New Necklaces

I've been giving some new beads for necklaces a try, and thought I'd share what I've been doing. The Westerly Art Gallery put out a prospectus for entries into their Regional Show, and I entered these three very different pieces. I was pleased the aquamarine necklace was juried into the show, and I just found out that it has sold. Nice news! For the curls on this necklace, I made a jelly roll cane with translucent and white polymer. I mixed a new turquoise tinsel embossing powder from Ranger into the translucent, and spread an aqua colored glitter between the translucent and white polymer layers before rolling them up. I formed the cane into a rectangle and wrapped the slices over a small wooden dowel. The crystal aquamarine pearls between the slices added a nice touch.

I really think this second necklace is fun! It took me a while to figure out how to fold the clay so that the form stayed open while also remaining connected to the other components. The different colors in each folded section help the design stand out. I can envision this design in other places besides jewelry. How about as drawer knobs? Or perhaps an item on the end of a lamp or fan pull? Fun to make once you get the hang of it, and rather versatile.

Although it may be a bit hard to tell from the photo, the design on these beads is raised in a bas-relief method usually called the Sutton slice. Getting all the pieces from the texture plate to translate to the base often takes care and patience. I found the trickiest part was getting the design to flow all the way around and not stop abruptly at the seam. Some of the patternas worked better than others. Since I tend to think of black and white as a summer combo, I thought this piece had a summery feel.

Folded Fans Necklace

This is the last of five necklaces I made as entries into the juried Regional Art Show in Westerly, Rhode Island.  The necklaces in the previous 3 posts on this blog were the others I submitted.  I was very pleased that all five of my pieces were accepted into the show.  The show ran for the month of May and three of the necklaces sold.

I call this new bead style the "folded fan".  The use of a Skinner blend to make the beads change in color, and the graduated sizes added another dimension of interest to the set.  I used small filigree silver balls n between the polymer beads, and finished the necklace with galvanized silver seed beads.  A light and fun piece for summer into fall.

Folds

Recently, I ran across Enlightened Polymer Clay, a book dealing with lots of "nature inspired" shapes.  There was one piece that had several folds in the clay, and it made me think of the time when bills and other "official" communication would be printed with the message: "Do not mutilate, fold or spindle." However, those may just be perfect things to try to do with polymer!  Needless to say, I had to give folding polymer a try.  This is my first attempt and I rather like the effect. The Ikat cane I used seemed particularly appropriate. I hope to get back to more experimentation soon.

You'll notice this is a very short post.  I'm heading off early Tuesday am for Laurel, MD and Cabin Fever Clay Festival 2014, and still have tons of prep work and packing to do.  As always, I'm looking forward to the experience.  It's such a great opportunity to learn, share, play with clay, and soak up ideas.  Obviously, the blog will be quiet for a while. I'll try to catch up some when I return.

CFCF 2013 - Lindly's Workshops

The clay festival was wonderful - perhaps one of the best so far.  Over the next few months, I'll be sharing techniques I learned as I try applying some of them to my own work.

As I mentioned in a previous post, this year the conference honoree was Lindly Haunani.  To me, she is the queen of color. Her workshops were explorations of the rainbow and various ways in which to modify colors.  In one workshop, participants made folded petals, strung in a necklace of graduated changing colors.

In another class, individually developed rainbows were modified, and we created 2 sheets - one brighter and another more muted.  The resulting Bodacious Bubbles clay sheets were made from circles cut from and swapped between the two different shades, showing how starting with the same base ensures compatibility.  Besides, it was fun - and now I have a case to hold cutting blades.

I had a bit more clay left over, so decided to cut it up and make an ikat cane.  As the sample shows, the color blend is fun.  The wrinkles on the sheet were made from a textured wallpaper sample.  It's amazing what polymer artists find and use!