I Like Melting Things in the Oven

When I saw this tutorial for a washer necklace on Dollar Store Crafts I knew I had to give it a try.  I love melting things in the oven, especially shrink plastic and I had a few spare plastic cups hanging around too.
I had a great time doodling with sharpie markers on my cups, the only problem I had was cutting out the center hole.  I tried several different tools:  exacto, scissors, super sharp and pointy scissors, a different exacto knife, fresh blades.  Maybe I was having an off day.  I still think they came out pretty good. It’s so much fun to watch them melt and flatten out.
While I had the oven hot I also tried another idea that I have been thinking about.  I have a ton of old, scratched up, non-playable records, I made some record bowls and ended up with an abundance of records left over.  I was thinking purse handles and key chains. This was an interesting experiment, I’m not sure that I could get a perfectly matched pair and I can’t decide if that is a bad thing.  I could punch holes along the bottom for crochet or knitting too.  I think that my hearts ended up a little deformed.  I think I’ll need to run some more experiments, try some different shapes and using them in a test project.  What do you guys think, are record purse handles a great idea or not?
I have been working on a new spool project too, but I’m having a little difficulty, it may end up as a craftfail, I’m going to work on it a bit more today and see how it goes.

More Mokume Gane in a New and Exciting Color

I think I need some sort of post title generator, I have the most boring titles. 

On Monday night I decided to make some midnight blue mokume gane.  I still need to drill or add bails to the squares, but I’ll leave them as cabochons for now.I had been waiting to get some smaller bails for these hearts, I really like the red one.

This donut is my favorite from this batch, it is 2 inches across and so pretty I am thinking about putting a large bail on instead of wrapping it with the cord.  This photo does not do it justice, the layering is so difficult to capture with a camera!

Don’t forget that if you would like to make you own there is a photo tutorial here on my blog.  If you would rather have me make them for you, some of the pieces shown here are available in my etsy store, I also accept custom orders.

Balinese Filigree Donut Pendant

I had so much fun making a filigree donut for my swap partner in the bargain hunter swap that I decided to make another one.  I planned ahead for this one by covering a base when I made the violet mokume gane.

Having a base of clay to work on made the process go a little faster, it also made the pendant a little thicker.

I like how it looks when all the snakes are applied, but it really starts to pop when the texture is added.Baking the clay makes it a little darker.  I don’t usually do any sanding on filigree, just a good buffing with the dremel to give it a nice satin finish.  All it needs now is a gold bail and it’s ready to go!

Polymer Clay Play

Today I worked on polymer clay pendants for a friend. I made one balinese filligree donut (which is my favorite), a bullseye set, a lacy embossed set, and some extra marbled pieces. I used three colors purple, fuchsia, and pink pearl.
Please excuse the picture quality, an overcast day with flurescent lighting doesn't make the best photos ;) I still have to bake and sand them, but that's the easy part. Once they're finished I'll get the light box out to photograph them properly.

New Style of Pendants

I added a some new pendants to my shop today. Some of them were mokume gane and these, they are made from bullseye canes that are stacked, sliced and formed into sheets that I cut into pendants.

I love the pink white and brown color combo and I think these look really modern.This green one reminds me of some sort of animal skin in a kaleidoscope. I also have some smaller ones that I wrapped in black that I think I will make into stitch markers for myself :).

Polymer Clay Pendants Galore!

I have a serious back log of pendants to sand! I have been trying to get 6 to 12 sanded a day to catch up. Here's what I've done so far.

These are all mokume gane all nicely sanded and buffed, just waiting to be drilled. I am saving these for the fall craft shows I will be attending.

These are made from slices of automatically wrapped canes (bullseye canes). I really like the "retro" feel of these.

Here are the backs, I just used the leftover clay to make marbled sheets for the backs to make the pendants double sided.

And this is my masterpiece, a Balinese filigree ornament. I really enjoy this technique, although it is very time consuming. My crafting ADD kicks in and I just have to fill every gap! I have already started another ornament and I have several more pendants waiting to be baked.

I love polymer clay.

Strangest Project Ever, Update

Okay, my partner in the bargain hunter swap round #5 got her package yesterday, so now I can share. I had been having artist block when it came to this swap, I just could not find anything I wanted to make and finally, one night while I was playing with my kids and there new play dough toy it came to me moustache necklace.I used the little molds on the toy to make the moustaches and beard out of polymer clay. I don't know if it is something that my partner would actually wear, but it was made in the spirit of fun. As you can see she also received a gear pendant and the zombie bunny patches, I think I did pretty good for only having a $5.00 budget.

The Resin Experiment

I have been wanting to try resin for a while now, it seems like one of those things "everyone" is doing. Unfortunately that means that almost all the resin jewelry I've been seeing is made with the same six molds. After reading The art of resin jewelry by Sherri Haab I was inspired to use polymer clay to make my own bezels. I shaped, baked, and finished the clay and then began the process of arranging the watch gears(salvaged from old watches I bought at yard sales). What worked best for me was putting a layer of black glitter in the bottom of the bezel and using that to hold the gears and other bits in place. I did not glue anything down. I then mixed the resin according to the package directions and poured it over everything, I did try to dome the resin a bit, but since the sides of the bezels weren't perfectly even that did not come out quite as planned.
Here they are with the resin all cured just waiting to be drilled and made into pendants. The polymer clay worked great for making forms for the resin and I think the possibilities are almost endless combining these two mediums. I am very pleased with how this project came out, especially for a first attempt, stay tuned for future projects!

Project: Mokume Gane Polymer Clay

Mokume gane is one of my favorite polymer clay techniques. It is a time intensive procedure, but the finished product is spectacular, with a lot of depth and shimmer.

I started off mixing varying amounts of black clay with translucent clay to get these four shades. The clay is then made into thin sheets by running it through a pasta machine, then it is stacked by alternating clay with silver leaf. The slab is then smooshed (technical term) and poked and then rolled flat and sliced with a tissue blade. The slices can then be applied to any oven safe material.Here's everything fresh from the oven. It looks good, but it's not finished yet. I hand sand each piece starting with 200 grit and working up to 2000 grit. Then I buff each piece to a glass like sheen. The sanding and buffing is what really brings out the depth of the layers of translucent clay. This pendant is about the size of a domino and opens to a secret compartment.This is a sleek and modern donut pendant.And this is an upcycled mint tin and is a little over 3 inches wide.
For more detailed instructions for working with polymer clay I highly recommend The Glass Attic.