Imitated Nature

For those that don’t know I love to recreate things found on the beach with polymer clay. That’s also where my choice of name ‘Beadcomber’ came from, beachcombing.
I know a couple of my pieces are missing from this photo, namely a sea star or starfish and a whole sea urchin, but I wanted to see how a group shot of my handmade bits would look like. Sea urchin piece, sea glass, driftwood, pebbles, shells and my most recent addition, sand dollar.
The Sea urchin, driftwood and shells are made in a similar way with the help of chalk, the sea glass is made from a liquid form of polymer clay and the sand dollar is caned or made with a method called milifiori which is based on a technique that was originally used in glassworking for making complex designs.

So what is a cane? It’s a log or cylinder of clay that has a design running through it, so each slice of the cane - the cross-section - contains the design. I made a cane that measured approximately 2 inches in diameter and the larger the design, the easier the cane is to handle. It can then be reduced in size by pressing, stretching and rolling it so the cane becomes longer and thinner and the design becomes smaller along with it. Then when cutting slices from the cane, the design will look the same front and back.

I have tutorials on all, except for this and the driftwood. They can be found Here. Just look for the Download Category with Tutorials. If you want some sand dollars or other things, I have them too!

Imitative Rocks and Ryolite

Just when I thought Spring was around the corner I wake up to Snow on the ground. Everytime I'm on the Beach I collect a few rock samples, but this morning the snow had even blanketed the pebbles on the beach, so I kept my hands in my pockets.
 Imitative Rocks and Beach Pebbles from Polymer Clay are a passion of mine and probably for many others as well. There seems to be something facsinating about rocks, maybe it's the shapes, the colours, the textures.

Recently Christina Kosinski shared with me her interpretation of my Ryolite Tutorial. I quite like the Bhudda...You can find it on her ArtFire site.

If you'd like to share rocks you've made with my tutorials, email me or leave a comment.
And should you want to create your own pebbles, but don't know where to start, I have 3 tutorial series package. All 3 in a bundle (for more than a dozen rocks) or if you want to try one pebble at time, there is Ryolite, you can find a variety of them, all of them on my ArtFire as well.

Polymer Clay Beach Pebbles for Peter Pan

I'm back into full swing with my polymer clay beach pebbles. The last couple of days were spent making pebbles in different colours and sizes. Some my pebbles are going to be used in J.M Barrie's "Peter Pan in San Francisco" by Threesixty Degrees . Check out this LINK there is a short movie clip there. Reminds me of Cirque du Soleil. Wish I could see the show!

Peter Pan will open April 27th, making its debut on the Embarcadero across the street from the Ferry Building. The show was a huge success at Kensington Park in London last summer. The stage is very unique because with all the flying, Peter Pan and cast need more than just a standard stage. Enter the round, state of the art theatre, a 360-degree pavilion, which seats 1350 people. 

Polymer Clay Bytes! - Lariats, Doublets and Belts

These are really versatile and can be worn in a few ways as they have heavy links of chain and a lobster clasp to allow for various sizes...

• Belt...loose on hip or tighter around waist
• long lariat
• doubled as a two strand necklace

 Chain and links are soldered copper, driftwood, abalone shell and handcrafted beach pebbles

 

  

 

Polymer Clay Bytes! - Inukshuk Pendants

I've created a few Polymer Clay Inukshuk pendants while making imitative beach pebbles. The Inukshuk is the official Olympic Symbol of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
Mine are almost camouflaged by the real stones, maybe a more colourful background was needed. Oh well, I don't claim to be good at taking photos. The two inukshuk disc pendants are on their way to Norway!

 

 

Go Canada Go! is being shouted here at home at our television screens as if the athletes could hear us, lol. We've been watching a lot of the Events while assembling items that we are readying for various destinations. I permanently have a bookmark open to the Olympic schedule so I know what is happening and when. Visitors to Vancouver are actually quite fortunate with the weather...sunny and Spring seems to be just around the corner. Imagine having to travel between Vancouver and Whistler, even via Coach, while it was snowing or with slush and ice on the roads. The warmer weathers seems to be a blessing after all.

Cornstarch your Polymer Clay

The photo really doesn't express how many pebbles there are. Ok, it isn't exactly a beach full, but I can tell you I spent hours on these polymer clay beach stones. I don't make entire batches of the 'same' rocks, but just like in nature will add cracks, crevices, veins and form each one individually.

Here's a tip for you...if you don't like fingerprints on your polymer clay creations or perhaps you do to make sure people know they are handmade :) smooth beads by dusting your hands and fingers with cornstarch! I'm quite finicky with my beads and personally don't like sanding or tumbling, so cornstarch does the trick for me. Also, it washes off. The pebbles with Quartz inclusions, I like tossing in a bucket of ice cold water to enhance the translucency of the Quartz.

mmm....that bottom pebble has a vein that reminds me of a whaletail...I've made a few of these recently...

Tofino Beach Drift - Polymer Clay Pebbles and Rocks

Been hiding in my studio to work on some new polymer clay jewelry, namely my beach pebbles. Filled with new inspiration I'm giving my 2010 line a lift, by including some driftwood pieces. The recycled glass looks like beach glass which of course goes well with stones and driftwood.

Among the beach pebble jewelry are a few Inuksuits (plural of Inukshuk) which were re-requested by a local gallery. The Inukshuk also forms the basis of the logo of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. You may want to google some interesting facts about this symbol. I'm having another idea on how to incorporate this into some work.

These pieces will be among others that I'll be taking to an upcoming Wholesale Show near Victoria. Stay tuned for more Tofino Beach Drift...

 

Imitative Beach Pebble Tutorial - Series 3

I've finally finished part 3 of the Imitative Beach Pebble Tutorial. Use Polymer Clay to imitate Epidote , Lava and Pumice stones.

 $16 (IBP-3)

You can find it in my Artfire shop with the other tutorials or you can purchase from my blog here via secure Paypal checkout and immediate file download. You will first be directed to a page that offers some of my other tutorials on there, also for immediate download.

Shortly I will also list individual rocks, so that you can mix and match which tutorials you want. I will also put together a package for all 3 tutorials in the series for a 10% discount. If you have previously purchased both of my part 1 and 2, send me a message and I will send you a coupon for an equal discount. My apologies ahead of time, but I can only do this through my Artfire Shop as Etsy does not have the feature to apply gift certificates or coupons.
Individual Tutorials for single stones are also going up like these ones:

($6.00 Ryolite)

  
$6.00 (Basalt Rock)

Polymer Clay Beach Pebble Bracelets

I could think of a longer name for my West Coast inspired Pebbles, but Polymer Clay in the title is a long word in itself.
I've spent the last few days making more pebbles, mostly in grays and blacks that I will be listing soon, both as sets of beads, but also as bracelets. I prefer the ones with a range of colour such as that I find on the beaches here. For the first time I'm offering a bracelet online. This particular bracelet includes beads that I've made for my tutorials.  This bracelet is for sale in my ArtFire shop.
(Edited: This bracelet has just sold...but I'll go and list another one...and if that one is gone...leave a comment :)

Imitative Beach Pebble Tutorial - Part 1

I'm pleased to announce that I can finally offer you a tutorial for imitative beach pebbles. With only a few colours and tools you'll be able to create a range of beach pebbles that'll fool the naked eye. The only deception is their light weight. Inspired by real beach pebbles, in this lesson you'll recreate veins, textures and ocean tumbled forms. Create stones of any size or shape, and then drill them with ease. Part 1 will show you how to create 4 types of basalt rocks, 2 with 2 techniques of achieving quartz veins (one slightly cracked, one banded). One black basalt rock with different shading, cracks/marks that enhances realism and one with a quartz inclusion. Lastly some red Jasper with inclusions and some tips and tricks to make your pebbles stand out.
Pasta machines for this project are entirely optional.

This tutorial is packed with 63 photographs, 22 pages, and 55 steps of instructions. Available on Artfire.

Part 2 and 3 coming soon...

Which one or ones are the fakes??

Pebbles and almost every stone

I've made a few Pebls again. Should you wonder what Pebls are, they are Polymerclay evolved beach-like stones. I came up with the name for a swap I hosted in 2007 for Clayamies. You can have a look at the pebble bracelets here.

What have I been up to since last posting (besides family visiting, beading, claying...). I made a few Pebls for earrings and necklaces. Incorporated a few in my Picasso pendants, black wire frames that I hammer into shapes and then wire up with gemstones. These have become quite popular sellers for me at various galleries and shops. One customer couldn't resist and had to purchase two! When I created custom earrings for her and went to meet at a local gallery, she couldn't decide and took a few pairs as well. She insisted I get them into the bigger cities and she's going to show off hers. lol...I love customers that are enthusiastic about my creations.

Here are 3 styles of pebls, gray rocks with 'quartz' veins, red 'jasper' and "garnet schist'

Add a black "Basalt"...

Almost every Gem I could muster, Lemon quartz, topaz, amethyst, rainbow flourite, turquoise....I think I'll call this pendant...

"Almost every stone"

I finally started a video for the Pebls, but will continue with it this coming week.
I've had a few requests on how I create my banded rocks with the quartz inclusion. Videos aren't easy to shoot, especially when I'm my own artist, director and camera person. You may catch me with my finger on the 'remote', lol. I can see that editing is already a daunting task since I'm so 'picky'! I'll give it a shot, pardon the pun, but may also turn the tutorial into a photographic one, like I'm used to doing. The plus with video is that I can show some of the trickier aspects without producing a flip photo-style book. I'll be aiming for 5 or 6 styles of Pebls.