More beading embellishment…

Before finishing the previous polymer clay cabochon necklace, I had started this one and finally completed it. It’s a bit more labour intensive to create and figuring out how to assemble and attach the pieces together. I used Turquoise as the complimentary stone. The clasp cabochons were made from the same polymer clay sheet as the focal pendant. Right now I’m working on a matching bracelet and earrings…

Autumn Fire Cabochons

With the end of a very busy and routine summer, the fiery colours of the Autumn foliage and freshly fallen leaves have renewed my creative energy. These pictures are free wallpaper downloads and pretty much the colours that are showing up here now.

I had posted on Facebook a few of my Fire cabs and asked what colours were favourites right now. Fiery Orange, deep burnt orange, gold, red, chocolate were resounding answers and added to this mix was a gold, purple and turquoise. I used some of these colour combos for some polymer clay cabochons which I covered with resin and will be using for bead embroidery, but I did finish one…and another is almost finished.
Here are some of the cabochons. I’m contemplating listing some of these on Etsy and ArtFire for others who’d like to use them as additions for their own creative use.

I used Japanese Mijuki beads for the embroidery and added smoky quartz and turquoise. The pendant has a couple of watch gears stitched on the bail for an extra interest. This set is spoken for and already in the mail…

Orinendo Shawl Pins

A few have asked me when I would be doing a Shawl Pin tutorial. What better way to get me to do it when the weatherman is correct in predicting nothing but rain for the week which means I am spending more time indoors again.

Perhaps you are wondering (or maybe not, lol) about the strange name I gave them.
“Orinendo”.  Maybe it’s their shape of the clasp or maybe the Geisha-like pins, but the techniques themselves are actually influenced by Asian Artisan methods, Origami and Mokume Gane. Many polymer clayers are familiar with Mokume-Gane which means ‘wood grained – metal’. Some prefer to call the technique Mokume Nendo when applied to polymer clay, as Nendo means clay. Ori-gami means ‘Folding-paper’. So how does this relate to the pins and tutorial? Well, the pins are made with using my color-gradient blend which I named ‘Origami Blend’ and with the extra steps added it resembles Mokume Nendo, so it seemed natural to combine the names.
Perhaps more of interest will be the revelation how to painlessly make your clay resemble Mokume Gane or Mokume Nendo without the normally required skill of using a thin tissue blade to reveal the various layers of colour. I'll show you how apply coppery patterns and coloured crackle details. The hexagon pin is the one I’m doing in the tutorial, but you can create any shape you like.

Your finished project will be an elegant compliment to any shawl or sweater, especially with the colder season heading upon us…
Look for this collage banner on my ArtFire.

Turtle Jewel Pendants

It’s been a busy summer, but I’ve been itching to write another tutorial and must say this one has been a long one in the making. Between computers and lost photos (even though I have an external hard drive), too complicated, but I finally got it done. These can be interpreted any way you like, into a tribal kind of pendant or more classy. The facial features like eyes and beak can be left off for a more serious look or you can add comical Muppet-like eyes for fun.

This tutorial consists of 61 steps, 23 pages and 58 photographs.

This lesson is a detailed step by step how to create a turtle with a textured back with an inlaid polymer clay bezeled or rimmed stone. Slowly but surely (turtle pun) you will learn how to build the head, body, legs and tail, then assemble, sculpt, texture the front and back and turn the turtle into a adorable wearable pendant. You can also choose to create a larger version as a decorative ornament. Give your turtle land or sea legs or a metallic or faux bone body.

I’ve listed this in both my Etsy and ArtFire shops.