Extruded Mokume Gane ~ Plus!

Back in April, Cynthia Tinapple posted the winners of the Spring Push extrusion contest on Polymer Clay Daily.  The entry by Karen Brueggemann, who won first place, really captured my interest.  I decided to experiment and see what I could come up with.  I had a lot of fun playing around.

 In the process, I discovered, as so often seems the case with mokume gane, that the pieces I was shaving off were as interesting - or more so - than the base I was creating.  Of course, this meant I had to use everything.  The two pendants to the left show both processes.  The left-most pendant is the resultant base after the top layer has been shaved off.  On the right is a piece made from some of  the shavings.  Very different effects, even though the colors are the same.
I thought I'd share the process and some of the end products here in case you'd like to give it a try, too.

The first step is to make a stack of circles of conditioned clay and extrude them into a long, round snake.  I tried using 2 different sizes of circles in the extruder, and preferred the smaller snake.  I really think this aspect is just personal preference.  Then take the snake and, using a hard, flat tile or similar surface, bend, cut, twirl and twist the snake around to make an interesting design.
Make sure there are no gaps in your design. I occasionally used cut pieces of the snake and stood them on end.  These created dots when shaved.  Above right is an example of a snake design.  
The sample below shows the shaved snake design made from the same colors as the example to the right.  When the tops are shaved off, all the various colors from the extrusion process come to light.

The next two sheets - one with yellow background and one with green - show random placement of the shavings from the snake design.  I love how changing the background changes the whole tone.

Here are samples of 2 pendants made from the green and yellow sheets of shavings.  Great effects.

Finally, below are a couple more photos showing shavings on a purple background, the snake design sheet from which the shavings came, and a piece cut from a snake design using a wider circle hole in the extruder.

Polymer Soutache ~ My Way

More experiments.  This time, I'm creating my own version of soutache, polymer style.  Soutache is a narrow, flat, decorative braid usually used in drapery or clothing for trimming and embroidery. It is also sometimes used to conceal a seam.   If you noticed the "Black Circles with Pearls" necklace I posted on April 18th, you'll see there is just a beginning of some narrow, flat ribbon effects in between the circles. The polymer "ribbon" was a design element that added interest and helped meld the circles together.  I liked the effect, so of course had to see where else I might take this concept.

I started with black and white extruded ribbons and wound them around a variety of beads, crystals and pearls.  The result was this little pendant on the right. I liked the way the black and white polymer ribbons seemed to "change places" as I wound them around the various beads.  Using a soft polymer allowed me to press the beads and pearls into the clay before baking, and this seemed to make a solid little piece.

Then I decided to try something more horizontal. This teal and turquoise piece sits nicely along the base of the neck and the rounded edges of the polymer ribbon and the bends in the shape make it lie comfortably.  It may have been the design or just the fact that I'm still experimenting,  but I found that it was harder to press all of the little embellishment pieces into the clay than it was in the black and white piece.  I used epoxy on the small white freshwater pearls after baking to be sure they all stayed in.

Finally, I decided to see what polymer soutache might look like around a focal bead.  I have some porcelain pendant beads I formed and hand painted, and it seemed that they might make nice center pieces for some soutache.  As with my first pieces, it just seemed like the ribbon sections needed additional embellishments added.  I have several more porcelain beads, so will most likely give this a try with more of them.  I expect I'll be doing more experiments with this concept , with and without focals, and I'll be sure to share here.