Some New Shapes

Sometimes, I just like to play around and see what transpires.  I'd made a mica shift Skinner blend for a demonstration, then needed to make something with the sheet.  This necklace and earrings were the result.  A new shape, and I like the simplicity of the pearls.




Next I was in the mood for some black and white, so made a mokemu gane stack with black, white, silver and silver leaf.  Of course I needed to do something with it - thought I'd share some of the shapes I've come up with.   This first set is composed of 3 layers of triangles, each layer with a different treatment.  There is silver mica shift, the multi-color mokemu gane and black textured.

These earrings are open at the sides and the shape clasps an object at the bottom. The black pair has pearls while the mokemu gane pair holds jet crystals.

This last pendant is a curved triangle with a smooth, solid backing.  I like the neck cording, but haven't quite decided if that's going to be "it" or not.

I've a few more in the oven - I'll be sharing  more later.

  

More Play with Alcohol Inks - & New Stamps!

Back in November, I shared with you several examples of various experiments using metal leaf and alcohol inks. I put the metal leaf away, but have been drawn to play some more with the inks.  In addition, I decided to try my hand at some stamping. I've never done scrapbooking, and have never really used stamps as a part of polymer  - so this is new for me.  All of these pieces started with a base of white clay on black that I cut and baked first, before doing anything else - which is also a departure from my norm....

This first photo is a set of shapes with just alcohol inks. I'm going to have to give them a gentle protective coat of some sort, probably matte, since that's the way they seem to "want" to be.  I did not let the colors pool or sit against each other very much.  Instead, I dropped just a bit of color and dabbed it up quickly with a tissue.  I kept playing, adding and subtracting color, until I liked the result.  Each piece has been given a textured, wrap-around back and edging.  I don't know if I'll add anything else to these, or not.  Right now, I'm enjoying looking at the colors.

Then I took some alcohol-colored backgrounds, and gave them a simple inked stamp.  These have been sealed with a matte varnish to protect the alcohol background and stamped ink from smearing. I love the subtle feel these pieces have.  I think that a couple of them look almost antique in some ways.  You'll notice I moved into new color-ways, too. There is something very peaceful about working with the inks in this manner.

Lastly, I went "all out" - these pieces have an alcohol base, a layer of translucent cane slices, stamped images and a final coating of resin. They have a layered look with depth the other pieces do not have.  Also, they are quite shiny.  I suppose it's a matter of preference.  I've enjoyed making them all!

Hollow Donuts! & Signature Stamp

Hollow donuts have intrigued me for a while. They have great dimension, and are lighter weight than a filled piece. I looked at a few online donut tutorials, and particularly liked the one by Fulgorine.  The first piece is made with the patchwork surface design.  I like the way the crushed silk ribbon looks with the donut shape.


The next donuts were made with a cane based on one from Marcia Tzigelnik.  She has some excellent cane tutorials. This one in particular seems to lend itself to donut shapes. The purple piece is a bit more oval, while the teal donut is a definite drop shape.

The red donut is a hexagon and has triangular matching earrings.

Last - here is a new twist.  Each of these donuts has my signature stamp!  These are the first pieces I've ever signed.  I finally got around to getting a small signature stamp made.  I used the logo that I have on my earring cards, and I think it's just about perfect.  The signature is in calligraphy done by my husband, and is composed of my initials, K Y F.  The "Y" is my maiden name, and forms the link between the K and the F.  Here is a sample of  the stamps on the back of the red donut. Fun!

Torn Patchwork - A Variation on a Theme

One of the first surface techniques I ever experimented with was the watercolor technique developed by Maggie Maggio.  A variety of directions for this technique can now be found on several web sites.  It uses a Skinner blended sheet layered over sheets of white and black.  The pieces are rolled thin, then torn apart and recombined in a random pattern.  The result is always unique, and the process is a lot of fun.
I was looking through some of my canes, and it occurred to me that using the same layered and torn process with canes that have stripes of sorts might create a different look.  As I worked on this, the resultant sheets looked to me like torn patchwork quilting, so that's what I decided to call it.
Each of the different canes I used were created in the same manner, so these patchwork pieces have a similar look.  You may also have noticed that I've been experimenting with a couple of new shapes...new twists for a New Year.

Vines & Floral "Cameos"

Cameos seems an appropriate name for this new line of mine. Though not actually carved, as the original cameo pieces were, these do have a raised design with a contrasting background.  The two-tone color scheme helps accentuate the design.  I may try more color in the future, but this simple contrast design just seemed right.  It is, after all, winter, and the colors outside are often in stark relief.  The black pendant and red earrings are the first pieces I made.  I tried more daisies and vines in teal and one on a swirled background.

Then I decided to try just vines.  I love the way the tiny snake of clay curls and curves as it leaves my hand, sometimes seeming to have a mind of its own.  These are longer, more slender shapes and seem perfect for vines. The larger anique gold piece has a pearl and faceted jet piece dangling from the bottom.

This last grouping shows 4 pendants in different shapes, all sporting vines with tiny roses.

Hope you've enjoyed this "walk" through a winter garden.

Tiny Flowers "Sculpted" with Polymer

Oh, I like this style!  I've seen pictures a couple of times showing sweet little flowers made using tiny bits of clay.  I decided to try it myself.  Of course, being on a cylinder kick meant I had to try it as decoration on a couple of the long tubes.  The teal pendant was my first piece - and so far, it's my favorite.  It was very time consuming to form the tiny pieces of clay and attach them to the base.  I found I really tuned everything else out while I was making the various shapes.


The purple pendant is large - almost half again as long as the teal piece.  It seemed to need more decoration, too.  I baked the core first, then used Genesis Thick Medium as a bond to hold the tiny flower pieces to the base.  I've rubbed the pieces pretty hard since baking, and the bond seems quite strong.

One more cylinder pendant to share.  This one is more sculptural and along the lines of other embellishments I've done in the past.  It's even larger than the purple piece, which is a bit unusual for me.  It just kept growing as I worked.  I really like the "home-grown" leaf tassel on this one in particular.  Lots of motion!

Mokume Gane Cylinder Pendants

I really liked the cylinder pendants I made a few weeks ago, and decided to make some more in different surface treatments.  I first turned to mokume gane. It's one of my favorite techniques, possibly because every time I use it, the end result is different. The color combinations are usually custom-made, and I vary the objects I press into the polymer stacks, so I always get an unique look.
The pendants on the left demonstrate 2 different impression techniques.  On the purple and pink cylinder, I used a deep cut rubber stamp to make the impression in a rather shallow stack.  The aqua cylinder was made from  a tall stack that included composite silver metal leaf.  I used a variety of metal and wooden objects pressed into the stack to create the pattern.  While the left pendant was hand sanded and buffed for a satin shine, the pendant on the right has a coat of acrylic varnish.  When I use metal leaf in pieces, I like to add a protective coating to guard against possible tarnishing of the metal.

The pendants on the right also represent different techniques.  The red and white pendant has layers of gold composite metal leaf sandwiched in translucent, with a design created from curved metal bands and hollow tubing.  Rubber stamps were used for the patterns in the other two pieces.  These pendants are fun to wear and the metal tassels add a touch that swings as you move.

I'm in the midst of another surface look in cylinder pendants - stay tuned!

A Rafter of "Dichroic" Polymer Pendants

I learned recently that a group of turkeys is called a rafter.  Since it's close to Thanksgiving, and I have a big group of pendants to share with you, I decided to call them a "rafter" of pendants.  ;)

About a week ago, I shared here a bit about the processes I've been trying with metal leaf, alcohol inks,  and polymer.  In the last few days, I've been trying more experiments. The first thing I tried was to add a very thin layer of translucent clay mixed with pearl glitter, and then to impress the layer with a texture design.  Alcohol inks were added last. Above are two of my first pendants pieces.  You can see the a bit of the gold metal leaf through the translucent layer. The translucent-glitter layer adds a special sparkle that has an effect somewhat like dichroic glass.  It doesn't show well on the screen, though it really sparkles in person.

I made some striped sheets from the larger sheet, and then created a variety of pendant shapes.  These pieces and the ones above were all made using Pinata Alcohol Inks.  I find these colors to be very bright and colorful and almost intense.

I decided to see what Adirondack Alcohol inks might do in using the same techniques.  Here is my favorite piece from the Adirondack set:

The next set is also from the Adirondack sheet. The colors look more colorful on my computer screen than they do in person.  I was surprised to notice that, when compared to the Pinata ink pieces, the Adirondack colors are more subtle and darker.  The Pinata colors look like spring and summer colors, while the Adirondack colors come across more as autumn and winter.

I made several other pieces in Adirondack colors that were focused on a "fall theme."   The last photo shows some pieces from this last set. I tried inclusions in a couple of the pieces - pearls and a black rectangular crystal.

Rainbows & Stripes

Continuing on with my metal leaf and alcohol ink experiments....After the blue shades, I decided to try adding more colors on the silver leaf.  I added pinks and reds to the blues first, and came up with the pendant on the left.  I really like the way the colors pool where they meet, making areas that look black and add excellent contrast. The sterling silver piece just seemed to want to be there.
Then I went wild with colors.  This was such fun, and I loved the rainbows that developed.  It is important to avoid putting opposing colors next to each other in order to avoid "mud."   Here are some pieces of the rainbow.

I had a few bits and pieces from the two silver metal leaf sheets I had made. They weren't large enough to do anything on their own, but I loved the colors and didn't want to just toss them.  So, I tried my hand at my first clay collage.  I think this is my favorite piece from all these first experiments.

I made one more rainbow sheet and cut the sheet in strips to make the striped pieces at the bottom. They're bright and vibrant.  Once again,  I think the piece I like best in this last collection is the triangular piece with the irregular slices.  I'm going to have to do more.  Playing with color is just too much fun!

Blues & Silver

For my next metal leaf and alcohol sheet, I used silver leaf and the metal layer, and stuck with blues and purples.  I love the way the colors pooled, and I kept adding small drops on top of each other to see what would happen.  I love the effect!  This is really the first time I've played with alcohol inks on metal leaf, and it really is fun.  Once the sheet dried overnight, I decided not to crackle it so did not cover it with a layer of translucent clay. The colors stayed more vibrant this way, but it meant I needed to find another way to protect the metal leaf from wear.

I mounted the dried sheet on a sheet of black clay, cut out various shapes, and baked them.  I sanded the edges of the baked pieces, then added a thin strip of black clay around the edges to create an outline and bezel.  This was baked.  Then I added epoxy to the surface.  This protects the metal leaf, enhances the colors, and adds great depth and shine.  I used Magic Gloss and had to add a few layers to get the results I wanted.  I'm pleased with the end result.

Unfortunately, I did discover I'd made a major error.  I'm used to multiple bakings, so just planned on adding bails, pin backings, and other clay or metal findings in subsequent trips to the oven.  What I didn't think about was the fact that the epoxy layer could not be baked at oven temperatures.  If you try, you end up with lots of ugly dark boils and bubbles.....very, very sad :(  I ended up having to drill or use epoxy glue to attach findings to many of the pieces.  Some of them aren't finished the way I would have liked, so this was definitely a lesson in pre-planning!

Experiments with Metal Leaf & Alcohol Inks

In my last post, I included a couple of photos showing new pieces with metal leaf and alcohol inks.  These are new surface techniques for me, and I thought you might be interested in seeing the progression of my experiments which have covered several days.

So, let's go back to where I began.  I wanted to try making a couple of polymer cabochons, and I wanted an antiqued and crackled look.  I started with a black clay base, layered on gold composite metal leaf (not foil) and then used alcohol inks to color the metal leaf.  I used Pinata brand colors, and loved the way they blended as they ran into each other.  Since the metal leaf was still exposed, and I wanted to be able to bend the sheets to create crackling, I covered the sheet with a very thin layer of translucent clay.  I ran the resulting sheet through the pasta machine a couple of times in different directions until I liked the look of the crackle.

 I formed a few cabochon bases, and covered the tops with pieces from the prepared sheet.  I baked these, then added a sheet of black clay to the back of the cabochon, and a narrow strip of black clay around the edges to create an outline or bezel look.  After these were baked, I sanded a great deal, but found that the color was still  clouded by the translucent clay.  I decided to try using an acrylic varnish designed for polymer.  A few layers made things shine and brought out the colors and the detail.  As a last step,  buna cording and clasps were added to create necklaces.

An Oriental Frame of Mind

There is something about oriental style that has always appealed to me, even when I was a child.  I've been meaning to try my hand at some cylinder bead for quite a while, and finally sat down to do just that.

This is the first bead I made.  I impressed texture into the clay, then formed the tube. After an initial baking, I applied a dark mix of acrylics to enhance the design, and baked the piece again to set the acrylic.  The end caps are made from circles of clay and wired to the tube core to ensure strength.  The metal chain tassel seemed just the right touch.

Then I decided to use black and translucent clay decorated with gold metal leaf, alcohol inks, and permanent black archival ink.  The red and green cylinder beads were my first results.  I do like the metal tassels.




I still had some of the decorated sheet left, so made another gold and red cylinder bead, and then decided to make a large pendant.

 I really like this piece. The colors are deeper in person that the photo indicates.  I'm going to have to play some more with these shapes and decoration techniques.  I've only just "scratched the surface."