For those who love purple

This necklace with one large amethyst bead and many smaller ones has a variety of shades of purple along with gold-plated filigree beads and seed beads.

More items added to my Artfire Store

These unusually shaped stones are set in necklaces with handmade gold-filled wire bails on gold-filled chain.   They are available in my Artfire store.  See link on the right side of the blog.

Amethyst Necklace

Here is another necklace with interesting rough-cut stones.

Faux Raku

I've always loved Raku pottery in all its many varieties, but I'm particularly fond of this vase that I've owned for years.  I used it for inspiration in designing this Faux Raku necklace.

Faux Stone Necklaces

These unique polymer clay and sari silk necklaces make quite a statement. The gold crackle suggests seams of pyrite running through the stones which have hints of color. Although the faux stones look like they might be heavy, because they are made of polymer clay, they are actually quite light in weight. The stones are wired together with antiqued copper wire and the same wire is used to bind the ends of the beautifully colored sari silk. A handmade copper clasp or a lobster claw makes secure closures.

I was inspired by and credit must be given to Staci Louise Smith’s tutorial on Craftart.edu for the design ideas and technique for making the faux stones.  I love the fact that the sari silk comes from women’s cooperatives in India and Nepal - the scrap silk doesn’t end up in landfills and the women have a safe place to work and make a living.

Lapis Lazuli and Gold

I love Lapis especially the stones with lots of golden flecks of pyrite running through them.  I saw this fan of rough-cut stones and had to buy them, but then I had to figure out what to make with them.  My solution is this gorgeous necklace composed of the Lapis, blue Sodalite beads, gold-plated filigree beads and a gold-plated clasp.  I really like the rough cut because it emphasizes that these are STONES.

Finally populating my Artfire online shop

I've been lax about blogging and very lax about putting my products up for sale online.  That is changing as of today.  My shop is on Artfire which is an online marketplace similar to Etsy.  I've started out by listing a number of my Jackson Pollock inspired earrings.  You can see them all at
https://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/home/cynthiablanton

Crushed Velvet Technique

I've been playing with a polymer clay technique called Crushed Velvet.  It is a mica shift technique where you run the metallic clay through the pasta machine a bunch of times to line up all the mica particles, then you put the sheet of clay through the fettuccini cutter which slices it into little tiny strips.  Then you mush up the strips into a cane. You take a slice of the cane and turn it into a veneer and then make what you want.  You get a 3D effect even though you used only one color of clay.  I made some earrings and a couple of cabochons.  Fun and pretty.

More Pollock inspired earrings

I had another fun day in the studio - incense burning, big band music blaring and paint splattering.

My homage to Jackson Pollock

I've always liked Jackson Pollock's paintings, so I decided to emulate him in some of my own work. These post earrings are polymer clay with acrylic paint splashed on them.