A Swirled Cane Many Ways

A few weeks ago, I made a braided cane and used it to cover a couple of boxes.  A hexagonal box was pictured in an earlier post. The other box I covered was an Altoid tin.  This photo shows the cane and the Altoid tin.  The slices I used for the tin came from the ripple blade-cut side of the cane.  The design shown on top of the cane I decided to use to make some jewelry.

First, I made several swirled beads in graduated sizes, then used jump rings to link them together into a necklace.

A pair of earrings followed.

Then I swirled the swirl a bit more, and made this "U" shaped pendant.  Fun!

Another shot of the necklace:

Polymer Collages

What fun!  I've tried mosaics with polymer, but I haven't really tried to do much with collages.  I owe a big thanks to Lindly Haunani who presented her version of collages at CFCF 2015.  Of course, she used Skinner blend rainbows, and they made the collages especially attractive and interesting.   My first piece to the left is pretty much based on Lindly's designs.









Then I started branching off on my own a bit, using white as well as black to delineate between the colored shapes.  I also started trying different outlines for the overall shape of the pieces.  Note the gold tone rounded piece in the middle in this cluster of pendants and pins.




Here's a shape and design I really like.  One of the things that I love about polymer is the more you play, the more a technique or process evolves and becomes "your own." When you look at my first piece and then this one, I think you can see the evolution.

Next are some photos of earrings in various shapes, sizes and color-ways.

And, to add a finishing touch, I covered another little paper-mache' box using the collage technique. 

More Black & White "Magic"

Today, I'll be sharing some photos of earrings and bracelets I made to fit into the Westerly gallery theme for March.
First, the cuff bracelets.  These flowers were both created from petal canes I made.  I reduced a portion of each cane in order to have different sizes to use for the inner and outer petals.  The bolder black and white flower on the left is mounted on a single piece brass cuff.  I put a magnetic clasp in the opening to help secure the bracelet.  The flower on the right is set on a hinged cuff that stays closed while worn.

The diamond-shaped earring pairs fit well into the "magic" theme since they seem to need a second look to figure out the design.
The striped pairs almost look like the lines are moving, especially when they swing from the ears.

The last pair of larger tube-shaped earrings were made from a kaleidoscope cane. This was a cane composed of several simple canes.  When the pieces are combined, reduced, and combined again, the resulting pattern can almost seem like "magic."