Wednesday 7 July 2010

Spliced Flower Cane with pearl and round Natasha bead

I am going out for afternoon tea to a posh hotel in Bath on Saturday for one of my friends birthdays so I thought I would make her some jewellery as a gift (I don't think I have told her about this blog yet so it should remain a surprise!). I haven't made a spliced flower cane for a week or so now so thought I would make some spliced flower beads, funny how I didn't think I liked them till I made one and now I love them.

I always seem to make small spliced flower canes and then wish I had made them bigger so this time I started bigger.  I decided to use my favourite green and my new favourite red (it's a 1:3 red:magenta mix with Kato clay) as they seemed like good colours for my friend. Funny how you see people all the time but it can be hard to remember what colours they wear. I was a bit concerned they might seem a little 'Christmas' or 'apple' like together but after putting scraps together thought it would be OK.

I decided I would try  using pearl instead of white thinking it would give the beads a bit of a shimmer.This was a mistake however. There is less definition in the flower. Typical that I make a big one I don't like so much.

 Oh well it is still pretty and I think the colours work quite well and aren't too 'Christmas' or 'apple' (let me know if I am deluded ). Going to have to make another cane with these colours and white now I think but must get some beads made from this one first.

I picked up the scraps from the cane and made a Natasha bead (see a lesson from PCC if you aren't familiar with Natasha beads - a neat way to use up scraps) . I always have trouble with the joins with these as I don't want to smooth too much as I want to keep the pattern crisp where the joins are in the centre of the bead and unless you cut very accurately there can be some uneven parts (you can control it for the first 3 parts but the last one has to match the other 2 pieces already there). Tonight I just rolled it and made it round. There was something about the colours and the patterns that was too organic for a square shaped bead. I put a skewer in the middle whilst rolling it to keep a hole  and when I took it off the skewer it told me it wanted to be curved - so it is. More and more the clay is talking to me, I shall take that as a good sign of creativity and not a sign of madness (or more likely sleep deprivation from staying up late playing with clay!)

5 comments:

  1. I love this pearl look! And what a great idea to roll the natasha bead - I´ve always struggle with these joins. I need to try this out.

    May I ask you one thing: How do I make a tube bead and bend it without distortion of the hole inside??
    Thank you!!!
    Lone

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  2. I like the pearl look. It softens the flower.

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  3. Thank you all. I like it a bit better this morning but I still prefer the crisper lines you get with the white. I guess it is just it didn't work out how I pictured it in my mind.

    Lone - I made the bead on a skewer and then when I was happy with the joins being smoothed I just slipped it off the skewer and gently curved it - the hole just stays - no magic ;)

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  4. Oh, I LOVE the blending that you got by using the pearl, the crispness is one of the things I usually dislike about flower canes but yours is great.

    Been watching your blog for a bit now....am new to clay, too so, it's great to read about all your projects...am so jealous about your Polymer Play Days, but at least I get to see all that you learned!

    Lynn

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