knew it, I developed a way that actual shapes can be extruded using your Kemper, Darice, Sculpey or Sugarcraft gun.  Named for what they are, Darlin' Designer Disks™, you can now extrude 200 different designer shapes in polymer clay or PMC.  As with most clay artists, playing in the studio is when you discover, evolve and do your best working outside-the-box or your normal thinking process.

Working outside-the-box was something I did, but not to this level.  After the completion of my experimenting I realized I had stumbled upon one of the most exciting things I had ever done.  Immediately I phoned my best clay friend, Kathy Weaver, and told her of my "new invention".  I snapped some pictures and sent it off to her, Cindy Celusta and Anita Behnen and asked for an opinion.  They were all astounded as much as I was!  Teeny tiny extrusions and shapes that would easily cost me $10.00 - $25.00 to have custom made as a cutter, right there in front of me, made by me.  Then came the brainstorming!

I forwarded the pictures and spoke to Shelly Comiskey and sent her some samples.  She was amazed at the tools and recommended to me to sell these to other clay artists. At an affordable price of $1.00 a disk an individual could receive a whole kit of different designs for the same or even less money than one custom made cutter.  While I really had no desire to manufacture anything, I did know that if someone else had developed these tools,  I would want to be able to buy them!  More research and testing was done with Howard & Marie Segal and Kris Richards.  After getting endorsements from these well known and knowledgeable clay references I knew there was only one answer.  Manufacture and sell.  After adding some more noted beta-testers to the mix like Ginny Baker, Tammy Sims & Leigh Ross and getting rave reviews the Darlin' Designer Disk™ was on its way to becoming a reality.

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Last modified: March 16, 2006