Texture and Sculpting

I wrote about using two models to show off my jewellery in a different light and how the jewellery would look on someone. However  I've had to postpone it for a little while. 

In the mean time though here are some new pendants that I have made this week :) I've been experimenting with colour and textures. Also I've been playing around with colour pigments. I've made an antique looking pendant that you can see below. That was the pendant I was experimenting the most with. So I was playing around with colours like copper, bronze, gold, green and black. With each photograph I have put up I'll write a little bit on how I made them and techniques. 

Antique Pendant.

Now I'm not quite sure what this pendant would be classed as, it has a certain kind of Victorian fantasy feel to it. Anyway call it what you want, all I know it is one of the most unique things I've made :) It's made from polymer clay, come on it's me you knew that was coming. Polymer clay is one of my favourite things to work with, apart from silver clay and resin :) To make this pendant I just made a basic cylinder shape, I then rolled out some polymer clay strips to make the swirls. Be aware of your finger prints when working with polymer clay. So make sure if you do have a finger print on your jewellery smooth it away as best as you can. Patterns can be easily transferred onto polymer clay without a lot of pressure. However don't go in there heavy handed and put your full force on the polymer clay when transferring a pattern, or you'll be picking bits of polymer clay out of your stamps or texture sheet. Always use texture sheets or stamps that are deep in their detail. Even though polymer clay does pick up a pattern well, some very fine detailed/shallow patterns or texture sheets/stamps won't show up as well as you might think. The texture on my pendant was used by a stylus ball tool, I just gently perforated the surface. I'm looking at the photograph of this pendant and still wondering what kind of gemstone is that? I think it could be green Aventurine but I'm not one hundred percent sure.  I know what your thinking "Raven you made it surely you know what kind of gemstone it is!" No I don't because I was given a box of beads from a friend who said "Do you want these, I'm sure you can do something with them" So... yea I took them. I wrapped the gemstone in silver plated wire and attached it to the polymer clay. After I had baked the polymer clay and let it cool down and Voila! 

Skull and swirl Pendant

I usually draw and plan out my jewellery, this pendant wasn't actually planned out. I was just sitting at my work shop just mindlessly playing around with the clay. Waiting for an idea to pop in to my head, ah.., the irony!  Even though I was just messing about with the polymer clay, this pendant did give me the idea for the pendant below :)

Skulls And Rose Pendant 

I can't help but think the skulls I sculpted for this pendant look rather sad, I know what you must be thinking "how the hell can a skull look sad? its a skull!" but compared to the skull above admit it they kinda do. As you can see I've used a texture sheet to give a more diverse look and feel to the pendant. These two cute skulls were hand sculpted, I don't tend to use jewellery moulds when working with polymer clay (Please note that jewellery moulds are different from texture sheets and stamps) I prefer to hand sculpt things like skulls. Polymer clay roses and leafs are easy enough to make. I will say be rather careful when making such delicate decorations for your jewellery. As the polymer clay can rip, crack or become bunched up. For the blue and purple swirls I used the same technique as I did for the antique pendant above. Also while the polymer clay was still soft I inserted a handmade bail. The bail is made from silver plated wire. Yes you can cook polymer clay with a metal bail inserted. Be cautious of the hot metal, do not pick up the hot polymer clay just leave it near an open window to cool.

Spider Web Gothic Choker Pendant

Again I used a pattern on the pendant as you can see. The spider and web charm I bought from a craft shop about two years ago, but because it didn't have a bail I didn't use it. It was only last week I came across it and decided I'd use it with the polymer clay. As you can see the rim of the pendant looks rather interesting. I achieved this by rolling out two strips of polymer clay and then began twist them together carefully. To get that knotted look. Again I have made decorative roses and black vines to decorate the top of the pendant. The bail at the top was bought at a wee craft store. I think the bail goes well with this type of pendant as it is very ornate. If you do wish to put a bail on to your polymer clay do it while the clay is still soft, but be careful not to ruin your pendant. 

Old Versus New Bat Pendant.

I had made this bat pendant over two years ago. I was looking at it one day and thought to myself, how would it look if I remade it. I have altered a few things on the pendant. De-cluttering and opening up the design was one thing I did. The bat is also a different shape, it's much more streamline. I did make swirls on the older pendant but from the front you can only see a slight hint of the purple swirls.

An amateur mistake that I made. On the old pendant you can see a wonky tombstone and some  questionable clouds covering part of the moon. On the new pendant I left out the tombstone and clouds. I did however add a single black rose with some magenta swirls. I also did the same knotted outline that I did on the spider web pendant. I also dusted the pendant with some glitter then glazed it. It's always good to remake some of your jewellery as it shows you how far you have come. It doesn't happen over night though. If you make something now keep it, then about a year later remake it and then you will see the difference :)   

Smiling Skull Pendant

I love making these kind of pendants, simple yet effective. A lot of people seem to like this type of pendant. Especially fans of a certain film ;)  I've seen other jewellery artist make similar earrings and pendants to this, the similar thing being the skull. I thought I would just show this one off because I like many others just think it looks rather cool. As you can see I've use some of the same techniques I've used in my other jewellery.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this, I had more time to write this one. 

Keep It Spooky Children Of The Night!