Wild Flowers

Every so often I like to step out of my comfort zone and try something new... expand on old ideas and see just how far I can reach. So after painting and working with subtle tones since the end of last year, I decided to change direction last week... for a little while. And here's what I came up with:

Brighter colors, (for me anyway!) in a bolder, chunkier design. The necklace is 18 inches long with a 4 inch extender. Each bead is about 20 mm across and 7-8 mm thick. The detail on the beads reminds me of flowers. Asters, I think. Some said they look more like sliced fruit!

Each of the beads were stamped front and back with a new texture stamp I created. I experimented with different ways of adding a patina to enhance the detail, but in the end I just went with the "natural" clay look with a little antique gold on one of the beads. My favorite part was doing the wire work. I like how it added a rustic look to the bold flower beads.

It ends up this set coordinates perfectly with one of my favorite tops... so it's definitely a keeper! But I'll certainly be making more of these in various other colors - both bright and subtle...

More Jewelry For Lazy Daze!

New Dragon and Phoenix Pendants Finished!

Four finished pendants cast in both faux bone and faux pewter:
They each measure approximately 73 x 37mm.


The dragon in bone.

And the back showing the bail. I work these designs by first casting the dragon or phoenix and contouring it a bit (the bail fits better...and it just looks better that way). Then I cure it for about a half hour in the oven. Next I add a thin layer of clay to the back, smoothing it along the sides and adding texture (my fingerprints!). I place the bail and bake it one more time. And finally, I paint the entire surface thickly in Galleria artists acrylics and quickly wipe it off leaving a nice patina in the detail.

The phoenix in bone.

And here's pewter - I just started using this mix this week. I'd been wanting to get a pewter effect for a while and I was surprised at how well it turned out...You'd never know seeing the clay before the patina! Sometime I'll have to remember to get photos before adding it.

I did the bail the same on the pewter.


The phoenix in pewter.

Heart of the Forest Necklace

The first of my new stamped necklaces is finished! I used a jade green clay mixture and added a bit of red for the heart. I also made a texture sheet so I could make matching beads. To make the beads I first baked a core bead a little smaller in diameter than I wanted the final bead to be, then I wrapped the core in a thin layer (4 on my atlas) of clay. I rolled each wrapped core over my texture sheet. All the beads and the pendant were lightly polished and given a wash of burnt umber to enhance the detail.

Two more new stamps just came out of the oven - I'm off to try them out!

New Earrings and Some Heart Magnets

Here are two pairs of my latest earrings...and 8 heart magnets done in the Hearts & Roses style.

I really like the way these trees turned out. I used a new technique, making two mirror image stamps and then stamping the baked stamp onto the earrings to get raised detail. And because I used stamps, I can repeat this design as many times as I want. I think I'll try out different colors and I'd also like to hang a small stone or bead in the hole.

These are my Aztec Gear earrings - a really simple swirly earring drop, spiced up with some Aztec gear looking beads.

And finally my new magnets.