All Hallows Eve Jewellery - Part One

Ah! Halloween will soon be upon us! And I for one can not wait! :) The spooky atmosphere that descends on the night of Halloween, you can dress up as the silliest or the most evil thing you can think of.  The shops are full of fun treats to buy and fun ornaments and wine glasses which can be used even when its not Halloween!. I have made some fun and spooky Halloween jewellery. Things like bats, skulls, pumpkins, tombstones, eyeballs, coffins and lots more.

Pumpkin Earrings 

Cute pumpkin earrings Glaze wasn't added yet

These pumpkins earrings are made from polymer clay. First I just made the simple ball shape, then I used a needle tool to make the lines in the pumpkin. After the lines where mane I used a polymer clay ball tool to sculpt the fun face that the pumpkins have. I then rolled out some green polymer clay to make the vine like stalks of the pumpkin, when making the leafs I did not cut out the leafs from polymer clay (which is my own technique I'm keeping quiet on that one for now however you could use a leaf mould) once I had the leaf shape I used the needle tool the make the leaf vein detail. I then used some pigment to shade the pumpkins lines and face so that it just has that bit more depth. After all that I then baked them, when they cooled down I then glazed them for a lovely shine and the glaze protects the polymer clay vines and leafs from braking as they can be rather delicate.

Bat Pendant

Spooky bat pendant

Now this cute little bat wasn't hard to make as I drew out bat shape and made a template from it. I warmed up the polymer clay in my hands by rolling into a ball, After kneading the polymer clay I then put it through the sculpty roller to condition the clay. When I had rolled it out I laid the bat template on the rolled out clay and carefully cut out the bat shape with a very sharp craft knife. I then added detail to the bat wings with a stylus ball tool and just made little balls of polymer clay for the red eyes. I then smoothed out the shape of the bat as some of the edges where a bit rough after cutting the clay. When I was done smoothing out the bat I made a small hole at the bottom of the bat so I could put some red beads for some decoration. I will say that I DID NOT put the beads on before I put the pedant in the oven I did that after. After I baked I let it cool then I glazed it as usual! I never go without my glaze I love it! :) Then I added the beads.

Eerie Eyeball Pendant

Raven why would you make such a creepy looking thing?! I hear some of you cry. Well because it gives that reaction it's something you look at and go wow at! Either in awe or disgust either way it gets a reaction :) Now as you can see its a round shape and that's how I started it, once I got a good round shape I then put some red and black clay through the sculpty machine to condition the clay. The thickness setting for these was on seven, so quite thin. Once the clay had been rolled out flat by the machine I then cut out two circles one from the black clay for the pupil and red for the iris. Once they where in place I then rolled out some strips of polymer clay for the veins on the eyeball. After all this fun I then baked it, when I did put it on the tray I placed it so the pupil was facing up. Yep you guessed it after all that I glazed it :)  

Stitched Up Heart

Now hearts are a bugger to make!. Why is that raven? you ask, it's just a heart!. That's is why "it's" just a heart, the simplest designs are the ones that I personally have trouble with because they are so simple, so when I make a mistake I just sigh and start again. But! however once I do get the shape I'm happy with I get to work decorating it as hearts can be quite plain. I then knead the clay in to a triangle shape. I then face the point of the triangle down, then I make a cut in to the flat surface of the shape in the middle. This would make more sense in a diagram or a video!. After that I then smoothed out the edges in to a softer heart shape. As you can see I've made veins these are made in the same way as the eyeball pendant but I did however make a trench in the heart for the veins so I could add the stitch detail. Which is just small jump rings pushed into the clay before baking. You know the drill after baking and cooling I add the glaze. :)

I will be continuing this Blog soon as I'm currently in the middle of making more Halloween jewellery. So keep those eyes peeled and keep it spooky children of the night!! 

Coffins With A Twist.

Coffins. Usually in design quite strait forward,  the typical coffin shape with R.I.P written on it. I sometimes make little items of jewellery like this but I tend to make more decorated coffins, something outside the norm (even for a coffin). When making coffins I focus more on the shape and what I can incorporate on to it, like roses, skulls, swirls, bats, sparkly glass crystals, and much more. The design of a coffin shape for me to cut free hand on the polymer clay is rather difficult because it's such a simple shape that the mistakes I make (before I get it right!) are quite a lot. So I drew up some templates so I could just cut out the shape from polymer clay without mistake after mistake.

I also use a polymer clay conditioning machine to, well condition the clay!. After I've conditioned it and have the thickness I desire I set about cutting out the coffin shape. When the basic shape is done I start thinking about what I could put on to the coffin. I put a very simple rose and leafs on a coffin I made yesterday, I also rolled out some small bits of polymer clay into long strips. Once they where rolled out I carefully made swirl designs on the surface of the pendant, I also made an oval shape from some effects polymer clay and put a Czech drop bead in the centre of the effects polymer clay (pearl white clay). I then baked the coffin and put a very thin glaze over it ready for the resin glaze I will put on it later on in the month. I also made coffin earrings which are made in the

same basic way the pendant was made, except that I mixed red and black clay along with blue and green on the other set of earrings to give a marbled effect

On another note I made a skull with some sparkly glass crystals into the forehead of the skull, I also set some in to the eyes for effect.

People often ask are skulls easy to make?. Well what's your definition of easy?. So I'll answer that question this way, baby skulls are very easy to make, baby skulls just refer to cute skulls, you may see them in cute Gothic jewellery. Often worn by lolita Goths or perky Goths. You can see my version of baby skulls on my blog about skulls. They are the cute ones with either flowers or swirls or maybe even both!. The more realistic skulls. Well they are much harder to make, but once you master them they become easier. Don't let making a skull that has gone wrong or looks a bit off deter you. We all make mistakes in the beginning  On one note I will say don't make them to rigid or without character. The skulls I make don't tend to be to realistic even though I can make realistic looking skulls. I personally love that bit of fun and it being slightly quirky and different. If your having trouble making skulls just by looking at a picture, I would suggest you find out if someone in your area is a jewellery artist and works with polymer clay. It's always easier to watch how someone else makes something as it gives you some new skills. Which can be invaluable.  Also ask what styles they can do as most people who work with polymer clay don't always make Gothic jewellery. A Gothic jewellery artist is hard to find especially in rural areas or small towns/city's. So those in the highlands of Scotland know they have one nearly on their door step hehe!.  

I hope you guys and gals enjoyed reading this as I enjoyed talking about what I love. 

KEEP IT SPOOKY CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT!!