Component of the month at Art Jewelry Elements - "Out of time" Necklace

I love the blog Art Jewelry Elements and follow it for... let's just say a long time now ;) They have a components of the month challenge where one of the blog team creates a jewelry element and send it to all the others to create something with it.

They also give some components away for the readers with just the one condition: To create something with it and show it at the end of the month. I took quite often part in the giveaway but until now never was lucky. Until now....!

I got a beautiful ceramic pendant made by Lesley Watt from THEA jewellery (you'll find her shop here and her blog here).

It seems that I favor this simple style at the moment. It is not simple in itself, not with the broad variety of beads and materials as well as the rustic and organic appearance. But there is a clear colour scheme that brings all the different materials together as well as a clear size gradient.

You'll find new and vintage czech glass beads, glass beads and chain from old jewelry, some glass beads I found in Barcelona and of course handmade art beads! Maybe you can find sea glass and uglie weenies from Julie Wong Sontag from uglibeads or the crusty little spacer bead from Kimberly Rogers from Numinosity beads? In between there are also bead(s) from Julia Hay, Sue Reynolds and Maryse Fritzsch-Thillens.

Yes, I can tell you the story of every tiny bead in this necklace! They all go together so well with Lesleys stunning ammonite pendant (organic, ammonite, greenish... she definitely made this one just for me! :)).

And now go, please have a look at the other participants and their creations:

Guests

Sandi Volpe

Claire Fabian (yes, me... you are here right now! ^^)

Alison Herrington

AJE team

Lesley Watt

Caroline Dewison

Niky Sayers

Susan Kennedy

Jen Cameron

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Lindsay Starr

 

Scarabs, bird skulls, beads and more

Since we were on Formentera for holiday I got into my mind that I want to create some scarabs. These are the first two finished ones! I have some more waiting to be glazed as well as waiting that I have time to start a new firing (will not be before next week *sniff*).

They turned out in all these lovely hues of blue and turquoise with a hint of green! I need to make more and also have to play with glaze and colour effects! I actually used underglazes like washes comparable with polymer clay and acrylic paint. 

You can see it maybe a little bit better at the backside It enhances the colours of the transparent glazes on top!

A lot of pendants. On some of them the glaze dropped more than I wanted to (I like a little dropping). But the kiln had started and stopped in the middle. The glaze just started to melt down. The kiln was started again but it had an effect on some pieces. Some glazes also reacted strangely... 

I played around mostly with "bottle green" but had to include "orient blue" as well. 

You can see the difference better at the backside.

Of course I also had to try to make a bird skull like I made so often with polymer clay. Love him! What else can I say? It is a different effect from polymer clay. I will definitely make more from ceramic clay as well as from polymer clay since both materials create different and unique effects. But I was honestly surprised how much easier it was to create the skull from ceramic clay compared to polymer clay.

The skull is just really, really difficult to capture with the camera!

Some more favorites (yes, I have also non favorites... but in the end it divides in "love it!" to "love it not" ^^). I like the organic shape reminding me of either sea shells or flower petals.

 I also love how this tiny leaf tuned out that had a kind of frame around. I used a polymer clay mold I made years ago.

Using the "hand ruler" you can see that is rather on the small side.

Now to the ones that went wrong. *sighs* Yes, the upper two also have a beautiful side shown in the image above. But the glaze dropped a little bit too much. The same amount like the last time but I think it behaved different due to the kiln problems. 

Maybe the same reason there was a piece gone from one of the beads.Only problem is: All of the broken ones were so beautiful on the other side.

But all in all: I am happy! Off to the next round! ;)

"Age-old ocean" - Earrings

I really thought I already showed these earrings on my blog a long time ago. Seems that I was wrong. Unbelievable if I think how much I love them! ;)

They are actually quite simple: Some of my own polymer clay beads combined with some numi-sticks made by Kimberly Rogers and oxidized copper wire...

...but their look isn't simple. They look old and crusty, fossils dug out from deep inside the earth, remembrances of oceans long gone...doesn't the enamel on the numi-sticks look like sea-shells and barnacles?

I am sorry that it took me so long to show them finally... because they have a beautiful story to tell :)

Yes, they are also in my shop finally! Here.

"Stories they tell" - Earrings made out of ancient and new beads

A lot of "firsts" in this earring pair. They were a birthday present for a very close friend.

Do you see the bronze charms? This are my first ever made pieces out of bronze clay! I used one that I could fire (at least small pieces) with a torch. Okay, it takes some patience to torch bronze (7 to 9 minutes after the heated stage and believe me, the time is necessary... lost some pieces afterwards using less time).. but honestly, the silver clay is just way too expensive for me for playing and experimenting. The gold and silver market value is increasing in a crazy way since 2005. That is not real value anymore, just speculators...

Back to the topic: I already had two molds made (I use them for polymer clay usually). One with an ammonite and on with a tiny shell that I found on formentera (so this one is really personal to me). After torch firing (under non-reducing conditions because hey, there is a lot of free oxygen in the surrounding air) I got a lot of firescale and the copper in the bronze is sitting on top. I removed a lot but am still learning about the effetcs. Some of them could also be beautiful. 

I used liver of sulphur for oxidizing and polished the raised surfaces again. Afterwards I sealed it with renaissance wax (also a first for me, just bought it with the metal clay!). 

And the backside with my tiny signature: One time stamped, one time scratched. The backside is also more bronze than copper coloured because I fired it on a charcoal block so at this area there is a reducing surrounding. I already tried to put the top down but this provides other problems.

I really love how they turned out! I combined them with czech glass beads (the blue and the clear facetted beads) from The Curious Bead Shop and some really, really old glass beads.

This was the next first for me because I was anxious to use these tiny glass treasures. The glass beads on top in the different shades of green are old roman glass shaped as bicones found in Afghanistan / Pakistan (age: 1st century B.C. - 1st century A.D.) and the grey and mottled beads are about 600 years old excavation beads from Dejenne, Mali, africa. I bought them from the ethnic bead shop. 

Yes, most people would never notice but for me there is something magical in holding beads in my hand that are centuries old or even older. They were made and touched by people long gone, you can see the time in the worn look. Still, they survived the time like only glass can and now they are telling a story combined together with old and new in these earrings.

My found objects like the shell from formentera (the island that is so important for me), my first experiments made with bronze clay combined with all the curiosity and excitement, the perfect facetted glass beads made in czech after a long tradition, the old roman glass travelled up so far and the trade beads part of everyday life hundreds of years ago. Some of the beads just went through my own hands while others may have gone through so many hands.

"Treasure box" - For all your memories (polymer clay)

This was a wedding present I made. I already put some shells, sea glass and other findings inside but the idea was rather that this would be a tiny box where they could collect some treasures they find on their way.

I covered an old candy box with polymer clay and painted it with acrylic paints (Reeves) as well as Inka Gold paints (Viva). Especially with the Inka Gold you have to carefully seal the surface because the paints are not water resistant. But they have a beautiful metallic shimmer!

And the backside :)

Crafting session - All the beads...!

About a week ago we had another crafting session (another one sounds good since I didn't even show you the results from the one before ^^). This time it was using all the beads to create some jewelery. The session before we made beads with polymer clay. The group was mixed with beginners to people like me creating stuff for quite a while now. Two of us brought their stash and stuff with them (a friend of mine, the one with all the beaded jewelery, brought so man findings, swaroswkis, seed beads, stones with her... and I brought my polymer clay beads, czech glass beads and other kinds of glass and metal beads...).

I really love the earrings above! (made by my friend who also brought her stash ^^) Long and dangling with a vintage vibe...

The necklace was called "Fundstücke". The person creating it wire wrapped beads for the first time. She did really well... and complained also a lot about it ;)

Can you count all my polymer clay beads used?

I also really like how she used the chain to attach the little polymer clay ammonites.

@Michelle: Do you recognize the beads? The same person creating the necklace above also made these earrings and the bracelet with grey cotton thread. Yellow still is a difficult colour for me, so I was surprised how well it went with the grey thread!

...and more ammonite earrings :)

Made by the same person like the first earrings shown (you see a clear colour scheme? ^^)

...and the following four earring pairs are made by me. The first two also with some of my polymer clay beads...

...and no, I still have a big stash of beads...

I already used this style for earrings in the past and it also won't be the last time :)

All of the next pieces are also made from one person, her first jewelery made by herself...

...and yes, we spread the addiction!

The backside of the pendant (again polymer clay).

I made these magenta beads already a long time ago and I am happy that they finally found a home!

Magenta/pink with purple and silver, always a perfect colour combination.

Have a closer look at the way she made the knotted necklace, something I have to remember for myself.

This was an experimental bead I also made a long time ago. I loved it but... it was not me. So it made me smile that it was used now!

I always enjoy getting together with friends to create "stuff" (polymer clay, sewing, jewelery... whatever!). I also enjoy teaching as well as learning... sadly it is always really difficult to find a fitting date. *sighs*