Tie Dye Flowers

I have been experimenting with a new style of sculpted flowers that sort of have a tie dye, batik fabric or cloth look to them.  The brooch pendants below were my first experiments using cane slices from my "mini-mokume" that I share how to do in my Clay Color System tutorial.

These flower bead earrings were created using a different technique and in a combination of the Pantone spring 2013 colors Monaco Blue, African Violet and Tender Shoots.  I quite like the look of these and want to explore it a little further.

Another jewelry making class

I just finished teaching another beginner's jewelry making class at the Sewing Basket in Salmon Arm this morning.   It was a repeat of my last series of classes which were completely filled up and so I was asked to teach it again.

I put together jewelry kits for a different design this time using my tie dye beads in summer type colors.  This necklace is a continuous "chain or rope" style that is about 34" long so there was a lot of wire work  involved.

Here are a couple of the necklaces the students' finished in class: 

The tie dye beads shown above are in the Pantone Spring 2012 colors of Sodalite Blue and Cockatoo.  The beads shown below are in the Pantone Spring 2012 colors of Tangerine Tango, Cabaret and Solar Power.  I show how to make these using my "Mini Mokume" cane in my Clay Color System tutorial.

Clash City or Matchy Matchy?

I finally got around to making some new buttons for a navy colored sweater I purchased some time ago.   I used my "Mini Mokume" technique that I share in my Clay Color System tutorial.  Each cane slice fits perfectly to create each individual button.

The color combination I used here was Navy (recipe # 9-7), Olive (recipe # 7-8, GoldenYellow (recipe # 6-2) and the avocado recipe I shared with you in a previous blog post (click here).


We are off to see a wholesale customer so I thought I would whip up some new jewelry pieces to wear in the same color combination.

And here are my matching pieces:  Bracelet, Earrings, Pendant Necklace and Buttons.

Which brings me to a question.  Do you prefer matching sets of jewelry pieces or do you prefer pieces that don't match but sort of go together?  I've always preferred having my clothes and jewelry matching or coordinating as much as possible.  What do you think?

Pantone Fall 2011 Color Combo

Here are some beads I created using a mix of the Pantone fall 2011 colors Phlox, Cedar, Bamboo and Orchid Hush.  I made these "Tie Dye" beads using a technique I call my "mini-mokume".  It really isn't a mokume gane at all but sort of starts out that way and then ends up in a nice compact-size cane for slicing.  It is a really super quick method to see how various colors will work together (or not) without wasting a lot of clay or time.  I share this technique and how to make the beads as a bonus feature in my Clay Color System tutorial.

When we strung these beads, we combined them with olive green cat's eyes and some hand crafted rondelles in lemon curry which we had on hand.   Since the Pantone Fall color Bamboo is simply a lighter shade to the lemon curry, they worked very well with this combo.

Whenever I mix up my new blend, I like to save it on index cards with the color recipe numbers and add them to the back of my Color System album so I remember what I did in case I need to mix up some more.

I also like to make up extra color chips of the latest Pantone and a few other favorite colors so I can play around with them to see what color combinations I might like.  I throw them into my purse when I go shopping and like to look for matching colors so I will have something new to wear with my latest jewelry pieces at any upcoming shows.