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.
I love extrusions. I think my favorite part is the fact that while the outside of the extrusion looks so plain as it leaves the extruder, the inside hides wonderful surprises. I have recently been playing with some thin extruded snakes, using them to create some fun and colorful round beads. Of course, I couldn't stop at one bead or one color-way, so here are photos of a couple of necklaces I made. There is also a bracelet also out of extruded snakes, but with a bit more dimension. The orange and purple necklaces have been rolled by hand and smoothed. Separating the beads with spacer beads or pearls helps highlight the dot design.
