Midnight Swirl Pendant

Hello there I hope you had a very happy new year! I know I did :)

 So new year new jewellery! I have been rather busy learning and perfecting new techniques. Some more difficult than others. Those who know me personally know that I tend to throw myself in at the deep end first, I've been reading a lot and experimenting with some of these techniques and I'm going to show some of the items I have made but in segmented blogs as there is too much for just one blog!

Midnight Swirl Pendant.

These pendants where made by blending midnight blue and purple polymer clay together. After I got a marbled effect from blending the polymer clay.  I used a flat piece of plastic used it to create the wave pattern you can see in the middle. For me it can be quite frustrating as my coordination isn't that good, so I have to start again, but arthritis and bad coordination has never

Midnight swirl pendants the ribbon
wasn't added yet

stopped me :)  (That may make me sound older than I actually am, I'm near thirty years old that's all I'm saying :P ) 

When I started to see the wave like pattern form I then used the plastic to flatten the surface, I then proceeded to form the polymer clay in to different pendant shapes, round, oval, rectangle and square. Once I had the desired shapes I then handmade some bales (the silver loops at the top) and popped them in to the polymer clay.

 The bales will stay in place as the polymer clay hardens in the oven, so no need for glue. I then horsed them in to the oven to cure. When I looked at these I thought that a necklace chain would make the vibrant pendants look cold, so I opted for some colourful ribbons instead to keep that warmth about them. I'm actually starting to look for more diverse ways to make a necklace stand out. I just used chain before and looking back I can see how it made some of my more colourful jewellery look rather cold and uninviting. I'm not at all saying I dislike silver chain but it can make jewellery look cold especially if the jewellery is very unique and colourful. 

When I first started making jewellery I though to myself a chain will be fine, but even then I knew something about it just didn't look right. It's only as I got more experienced in jewellery making my eye for detail became more attuned to what I was making and how I was making it. If I had any advise for young jewellery artists I would say look at your jewellery carefully and look around fabric shops as you can make your own necklace chord from strips of fabric, as I myself am starting to make my own necklace chords instead of relying on jewellery chain. 

Chain can look lovely of course but with the right chain coupled with the right pendant, as there is a huge variety of chains out there, some look good with some jewellery some look...., um questionable. Trust me I learnt the hard way!  Oh dear I seem to have went on a bit of a tangent there! :) I would have put more pictures of the jewellery up but my camera decided to be a pain in the butt so new year new camera.  Anyway I shall cut it there and shall talk about the other techniques in the next blog. 

Keep It Spooky Children Of The Night :)