Vines & Floral "Cameos"

Cameos seems an appropriate name for this new line of mine. Though not actually carved, as the original cameo pieces were, these do have a raised design with a contrasting background.  The two-tone color scheme helps accentuate the design.  I may try more color in the future, but this simple contrast design just seemed right.  It is, after all, winter, and the colors outside are often in stark relief.  The black pendant and red earrings are the first pieces I made.  I tried more daisies and vines in teal and one on a swirled background.

Then I decided to try just vines.  I love the way the tiny snake of clay curls and curves as it leaves my hand, sometimes seeming to have a mind of its own.  These are longer, more slender shapes and seem perfect for vines. The larger anique gold piece has a pearl and faceted jet piece dangling from the bottom.

This last grouping shows 4 pendants in different shapes, all sporting vines with tiny roses.

Hope you've enjoyed this "walk" through a winter garden.

Tiny Flowers "Sculpted" with Polymer

Oh, I like this style!  I've seen pictures a couple of times showing sweet little flowers made using tiny bits of clay.  I decided to try it myself.  Of course, being on a cylinder kick meant I had to try it as decoration on a couple of the long tubes.  The teal pendant was my first piece - and so far, it's my favorite.  It was very time consuming to form the tiny pieces of clay and attach them to the base.  I found I really tuned everything else out while I was making the various shapes.


The purple pendant is large - almost half again as long as the teal piece.  It seemed to need more decoration, too.  I baked the core first, then used Genesis Thick Medium as a bond to hold the tiny flower pieces to the base.  I've rubbed the pieces pretty hard since baking, and the bond seems quite strong.

One more cylinder pendant to share.  This one is more sculptural and along the lines of other embellishments I've done in the past.  It's even larger than the purple piece, which is a bit unusual for me.  It just kept growing as I worked.  I really like the "home-grown" leaf tassel on this one in particular.  Lots of motion!

Mokume Gane Cylinder Pendants

I really liked the cylinder pendants I made a few weeks ago, and decided to make some more in different surface treatments.  I first turned to mokume gane. It's one of my favorite techniques, possibly because every time I use it, the end result is different. The color combinations are usually custom-made, and I vary the objects I press into the polymer stacks, so I always get an unique look.
The pendants on the left demonstrate 2 different impression techniques.  On the purple and pink cylinder, I used a deep cut rubber stamp to make the impression in a rather shallow stack.  The aqua cylinder was made from  a tall stack that included composite silver metal leaf.  I used a variety of metal and wooden objects pressed into the stack to create the pattern.  While the left pendant was hand sanded and buffed for a satin shine, the pendant on the right has a coat of acrylic varnish.  When I use metal leaf in pieces, I like to add a protective coating to guard against possible tarnishing of the metal.

The pendants on the right also represent different techniques.  The red and white pendant has layers of gold composite metal leaf sandwiched in translucent, with a design created from curved metal bands and hollow tubing.  Rubber stamps were used for the patterns in the other two pieces.  These pendants are fun to wear and the metal tassels add a touch that swings as you move.

I'm in the midst of another surface look in cylinder pendants - stay tuned!