All about jewellery making

Here is today’s finished bead set, ‘Blackberry Sherbet’:

This was the first time I had used translucent polymer clay and I was very pleased with the glass like effect that it gave the beads.  I added a glaze after baking to give them a high gloss.  The coin beads are approx. 12 mm, their base is a blackberry colour with translucent clay patterns in it giving a marbly finish. 

The green and pink decoration is translucent clay that has been tinted.  The disc beads are made from the same mix.  I had some of these colours left over so I made two heart charms with it.  I think these would make lovely earrings:

Both the beads and the charms are for sale and can be found in the polymer clay section of my bead shop, Bead Tree.

Here is the result of my latest polymer clay adventure.  I have called it a ‘fantasy flower’ pendant. 

I started by making a skinner blend using raspberry and white, rolled it up into a bullseye plug and used it to created a spliced cane.  This was enveloped in a layer of black clay which helped to give the final design a stained glass effect.  This technique is described by Donna Kato in her flower pendant tutorial.  Following the instructions in the tutorial the cane was reduced to several different sizes so that it could be sliced and applied to a layer of clay using the ‘component caning’ technique.  Once I was happy with the design I cut out the pendant having first laid the decorative layer of clay onto a piece of thick black polymer clay.  Sculptural detail was then added to the centre of the flower prior to baking.  I was pleased with the result, despite following a tutorial I ended up with a pendant that looked quite different and very ‘me’.  After baking I applied a shiny glaze.

This ‘fantasy flower’ pendant is for sale in my shop, Bead Tree.

Here is my latest bead set:

They are rondelles of approx. 18 x 12mm with white bead caps.  The pattern was created from a geometric gingham cane.  The colour made me think of strawberries and cream, hence the name.  Overall I think they are quite summery.  After baking I dipped them in glaze to give them a gloss.

I usually prefer blues, greens and purples for my beads but the more I look at these the more I like the colour.  Red without being too red if you know what I mean!

I have added them to the polymer clay art beads section in my shop, Bead Tree.  Already thinking about what I am going to make next, especially since I had a delivery of polymer clay arrive today!

Yesterday I finished my first polymer clay swirly lentils.  I was pleased with how they turned out and have uploaded them to my shop at £3.50 each.  Initially I made a cane which I used to cover the clay which formed the main part of the bead.  The original cane looked like this:

Unfortunately the central jellyroll is not very clear in this picture.  It is made from pale blue and white clay.

I found this cane to create very effective patterns with the swirling process. 

Here are the lentils that I made:

After they came out from the oven I sanded them by hand to even up the shape before coating them with a glossy glaze for extra shine.  I know some people prefer the matt effect of the polymer clay but I personally prefer the shine.

I pierced the central hole through the beads before baking. I found the easiest and most reliable way was to mentally draw a line across the pendant and push a needle in half way from one side following the imaginary line.  I then took the needle out and pushed in from the other side.  You have to be a bit careful but with patience the hole meets in the middle.

As I had some of the cane left I additionally made a small rectangular pendant with a hole at the top.  I laid slices of the cane on a piece of backing claying and gently rolled them out so that the edges bonded before cutting out the rectangular shape.  After baking I sanded the edges and rounded the corners slightly before the glaze.

Since posting my jump ring jewellery set I thought I would write a tutorial for making jump rings.  This is a very simple method.

Jump rings are really quite easy to make using a knitting needle as a mandrel to shape them.  Knitting needles are particularly useful for this purpose as you can control the diameter of the finished jump ring accurately.  By making your own jump rings you can therefore have a wide variety of sizes available when you need them.  For larger jump rings I would advise using 18 gauge wire and for the smaller jump rings 20 gauge wire.

In order to ensure that you get an even result it is important that you push the wire around the knitting needle with your thumb putting the greatest pressure on the wire closest to the needle itself.  In other words do not try to hold the end of the wire and wind it around the knitting needle as this will produce uneven jump rings.  Please see the diagram below:

When you have reached the desired length of joined jump rings remove them from the knitting needle.  Then using wire cutters (I prefer top cutters) snip through each jump ring to separate them.

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