Left-over Mokume Made into Interchangeable Jewelry Pieces

After making the buttons for my new sweater coat from KLA Originals (see my previous blog post here),  I had some mokume patterned clay sheets left over from making the buttons so I had to make a few jewelry pieces and snaps to coordinate!

From the same mokume stack I ended up with an end piece that had more of the navy and golden bronze and another sheet with more of the turquoise green.  I made a pendant out of each of the sheets to create two different looks.  I mounted a snap on the back so they can interchange on the snap pendant (with tube bail) on a braided leather cord in navy blue.

I could have made a separate pair of earrings to match each of the pendants but since my earring beads and ear wires are all interchangeable, I decided a set that was reversible would be best.  I can interchange them on several different ear wire styles and just flip them around to the side I want to wear.

And of course a navy clutch purse to add some interchangeable snaps finishes off the whole ensemble.

Snap Decisions - Interchanging polymer patterns

Most of our jewelry pieces we make have basically been on a larger scale.  Since working with our new interchangeable "snap" jewelry, however, our focus has slightly changed where many of our "snap" beads or cabochons are smaller than the average pendant.  Creating smaller pieces has its challenges but also its good points.  Working on a smaller scale you have less area for a pattern to show off well so you need to rethink your designs and come up with ones that fit.  On the brighter side, however, when creating clay veneer sheets it seems we always end up with some of those left-over pieces that are not large enough for earrings or you would like to use them in another way.  We have discovered that some of those really neat left-over designs make beautiful "snaps" for our interchangeable jewelry.

These "snaps" have a simple bezel frame and we have found an easy way to fill them with our clay patterns without using any glue.  They are fun to mix and match and wear in different ways like a ring, bracelet, hair barrette or necklace.  This is one of  the cabochon methods I share in my latest tutorial, "Creating Interchangeable Polymer Clay Jewelry in a Snap".  You can read more about it in my last blog post and the chance to win one of three give-a-ways of my Part 2 lesson that will be published soon.

Leaf Shawl / Hair Sticks

These are our leaf shawl / hair sticks which is one of our most popular items and best seller.  Now available in our online store.

Shades of Gray in Polymer Clay

The Christmas rush is over but orders for our scarf necklaces are picking up again.  I enjoy creating these pieces as I never seem to run out of ideas for new designs.  To start out, we bought a supply of scarves in a variety of colors and styles and then we matched up our clay colors to coordinate.

Our scarf necklaces are sold with the scarves as a complete set in some of the local shops.  The scarf jewelry pieces are also sold without the scarves in several local yarn shops so one can knit their own scarf or  add to ones they already have in their closet.  Click here (and scroll down) to see all of the shops in the area that are selling our scarf jewelry.

One of the most popular colors is in black and white or shades of grey.  That seems to be the case with other jewelry designs as well.  Perhaps this is because the colors are neutral and can go with just about anything making the jewelry piece more versatile.  We have been making more of the scarf necklaces in these shades and even though we use the same color combination, each piece still comes out in a different pattern making each one unique.

Resolutions For a New Year

I am always looking forward to starting a new year.  There is something about out with the old and a fresh new start.  I generally do not make new year's resolutions but this year I decided to make three.

One:  Try new things --  Ever since I have discovered polymer clay I feel I am constantly trying something new and pushing my boundaries.  It is always exciting to discover some new technique or vibrant color combination.  I already got a jump-start on this one.  Ever since I saw Judy Belcher's Micro Knitting in polymer clay, I knew I really wanted to learn how to do that.  Rather than trying to figure it out on my own I decided it was worth going right to the expert and learning directly from her.  I have had a chance to go through the tutorial and now excited about giving it a try.

Two:  Improve on the old.  No matter what we create, I feel there is always room for improvement.  Sometimes that means taking a new course or tutorial.  We all have a different view point and experience and so we can always learn from each other.  One of my favorite polymer clay techniques is mokume gane.  I have been creating with it for several years now but recently discovered how Melanie Muir had really learned how to master it with such a unique style.  While I really wasn't interested in making "Rock Cuffs", I decided to take Melanie's class through Craftcast and see if I could pick up any tips.  I managed to learn a few new things and after trying her method I found my mokume did improve and I was satisfied with the results.

The veneer on this kite bead necklace was created in a mokume using the new Pantone Spring 2013 colors of Monaco Blue, African Violet and Tender Shoots.

These buttons were made using the Pantone Spring 2013 colors of Monaco Blue, Dusk Blue, Emerald and Grayed Jade.  Both the kite beads and these buttons remind me a lot of Batik dyed fabric.

Three:  Don't over do it.  This one will be more of a challenge but sometimes I want to do too much and do not allow myself time for the first and second resolution.  This past year we found ourselves almost too busy at times and after Dave and I discussing things, we both decided that somethings had to give to allow more time for what was really important.  Making these types of decisions should not only reduce some of our stress but allow more time to enjoy the whole process and not feel so overwhelmed.

Now I am off to relax in our new jacuzzi hot tub for a nice relaxing soak.  This was our new addition to our home this year to help with the tendinitis in my shoulder and combat that extra stress.   It will be a good way to relax and unwind before we see in the New Year!

More Clay and Goodies

Our clay supply has been dwindling and I was holding off ordering more until the weather has cooled somewhat.  Even though the evenings have been cooler the days can still get fairly warm and I didn't want our clay to partially cure while in transit.

I am a happy camper now that the our many blocks of clay have arrived along with a few goodies like the new seamless cutters in the teardrop shape, gilder's paste and one of Helen Breil's new texture sheets.

I wanted to try out the new texture sheet and happened to have some Honey Gold and French Roast clay on my table so made a few new buttons using a mokume gane technique.

Pantone Color Recipes Pink Flambe and Ultramarine Green

I'm going to share two more Pantone Fall 2012 clay color recipes again with you today -- Pink Flambe and Ultramarine Green.

  

Pink Flambe

5 x Kato Magenta

1 x Kato Orange

1 x Kato Pearl

1 x Kato White

Ultramarine Green

6 x Kato Green

1 x Kato Blue

1 x Kato Pearl

You will find that when you mix up your clay colors they might appear slightly different from the samples shown above or other images on your computer.  This is because every computer screen can show colors quite differently.  When I mix up my clay colors I use the actual Pantone color chips to match and get a more accurate hue.

Here are a few pieces I was experimenting with combining the above two colors along with Bright Chartreuse and Tangerine Tango.

Some mokume gane:  (I haven't decided how I will use this clay sheet yet)

CaBezel Bead Collar Necklaces

I had made these beads a while back using Wendy's CaBezels technique.  We finally got around to stringing them into two necklaces.

More Studio Time Equals More Play Time?

I received a package in the mail the other day from my friend, Wendy.  She sent me a couple of samples of her new All in One CaBezels.  Aren't they cool?

The package came right at a time when I was feeling extremely stressed and worried about things. I was getting caught up with trying to fill orders, writing blog posts, ordering supplies, teaching classes and doing year end book work.  Dave had to remind me how he could be doing more instead of trying to take on too much myself and for not balancing my time properly.  I guess since he broke his hand and wasn't able to help out as much I was taking on more than I needed and was allowing the stress to build up.


Receiving the package from Wendy reminded me I needed more "play" time again with my clay.  It is so important as an artist to have that time for just having fun and allowing one's self to experiment and be more creative.


I had noticed when Wendy was showing on her blog how to use this type of CaBezel that she was working with clay that was textured.  I couldn't quite figure out how that worked until I gave it a try.  I was so surprised how the texture stayed intact when creating the shape.  It was just too cool!  This is the first one I made and decided to make it into a pendant.

Playing with these new CaBezeIs certainly primed my play and creative pump and I now want to experiment even more with them.


Wendy just created a new video on how to use these new types of CaBezels and you can find it here.

When Wendy Meets Julie

Ever since I took Julie Picarello's workshop 2 years ago, I cannot stop playing with her mokume technique and creating all sorts of lizard tails.  The same goes with Wendy Orlowski's CaBezels.  So what happens when you combine the two?  You can come up with something like this -- my new Lizard CaBezel Collar Necklace.

I used Wendy's latest CaBezel (3 Fab Focals "Two"), to create the Bezel and cabochon with some mokume using Julie's technique.  I now feel some more new designs coming on and can't wait to put them into clay!

Follow up on your comments

Thanks so much for your comments on the pendant I posted.  Some of you recognized Julie Picarello's technique.  I took her workshop almost 2 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is the only workshop I've ever taken and glad I did for the experience and fun get together with other fellow clayers.  Some of you mentioned how her style and technique is now popping up all over the place since her book came out and may be a little over used for a while but that is okay.  I still love to play with stacked, layered and textured clay and experimenting with a way to create more of an abstract look.

This brings me to the bet Dave and I made with each other.  I was playing with my clay layered stack and decided to formulate some type of scene.  When I showed Dave my pendant, I asked him what he saw and at first he didn't see anything -- go figure!  I then gave him some suggestions as to what I saw (which I had some liberty as I did make the piece - ha).  I showed him the sky, the hill, the possible water at the bottom ---  He did see the sun!  yippee!  On the other hand he did decide it was a sunset over a moonscape --- he felt calling it a landscape was stretching it a bit.

We then made a bet.  I said I would post a photo of it on our blog and ask our followers what they see and compare who is right ---

To settle the bet ... any of the comments that mentioned desert, sun, etc. were a point for Dave. 

Any of the comments that referred to scenes or landscapes were a point for me.

We eliminated the faces, fish, birds and whatever -- except for the FraggleRock comment.  Dave insisted on a point for that one!  (In his opinion FraggleRock was the best TV show ever made)

As for the comments on Facebook?  Well -- let's just say they are just wierd!  Ninja turtles???  lol!

All in all we settled on a tie -- (for now...)  It was fun though to see how so many people can look at the same thing and all get a totally different impression!

So now the inspiration behind this piece....

I bought this gorgeous wrap style poncho shawl from a local artist friend, Jan Seedhouse.  Her work is fabulous and all made by her on her loom.  You can see the shawl in our blog post here.

So, I've been wanting to make some new jewelry pieces to go with my shawl.  I created some new bargello (which I will show you later) and decided to play around with some of the same colors.  Here are some photos of the pendant piece with my shawl to see how the colors coordinate.

Thanks again for all your comments!  We had a lot of fun reading them!

Need Your Input

We've been experimenting with some mokume gane techniques as well as new color combinations and pendant shapes.  Perhaps you could help settle a bet between Dave and myself.  Can you tell us what you see here?  Give us your best description and you can comment here or on our facebook page.

Ready for the Summer Games with some New Art Jewelry Pieces

We delivered our jewelry last Thursday for the Nightly Arts Festival and sale at the Kamloops Western Canada Summer Games.  There are 29 local artists represented with several demonstrations each evening.  I demoed my millefiori and bead making last night and had a fun time.

This is a spliced cane I made during my demo in a favorite color combination of grape (#10-4) and lagoon (#8-3).    I plan to use this cane to make some sculpted floral buttons, shawl pins and rings...

Our jewelry inventory was a little depleted after selling at the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts so we made some new pieces just for this show.  These are an amalgamation of several Mokume Gane techniques in some bright summer colors.

Mokume Gane Buttons

I created some buttons from the mokume gane sheets I made the other day.  I love the look of them and think I will make some more....  In the meantime, these are available in our Art Fire Studio and Etsy Shop.