Wednesday, 24 April 2013

Spring ...new beginnings.

I can't believe where the time has gone since I posted last! It seems that I only post in seasons when I should really be posting more often and on a more regular basis.


Well Spring is officially here and the cherry blossoms here in the part of Wales where I live have  have started to bloom albeit a little later than normal. So here is my new beginning of the year with some floral polymer clay heart earrings ,bag charm and faux jade tubes that I made to compliment a large river shell heart pendant necklace. I tried to recreate the river shell pendant necklace with the heart earrings and bag charm. I think I may have gone a bit overboard with the sanding as some of the cane coverings have faded considerably.But  I am pleased with the shine I got. Thankful for small mercies I suppose! 
Thank you for dropping by to view my blog. Please don't be shy I would most appreciate any comments!

River shell pendant necklace with freshwater pearls,Swarovski crystals and  polymer clay faux jade tubes.

Close up of the river shell pendant.

My interpretation of the river shell pendant.

Bag charm

Introducing Gemma! The model.;)



Thursday, 11 October 2012

Some More Autumn Makes

Some necklaces  that I have made.The top necklace I have combined a semi precious stabilised chalk turquoise square pendant that I bought in a bundle of four that were on offer.I wanted some large matching beads but was unable to find any. So I made my own matching beads out of good old polymer clay.And Hey Presto they matched quite well. I used Fimo Soft in white with Fimo Translucent.  After conditioning the two clays and loosly swirling them I chopped them up into small pieces and painted them in a pale yellow acrylic paint. I set it aside for about an hour and a half. While the paint was drying I used up my scrap clay and rolled it out and made up some large beads.  Then came the messy bit (not for the faint hearted).I squooshed up the painted clay into a ball ,rolled into a fat log and cut vey thin slices and covered the balls of scrap with these thin slices.
Completed the necklace with glass pearls in shades of white and antique gold and Chinese crystal rondells in shades of pale green ,bronze ,light topaz and smoky brown.

Below is a close up of the polymer clay beads and the semi precious stabilised chalk turquoise pendant.

Below is another of the pendants that were in the bundle that I bought and I made the large beads the same way as I did with the ones in the two top photos. The only difference is the colour of the paint that I used. I used burnt umber and violet. With this necklace I combined semi precious mookait round beads in lovely autumnal shades with Swarovski crystal bicones in the shade of mocha.



The method I used to make the two afore mentioned polymer clay beads I can thank the talented polymer clay artist Linda Peterson. She demonstrates this method in her book How To Make Polymer Clay BEADS. She uses this method to make faux marble. I purchased this book about two years ago and have found it to be quite invaluable.

Wednesday, 10 October 2012

Autumn Earrings


I thought I would share my Autumn earrings. Polymer clay leaves complimented with coconut shell pendants


Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Embracing Autumn

Continuing from yesterday when I posted my love of autumn and how I am inspired by the wonderful colours that have been given to us by Mother Nature here is another one of my creations. A memory wire cuff with semi precious chips of unakite and large beads of goldstone with tiny transparent gold glass seed beads between each chip and polymer clay leaves in lovely autumn colours.Tomorrow another day and another creation.


Monday, 8 October 2012

Autumn Inspiration

I have always felt inspired by the seasons, with spring and autumn being my favourites. I consider myself fortunate to be living in a very pretty and picturesque part of the UK ......Wales. I am surrounded by mountains and lots of pretty places which I suppose I do sometimes take for granted a little as they are just about on my doorstep. The photos here in  my blog is just a twenty minute walk or so away. For anyone reading my blog I do hope you enjoy! 
Autumn is well and truley upon us and and to embrace the season I have made some jewellery that I have been inspired to make by the changing colours and to embrace the season.










Here is one of a selection of the bracelets I have made with autumn colours.The bracelet below is called Autumn Spice. The large beads I made from Fimo white translucent with a hint of tumeric spice to give it colour. I accentuated these with little gold plated bead caps and transparent gold glass seed beads and semi precious red carnelian. Hopefully from tomorrow I shall start to make daily posts which I will post a photo of each make.

Monday, 10 September 2012

Faux Ivory........I love it!

My last post over a month ago(where does the time go?) I told of how I made my first faux ivory and covered spoons.

At first I wasn't too sure if I liked my first attempt. My daughter and son-inlaw were delighted with them and in time the more I looked at them the more they seemed to grow on me.

So I decided to have another go and make something for my self.A hair barrette,earrings,bracelet and pendant. And these are what I came up with. I haven't yet decided how to finish off the pendant,but the rest are already made up.






Thursday, 9 August 2012

In Search Of Elephants,Whales,Walruses...........

A couple of weeks ago it was my eldest daughter's fourteenth wedding anniversary. What I didn't know was that gifts for  fourteenth wedding anniversaries is ivory.

As much as I would have liked to be able to afford real ivory there was no way I could. But more importantly I am a conservationist and there is NO WAY I was going out to kill  an elephant or whale or walrus in order to get a few teeth.

Next best thing I 'll fake it and bake it! So this is what I came up with.

A set of teaspoons covered in faux ivory bone polymer clay.

Covered spoons with little gold mica hearts and smaller hearts embossed.

Close up of one of the spoons.

I have to admit this is the first time I have tried my hand at faux ivory and my first time at covering spoons. I wasn't too sure at first if I liked them or not.  Personally I thought they looked primitive and something Fred Flintstone may be happy with.  However my daughter and son-in-law was delighted with them. Plus I guess a few elephants,whales and walruses were too . :)