Hi Blogosphere, long time no see.
Here is what is sitting on my bench today needing action of some sort this week
Tuesday 14 August 2013
12 oclock
Fine silver Celtic knot with entwined snake and moonstone drop pendant (ready to go off to be hallmarked) I was thinking about the Druids when I designed this.
1 oclock
Malachite drop with fine silver snake forming the bail (waiting for hallmark)
2 oclock
Ocean Jasper drop with pinned wave texture fine silver cap and bail (waiting for hallmark)
3 oclock
Sea glass (from the Thames estuary) with fine silver mount and bail in the form of Old London Bridge (waiting for hallmark)
4 oclock
Sterling silver artist's palette with polymer clay filled silver tube paint pots and silver wire brushes (waitng for hallmark)
5 and 6 oclock
Titanium coated Druzy stone pendants with silver wire filigree and vines and repousse formed sterling silver leaves. Finished yesterday (waiting for hallmark)
7 oclock
Mokune Gane technique polymer clay pendant with tropical leaves pattern. Several of these need finishing.
8 oclock
3 new (new to me but between 50 and 33.9 Million years old) fossil shark teeth waiting for silver mounts (these are from the shark's upper jaw as they look more like knives than fork tines). Looking forward to getting these done, should look pretty cool.
9 oclock
Flat polymer clay black and white heart pin. Pattern made with the metal core of a round hair brush. They need a coat of Renaissance wax.
10 oclock
2 pieces of copper one with silver embedded in the surface shortly to be incorporated into Anglo Saxon style jewellery pieces (coming soon for winter 2013)
11 oclock
Fine silver fused granulation disc style pendant. Inspired by a trip to the British Museum to see pieces from Anglo Saxon England. Use this as a starting point for further sketches
In the center is a sterling silver Viking knit chain. I enjoy making these and will make more to go with my pieces instead of buying commercially made chains.
Note to self. Start one today and carry it around with you to work on in rare moments of not-much-going-on.
As you can see, I dont have time to get bored :)
best wishes
Wendy
Hi, happy new year.
I thought I had better start the year as I mean to carry on and here is the first of the many and more frequent new posts I have resolved to make in 2013.
I have been busy over the Christmas break sorting out my work space and making a piece for a competition (more about this later). Penny at Clayaround kindly mentioned my polymer clay transparent work in her newsletter so I thought I would post a quick pic showing one of my more recent cuffs using the Pardo transparent clay.
Its the one in the center of this picture. I used 2 layers of Pardo transparent and included peel off stickers, embossing powders and cane slices to give the illusion of depth and sparking air to this dragon fly cuff.
Here is a closer picture. There is an air bubble on the surface of the round flower cane slice but I have since worked out a way to avoid getting those.
Do you like the flower cane cuffs on the right of the picture? I like the way the petals of the golden flowers look separate because the background is so dark.
I'm trying to raise money for my favourite charity The Food for People campaign so if anyone is interested in having a pdf tutorial showing everything I have discovered about using Pardo transparent and with step by step instructions on how to complete a new transparent clay project, I'll be putting one up for sale on my shop site soon and will be charging the modest sum of £2. Any proceeds will go to support Food for People . Watch this space for the link or subscribe to my blog.
Peace is possible in 2013
Hi again,
Wow its been a busy few months what with my new post at work and the constant drive to make some of the 'good ideas' that continually pop into my head.
The inspiration for these Pardo clay feathers came from Donna Kato's Peach Feather Cane tutorial and the need to make something affordable for the Duke Street Christmas Craft Market coming up on the 1st December. As you can see I am still working on the Peacock feathers. This batch are all going to be brooches.
I have now sent my Artist's Pallette pendants off to the Assay Office for hallmarking. I made 2 pairs of earrings to go with them.
Here is a slightly better photo of one showing the colours of the polymer clay paints.
I have wanted to make a Lotus flower in silver clay for a long time.
After looking at many photographs of lotus flowers in different positions, I made a drawing and then a paper template and carefully sculpted the dry silver clay until I was happy with it.
Here are some photos of the prototype for 2 batches of 3 in 2 sizes that are
currently with the 'Vikings' in the Assay Office for hallmarking.
The larger batch of 3 have had 24 carat gold fused to the pod in the center of the Lotus flower using the Keum Boo method.
On September 30th I had the pleasure of demonstrating my version of the polymer clay peacock cane to the members of the London Polymer Clay Group in central London.
I had prepared some handouts as I know this cane is quite complicated and with several different stages and I wanted the members to be able to repeat the process if they needed to in the future.
I look forward to seeing if any peacock cane pieces turn up on the Show and Tell table at the next meeting.
My tutorial breaks the cane down into its component parts the Eye cane and the Fronds cane. I realised that the proportions of different colours used was important to getting a successful outcome.
You can access the cane tutorial here
Enjoy
Hello again, I have been working on a collection of jewellery featuring the peacxock feather cane. Here is a picture of the signature piece which is almost finished. I just need to tighten the links and decide if I will keep the double chain and custom made fastening. This necklace is reversible so needs to have a fastening which is easy to do up from both sides. I might change the one shown for an S fastener and change the double chain to a larger linked single one.
How was it made? I used silver tube cut into thin slices. There are 3 different widths of tube used here and you can see my cutting list and diagram in the picture below
This drawing also shows how the tube slices are connected together. I needed to have at least one wire passing through each of the tubes so that the polymer clay 'bead' had something to hang on. If I hadnt done this the polymer clay would have fallen out eventually.
The ends of the wires pass through the walls of the tubes and form the anchor point for the chain links between the tubes. I added the extra links because I wanted the necklace to adjust its position slightly as the wearer moves
This picture shows the reverse of the necklace which is filled with pearly turquoise discs with the occasional splash of purple. Looking at these pictures I will definitely change the chain and fastener.
I recently attended the Jewellery Design one day course at the London Jewellery School. It was a really useful course and the teacher (Zoe) has helped me think more clearly about the design process and how to develop an idea. Zoe also has a soft spot for peacock feathers as you will see from the beautiful bracelet on her page and encouraged me to take up this design direction again. I first started making peacock tube necklaces about 15 months ago and the designs have been rattling around in my head and in my dreams since then.
I will be demonstrating my version of the Peacock feather cane a the London Polymer Clay group September meeting. I am working on my presentation and my knees are knocking already. (Only joking, they are all very kind).
PS. Loving my new phone. Siri is helping me get organised. I asked him to marry me but he said it wasnt in the license agreement.
PPS. Since Margaret and I did the stall at Wonder Hill Market they have decided not to run it anymore at London Bridge. Hope it wasnt something we said. :)
Hello Peeps,
Here I am on my birthday (today) wearing my present, an Opti-VISOR. Attractive eh?
Ah old age comes to us all (if we are lucky that is). Bits are falling off, everything is moving south and I finally admitted that I cant see far beyond the end of my nose. I estimate that the level of finish on my pieces in future will improve (dramatically I hope). Today I am having a birthday clear out of all my old and unwanted polymer clay pieces. Anything vaguely wearable will go to the Hospice charity shop, after all someone may like it.
I am collecting together things to take with me for my visit to a clay buddy. We are having a day of fun and inspiration tomorrow. Cant wait.
Have a good day
