All about jewellery making

I really enjoyed making these little beach huts.  Living near Whitstable there is plenty of inspiration locally.  These were made using my own handmade mould - the initial beach hut was carefully sculpted out of the air-drying clay.  This was a delicate task as the resulting charms are only approx. 24 x 12 mm in size.  Once the prototype was dry I made a mould from a big lump of clay.  When using the mould I found that you have to be quite careful to not distort the shape too much and of course the painting is then done with a teeny-tiny brush!!I love beach huts - there is something about them that I find really appealing.  I think of them as colourful, tranquil, fun, relaxing, renewing and restful. I wanted to paint them in bright cheery colours and here is the result.  Enjoy!

P.S.  They are of course for sale in my bead shop, Bead Tree!

Heart charms… cupcake charms… lemon charms…
acorn charms… strawberry charms… 

Today I am posting some pictures of my latest clay work.  I have made various charms from air-drying clay which I have painted and coated with varnish.  They have been great fun to make and I am already planning my next designs.   As I am now building up my clay charms stock they have their own section in my shop - Handmade clay charms.  Prices range from £1.50 - £2.50 per charm.  There are so many ways they could be used:  earrings, charm bracelets, mobile phone charms, ipod charms, bag charms, single charm on a chain, zip pulls…

I have also made some kawaii characters.  These are not beads or charms, just cute really!  I think they would be nice fixed to a computer monitor, little ‘computer companions’ - or perhaps I am just a bit mad!!!!  Here they are:

Kawaii bunny… kawaii kitty… kawaii teddy…

All characters and designs copyright Clare Warner 2007 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info

Charms available to buy from
http://www.beadtree.co.uk

I designed this daisy bead bracelet to incorporate the polymer clay daisy beads that I made.  I thought I would share the instructions for the bracelet with you here.  You could use any other kind of flower beads or fancy lampwork beads but if you would like to use daisies like mine they are available from my shop - here.

Materials

3x daisy beads (available here)
Small amount of size 8/0 seed beads in pale green
Approx. 10g of size 11/0 seed beads.  I have used frosted white
1x beaded bead, large bead or alternative for clasp
Nymo thread
Beading needle

The first stage is to create the bracelet base or ’stem’.  This provides a sturdy basis onto which you can build your seed bead embellishment.  My bracelet is approximately 7.5 ins but you may wish to lengthen or shorten it accordingly.

Starting with your beaded bead or alternative clasp create the ’stem’ by threading your beads as follows - 18x 8/0 seed beads, 1 daisy bead, 5x 8/0 seed beads, 1x daisy bead, 5x 8/0 seed beads, 1x daisy bead, 18x 8/0 seed beads.  At the end of this sequence you need to make your fastening loop.  Make sure that it is big enough to go over your beaded bead or whatever fastening you have chosen.  Here I have used 21x 11/0 seed beads and have taken the thread back through the first and second 11/0 beads to complete the loop.  When you have done this fasten off securely.  You are now ready to add on the seed bead embellishments.

The ‘embellishments’ are really very simple as they are just loops of either 9 or 11 seed beads.  I found this easiest to achieve by adding them in 2 stages.

Taking a new thread bring your needle up between the first and second 8/0 beads.  Thread on 9x 11/0 seed beads, take your needle back through the first 11/0 added and then through the next 8/0 bead so that you are ready to add the next loop on the opposite side of the stem between beads 3 and 4.  This loop will have 11 beads instead of 9.  This alternation of the number of beads just provide a bit of variety.  Keep going like this until you reach the end of the bracelet.  Then go back the other way adding sets of 9 beads opposite the loops containing 11 and vice versa.  If you wish you could add even more loops.

Copyright 2007 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info
Not to be reproduced on any other website, in printed format or on a portable media device. May be printed for personal use but must not be used for commercial purposes.

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.