3-D Jewelry a la Jana Roberts Benzon

Once again, I had the chance to spend a wonderful day learning from Jana Roberts Benzon. As I have said before, she is really amazing. This time, the class was on dimensional pieces formed from canes of varying complexity. We made a variety of canes from complex kaleidoscopes to stripes, bulls' eyes and all sorts of options in between. Jana guided us through the process of assembling slices from the various canes into pendants and earrings. There are just so many possibilities, and the work the participants have posted on our group site have been amazing. Above is my first pendant and below, a pair of earrings to harmonize.

23K Gold in Mokume Gane

Ah, the luster of real gold! There are several different metal leaf products available for use with polymer and other art mediums. I enjoy using them, and usually use the composite products. But once in a while, I splurge and get the "real thing." The pendant to the left and earrings below were made using 23K gold leaf in a mokume gane stack. You can tell immediately when real gold leaf is being used compared to the composite versions. The composite versions crackle and split when rolled and pressed in polymer. Actual gold leaf stays intact. It almost looks like the gold melted and flowed while the piece was curing. I love the look. The pendant and a pair of earrings shown here were both made from the same mokume gane stack. Compare this look to the red pendant I posted on March 27th, and you can see the difference. Do you see why I really like the 23K gold?

Pendant & Earring sets

Here are a few of the jewelry sets I made for the June show.  I hadn't realized how much I'd focused on the teal/aqua/purple color ways. Guess it's obvious how much I like those shades!


This first set is made with a feathered Ikat base.  I took the idea of splitting the pendant and joining it with a ribbon of clay from seeing some of Helen Breil's work.   I like the slightly asymmetrical look and adding the gold heshi and crystals really adds a special look to this piece.


These next 2 sets were based on Ikat stacks.  Although the colors are quite similar, the difference in width of the stripes, and the shading I used, does impart a different feel to each set.  I couldn't resist adding little flower elements to the one set.

Regional Show Entries

It's almost May, and that means the Westerly Artist's Cooperative is holding their annual Regional Art Show.  This show is juried by an outside judge, someone who is not familiar with any of the cooperative members.  This means that even member artists who normally show in the gallery may not have their work approved and entered in the show.

This year, I decided to try some new items.  These are pieces I haven't tried before, and it was fun to experiment.  I have no idea if they'll appeal to the judge, but I certainly learned a few things as I tried to make these pieces, and it was a good experience.   Below are the 3 pieces I entered.

 These first photos are of a hollow convertible pin/pendant I made with an opening in the center of the top section.  Emerging out of the hole are several little pearl white buds - the "first buds" of spring.  It can be pinned, or a chain can be added through the loops in the back.













This next photo shows a pendant and accompanying earrings.  I've called these pieces "Pearls floating downstream."  I usually work with Premo! clay, but these pieces were made with Kato.  I wanted a really strong clay that could be rolled thin and still stand up to being manipulated.  The Kato worked perfectly.  you may not be able to see it in the photo, but there is a thin white layer of clay between the blue and copper sheets, and it just peeks out along the edges adding a bit of contrast.

The last photo is of a 20" necklace strung with Swarovski crystal pearls, and silver and crystal rondelles.  The five polymer beads have a very high shine and are larger than the beads I usually make for a necklace arrangement.  I really love the way the Ikat pattern in the bottom section of each bead adds such an interesting contrast to the top section.

Reversible Necklace

Here is another piece made from the "labradorite" technique that I keep modifying.  I've tried different colors for the base as well as for the streaks of color that criss-cross about the the surface. You'll be seeing more pieces and more experiments in more posts over the next few weeks.


I am particularly pleased with the piece I'm posting here today. This is a reversible necklace. Both sides have very different looks and colors, yet the fire-polish crystals I found manage to compliment both.  The necklace has a nice shine, not too glossy, but not matte, either.  I added magnetic closures for ease of use.

The blue set below is not reversible, but it is made from another stack sheet of the labradorite look, and so I decided to post it here for fun and contrast. One of the colors I used had some silver glitter, so this set has a special sparkle that doesn't seem to show up in the photo as much as it does in person.

Sutton Slice Necklace

Recently, I taught a lesson on the Sutton slice, a process that allows the polymer artist to create bas-relief images much like cameos and wedgewood. Of course, when I teach I usually make a sample as a demonstration so students get to see the steps and the finished product. This simple little black pendant with antique gold leaves is the piece I made.  I used a head pin with a ball end imbedded in the top to create the loop for the chain.  What I discovered after baking was that the ball end prevents the wire from coming out, but it allows the pendant to swivel on the ball.  This would allow me to put a design on each side and make the pendant reversible - even while being worn!  Fun idea.

More Mokume Gane with Leaf

I'm dropping by to share a couple of pendant & earring sets I just finished.  I made these from the mokume gane stacks I used for demonstration in the workshop I mentioned in my last posting. You can see the difference between the pieces shown here, using gold composite leaf, and the cuff bracelets in the last post that were made with variegated leaf.  I really like the almost watery effect that the lightly tinted translucent clay makes when it is over composite leaf.   As you may be able to tell in the photos, the pieces I made using the variegated leaf look more like slices of stone.   The teal pieces shown here have the appearance of looking into small pools of water.    I also had fun creating openings in the teal pieces and adding the sparkle of some crystals.  The finish on the green and pink set is Magic Gloss, while I used PYM 2 on the teal set.

Porcelain All Dressed Up

It's holiday time, and a bit of shine and sparkle are in order.  I have some hollow porcelain pendants I made, each one individually formed, fired, glazed and lustered. I decorated them with polymer cane slices, and freeform shapes and swirls.  Their colors glow when the light hits them, but they needed something more special than just a wire or cord to set them off.





So, I started looking around - and unearthed a treasure trove amongst my beading supplies.  Faceted crystals, glass pearls, metal heishi, crystal rondelles, and various other findings just begged to be used.

Here you have some samples of the polymer decorated porcelain focals, surrounded by sparkle and shine. Each piece also has a magnetic clasp for ease of wearing. Which one would you pick?

Daffodils and Posies

I have to post something spring-like today.  After weeks of pleasant temperatures, some days even in the 70s - which, for Connecticut in March is pretty good - we have suddenly had snow.  Six inches of the stuff.  A little is okay in December or January, but is absolutely NOT allowed in April.  So, I'm feeling as if I'm in a bit of a time warp and I want to bring spring back as quickly as possible.  I figured posting some little flower pieces might help.

So here they are.  I tried my hand at little daffodils for the first time, and am now wondering why I haven't made these before.  They are a pretty basic design, but cute and cheerful, just like the daffodils that are trying to pop back up through the snow in my yard.



  
I also decided to make a couple of very simple Skinner blend pendants.  I decorated them with little flower clusters to add a spring feel.

New Tree Combos

Recently, I saw a picture of a three-dimensional tree mounted on a canvas background for use as a small wall-hanging.  The work was done by Laura Fesser and is just lovely.  I really liked the effect, and couldn't resist giving it a try as jewelry of some sort.

The photos here show my first 3 "combo" trees. I'll be putting a pin/pendant finding on the backs of these so they can be worn as brooches or hanging from a chain.  I realize my leaf colors may not be authentic in every case, but I couldn't resist including some of my favorite colors.

Extruding in the 'Round

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a workshop using polymer extrusions.  The workshop was designed to  teach the technique I described in my blog post of May 25, 2014. I call it "extruded mokume gane" since the extruded design is shaved in mokume gane style and the result is 2 different flat sheet looks.

At this particular workshop, the group was doing quite well with the process, so I decided to also show them how to make round beads using the extrusions and the mokume gane technique.  Here is a bracelet made using a set of beads made this way.  The extruded snake is wrapped around a scrap clay core.  A tissue blade is used to cut off small pieces of the snake.  This reveals the colors and layers underneath.  A gentle hand rolling helps reform any beads that might have gotten distorted in the process.

Here is another set of extruded, shaved beads in a different color palette.











The rest of the photos show one of the extruded snake designs after the top layer has been shaved, and a purple sheet of clay with pieces from the shaved design.

 Finally, here is a picture of a pendant piece made from the sheet.  A different base color would create a very different look.

Decorating "Torn-Paper Watercolor"

In a September, 2010 post, I showed the first pieces I'd made using the torn-paper technique.  This is a process, I believe, that was developed by Maggie Maggio.  If she didn't develop it, she certainly created some incredible pieces with the technique.

Recently, I was teaching a workshop using this process, and of course ended up with some sheets of my own.  In the past, I've used the sheets just as they were to create jewelry pieces.  But this time, it occurred to me I could use these sheets as background.

So today I share with you 3 variations on a theme.  This first photo shows 2 different decoration designs, both on the same torn paper background.  The larger pendant has simple geometric lines and dots.  I also used Preserve Your Memories 2 on this piece. The narrower pendant sports vines and a flower, and was left with a matte finish. The edges of these pendants have been finished with liquid paint from a gold leafing pen by Krylon.















This set of various blues and purples is embellished with calla lilies and vines. These pieces have silver edges.

The necklace to the left is composed of torn paper cube beads, Swarovski crystals, and hollow velveteen covered rubber tubes.  Although the cubes aren't decorated, this is something new for me.

One more photo.  I can't seem to stop making these tiny decorated glass bottles.  Here's the latest, all in white:

Metallic Collages

As you could see in my post in early March, I have been bitten a bit by the collage bug - and I'm really enjoying it.  I think part of the intrigue is the puzzle-like aspect of making a sheet by fitting together various pieces.  Of course, determining the pieces themselves, their placement, and balancing colors is all part of the process.  I like the additional dimension of the cut out pieces - the circles in this case - that allow me to swap-out colors.  The lime and silver sheet has circle cut-outs.
The teal sheet was my second sheet using these colors and this time, rather than cut out additional shapes to "swap", I used an artist's tracing wheel and went along all the edges of each piece, creating a quilted stitch look.  This idea comes from Ron Lehocky, who has tons of excellent tips and tricks up his polymer sleeves.

The pieces I'm sharing with you today incorporate metal leaf into the clay.  Recently, I ran across a series of photos that demonstrated gently pressing the metal leaf sheet into the clay with the edge of the tissue blade, and then pressing and massaging the leaf "into" the clay so that it stayed on the surface but was imbedded a bit into the clay.  This creates a crackle effect and makes the sheets easy to use and cut.  The metal leaf just acts like part of the clay.  Of course, it is still a metal leaf surface, so the end product needs some sort of protective coating.  For my pieces, I used Lisa Pavelka's Magic Gloss.  I have always been pleased with the results of this product.

So, here are some photos of the pieces I've been making.  I love teals, so, of course, my first pieces used a custom mix for that color.   Lots of earrings and a pendant on the left, and a piece with some motion on the right.

Next, I went purple.  I liked this color with silver leaf, and, in addition to pendants and earrings, I made a bracelet.  It is hinged together with silver jump rings and uses 2 magnetic closures.

Finally, here is a red group.  I used Premo's Alizarin Crimson nudged up a few shades lighter.  I really like the rich red this created.

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:

On a (Jelly) Roll....

Sometimes, revisiting a technique learned a long time ago can spark new ideas.  I was looking at some old jelly roll canes, and started playing around with them. Pretty soon, I was making new rolls, and cutting slices and making sheets from the canes.  That, of course, led to some jewelry pieces.

The jelly roll is actually the second simple cane I learned about when I first was introduced to polymer, the bull's eye being the first.  The jelly rolls I first made were just simple stacks of clay, piled and rolled.  As you'll see in the examples I'm posting here, the jelly rolls I've been making have two outer layers (white and dark) and a Skinner blend laid on top and rolled in as the colored layer.  This is certainly more elaborate than the simple jelly roll I was introduced to, but it's also more colorful and more interesting.

The cuff bracelet and tube earrings on the left give you a good image of the cane.  You can see the layers of white and navy, and the Skinner blend on the wider sheet that swirls around the core going from navy to yellow blending into green along the way.

These two pendant and earring sets have texture in the dark areas, and are sooth and buffed on the cane sections.  The strip of light green down the middle of the pendant on the left is made from some sweet glass beads called "super duos"- I wanted something to define the line between the clay sections, and these beads just seemed to fit.

Time for a color-way change!  I moved, naturally, into some of my favorite colors: purples and teal with pale yellow for accent.

The first photo shows a couple of pendants and some small earrings.  Perhaps you've already noticed the curving strip of translucent super duos in the pendant on the top left?  No color or texture separation here, it just seemed like the piece needed a stream of beads running through it.


And, finally, a really purple pendant with colorful sun-drops!

Perhaps some of you will be inspired to re-vist the jelly roll. If you've never made one, summer's the perfect time to experiment and play with clay!