A Lariat ~ My First!

I have always liked lariats.  I like the way they look.  I like the concept of something that just slips around the neck without having to fiddle with clasps.  I like how adjustable they are.  And I love the dangles that hang below the "slip through" portion. You have to have dangles.

With all this positive feeling about lariats, why have I never made a polymer lariat?  Answer:  I don't know.

Well, I've remedied that situation, and present here my very first polymer lariat.  The modified triangular "slip through" piece has a mica shift surface that I decorated with flowers, leaves and vines.  It is Spring, after all.  I used three colors of soutache trim for the cording that wraps around the slip through triangle. Each cord ends in a leaf pod or petal pod, echoing the colors from the triangle and in the cording.  As I mentioned, I love the dangling part of a lariat, and these little pods have a nice shape and feel.

This lariat was in the center of my display for my show at the Westerly Arts gallery. It sold during the opening night reception - guess I should make some more lariats!

More Master Class Camp Workshops: Dan Cormier & Ponsawan Sila

In this post, I'll talk briefly about a 2-day master class, and a 2-hour mini-workshop I took in July at the Master Class Camp.  One special aspect of the Master Class Camp, well-organized by Kathryn Ottman, is that the basic workshops each run for 2 consecutive days.  This provides the participant with the opportunity to study with one instructor in depth, and to come away with a more solid understanding than is possible in half-day classes.  Kathryn started the Master Camp last year, and I was really happy to be able to participate this year.
The 2-day master class was with Dan Cormier.  Dan is known for his precise processes with mica shift and his ability to create some incredible images in clay.  Dan has developed not only a special process, but a wide variety of tools to compliment his procedures.  His website includes clay peelers, digital class books, die sets, and the Sh.A.R.K, a very successful width adjuster.  Throughout the 2-days, Dan demonstrated each step of his process.  He has a very precise method of conditioning clay, creating stacks of clay, and creating slices of those stacks.  He also demonstrated the use of his die sets and some methods of manipulating and impressing designs in the stacks of clay.

These two pendants are examples of slices from stacks I made based on Dan's processes.   The gold to rust piece in particular demonstrates the halo or "bruising" around the holes that is a direct result of Dan's process of clay preparation, impression, and slicing.  Very distinctive.


In addition to the 2-day master classes, Kathryn also arranged a few special 2-hour sessions in the evenings.  I participated in the evening session with Ponsawan Sila.  Ponsawan shared some of her tips and tricks about making narrow Skinner blends to create petal canes. She demonstrated how she makes small round and disk shaped beads using petal slices. One surprise was the fact that she sometimes rolls the raw beads in table salt before baking. After baking, the beads have a fine texture with some tiny holes left by the salt.  The holes show up particularly in the purple round bead on the left.

Ponsawan also demonstrated how to create small flower buds using slices of the petal canes.  Most of us then spent the rest of the time creating our own flowers, buds, and beads from the tiny canes we had made. The photo to the left shows my collection of buds and flowers.

Criss-Cross - A Different Shape

As many polymer people know, it's fun to play with the clay, exploring different options and possibilities.  I've recently developed a new shape, and have been "claying around" for a couple of days.  The photos here show several pendants made with different surface techniques, all sporting variations on this new shape theme.  The two to the left were made with mica shift sheets.  You'll notice that one has a single criss-cross while the other has none.

The next photo shows 3 more pendants, one with criss-cross at the top, one with criss-cross at the bottom and one crossed in both places. Canework, textures and mokemu gane were used for the surfaces.

The last picture has some criss-cross earring to match the pendant, using the torn paper technique.  I don't know what else I might do with this shape, and it certainly has been fun experimenting.  

Some New Shapes

Sometimes, I just like to play around and see what transpires.  I'd made a mica shift Skinner blend for a demonstration, then needed to make something with the sheet.  This necklace and earrings were the result.  A new shape, and I like the simplicity of the pearls.




Next I was in the mood for some black and white, so made a mokemu gane stack with black, white, silver and silver leaf.  Of course I needed to do something with it - thought I'd share some of the shapes I've come up with.   This first set is composed of 3 layers of triangles, each layer with a different treatment.  There is silver mica shift, the multi-color mokemu gane and black textured.

These earrings are open at the sides and the shape clasps an object at the bottom. The black pair has pearls while the mokemu gane pair holds jet crystals.

This last pendant is a curved triangle with a smooth, solid backing.  I like the neck cording, but haven't quite decided if that's going to be "it" or not.

I've a few more in the oven - I'll be sharing  more later.

  

Summer Feathers

Besides flowers and leaves, some of my favorite items in nature are feathers.  I used to make a lot of beaded feathers, though I haven't done so in quite a while.  The other day, I saw one of my old feathers, and decided to try making a feather cane. There are numerous methods for making feathers in polymer, and I picked one from Dora's Explorations which she posted back in 2008.

The photos here show three different color blends combined into feather canes.

The pendant has a mica shift background and the gold covered cable is a perfect compliment. 











The earrings all have some motion, especially the ones with triple leaves.

I expect I'll be experimenting with other feather caning ideas, so stay tuned. 

More Mica Shift: A Peek Inside

As you may have guessed, I really love the effects one can achieve with the mica technique. I decided to try something with a little more contrast and a different focus. It's a bit like taking a "peek inside".

In some cases, the "found" object led the way to custom color and design. In other cases, the clay determined the piece inside. Here are a few more:

Playing with Mica Shift

Mica Shift - what an incredible technique! I started playing with it one day, and just can't seem to stop. I especially like the way Skinner blends look with the mica sift technique applied. Of course, once you have these lovely sheets, you need to do something with them...Then I found some little curved spacers at Beaded Impressions, and decided to see how they'd look as embellishments. Here's a couple of pendant/earring sets ~ I especially like the fact that the little discs move and twirl.

Just so you can see the discs and the mica pattern, here's a close up:

I also had to incorporate PMC in a piece with a little movement. I really like the ability to have the texture that is imbedded in the PMC echoed in the smooth mica shift of the polymer. What a great combination of media!

If you're not familiar with the mica shift technique, there is a great tutorial on Polymer Clay Central. The tutorial is done by Kellie Robinson, and is very clear with excellent photos. Here's the URL:
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ms_texture.html

Give it a try! Bet you can't do just one!