52 Earrings a Year #8 Lucky Dragon

Number 8 is considered a Lucky number in Chinese and Japanese Culture although for slightly different reasons. It’s only fitting then that my 8th earring would be a dragon since this is also the Year of the Dragon. In the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. There is much more to be said about this sign, but Dragons aren’t just found in Asian Culture but pervade much of Nordic and Germanic Mythology also and probably many other cultures as well.
2012 is the year of the Water Dragon. Water calms the Dragon’s fire. Water Dragons are able to see things from other points of view. They don’t have the need to always be right. Their decisions, if well-researched, are usually better since they allow others to become involved. This is my interpretation for an earring…You can be involved in commenting about it…


“Pyra”, a Fire Dragon, is not too amused having this little guy crawl all over her, but she’s fairly patient. She’s turning a little red, so I better give her a breather and put this nameless little guy in the ear of the Venus bust…Just a little fun! Can be worn a few different ways…

While I was at it I made another pair of simple spirals which can also be worn a few different ways…

or like this…

SSSSlithering precioussss ssssomethings, these ones were made with a crackled texture…I think I’m going to make more along those lines.

Crackled Cane and Funky Tentacles

My crackle technique is not ordinary. It doesn’t cover up or hide the original surface of polymer clay like other crackle mediums or Gold Leaf for instance. Applying it to polymer clay and rolling the clay through smaller settings on the pasta machine will crackle the leafing, and the only original part of the clay showing through will be the cracks.

Here is an example of what I mean. I made a simple bullseye cane and applied little slices to the clay sheet. I rolled it smooth and then applied the crackle medium. When finished you can still see the canes. You can do this with Mokume gane, or my Orinendo, the Faux Ceramic or even Dichroic as well. I think this would make some interesting beads. You can find my crackle technique tutorial here and the other ones are there as well.

I made these earrings and necklace today. This is Earring set #7 in the 52 Earrings a Year Challenge. i crackled red clay and added some wire. Looks like I want to keep them. If you look closely you can just barely see the Hearing aid behind my ear and a wire running inside of it .

I’ll be making more of these Funky Tentacles. I have a lot of ideas burning…

This is a matching necklace and more earrings…more on the way…

Close up

 

Kind of a strange style for me, but I like it, sort of like a coral…

52 pairs of Earrings #5 and #6 and Macro Photography

I promised to talk more about the Lens attachment I got for my P&S (Point and Shoot) Camera and will do so, but first want to show you my latest earrings for the 52 pairs of Earrings a Year Challenge on Flickr. These two will catch me up. Both are made with polymer clay and wire. The flowers and faux glass pieces are polymer clay.
 

close up of ‘glass’. The frosted look makes these look less transparent, but I’m still happy with the translucency. This photo, and the one above were taken with the ‘Little Big shot’ attachment lens.

These earrings were shot with just the regular macro setting on my Sony This was as close as possible and not quite clear or crisp enough. The attachment really makes the subject look clearer which is hard to do with only a 3.3 megapixel camera. My Sony is 12 years old.  I figure I should still be able to get a few more years out of it and fills my need.

Am also preparing to make more heart pendants. They aren’t just for Valentines. Also shot with the lens attachment. The heart was done with my Batik and Shimmer technique.

The Macro Little Big Shot is worth having and comes in different sizes to fit your camera or even Smartphone. Visit the Blog, lots of info on a page with easy to understand You Tube videos. I’m so happy I have this little gizmo.  I think you will be too. The small price of $19.99 even includes shipping and a great carry case with clip.

Faux Glass Et cetera

So many things are going on my polymer clay studio right now. It’s one of those times where I wish there were two or three of me. As you know I love to experiment and am always challenging myself. I’m analytical and a problem solver, and when a mystery pops up, I’m confronted with the compulsive need to find a solution. ‘Is it possible?’ I keep asking myself. This quirk maybe to a fault because lately, every alternate day when it’s my turn to cook for the family, the meals are quick to prepare Stir fry, casserole, pasta… meal planning is out the window as the mad scientist would rather spend all day dabbling with a little of this and a little of that. Thankfully my cooking still gets compliments and my daughter helps with dishes.
Ok…some new stuff…
Faux Glass…It’s still in the experimental stages, but this may be an upcoming tutorial. Wondering how much interest this would generate? Here are a few pieces. The very light blue set…one is glass the rest are faux. In case you are wondering, the one on the left is the real piece. I think I managed to get the colour realistic enough. Funny thing is when photographing light coloured or see-through items, my camera picks up the bluish tone rather than the white background. My white balance isn’t quite right and my older Sony only allows for Indoor, Outdoor or Auto, but the colour of the glass is this…

To show the difference in translucency, I used a Ring to lean them against. The first piece is real glass, the rest are faux.

I made a few of the tear drop beads in these colours

I felt I should get a few more pieces of jewelry done or at least some components, so made this from the Evergreen sheet I had left.


Then I got to work making a burnt orange crackle sheet. I made the Ring from above, some earrings and really like how the crackle reflects. Straight on there is no glimmer, but held at angles there is.

Some of these close up photos were taken with an attachment that I got for my camera. I have an older Sony style camera that has Macro ability, but not nearly enough close up capability as I would like. I’ll blog about this in my next blog, it’s something that can fit virtually any camera and is super easy on your wallet. Stay tuned…
Until then, drop me a comment…

The many faces of Tangerine Tango 2012

Tangerine Tango is the Pantone color of Spring and Summer 2012. If you have wondered what this looks like and are a bit confused, you are not alone. If you Google an image of this orange, you will not only get many results of one type of orange which one would image ONE color to be, but you will get many shades of it.

I made a small palette of Tangerine Tango, although I could add to those shades, lol.


Here is my version in Premo Sculpey polymer clay:


Back in August 2011 I was in a big Orange mood and sure reminds me of these colors. Maybe subconsciously I saw a trend coming? There were also other oranges on my blog such as these...

For my 2011 Pantone colour recipes and free tutorial, go visit this page

52 pairs of Earrings #4

I’m quite happy with this set of Sea Blue Necklace, Earrings, Bracelet. Made with the crackled polymer clay and faux beach glass. I used peacock pearl Premo as the base. For the bracelet beads I added some translucent.

This pair of earrings is my 4th pair in the 52 pairs of Earrings a Year Challenge.

well, that was fun…now I want to make a beach colour set…maybe 2 or 3 of those colours….

Evergreen Series

I’ve started on my Jewellery line for 2012. This green and copper series will be “Evergreen”. Not exactly the Pantone Tangerine, but that one is coming. Evergreen reminds me of the forests I live in with branches criss-cross each other and light reflects through in between them.

I’ll be working in sets of earrings, necklace, bracelet, but am also working on different shapes at the same time. I’ve put these up on my other ArtFire shop. I figure it’s better to keep my jewellery separate from my Tutorials and Supplies.

The bracelet with the Turquoise fits up to 7 1/2” and the one with the copper beads only fits up to 7”. I have a 6 3/4” wrist and the copper beads fits almost snug. The other one fits loose.

52 pairs of Earrings

This is #3. I call this series “Evergreen”. I’ve made these earrings, a matching necklace, but I also have some other items to finish up with this crackle texture. I’ve posted these to the Group Pool on Flickr.

52 Earrings and Sanding Tip

I’ve just finished a couple more earrings to catch up with the 52 pairs of Earrings challenge since I joined a little late. Here is another pair and will post the other ones hopefully later tonight.

Here is a sanding tip. I always have to grope for the right piece of sandpaper in the bottom of the basin and look at the back which grit it is. Time consuming as it is, sanding isn’t my favourite part of claying, so now I use a small basin with the grit papers from bottom right clockwise, 320, 400, 600 and 800. Now I always know where they are! The little shallow pan has a flat bottom so I can easily sand the edges. I think I may try to use a two sided tape to hold them down, but for now, a couple of fingers hold them in place while I sand with the other hand.