Creating a Landscape Pendant

Some time ago I did an exchange with Sandy, a fellow Canadian polymer clay artist.  I sent her a pair of earrings and she had sent me some beautiful landscape canes she had created.  I said I would finish some of them off into some jewelry pieces and share how I did it.  They were all so nice, I needed time to choose the best design .  This is what I created from one of her canes:

I took 2 slices from the cane and placed them on a thin sheet of clay,

lining them up to create a mirror image.

Place a sheet of tracing paper and burnish

with a thick piece of card stock.

You can see how the two pieces are now joined and fairly smooth.

I then cut out my shape.  A shaped cutter would've worked good for this,

however I didn't have one in the size I wanted so I just used my blade.

I rolled some clay out to the same thickness as the cane piece ...

and cut out around the piece creating a "frame".

I then removed the center piece and replaced it with the cane slice.

I burnished the entire piece smooth again to blend the seams.

I then made a textured sheet of clay for the backing ...

and placed the textured sheet below the cane sheet with wrong sides together.

I cut around it leaving a "frame".

I wanted a curve to the pendant so I baked it over

a piece of cut paper towel roll.

To attach a cord I made a couple of "tubes" from clay and attached them

to the back using liquid clay as a bonding agent and then baked again.

I sanded the entire piece and then gave it a nice satin glaze finish. 

I hung it from a velvet rubber cord and Voila!  I now have a

gorgeous pendant and keepsake memento of Sandy's beautiful cane work!

A Fun Swap

I just received a fun package in the mail today.  It arrived from Sandy who is a fellow Canadian clay friend I've connected with over the internet.  I am an avid follower on her blog,  Simple Inspirations by Sandy and she checks up on mine as well.  We decided some time ago to arrange a swap between us.  She requested a pair of earrings from myself and I asked for one of her gorgeous landscape canes.  I can't show you the earrings I sent her as she hasn't received them yet and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

My goody package arrived in the mail today and Dave and I were both in awe when we opened it.  She ended up sending several canes and they are more beautiful in real than seeing them in a photo.

One of the arrangements we made is that I will demonstrate on my blog how I can use her canes to turn them into finished jewelry pieces.  I am going to have a lot of fun with this and can't wait to get started!

So stay tuned and you will see these beauties transformed into wearable pieces of art.