Playing Around With Metal Pieces

I created a new line of chunky jewelry designs for my fall collection last year by combining large metal charms with snap bases.  These were not only fun to create but are so much fun to wear.  There is a snap base for interchanging the decorative snaps and the entire piece clips off the cord for interchanging onto different necklace chains or cords.

This year I decided to kick it up a notch and finally had some time to play around more with these large metal charms. There are so many things that can be done with them.  Here are just a few examples of which I will be sharing some tips on a little later.

Creating faux gemstones with resin:

Or filling in with a faux enamel look:

Adding smaller Swarovski crystals or rhinestones to the small bezels in the pieces.

For another look, back-filling the pieces with polymer clay.

And finally, creating a mold or texture -- then creating your polymer clay pieces from it.

I find the metal charms quite appealing but I am more drawn to color over the plain silver.  Working the design into clay completely transforms it!  And the sky is the limit to how you want to create.

I have a selection of these large charms available in my online store under the DIY supplies section.  Over the next week I will be sharing some tips on how to work with these beautiful pieces using various materials like polymer clay, resin and inclusions.

New CaBezel Designs in a Snap! - mini tutorial

I love working with the CaBezel Molds that are created by Wendy Orlowski.  It is such a unique concept where you can create a bezel frame from clay and then a clay pattern cabochon to fit inside -- thus the name Cab -- (Cabochon) -- Bezel.

These molds are sold through Shades of Clay and there is a wide selection of shapes and sizes.  I have just about all of them and now, Wendy has created some new designs -- CaBezels with holes which will be available at Shades of Clay very soon!  Wendy sent me some to test out and play with and I had fun creating some new stuff.  Apparently she is working on some smaller shapes that coordinate with these and I can hardly wait until they are out!

I have been wanting to incorporate the CaBezels into our Snap Decisions Collection and finally worked it out.  I don't know what took me so long as frankly, it was a lot easier than I expected and so want to share it with you as an addition to my published tutorial.

One note is that it works best with Kato clay as I have tried this with both Premo and Fimo clay and found they were too soft.  So here is how you can add a snap to the back of your CaBezel design to create a piece that is interchangeable:

Step 1 - Place your clay onto a ceramic tile and stick it down really well so it will not move.  Spray your clay with water (for a mold release) and burnish the CaBezel (Bezel part) until you get a nice deep impression.

Step 2 - Trim around the outside of the Bezel with a scalpel or sharp blade.  This is where the ceramic tile comes in handy as you can turn it as you trim.

Step 3 - If you want the hole in your design, trim out the center portion as well.  I will be showing here 2 methods - with the hole and filling in the hole.

Step 4 - Smooth all the outside edges of your shape, if necessary.

Step 5 - Now slide your tissue blade under your bezel to remove it from your tile.  Pick it up and place it back into the CaBezel mold, placing it face down.  Here it is shown face up so you can see.

Step 6 - To add your snap, make sure it has been prepped first using method A (page 4) in my Snap Decisions tutorial and then add some liquid clay to the inside.  Push the snap firmly into the back of the clay bezel.

Picture A shows the bezel without the hole and I am inserting a snap with a bezel and picture B is with the hole and I am inserting a flat snap.

Step 7 - If you need help pushing in the snap, you can use a small shape cutter that fits just inside to give you more leverage.

Step 8 - The snap should be well embedded into the clay and flush with the back of the bezel as shown in the photo below.

Step 9 - While the clay is still in the mold, you can texture the back with a sponge, sandpaper or whatever you prefer.

Step 10 - I also like to add our signature stamp at this point as well and then you can clean up the edges by pushing against the side with your tissue blade.

Step 11 - Carefully take your piece out of the mold and poke a few holes with a needle tool into the clay above where the snap is to release any trapped air when baking.  Bake the piece flat using the snap support boards shown on page 21 of my tutorial.

Step 12 - Make your cabochon part of the CaBezel with your clay pattern by following the same method as in steps 1 - 4.  If you are filling in the center, you can use a solid color of clay or here I am saving the piece that I cut out and using that.

Place your clay design into the Cabezel (add liquid clay first) by following the CaBezel instructions.

Step 13 - To fill the hole and (A) to measure the size for the center, place the Bezel portion over the clay and lightly burnish to mark it.  Cut it by using the inside lines as a guide.  (B) Turn it over (right side facing down) and cut a shape out of scrap clay slightly smaller and place it in the center.  (C) Turn it over and with your finger, bevel the edges all the way around.  You can round the corners by pushing a blade up against them.  (D) Add some liquid clay to the Bezel center.  (E) Place your piece into the center and smooth the inside edges.

I decided I wanted the center to pop a bit more so added a Swarovski crystal before baking.  Bake again using the  snap support board to keep it flat.

And here are my finished pieces, added to a snap base on a cord.

Or you can add it to the chain style necklace shown here.

The beauty of creating your pieces on a snap is that they can be worn so many different ways making your design very versatile!  Imagine wearing them in other ways such as a brooch, on a shawl stick or even in your hair!

And here are a few more pieces that we created using the CaBezel molds with a snap:

Twisted Yarn Buttons and Shawl Sticks

I love making my own molds from old vintage buttons and other findings to use with polymer clay.  The other day I was rummaging through my large tin of "collectables" and pulled out this old vintage button I had for years.  It reminded me of some knitting or twisted yarn.  We decided to make a mold from it and then see what it would look like recreated in the clay.

Adding mica powders or antiquing with paint gave it quite a different look than the original piece.

We then decided that it could make a really neat shawl stick so here are a few that we made up.

Making a Glamour Necklace from a Button

When we were delivering a button order the other day to Katja's Quilt Shoppe, she had a huge tub of buttons on their counter they were sorting through.  For someone such as me who loves to sew cannot resist running my hands through all those buttons and taking in all the fun shapes and colors.  I came across one that really caught my eye and came home with me that day.  I could visualize it remade with polymer into some beads.  This is the button and a mold I made from regular scrap clay .....

... and here are some beads that I made from that button:

And here is a necklace I made for myself (yes, you are seeing correctly -- this is a different color than the beads above -- I wanted a necklace to coordinate with a bracelet and earrings I already had.)  Now all I need is a special event to wear this too!

.... I later made some buttons with shanks from that same mold.  I applied mica powders to each one to create different color combinations.

We were at Katja's store again today and so decided to look through her tub of buttons again and found a lot more to play with.