Gift vouchers now available

There are now gift vouchers available either for just workshops, just purchasing jewellery or one that is valid for both. This is what they look like. They can be purchased online and emailed to you, or bought from me in person. I will have some available at my next sale.

This weeks colour palette creations

In my last post I told you about the Color Palette a Week Group on Flickr. Well here is this weeks colour palette - it's bright and I didn't think I liked it but you have to try these things.

I mixed up the colours with some pearl clay included to make them a little softer and because I was in a shimmery type of mood. I also used the opportunity to try out some of the things on my 'want to try' list.

Here's what I made

Thin stripes, yes all 3 colours are in there but it's hard to see the pink especially. I wasn't sure how to string the donut type pendant other than the obvious way which I am not overly keen on. Tried it on black buna cord, black suede,  grey suede and pink rattail before I decided perhaps red looked best as it saved introducing another colour.

This is a very experimental piece. I finally tried using metal leaf for crackles and I think you will be seeing more of that! The top part is a Sutton slice which worked beautifully thanks to the tips in Lisa Pavelka's -The Complete Book of Polymer Clay, I used another of her texture stamps to do it, the back is textured with the same stamp btw. I then tried out using a layer of  liquid polymer clay as a varnish/protective layer over the gold crackles. I baked the piece as normal and the liquid clay was still a little milky so as recommended by Donna Kato I got the heat gun on it and wow - before my eyes it transforms to become clear and shiny.  I'm not sure you will see a piece quite like this again but I will be using all those techniques some more. I didn't like this at all when I first made it, it was a playing about piece but now it's growing on me and I almost like it.

A hollow oval donut  in mokume gane. These colours don't really suit mokume gane as there isn't enough contrast but it is a technique I am keen to improve. I thought after I had stacked them a second time - should of put another colour in to lift it but it was too late by then. I rescued the rest of the clay I had stacked to make the striped pendant above. I see so many stunning examples by other people and am never really that happy with mine. The Lisa Pavelka texture stamps are better to work with than most of the other stamps I have as they are deep so you get a good impression.  I look forward to wowing you with something stunning one day.

Whilst shaving the mokume gane I created a pile of shavings which looked rather appealing, they became this funny little pendant, another one I'm not totally sure about but it's different!

So nothing I am totally in love with, they aren't my colours but they did make me push some boundaries and try some new things so it was a worth while exercise. If nothing else the scrap clay from the 3 colours together makes a lovely red!

Colour Palette Challenge

I thought about taking part in a Thing a Day challenge this year but decided I would only get behind and frustrated when life got in the way. The last couple of weeks I've had plenty of creative time but January I didn't really touch my clay at all :(


I did however happen across a Flickr group (I watch Flickr instead of TV these days, much more inspiring) called Color Palette a Week . Every week Chris who started the group posts a palette of colours and the idea is that people create something using that palette then share it with the group. I tend to stick with similar colours and I have been thinking for a while that perhaps I should 'design' my pieces of jewellery using a palette of colours rather than just picking up what I feel like so this seemed like a good challenge. I was slow to get started but finally posted my first item to the group (2 weeks late but... I started it in the right week).

My creation

The colour palette for week 4 - based on the Mystery  Machine (the van from Scooby Do)

I made a Skinner blend from all four colours in the palette but the pendant would of been giant to fit them all in so I lost most of the turquoises, should of thought about what I was doing before I started but I just mixed up the colours and decide to blend them. As it is it's 7cm across! 

I made it using the instructions by Mari O'Dell for an Art nouveau pendant in the book 'The Art of Jewellery - Polymer Clay by Katherine Duncan Aimone.

I used black acrylic paint mixed with liquid clay for the black pattern and it blistered in the oven which is why the black pattern looks a little odd. Pattern is a Lisa Pavelka texture stamp.

I am working on this weeks palette, I have made several things just need to get them sanded and strung. I seem to be a bit manic at the moment with the blog but I have had some clear creative time so am making the most of it. I was claying in the middle of the night last night as I am having trouble with a tooth and couldn't sleep. I'll share some pictures later.

Chokers oven friendly!

Whilst I was ordering some more chokers I saw bracelets the same, nylon coated wire with a screw closure. I am often asked to make matching bracelets for my floating wire necklaces which is a problem as I don't think floating wire bracelets work so I normally add more beads as shown below. I realise as I write this I haven't actually tried a floating bead wire bracelet - hmm perhaps I should. Any other suggestions welcome.

Wire floating bead necklace

Bracelet to match necklace (had to get creative to make the pattern repeat neatly to the size required) on elastic

I wondered if the choker bracelets might be the answer. When they arrived I realised they had a different screw fitting, a textured one rather than the plain smooth barrel and I didn't like the look. My first thought of course was - I'll cover it with clay. But would the nylon coating on the wire be OK? I tested it and the answer is yes! I wanted to try it out so made a quick bracelet - not very happy with it as a bracelet but it's something to work from.

Nylon coated wire bracelet with screw closure (the one on the right on it's own is the covered screw barrel)

I had to make the hole in the beads reasonably large to fit over the screw fixing. They are larger than the covered screw barrel, I was in a rush and not thinking about it too much. It would probably be easiest to make the barrel covering a feature rather than trying to blend it in to the beads. I am not sure how you would secure them? Might try baking some right onto the wire next. You would need to secure at least one at the end or every time you took it off they would go flying everywhere! So something else on my list of things to try....

What will I make next?

I have so many ideas of things I want to make with polymer clay my head has't got room for much else! I am in such a creative place at the moment that jewellery designs just pop into  my head all the time (especially in bed trying to sleep it would seem). I am not complaining about this but I do wish I had more time available to play with my clay so I could make them all before the ideas fade (I've tried writing/drawing them but it seems to kill the idea rather than preserve it for some reason). I am enjoying my curved disc shape at the moment and want to make one that mimics a summer sky and I want to make a necklace with several discs.

There are also a loads of techniques I want to try - there are just so many possibilities with polymer clay! Some at the top of my list are;

• Watercolour technique
• Making my own texture plates
• Using liquid polymer clay as a varnish (heat gun after bake)
• Mokume gane, sutton slice and mica shift - have tried these but still not perfected
• Making polymer necklace closures
• Using mica powders
• Crackles

I also really want to play with resin coatings but that means investing in a UV light, maybe once I have had a few more successful sales!

I also have some experiments to do. I am keen to do some baking  trials as I commented at the London Polymer Clay Group that you couldn't bring fimo to a glass like shine like you could Kato and then on the way home remembered Carol Blackburn's fabulously shiny fimo bowl from the previous meeting- which had just been sanded and did have a glass like shine. I have a feeling that perhaps I don't bake my fimo things long enough, thus they don't polish so well - only one way to find out....

I am going to spend some time in the next couple of months playing with these ideas, actually using some of the books and tutorials I have instead of just looking at them. I am also going to try and imitate the style of some of my favourite pieces of jewellery by other polymer clay artists to get a feel for their technique and to further develop my skill.

I look forward to sharing the results with you!

My workspace and my new friend

When I first started my polymer clay journey I was working on the kitchen table. It was a pain having to get everything out and pack away again, often a few short hours later when my daughter was at preschool. Before the children were born I had a craft room, but it had become a playroom. Mention of the desire to move house so I could have a craft room again got my husband worried and we found a solution. We put my old craft bench back in the playroom with a set of shelves above and a chest of drawers below to store all my stuff. The kids don't mind because often they play clay with me!

Me and my children making polymer clay jewellery together

It is normally a chaos of half finished things and things I am not sure where to put, I am not the neatest person and I always seem to have something I just have to do which is more important than tidying up.Today I finally tidied up so I thought I had better take a picture quick before it gets messed up again! I still have a lot of organising to do of my jewellery making findings and beads etc but at least they are all in one place and tidied up. I will try and do some organising next week.

My work space - tidy for once!!

 If you look very carefully in the middle of the shelves is my new little friend (see him up close below). I have been admiring the cute creations of Quernus Crafts for some time, I couldn't take the cuteness any more and just had to buy myself one! I now have a little mouse to watch over me while I work, needless to say the children totally adore him too! Daisy likes to go and give him a kiss, so sweet (guess what she's going to get for her up coming birthday!)

My new little friend - made by Quernus Crafts 

Please feel free to pass on any tips about organising and keep your work space neat!

Latest pendant

I am getting ready for my next sale on Friday evening, in Fishponds. It's part of a foot pampering night organised by a friend of mine.

I will have some new jewellery to display including this pendant

New domed pendant on wire choker front

The back of the pendant

As you can see it has my new signature cane on, jewellery made from 1/2/11 will have it incorporated.