Faux Knits in the Missoni style

My friend Carolyn Good, who is about the most creative and prolific clayer I know, and I have both been working with faux knits in the Missoni style.  We got the technique from Judy Belcher's excellent tutorial on CraftArtEdu.  I've been making pendants and bracelets, and they have been quite popular at the knitting shows I've done over the last year.

 

 However, when I saw Carolyn's adorable faux
knit sock pins, I was inspired to make a little sweater pin. 

 

 You can see Carolyn's work on Artfire, Etsy and on her blog.

Faux jade, Week 20 YOJ

This faux jade shawl pin is my entry for Week 20 of the Year of Jewelry project.  It's made with Premo clay since that brand of translucent is better than the Kato which is my clay of choice.  I tried Pardo clay, but it didn't like the texture sheet.  It tended to stick, even when using water as a release, and it didn't hold the design as sharply.

Primitives Collection

Here are the latest pieces in my Primitives collection, faux stone and copper, inspired by cave drawings and petroglyphs.  The drawings are hand carved after the clay has been baked and then antiqued.

Is this better?

I took the photo of my pendant into Photoshop and flipped the dancer so she is facing the other direction.  I think is better.  It seems to have a better rhythm.

Ancient Dancer

I have been away from clay for quite awhile, first because I was ill with some nasty flu-like virus that wouldn't go away and then because I had to rush off to Florida to find an assisted living home for my father.  That took most of May, but now I'm back home and eager to spend time in the studio.

An image for a pendant popped into my head one day and I managed to create it in clay.  Now I can't decide if I like it.   It is an image transfer on an inner layer covered by faux sandstone.  The window is supposed to look like it was chiseled out of the stone.   Please tell me what you think.

Faux Metal Necklace

I'm working on a line of jewelry (jewellery for Canadians and others) featuring distressed faux metal and other ancient-looking materials like faux stone and ivory.  I was planning to call it "Relics" but an artist recently featured on Polymer Clay Daily is already using that name so I'm searching for another title.  Here is a prototype for a necklace - the top layer of "copper" is peeled back to reveal woven strips of faux silver and brass.  The copper chain is real but everything else including the screws is clay. 

More Biker Chic - Woven Faux Leather

I fell in love with these woven leather shoes and decided I needed some tough, biker-style earrings to go with them.  The earrings are all clay including the studs.  They are about one and a half inches in diameter.  I need to find a big, rusty chain to hang them from next time I photograph them.

The inspiration, and yes, I do wear them.

It took a long time to lay out the woven strips just right so that I could cut out a circle and not have any gaps in the outside edge.

Biker Chic - Faux Leather

I don't really want to be a biker - I just like the outfits.  Studs on leather is the big thing this year, so I decided to make my own version.  Everything here is polymer clay, the "leather" and the "studs."  I know, I'm a little compulsive.  Making and attaching all those little studs was time consuming.  The post earrings look big here but they are only one and a half inches in diameter, so you can imagine how small those little studs must be - just over 1/16th of an inch!!  The bracelet, which is formed over an aluminum blank,  is one and one-eighth inches across.  It even has faux stitching.