Monday, December 17, 2007

PENDANT 101

Many have asked me to show how I made my pendant. Hidden Magic or what ever you want to call it, here's how.




I was using Barbara McGuire's rubber stamp sheet as usual. I always get the best result because the stamp has deep groove, perfect for this technique.
I hope it is clear and easy enough for you to try and make your own.
I will finish the necklace and will post on my other blog www.silastones.blogspot.com
Enjoy.

Now the question about the copper mesh sheet. My pendant is quite big and flat, sometime i can bend it after baking so I was afraid that it might snap. (Bend& Snap; you get it, right) So I put the copper mesh in between as a reinforcement for the pendant. Any thin mesh sheet will do. I just have copper mesh . Also the Fun wire is good for reinforce the part that sticking out or a loop. Fun wire is the flexible wire covered with plastic, so it bake right into the clay.

Another mistakes that I made were sometime, after covered the color sheet with black clay, I cannot tell which side was the front side , or with the round pendant, I cannot tell which way the skinner blend was going. A small mark on the black clay would not hurt.

Instead of Skinner blend sheet, you can put layers of clay instead, so you will get Mokume gane effect on your pendant. Look up our French clayers, they have different way to play with this technique. And you, yes you, don't be afraid to try something new, something different and don't forget to share. :)

One more thing. Before you start shaving the raised parts, let the pendant sit for a while after stamping. It will be easier to cut if you let the clay firm up a bit, or put it in the fridge for a while if you cannot wait that long. I kept my studio cool, because, as a woman with Menopause, I always feel warm and I have cold hand (with warm heart, of course).

The Skinner blend sheet has been through the Pasta machine at the thickest setting. My PM thickest might be thicker than most. I am using Imperia PM, that's why put 2 sheets together to make sure I have enough clay to shave off. Run Black and White sheet seperately through the thinnest setting, then put them together and run back through PM again. Depend on what kind of PM you are using, you might try to run them through the secon thinnest setting.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi!
just stopping by to say i don't understand why you put copper"fabric" (i'm not sure it's not written) ???? ;-)))
see you soon
and thanks!

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for sharing with us, the final result is impressive and very nice ( as usual !)
Kisses
Cécilia

. said...

Hi! Eva is back!
you're so kind!
thanks a lot it's a nice tip!!
i use a lot of fun wire, and i saw the post on PCD about Camilla Young, she uses it so much too!
she doesn't bake lumina, i bake it in fimo and he doesn't change at all, it's a great thing!
i use to put brass wire as a reinforcement, now i will do it with fun wire as much as i can! ;-)
see you soon!

Marylo said...

I just discover your blog and I must say that it is a revelation!!!

What clever tutorial you propose us to try.

A thousand thank you and a huge hug to you my friend!

Lots of Love from France
Marylo, la Rêveuse (the "Dreamer")

Anonymous said...

Ponsawan, your tutes are wonderful!!! Great site!

Anonymous said...

Great tutorials, can't wait to try my hand at these. Thanks for sharing!

Vim

Ruth Tarragano said...

Great tut! (and I feel the same with the menopouse...)

(:

giogiart said...

wow, your works are very beautiful!!!

Momto5 RachelJoy Photography said...

totally found this blog fascinating!! what a fun craft. cant wait to get started....

Anonymous said...

Are the small blue cut peices made of clay as well cut to match shaved raised peices? Thank you

Silastones said...

Not sure what blue you are talking about, but all the big beads are made with clay. The tiny blue beads are seed beads.

eebeads.com said...

Wow...that was TOO fun to watch. I was like "why is she covering it with black?" and then bam! Out popped the color. Might have to try this. Thanks for sharing it!

Anonymous said...

I'm having trouble with my beads breaking after I bake them. Do you have any ideas of what I might be doing wrong?

Silastones said...

I think you either baked them too long or the oven was too hot. Clay will be brittle from that.
I tend to under-baked my beads, using less time.
The temperature inside regular toaster oven will spike up during baking too.
Any more question, please let me know.
Ponsawan

Julianochka said...

super!!it is great!!!!oh...but it dont realy for me.

Anabela Miranda said...

Thanks for sharing with us all that information.
See you soon
Until then... bye :)

gauci123 said...

HI, THANKS FOR SENDING ME YOUR BLOG IT IS REALLY INTERESTING WISH I WILL LEARN AS YOU KEEP IT UP GREAT WORK

Beadspired said...

Thanks for the inspiration! This is a lovely pendant.

I'll be back. The tutorials are great!

Mrvna said...

How thick does each layer have to be?

Johnnie said...

Once again, I linked you in my most recent blog post, cause this tutorial is so very cool. I varied it, but you inspired my idea. The post is here...
http://www.savedbylovecreations.com/2010/07/polymer-clay-day-56-circle-triangle_24.html

Thanks for the time you put into sharing your creativity. You have inspired me to post tutorials as well. Much appreciated! Blessings...

tickingcounterparts said...

I have tried this technique 50 billion times and I keep messing it up... I love it... but I just don't know what I"m doing wrong. :( I"m going to keep trying I guess ;(

Silastones said...

Dear tickingcounterpart
I am soory that you have so much problem with it. Please email me @ silastones@aol.com so we can talk some more. I can tell you more details or better instruction. After all, this is just an idea of how I made the pendant, not necessary the instruction of how to make a pendant.