Crackle Medallion Scarf Jewelry

I always wanted to use inks more with my polymer clay but found them to be rather intimidating due to them being difficult to control and work with.  Barb Fajardo's "Crackly Goodness" tutorial gave me the jumpstart I needed to overcome my fear and I have now been challenging myself to experiment further.  The "crackling effect" was not really what I was after but more the gorgeous rich colors the inks can give.  My main  intention was to make buttons but I then decided to experiment further by creating other pieces such as eyeglass holders, shawl pins, earrings and finally some new scarf jewelry pieces.

These are some bails and matching beads ready to assemble.

Some of these are now available at Linda's Quilt Shoppe's booth at the Quilt BC 2013 show that is on until this Saturday.

More Medallion Buttons and Quilt Show

Here are more of our medallion buttons in shades of blues and greens and another grouping in reds.  I love making these and even though the inks can be rather messy to work with I find doodling on each piece relaxing.  The pattern on each of these buttons is different making each one unique and one of a kind.

We have been busy making more of these buttons to fill orders as well as in preparation for several upcoming quilt shows.  The first quilt show is this Sunday, April 14 in Kamloops.  It is at the Holiday Inn and Suites Hotel across from and put on by Heather's Fabric Shelf.

Medallion Buttons

I have experimented further with Barb Fajardo's crackle technique until I was satisfied with the results that I was aiming for.  Working with alcohol inks can be quite painstaking and a bit of a challenge to control but I've actually come to enjoy playing with them a lot.  These Medallion Buttons are quite large (two inches) and were made special for Heather's Fabric Shelf to coordinate with some of their new batik fabrics.  They took a bit of time creating as I doodle a design on each one individually with no two alike.

Because the buttons are so large they could be quite heavy so I filled them with the Sculpey UltraLight clay before adding our handcrafted wire shanks and finishing off the backs with clay.  I show how to do this and make your own wire shanks for buttons in my Making Beautiful Buttons tutorial.