A Few More Pieces for Early Fall

Here are a few new pieces I've made for Spectrum as a sort of bridge between summer and fall. To the left is a mandala pendant and below are the matching earrings.

I really like this next piece. The silk screening over the textured background and pattern really adds depth.

I'm not sure if the piece above represents a river or something in space. You get to decide.

Adding Mesh to Polymer Jewelry

Hello! As I mentioned in my last post, Julie Picarello also showed us how to add mesh to our jewelry pieces.

In this first photo to the left, you'll see two pendant pieces and a pair of earrings. The pendants have mesh added. In the piece on the top right, I added 2 pieces of copper mesh, and then backed the whole piece with the solid raspberry color that was used in the mokume gane slice. The piece at the bottom has aluminium mesh, and the backing had the space cut out so that light shined all the way through. Julie also showed us how to use various products to color the mesh, but I preferred to leave mine plain.

This second photo shows a differently colored mokume gane stack slice, with a copper mesh insert. The long piece on the left of the photo is something Julie calls a "lizard tail". I haven't decided just what I plan to do with this sort of piece, but they're a lot of fun to make!

Finally!!

Hello! If you've been checking periodically, you know it's been a long time since I posted to this blog. The changes they made in the Blogspot software meant it would no longer work on my old computer. However, that trusty machine has finally decided to call it quits, and I now I have a new machine that seems totally fine with the updated software. Yay! Although I haven't been posting, I have been working with polymer - and I have tons of things to share. So, over the next days/weeks/months I'll be posting different projects and ideas I've been exploring. They may not be in any particular order, but I will try to stick to one topic (or maybe 2....) per post. I'm in the midst of making lots of different jewelry right now because I'm a featured artist for the April Show at the Westerly Art Gallery. So today I'll post a couple of photos of things I'm in the process of making for the show. The theme is "Feast for the Senses: Spring is Here!" which really meshes with my enjoyment of color and florals in polymer.

These bright flowers to the left are all pendants which will hang from simple gold or silver chains.

Here are a few earrings that are something new for me. This is the first time I've added the top portion to create motion in a drop earring. Also, I've experimented with some new floral designs. It's nice to be blogging again. :)

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.

A Bit More Mokume Gane

I have a couple more pieces I made recently while on the mokume gane kick, and wanted to share them here.  This first set is made using a polymer clay stack of alternating colors, pressed with various objects, then sliced thin.  I really liked the sea blue-green color I custom-mixed and the way the design turned out.  I decided to leave the matte finish.  One of the polymer colors I used was the black glitter accents from Premo! and the sparkle and shine from that color contrasts really nicely with the matte of the blue-green and cream colors I mixed.

This second set was made a bit differently.  I rolled out the layers of clay so they were quite thin, then pressed a rubber stamp into the clay.  I only needed to shave off a thin layer of the clay to reveal the design from the stamp impression.  This method only produces one sheet of design, but it allows the user to make an impression that imitates the picture or design on a rubber stamp.  In this case, I wanted a high shine, so I covered the baked pieces with Magic Gloss for that extra depth and shine.

Mokume Gane Demo

I really, really like the effects one can achieve with the mokume gane technique.  Actually, there have been several different iterations of mokume gane in polymer, so I should, perhaps, refer to it as the mokume gane "concept." Recently, the Westerly Artist's Gallery held a demonstration of various art techniques, and I demonstrated mokume gane in polymer.

The first photo, to the right, shows the polymer stack from which the sheet slices came, and a pendant and earrings made from those slices.

The three piece pendant on the left  was also created with sheets from this stack.  I really like this new shape form I found, and the tiered look is fun.  I covered these pieces with Magic Gloss which adds another level of depth to the design.

The last photo shows another pair of earrings, and a brass cuff bracelet. This is a very versatile technique, and would look great covering handles or other objects.

CFCF 2017

I'm just back from Laurel, Maryland, and Cabin Fever Clay Festival 2017.  Once again, I had an excellent time.  The participants and instructors were wonderful, I learned lots, got to see some great creations and wonderfully creative ideas.  Over the new few posts, I'll share a bit from the classes I took and hopefully wet your appetite for learning more.  Many of the presenters take their workshops and classes on the road, so be on the lookout for names and projects that pique your interest.

For this first posting, I'll share a bit from an all-day workshop with Ann and Karen Mitchell of ANKARA Designs.  This workshop was on various uses of liquid polymer.  The sisters have all sorts of ideas, including tips and tricks, which they willingly shared with the participants.  In the morning, we worked on mosaic pendants which were later encased in liquid clay.  One tip was to be careful about putting the liquid clay over the metal leaf sections on our pendants. The leaf was easy to rub off unless the liquid polymer was added carefully.  All the pieces on the mosaic, with the exception of the seed beads I used, were made from various processes using polymer.

In the afternoon, we worked on a project that I found fascinating.  The Mitchell sisters have developed a process for transferring images onto regular fabric. After baking, the fabric may be cut and the pieces used.  The photo here shows an edge of fabric with the transfer on top of the majority of the fabric piece.  The leaf shape was cut from the treated fabric piece and shows the back of the fabric. The holes are designed to allow sewing of beads or other items through the polymer/fabric to create shapes for items such as jewelry.  All-in-all, it was a very interesting process, and one I plan to revisit soon.

Rivoli Earrings

I just finished this pair of earrings, and thought I'd share.  They are made from superduo glass beads and rivoli crystals, and the sparkle and depth are really lovely.  I will be teaching this technique in my March bead-weaving class at Nature's Art.  It's a great little design, and can easily be configured into a bracelet or necklace. Additional embellishments around the edge could turn it into a very special pendant.  Bead-weaving was my first jewelry-making outlet, and I still enjoy watching beaded objects emerge from a simple needle, thread, and my fingers.

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.

Not My Usual...

I was getting ready to teach a workshop on the feathering technique in polymer.  It's a fun and easy process, and the results always manage to amaze and delight me.  I hadn't used the technique for a while, so decided to make up a sheet for demonstration purposes.   What I ended up doing really surprised me!
Before I show you my experimental pieces, I'm going to show you a photo of jewelry pieces made up in more traditional format.   The design creates sheets that have color and pattern similarities, but the design is not a repeating pattern.  So pieces cut from the same sheet "go together" well, but do not exactly match.  The earrings, pendant and cuff bracelet in this photo show what I mean.  The stripes and mixes are not exactly the same in all the pieces, but they harmonize well.

These pieces come from a sheet a made at the workshop as I demonstrated the various steps. However, at home in preparation for the workshop, I made a sheet in similar fall colors - and took it in a totally new direction.

The next 2 photos show what I made with the feathered sheet at home.  These pieces were all cut free-hand, and I was amazed that they seemed to just work together.  I just sort of cut in a curved pattern - and look what happened!  I'm not sure what I'll do with these three loose pieces at right.

The last photo shows 2 different "wild cut" pieces placed on backgrounds using the same colors.  I'm going to put pin backings on these two.  This just demonstrates that sometimes  the clay takes us in new and interesting directions. 

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.

Gold leaf, Mauve & Blue Mokume Gane

It's been a busy month - busy with everything except working with polymer.  I was finally able to put aside a block of time or two, and have some new things to share.  I wanted to do something that picked up the bits of gold we are starting to see in the trees here in New England.  I decided to use the hills and valleys mokume gane technique with translucent polymer mixed with two of the new colors for fall - Cashmere Rose and Biscay Bay.  I started with the rose shade, and imbedded the pieces with gold electroplated glass seed beads for a bit of contrast.  The first photos shows some of the pieces I made.

On to blue!  Here are 2 pendant and earring sets. I especially like the motion of the multiple pieces. Sometimes doing something fairly simple adds a lot of interest to a piece.


Finally, I made a few brass cuffs.  I tried a green but didn't get the shade I was looking for.  It looks like it will be better for spring than fall.  

Retreat Preparation

I'm in the process of getting ready to go to the Kentucky/Tennessee Polymer Clay Guild's annual retreat at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  This will be the first time I've attended this event, and I'm really looking forward to it. Right now, I'm in the midst of preparing for some of the activities they plan, and thought I'd share my little projects here.  
Of course, there is the traditional "inchies" exchange where everyone makes enough 1inch square tiles to trade with the other participants.  Inchies are usually based on a theme. This year, the focus of the retreat is extrusions, so my inch tiles are extrusion-based.  As you can see by the tiles to the left, I made flat patterns using extruded snakes, then shaved off the edges to reveal the colors below.  I used the shaved pieces and placed them on solid color backing to create the more random looking pieces.  It's sort of a combination of extrusions and mokume gane techniques.  The process is great fun and the results look pretty good, too. 

At the retreat, there are daytime activities as well as some after-dinner games.  One of the games requires us to have "poker chips" to use.  I've made up one set of "chips" using extrusions carefully placed and cut in a striped checkerboard pattern.    These chips are about 1.5 inches across.

 I liked the way these pieces looked so much that I decided to try some jewelry.  I made up a new color set, used a smaller hole for the extruder disk, and made up more checkerboard pieces.  The results below show some earrings and a pendant, all awaiting wires or other findings. 



Now I have one more set of poker chips to make.  I'm not sure what technique I'll use.  Maybe it won't be extruded......

An Ikat Avalanche

My workspace looks like a snow storm made of ikat pieces!  Perhaps "ikat obsession" would have been a more appropriate heading for this post.  As I look back through this blog, I see at least 5 other posts on the ikat cane.  It is such fun to create, and there are several different versions "out there" to choose from - or to help you develop your own.

My first exposure was through Donna Kato's book,The Art of Polymer Clay Millefiori Techniques.  Donna demonstrates a couple different approaches for making ikat canes.  Lindly Haunani has developed her own approach incorporating her wonderful rainbow approach to color, and I have had a lot of fun experimenting with her method. Iris Mishly has a lovely tutorial demonstrating 3 different versions of ikat canes.  In addition, there are several free tutorials online.  Obviously, I'm not the only person who finds this look and its variations fascinating!

However, the credit (or blame) for my current ikat spree goes to Lindly.  At the polymer master class workshop in July, Lindly spent part of the last afternoon demonstrating and discussing some of the ways in which ikat can be manipulated.  While the bracelets in the photo on the right do show their ikat origin, some of the manipulated sheets don't look anything like ikat!

I decided I had to share here some of the results of my experimenting.  Hope you enjoy the show!

This little set on the left showcases my favorite ikat sheet (so far).  The ikat cane is not manipulated here except to be cut and placed in strips next to itself.  I did experiment with the spacing of colors, their order, and strip width, and particularly cut down on the amount of base or background color that I used to set the other colors apart.  I love the almost-but-not-quite Skinner blend look.  It definitely looks like fabric to me.


The leaf shape on the left is another ikat cane cut diagonally with the opposite sides flipped and butted up against a center strip of color.  I had to add some wave to the edges and it has a "leafy" feel.  If you find a tree this fall with leaves like this, I want to know!
The next two sets are examples of feathering with ikat canes.  I have always loved the look of feathering in lampwork beads, and have experimented a bit with feathering striped polymer clay sheets.  It took a nudge from Lindly, however, to make me realize I could try this with ikat.  Oh, the results!  I found that stretching the sheets out on the pasta machine after doing the initial feathering created a simply wonderful look.  Both the lavender and the yellow sets show the results of stretched feathering.
 Now for another twist:   herringbone!  This particular manipulation makes the clay look three-dimensional.  I textured this surface for a couple of reasons.  The herringbone treatment just seemed to be somewhat "rustic" and therefore more muted to me, and texturing helped ease and set the joins between the strips.  Don't you love it when form and function work together!

Here is one last example of ikat with large neutral separating strips between the colors and feathering tossed in for good measure.
Now run out and play with some ikat canes!

Making Silk Screens

As I mentioned in my June 30th posting, I spent a week at the Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts, studying with Seth Savarick. The focus was surface textures and techniques, and we spent a great deal of time learning about silk screening, and making our own silk screens for use with polymer.  The real trick, besides being sure we had everything set up correctly in the dark room, was finding the right moment with the right amount of sun to cure the screens.  Seth, from southern California, is used to just walking out into his yard whenever he wants to make a screen. Arrowmont is in Tennessee, and we were battling with early summer thundershowers that would descend upon us without much warning.  It got a little comical - we'd be in the midst of working or of listening to new information and someone would shout, "SUN!" We'd drop whatever we were doing, grab our screen setups, and dash out for our minute of sun.  We didn't need much time, but getting it was sometimes a real trick.

I have finally put together some pieces made from sheets of polymer I made up from silk screens.  A few were made with screen overlays.  Take a look!

This purple, gold and silver iris pendant was fun to make.  I started with a Skinner blend base in dark to light purples.  Then, I used gold and silver paint in sections on the silk screen and dragged the squeegee across the surface.  The result is a variation in both the background and in the colors in the foreground.

 The midnight blue pieces are half-lentils with curved top surfaces on a flat, silver leaf covered backing.  There are two different stencils used on the surface.  One made the periwinkle small squares and dots while I used another stencil to add the silver diamond and star-burst shapes.  The surface really looks like a night sky.



The green bamboo pieces were also made with 2 different stencils: one for the bamboo leaves, the other for bits of gold splash.

The deep purple leaf set was set up a bit differently.   I used 2 different silk screens that needed to be placed precisely to ensure that the "fill-in" color landed within the outlines.




Since I came home, I have made some of my own screens.  You'll see some of them down the road when I get out my paints and screening set up.  The color on the polymer from the paints is really lovely, and doesn't show up as well on the computer screen as it does in person.

Pendanitas!

Most of my pendants are of a medium size, and, as I experiment with some processes, they sometimes get a bit larger.  However, there are those who prefer smaller items, and with the holidays in sight, I have been making some smaller pendants.  I call these pieces "pendanitas" or little pendants.

Here are a few samples, in different styles and using different techniques.  The black pieces are pretty self-explanatory.  I like the juxtaposition of the simple geometric black shapes contrasting with the 3-D flowers and butterfly cane.









The pieces below on the left are made with gold leaf composite, alcohol inks for color, and other bits and pieces such as gold flakes.



The two rectangular pieces are part of my "faux opal" collection. This is a process that keeps evolving, and I'm having fun with it.