A Twist of Inspiration

Well, it's a snow day here on Long Island and I have off from work today! Yay! It's great because I'm really in a creative mood today, and if I were at work I'd just be thinking about all the things I could be making at home. For now, I'm posting some earrings I've made this past week.

Let me preface this post by explaining that one of the things I've always loved about polymer clay (and clay in general) is its malleability. It puts up with a lot of pulling, kneading, squishing, rolling, and twisting. It is impressionable, flexible, pliable, and very forgiving. It is the contortionist in the circus of craft (and a chameleon to boot).

With that in mind, I created these delicate little twist earrings. They're made out of translucent polymer clay with a bit of color mixed in and some copper inclusions. These photos portray their form quite well, but unfortunately they cannnot fully capture the depth of colors. The gold/copper earrings are especially pretty when they hit the light. There is gold Pardo clay mixed in to this pair and it literally makes the earrings glow.

I varnished both earrings with Delta Ceramcoat gloss varnish (my favorite by the way, if you're looking for a decent varnish for polymer clay). It makes the earrings look a little bit like glass - in fact when my mom saw me wearing the gold pair, she thought they were glass. I'm planning on making some more today - perhaps some longer ones with a taper. I'll post them when I'm done!

Rosenoir Inspiration

Here is a new poppy necklace I've made. The term "rosenoir" is a combination of the French terms for "pink" and "black." The outer petal of the flower is made of a combination of translucent and pink clay, with some pink glitter thrown in. The middle piece is a dark purple clay with inclusions of silver leaf and the center is black clay which has been textured and highlighted with silver mica powder.

Crater Inspiration

These 2 and 3-part crater earrings were a lot of fun to make. They look great with my new short haircut too! I actually used one of the discarded centers from my poppy pendants as a stamp to create texture. This is what created the speckled effect.

Harvest Poppy Inspiration

Here's my new Harvest Poppy necklace. It's made from polymer clay, liquid clay, mica powder, copper flakes, seed beads, and gloss varnish. The inspiration for the colors came from a sweater I recently purchased. When I first went to wear the sweater, I was disappointed to find that I had no jewelry to match. So I grabbed the sweater, took it to my craft desk and got some clay out. I ended up mixing a purple color with white and gold to make the outer petal. If you click on one of the photos to get a close-up look, you can see the gold shining in it.

I took a risk with this one and gave it a white center instead of black or dark brown. I like how it kind of looks like a mushroom top - to me it adds to the organic feel of the pendant. Finding the right color seed beads was a challenge. I almost took the brown strand out, then decided against it at the last minute. Without it, the piece just looked too matchy-matchy.

I'm definitely going to making another one of these. Right now I'm deciding what colors I'm going to use. Any suggestions?

Rock You Slideshow

Awesome New Resource for Clayers!

I just came across (and joined) a site called ClayLessons.com which is pretty new. It's geared towards clayers using polymer and metal clays. Right now there aren't that many users, but I could see that it is already developing into something wonderful. It's sister site is the more well-known JewelryLessons.com .

Here are some things you can do at ClayLessons.com:

• Buy and sell tutorials (some tutorials are free)
• Write articles and tips about claywork to earn "points" which you can use to buy tutorials
• Show your clay work and see others' work in the Gallery
• Participate in the forums and interact with other like-minded clay artists
• Take part in challenges and other events
• Read interviews with well-known clay artists

Please check this site out and join! It's free and the more users that join, the better it will be.

Montreaux Poppy Inspiration

I adore this necklace. It is inspired by the orange poppies that bloom on Lake Geneva in Montreaux, Switzerland. I've taken some liberties with color - the Montreax poppies don't have any blue in them. I used a technique from Weltman's Ancient Modern book, using an old light bulb to mold the outer petal.

Shabby Chic Inspiration

I wanted these earrings to look like they came out of a jewelry box from 1960 - something one of the women on Mad Men would wear. Another exercise in color restraint, the petals are a combination of bronze (base petal) and silver (top petal) Pardo polymer clay. Both petals have been accented slightly with gold mica powder and are varnished to make them sparkle. A silver-plated beadcap sits in the middle filled with black seed beads. The earrings hang from silver-plated lever-back hooks which allow them to hang straight down for maximum effect.

Peanut Pod Inspiration

Here are some new designs that I'm really psyched about - one set of earrings and a pendant/necklace. I think they're new and unique and I couldn't be more proud. These are semi-inspired by Ronna Weltman's organic styling of polymer clay (see post below) but I feel that they definitely have my own signature style. I love mixing seed beads in with my polymer clay pieces. I think they add a nice delicate touch. These designs are definitely the start of something new for me.

The pods themselves are made of gray scrap clay which has been molded and baked around long wooden beads to give them their shape. Before baking, the outsides of the pods had been textured and highlighted with silver mica powder (this texture gives them that peanuty effect). The insides of the pods have been decorated with small discs that were molded with a ball stylus. These discs are made out of my new metallic Pardo clays. Seed beads sit in the center of the discs which have been filled with gloss varnish to set the beads in place. I will be adding these designs to my Etsy shop very soon.

Ancient Modern Inspiration

I am totally in love with Ronna Sarvas Weltman's new book Ancient Modern: Polymer Clay & Wire Jewelry (above) - so much that I actually broke down and purchased it instead of just loaning it through the library system. I made this pendant based on one of the projects from her book. I love how it came out! My boyfriend said it looks like the eye of a sea-monster, so I'm calling it the Fisheye Necklace. I obviously can't sell it, because it's really not my design, but I am going to wear it! I'm dying to find Ronna and show her what she inspired!

Right now I'm working on some of my own designs I've made with the new polymer clay Pardo and I can't wait to show you them! Perhaps tomorrow I'll get a chance to take some pics outside.