Winter Shimmer

Here are a few more necklaces that remind me of winter.  I enjoy working with color more than black, grey or white but we find this color combination is the most popular as it goes with nearly anything.  The plus of wearing a piece that is more "neutral" is that you can wear it with almost any color.

Bargello Dish in Black and White

In my tutorial, "Building Bargello Motifs in Polymer Clay", I show how to create a bargello pattern in black and white (see  page 12).  I made a sample veneer sheet for the lesson but had not finished it into anything yet.  I had it sitting on a side table in our studio for some time hoping I would be inspired to finally making it into something.  I finally could envision what to do and here it is now as a ring/jewelry dish.

The texture I used to "frame" the piece is a Pixie Art Stamp called "Magic Mushroom" designed by Mike Breil.  Mike is Helen Breil's husband and just like Helen's texture sheets, Mike's are really fun to play with. 

After baking the dish, I added the silver/white highlights to bring the pattern out a little more.

Bargello Fringe Necklace and a Ribbon

We had a nice time at the Artists' reception at the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts in Sorrento last night.  I thought I would share with you two of four items I had entered into the show both of which were jewelry items in the 3D category.

This is my Bargello Fringe Necklace in shades of black, grey and white.  This was a new design for me to create but it was inspired by the many "fringe" necklaces I was seeing everywhere and wanted to imitate that look and feel in the clay.  For added strength, I inserted sterling wire down the entire length of each "fringe" piece.

The other piece I had entered into the show was my "Emerald Forest" necklace which was a nice surprise to see a juror's ribbon next to it.

It was nice to receive a ribbon when there are so many other worthy artists to choose from.  There were 89 artists represented in the show with more than 250 pieces entered.  The variety of works ranged from paintings and fibre arts to sculpture and mixed media.

Black and White With a Touch of Red

The gigantic concave leaf buttons we created have also been a big hit.  We had a request for them in black and white and I love how the red lady bug really pops.

The fun thing about making buttons for both yarn and quilt shops is that each type of store prefers different styles.  Some tend to go best with the yarns and other natural fibers where others work well with the larger quilt patterns.  Some of our buttons happen to cross over and are popular in both areas such as these. They are quite large so would make an awesome accent for either a quilted or felted bag.  They  would also be fun to add to a sweater or quilted jacket.  These are available at Heather's Fabric Shelf in Kamloops as well as  the Falkland General Store in Falkland and Linda's Quilt Shoppe in Kelowna.

Shades of Gray in Polymer Clay

The Christmas rush is over but orders for our scarf necklaces are picking up again.  I enjoy creating these pieces as I never seem to run out of ideas for new designs.  To start out, we bought a supply of scarves in a variety of colors and styles and then we matched up our clay colors to coordinate.

Our scarf necklaces are sold with the scarves as a complete set in some of the local shops.  The scarf jewelry pieces are also sold without the scarves in several local yarn shops so one can knit their own scarf or  add to ones they already have in their closet.  Click here (and scroll down) to see all of the shops in the area that are selling our scarf jewelry.

One of the most popular colors is in black and white or shades of grey.  That seems to be the case with other jewelry designs as well.  Perhaps this is because the colors are neutral and can go with just about anything making the jewelry piece more versatile.  We have been making more of the scarf necklaces in these shades and even though we use the same color combination, each piece still comes out in a different pattern making each one unique.

One Cane -- Many Designs

I often get requests for custom orders which I love to do. When I create a jewelry piece, however, I don't like to create the exact thing twice.  There is generally some sort of variation in the design or color.  One customer at a show loved a brooch (below left) I had and asked if I could make something similar but as a pendant for a Christmas gift.  The one I created for her is below on the right.

 

It was basically made from the same cane but arranged differently.  This customer loved the piece and then contacted me several weeks later. She said she liked the one I made for her so much she asked if I could make her another one.  I decided to do up several more and then give her a choice of which one she would like.  These are four others I made, again from the same cane.

 

 

I used the same cane slices to create these other pieces:

 

 

These are just some of the variations that I have made from one cane so far and the only limitation is your imagination.