New Earring Styles

Hello!  I realize this blog has been quiet for a few weeks.  With all that has been going on in the world, I have been pre-occupied.  Just recently, I have begun to feel some inspiration to "play with clay" again, and have been making some earrings I'd like to share.  The first two pairs are some of the longest earrings I've made:  3-D triangles of deceasing size, all connected separately for maximum motion.  The lighter set is made from one of the pastels, gold leaf and lace sheets I made and spoke about in an earlier posting.  The purple set on the right is made from an Ikat cane.


These next three pairs of earrings are a different form of 3-D triangle.  I've used this shape before.  The difference here is that I've used a contrasting solid color for the inside of the earrings.  This pop of color really makes the earrings seem to glow from inside.  I've posted 2 photos here - one a front view, and one to give a better image of how the inside looks in contrast.

More earrings soon!  Be well.

Cross-Hatch Marks and Holes

Here are a few pieces trying something a bit new to me.  I have always liked the fabric, tweed-like look in polymer, so was thrilled to find a deep texture piece that created a cross-hatched look.  I decided to make some jewelry, that included round openings and colors.  Here are a few of the pieces I made.

The pieces with red have silver embossing powder highlighting the cross-hatch marks.  I liked the way the edges of the holes gave extra depth to the red circles.  The large piece is a pin.







The blue piece is a pendant, and I used titanium white Pan Pastels to color the cross-hatch design. 


The earrings below have gold (left) and silver(right) embossing powder dusted on black "Twinkle" Premo! polymer.  They are quite sparkly in person, even without any special finish or resin. The crystal balls attached at the bottom of the silver pair make them look quite festive.

Turtles Galore!

A week ago, I taught my first workshop on making 3-D sea turtles.  Following some basic structure directions, each person made their own personal turtle.  Participants used a variety of polymer clay colors for the base, and pastel chalks were used to colorize the turtles.  One turtle even ended up sporting a shell made from a design cane.  Each sea turtle had his or her own personality.  When we were finished, we set the turtles on a picture of acrylics and resin. They looked like they were swimming in the sea.  Here are our turtles.

Before I could teach the class, I had to make some turtles of my own.  Here are the 3 turtles I made.  I love the expressions on their faces and their bright, shiny eyes.

Polymer Faux Ceramic: A Side Step

While working with the faux ceramic look, I found I really liked working with pastels.  I decided to try them with some different texture patterns.  The pieces I made did not have as much of a ceramic look as the first set, partially, I feel, due to the designs used, as well as the shapes I made.  After baking, they asked for something more besides a PYM2 finish.  Since I enjoy the depth and shine of a resin finish, I decided to give these pieces a resin coating.  I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out.

The branch and tiny blossom design is quite delicate, and really doesn't look much like the broader patterns we usually associate with ceramics.  The pendant and earring set were made using teal, green and rust shades.  The earrings were colored in shades of blue and pink.  You can see how using different colors changes the tone entirely.




These two pair of earrings again are the result of multiple colors added one at a time, with the brush worked in different directions.





The golden pendant is simple, and I thought the filigree bail I found complimented it quite well.

Polymer "Pottery": Modified Faux Ceramic Technique for Cuffs

Thought I'd share what I did last night.  This is sooooo easy, and I love the results!  As I was working on more ceramic effects in polymer, I realized everything I was making was on a flat surface.  I need at least a few brass cuffs for the show.  I didn't think the liquid polymer with alcohol ink approach would work on a curved surface without a lot of dripping, so I decided to see if I could make the other technique work.  I simplified the steps I'd used on the pendants, and I think the cuffs turned out nicely.
The steps are simple:
Condition your clay.  For the ceramic looks, I make my own cream color that is a mixture of white, pearl and small (tiny) amounts of ecru and yellow.  Rolled out to a thickness of 2 (Atlas), the clay fits well on the channeled cuffs.  A texture or design can be imprinted on the clay first, then a strip can be cut out and placed on the cuff.  Alternately, the clay can be placed into the cuff, and then impressed with a design.  Be sure to use a release if your texture plate requires one.  Once the clay is pressed into the cuff and the edges and ends are evened and pressed in, the fun part begins.

Of all the various color techniques I'd been using doing the faux ceramic look, I found using pastels the most fun.  The tutorials and ideas I'd found suggested using your finger to apply the chalk. However, that approach sometimes left prints or made a spot of color that was too large or dark for what I wanted, so I decided to use small paint brushes to add the color to the design.  The first photo shows two cuffs after the pastels have been added and the cuff baked.   Each cuff has 5 or more colors.  I found that the results looked different if all the brush strokes went in the same direction, or if different colors were laid on in different directions. Experiment!  The second photo is the same 2 cuffs after being sprayed with PYM2. I liked both looks, but wanted to be sure the pastels were protected against wear. Easy, fun, and and definitely ceramic-like.

  

Polymer "Pottery": Faux Ceramic - Technique 1

This post has a little story behind it....Due to some unexpected events, the Westerly Artists' Gallery was in need of an artist to develop a show for the large street-side window.  When no one stepped forward, I agreed to give it a shot, IF I could pull in one or two other 3-D artists and make a small "group" show.  It was just too short notice to produce enough pieces by myself.   Happily, I was able to talk a potter and a woodworker into joining me.  Things are shaping up nicely, and the show will go on in April.
The reason this figures into my blog posting is I decided to try to make items that tied into the other 2 mediums.  I've made polymer faux wood pieces before, and knew I could make a few items that tied in nicely with the woodworker's items.  However, I've never tried making polymer "ceramics."  Here was the perfect impetus!
First, I decided to do a bit of research and see what others were using for ceramic-like effects.  I have long been an admirer of Iris Mishly of Polymeri Online.  She has some absolutely fantastic tutorials on just about any polymer topic you can imagine and, of course, she has an exceptional series on polymer ceramic techniques. I'm always happy with her tutorials, and her tips and tricks are quite worthwhile.  I also found a few Youtube videos on the topic, as well as an interesting tutorial on Polymerclayweb.  I set about experimenting, trying different ideas to see what "fit" for me.
Today's post covers the first approach I used. These are closest to Iris' approach, and, I feel, allowed me to achieve a somewhat rustic and realistic ceramic look.  When I showed them to friends, they thought the pieces were actually ceramic - until they picked them up and felt that lovely polymer lightness.
One of the most consistent aspects of the various approaches was the use of pastels or chalks for creating color. Iris also uses another product that adds some special effects.  I used some plastic stencils from Iris' website for the designs and some wallpaper textures for the back of the pieces. Here are the backs of 2 of the pieces shown above.

One of the hardest things for me is making the pieces into something that is done and immediately wearable.  The finishing - bails, chains, cording - is not my favorite part.  Sometimes the ideas I have are too time consuming - and I want to get back to more clay!   The ceramic pieces I made with this approach seemed suited to somewhat more casual approaches.  So here are examples using silk ribbon and wound cording on the left,  and chains below on the right.

Of course, I also needed to try some earrings.  I found these were a bit larger than what I usually make. The patterns just needed more space.