Going Concave

As I believe I mentioned in an earliery post, the Westerly Gallery January show had the theme: Exploration:  New Perspectives.  One of the things I decided to try was to make pendants with a concave rather than convex form.  This meant that, instead of the center of the piece rising to the eye, it would recede.

I had fun working with different shapes, mixing and matching patterns, colors, and textures. You will notice for several of them I used the mokume gane technique, and several of the pieces incorporated metal leaf.

Below are more of the pendants I made.

Puppy, Again!!

Over the years I've kept this blog, I've posted when we've add to our little "family."  Just a day ago, we brought home another Aussie to join our two older girls.  Let me introduce Keiko, shown here with two of her litter-mates as she was getting ready to come home with us.  Her name is a Japanese girl's name that translates as "happy child, rejoicing."  This is indeed one happy, playful pup, and we're all enjoying getting to know her and watch as our group makes
modifications to give her room to grow and fit in.

Of course, this is my creations blog, so I thought I'd show you a couple of pairs of earrings I just finished. They obviously have nothing to do with the puppy, they're just earrings, but shouldn't each posting have some polymer in it?

The first blue pair below has a thin gold plated bar that swings back and forth as you walk.  This is the first time I've used something like these bars in earrings.  All the patterns were made using Mokume Gane technique with gold leaf inside the layers.  There is a quite a sparkle to the gold, it just doesn't show well in the photos.

 

Maquetry with Polymer

These earrings are made using the more detailed and refined techniques that Bonnie Bishoff shared at the workshop.  In addition to using the marquetry approach, I also decided to go big!  I realize these earrings are not huge by some standards, but they are the largest I've ever made, and it was fun to push my own self-imposed boundaries.

Relatively Simple Inlay

As you may recall, back in October I had the opportunity to learn a detailed and precise method of marquetry from Bonnie Bishoff.  I didn't get back to this art form for a while, until January approached.  As one of the two featured artists for the January show at the Westerly Gallery, I decided it would be fun to develop some new pieces for the show.  I have several different pieces to share with you.  In this post, I'm just going to show some pendants with what I have always called polymer "inlay."

These pieces are not an intricate, nor as tricky, as the finer marquetry that Bonnie taught us.  I do love the look of these pieces, and had fun cutting and replacing.  I used some of the Accent colors from Premo! for the background, and a skinner blend from purple to coral for the inlaid shapes. Next time, I'll bring you more detailed pieces using some finer marquetry techniques.

Snowflakes ~ After all, it is Winter

A few weeks ago, I held a class focused on making polymer snowflakes. We decorated them in a variety of ways.  I was really impressed at the imagination participants used to make the snowflakes glitter and shine.  Our biggest job was picking up the glitter when we were through. :)
I'm posting here a few of the snowflakes I made.  I think these would be fun to hang in a window, on a door, or from a lamp, depending on the size. There is even a pair of earrings. Besides all being different, these snowflakes have the advantage of never melting!

Silk Screening

Recently, I held a class on silk screening polymer clay.  We used Lumiere acrylic paints and small silk screens on raw polymer.  Most of the students chose to make Skinner blends of two or three colors with their polymer before laying down the silk screen and applying the paint.  The results were simply lovely, and quite varied. Since I had the materials gathered, I made a few more sheets at home. Here are some of the pieces I made from the silk screening. I covered the pieces with Magic Gloss to help protect the paint.  Although the paint bakes into the polymer, and I have left silk screened pieces with a matte look, I do like the extra depth the Magic Gloss and other resins add to the polymer pieces.

Wearable Kaleidoscopes

A couple of weeks ago, I gave a workshop about making polymer Ikat stacks.  We used the stacks to cover these fun little wearable kaleidoscopes.  These are real kaleidoscopes, complete with a glass mirror prism inside.  A simple, adjustable golden chain makes it possible to wear around the neck.  I decided these might make fun gifts, so made a few for the Holiday Show in Westerly.  Here are some of the ones I made.

An Earring Medley

I've been doing a variety of earrings for the holiday shows, so thought I'd share some of them with you.   Earrings are fun in a way that is different from something larger such as a pendant or pin.  Here are some of the ones I've been creating.

A Reversible Leaf & More Dichroic

Here are a few more pieces I've created for the Holiday Show in Westerly.   This seems to be the time of year for a bit of glitz and shine.   These pendants all have some sparkle on their own, and the addition of Magic Gloss resin as a finish really makes them glow.
These first photos are of a reversible leaf pendant I made.  One side has a lot of sparkle in the clay and is finished with Magic Gloss while the other side I just buffed and polished without a finish layer.

The two sides look quite different, which increases the wearability.  I really like the whole reversible concept.

The rest of these pendants use metal leaf and alcohol inks, finished with a Magic Gloss coating to protect the leaf.  This process really makes the colors vibrant.  I particularly like the pieces in reds and blues.  I used strips from a sheet I'd cut up for other pieces, and the collage effect brings attention to the various colors.

Texture & Glitz

One of the features of polymer clay is how well it adapts to texture.  As I mentioned in an eariier post, I have a new silicon rubber mat with a cross-hatch pattern that looks a great deal like a woven fabric. and I've been enjoying working with it. Here are a few more pieces I've made using the new texture.   I pressed embossing powder into the textured clay before cutting, then baked the pieces.  The embossing powder bonded well with the clay, so I did not put a finish on the pendants and pins, primarily due to the openings on many of these pieces and the flower charm sticking through.  I am also making earrings with the texture and the embossing powder.  I plan on using Magic Gloss on them to give the powder extra shine.

Red, White & Green for the Holidays

The holiday season is upon us, and so is the flurry to get some holiday jewelry made.  Here are a couple of sets I've just completed using one of my favorite techniques, mokume gane.  

For the green set, I used layers of Jungle green, white, and some Yellow Gold Glitter.

In the red set, I layered various reds, including alizarin crimson, along with white and Premo!'s White Gold Glitter. 

 A final coating of Magic Gloss resin added depth and shine, and really made the glitter clays sparkle.

Dichroic Holiday Sets

I love the special shine and sparkle that comes from using metal leaf and alcohol inks on polymer. When the holidays start rolling around, these are the pieces that people seem drawn to, and they make great presents.  I worked up a sheet with reds, pinks, blues and purples, and have made several pieces from the base. I need to switch it up and bring in greens, yellows and oranges, so don't be surprised if you see some of those in the near future.  In the meantime, here are some of the sets from the first color combination.

The set on the left is in just two colors, and I like the calm feel.  The set on the right was made from strips of the colored sheet that were sliced and randomly placed against each other.