Doing the Mica Shift

Another technique I love to do is called a mica shift.  It is also referred to as ghost imaging which I think is a better name.  The pill box shown above is a good example.  The pattern appears to be textured when in fact it is totally smooth.

Only metallic or pearl type clays can be used in this technique due to the mica particles they contain.

To create this effect, the clay is rolled, folded in half and rolled through the pasta machine  many times in order for the micas to be evenly distributed.  The clay sheet is then impressed or stamped with a pattern.

Here I'm using a texture sheet I made from clay.  You can see the raised leaf pattern on the green sheet of clay.

Using a bendable and sharp blade, I carefully shave off all of the raised areas.  If I cut too deep, I will lose some of my pattern.  It takes time, a steady hand and patience to do this but can be very rewarding when it turns out.

The clay sheet below is finished and you can see the leaf images left behind in the clay.  These are some of the tiles I created for my mosaic tiled table ready to bake.

 The tiles are much smoother after sanding and here they are mounted onto the table top.

The necklace below is another example of some mica shift shown in the pendant and the two round beads.

Here is a bracelet that was created with a color blend (green at one end to gold at the opposite)  combined with the mica shift pattern.

The bracelet is attached to a watch face and is a new listing in our Art Fire Studio.