Pantone Spring 2015 Fashion Color Classic Blue

I decided to go out of order and skip over to the Pantone color, Classic Blue, for this post.  Classic Blue is similar to a royal blue and, according to Pantone, will serve as an anchor to the Spring/Summer 2015 palette.

Pantone suggests pairing this Blue with Marsala.  We created some patterned sheets of clay using Julie Picarello's technique in the color combination of Classic Blue, Marsala and Aquamarine.  The clay sheets were then formed into focal beads which I will share how they were made at the end of this post.

Here is the clay recipe for Classic Blue using Kato clay:

Classic Blue

8 parts Kato Blue

1/2 part Kato Black

1 part White Mix #1-2 *

* This clay base color is found in my:

"Clay Color System" tutorial

available as an instant download

in our Etsy Shop

or manually sent in an e-mail

from our Online Store.

Now I will share with you how I created the above focal beads.  To create the veneer, using the technique from Julie Picarello's book, we used one stack of clay with a thin layer of Marsala and a thicker layer of Aquamarine and the other stack consisting of a thin layer of Classic Blue and a thicker layer of Aquamarine.

The shapes were formed using some cabochon molds called the "Almond Bezels and More" by Penny Jo.  Wendy Orlowski created the Bezel molds to coordinate with these cabochons which we made for the above beads in the Marsala color.  I am very familiar with Wendy's CaBezel Molds and have almost her entire collection.  These Bezel molds work the same way as her other CaBezels and she has several tutorials out on how to use them which you will find here.  This was my first time working with the molds from Penny Jo and was really impressed with how easy they were to use.  The Bezel and Cabochon molds are sold separately or you can purchase them together as a set at Shades of Clay (Sorry they have been discontinued).

Step 1 - To create the cabochon, I pressed some clay into one of the mold shapes.  I could have used scrap clay but in this case I wanted the color to show through the holes in the veneer as a background so I used some of the Classic Blue.

Step 2-3 - With your rigid tissue blade slice off the excess clay using the mold as a guide.

Step 4 - The cabochon easily pops out of the mold leaving a really smooth surface.

Step 5 - Lay the veneer sheet over the cabochon shape.

Step 6 - Flip it over and press it back into the cabochon mold.  I took the veneer sheet that was hanging over the edges and folded them onto the back of the cab which is optional.

Step 7 - Repeat the same method as in steps 2-3 by slicing off the excess clay.

Step 8 - Pop the cabochon out of the mold and it is ready to insert into the clay bezel.

These were so much fun and I really love the results so can't wait to play with this set even more.