New End-of-Summer Necklaces

Here are a couple of neckline necklaces in colors that may seem spring-like, but I think they still play well in August.   I mixed up ruffled beads with round and square shapes to make the turquoise and white piece.








The other necklace has beads made from an Ikat cane, wrapped around solid cores. Both are strung with glass pearls, and the turquoise necklace also has some freshwater pearls. I like the touch of elegance that pearls impart.

"Labradorite" in Different Colors

 One look at the photos with this post, and you can see I'm having fun with the labradorite look process.  It really does look like stone, especially when the color tones are in the brown and gray color families.  After sanding each surface, I used my buffer to really add shine and depth to the pieces.
This bracelet is the first time I've used the clear elastic "miracle cord". It was very easy to use and makes this bracelet wearable by people with a wider range of wrist sizes than my usual cuff bracelets.

Here is another shot of the bracelet along with 2 sets of earrings in very different styles.   Since I'm enjoying this process so much, I can guarantee you'll be seeing more pieces soon.

Cuffs with "Labradorite"

The Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild recently hosted our bi-annual conference, Clay Connection 2018.  While there, a polymer friend of mine, Laura Blakely, demonstrated her take on a technique to create the look of Labradorite stone in polymer clay.  I was really intrigued by the effects she achieved, and had to give it a try myself.  Well, I gave it a try, and then another try and now... I'm sort of hooked on how fun this process is, and how varied the looks can be.

Today, I'm going to show you how the sheets made with this process look in my regular brass bracelet cuffs.  I think the cuffs in the purples and the one in browns look most like stone.

By the way, if you're interested in giving this technique a try yourself, you can see an excellent tutorial by Ludmila Bakulina on YouTube.

Golden Ruffles

 I haven't made one of my ruffled lei necklaces for a while.  The other day I was working with composite gold metal leaf, and had a bit left over.  I mixed the metal leaf into translucent clay and thought it would make a really great edging for a ruffle cane.  I also thought it would be fun to make some round beads to fit in between the ruffles, and decided to use some of the gold leaf translucent to decorate the round beads, too.  I made the necklace longer than usual, and around the neck it looks like a very elegant lei.
The close up photo gives a better indication of the round beads.  There is more shine than appears on t he screen, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  I really like the look of metal leaf inside translucent clay, and this necklace is a really lovely example of the special effect leaf can have.

New Shapes, Different Colors

This is just a short post to show you a new set I made using some shapes from a set of new templates, and colors that are a little different for me.  The pattern is Ikat that has been feathered, and looks to me like paint that is running into other colors. The faceted round Swarovki crystals seemed just right.
As you can see, the shapes of the earrings and the pendant pieces don't match.  However, I do think they complement each other.  It seems someone else felt the same way, because they sold to the same person the first day they were in the gallery.

Color Transfers with an Oriental Flare

 A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of teaching a workshop on color transfers.  There are several different approaches to this process.  I use 70% alcohol wipes in mine, and I have been consistently pleased with the results. For the first time, I decided to use Souffle clay. Souffle is another product from Sculpey. The clay has a somewhat velety feel and a matte texture, and I was not sure how the color transfers would adhere to the non-sticky clay.
In a nutshell, Souffle worked perfectly.  The images adhered very well. In addition, I really liked the matte effect.  Instead of treating the surface after baking, I left the image alone.  The pictures have held up well to touching and the colors have been true to the original image.






The necklace above is a piece I particularly like and was made on Souffle. The other photo to the right is of 2 pins I made using the same technique on Premo! clay.