Not My Usual...

I was getting ready to teach a workshop on the feathering technique in polymer.  It's a fun and easy process, and the results always manage to amaze and delight me.  I hadn't used the technique for a while, so decided to make up a sheet for demonstration purposes.   What I ended up doing really surprised me!
Before I show you my experimental pieces, I'm going to show you a photo of jewelry pieces made up in more traditional format.   The design creates sheets that have color and pattern similarities, but the design is not a repeating pattern.  So pieces cut from the same sheet "go together" well, but do not exactly match.  The earrings, pendant and cuff bracelet in this photo show what I mean.  The stripes and mixes are not exactly the same in all the pieces, but they harmonize well.

These pieces come from a sheet a made at the workshop as I demonstrated the various steps. However, at home in preparation for the workshop, I made a sheet in similar fall colors - and took it in a totally new direction.

The next 2 photos show what I made with the feathered sheet at home.  These pieces were all cut free-hand, and I was amazed that they seemed to just work together.  I just sort of cut in a curved pattern - and look what happened!  I'm not sure what I'll do with these three loose pieces at right.

The last photo shows 2 different "wild cut" pieces placed on backgrounds using the same colors.  I'm going to put pin backings on these two.  This just demonstrates that sometimes  the clay takes us in new and interesting directions. 

Cane Cuffs and Bud Earrings

The summer just swept by. It included a tandem bike rally in Canada and a wonderful biking trip to England, but it's hard to work with clay when you're pedaling on a bicycle.

I've finally had a chance to sit down and play for a bit with some polymer.  I spent some time creating new canes and then used the canes to make a few brass cuffs, including some new 1" pieces that really highlight the canes.  Of course, I needed some earrings to compliment some of the cuffs. Here are a few of the pieces I've been working on recently.

These brass cuff and earring sets also showcase some of the canes I've made.  I think the colors are just right for the transition from summer to fall.

Finally, here are a couple pairs of the little bud earrings I've been making.  The opening petals hug little pearls in these. In others, I've put crystals or have something hanging below the petal shapes. Sweet!