Polymer clay roses and crystal balls

In the spirit of acquiring as many jewellery skills as possible, I have found myself experimenting some more last week, this time with polymer clay and with the making of crystal balls.

Knowing how to work with polymer clay has multiple advantages. Firstly, you can make really beautiful things out of polymer clay, from millefiori beads to roses, the possibilities are endless. It's a really versatile material, really easy to work with and you only need 30 minutes in a low temperature oven to harden it. Add a layer of varnish for a glossy finish and hey presto, you've made something gorgeous! Secondly, polymer clay is really cheap and makes a good practice run for those things one would like to make out of silver clay, which is obviously more costly! 

For my first experiment, I have tried my hands at making polymer clay roses. It's actually a lot simpler than one would think: all you need is a number of pea size balls of polymer clay in the colour (or colour mix) of your choice. You then flatten the balls into little discs (they don't have to be perfect, in fact, the more irregular, the more natural the rose will look) and then you start rolling the discs around one another, curling the top edge for a more natural look. Once the rose is the size you want it to be, cut off the excess clay at the bottom, make a hole with a toothpick for threading and voilà, your rose is ready to bake! 

I made two attempts, the first one is the darker one, the second, the lighter one. Once they were baked and varnished, I threaded them onto a wire ring shank to see how that would look. It doesn't show on the picture but the darker one has too much clay left at the bottom so it sticks out a little too high for a ring. But the second one looks quite convincing and with its lovely nude colour, it's very much on trend!

My only regret with both roses is that you can see the imprint of my fingerprints on the petals. I'd hoped it would become less visible once they were baked and varnished but not so. Next time I think I'll put latex gloves on to see if that reduces the marks.

Whilst researching polymer clay, I came across a tutorial on how to make a crystal ball pendant. So there was my second experiment for the week! I had some Swarovski bicones lying around that I hadn't put to good use yet so I figured, why not? I made one ball in each of the colours I had available and yes, you guessed it, I threaded one onto a wire ring shank to see how that would look! I love the result, it makes a great cocktail ring and I'll definitely be making a load of them to go in my Christmas market stall box. 

Happy birthday Miss Marple!

My beloved "kitten" is 13 years old today.  She's been my most trusted companion for all this time, even making the big move with me from Brussels to London some 8 years ago. She's no spring chicken but you'd be forgiven for forgetting she's quite a mature lady, she's still full of health and mischief!

Happy birthday Miss Marple!

Cocktail rings and more

Last week I went back to the London Jewellery School for an evening taster class in cocktail ring making. A couple of years back, I'd learnt how to make cluster rings using ring findings but I still wanted to do this class because it uses wire wrapping to create the ring shank.

There was a lovely bunch of ladies on the class that night and Helen Stay, our tutor, was brilliant! We all managed to make at least four rings in the course of the evening, so it definitely was a great use of our time! I would recommend this class to anyone who fancies making a bit of jewellery. Because they're so quick to make and the raw materials are relatively cheap, these type of rings will also make a great addition to my Christmas market stall project.

I had some opened clay left from my Metal Clay course and conscious that it might dry out and go to waste if I didn't make use of it soon, I decided to try my hand at making another ring, but all on my own this time.

I had a number of ideas in mind but eventually I settled on something pretty simple, an open ring with some artificial rubies set in the open ends. Basically, I just made a sausage, wrapped it around a ring mandrel and then set a couple of stones in the ends.

Because of the shape of the ring, smoothing the clay once it was dry was the hardest part, I was so scared of breaking it! I then fired the ring with a little butane torch, and in the process found out my oven timer doesn't do seconds so I made a mental note of buying a digital timer for next time.

Once the ring was cool, I burnished then polished it (again no mean feat with that shape!) et voilà! My first metal clay ring made all on my own! Ok, it's not as perfect as I would have liked but hey, it's mine and it's a first!

Happy Beltane!

Usually at this time of year, my husband and I would be in Glastonbury to celebrate my favourite festival, Beltane. We'd be staying at the lovely Chestnut B&B and eat and catch up with our friends at the Hawthorns. We would have been celebrating, chanting and jumping the fire at the Goddess Temple last night and gotten up at the crack of dawn this morning for some more chanting and dancing around the fire at the Chalice Well. All the Beltane merriments never fail to put a smile on my face for at least a week!

But this year is different, my beloved's work commitments came in the way so I am spending Beltane in London on my own (trust me, hubby will have a lot of making up to do for this one!). I think I'll make the most of the gorgeous weather and spend time in the garden or even walk to the park, I will try to connect with her through the land and the trees around me and let her speak to me. And all through the day, this chant will be accompanying me like a mantra:

"I am the goddess

I am the mother

All acts of love and pleasure

Are my rituals"

Happy Beltane everyone!