An Orange Pendant to match my new clothes

I bought a few outfits recently in orange and/or blue colours, and decided to make a pendant to go with them. Blue has always been my favorite colour, but I don't wear orange very often. With Tangerine being the Pantone colour of the year, however, I'm seeing orange everywhere this season, and am liking it more and more. Anyhow, I've kept the design simple for everyday wear, and didn't string a necklace as I plan to wear it with chains of different lengths to suit the clothes. The main orange cabochon is cat's eye. The small blue "cab" below it is a translucent button - I didn't have a small cab in suitable colour, so I painted the back of a translucent button with acrylic paint, sealed it with DG3, and stuck a blue crystal at the front. I've included a couple of photos of me wearing it. Hope you like and thanks for looking.

On the Forest Floor

I've just returned home from an overseas holiday with my husband and parents. Time seems to pass by so quickly when one's having fun. Anyhow, thought I would show you a necklace I made a while ago for one of the challenges on the Australian Beading Forum, the theme of which was "On the Forest Floor". I made the large swirly lentil beads out of polymer clay, sanded them with successive grits of sandpapers, and buffed them with a felt wheel on a dremel-like tool. They're somewhat difficult to photograph because of their shiny surfaces. At one stage, I was really into making these beads. There's something very soothing and meditative about swirling and gently compressing a bead under an acrylic sheet, and watching it take shape. As a result, I have a little collection of such beads. Did an open beaded bezel around the central bead, and connected all the beads with more seed bead work. The colours of the lentil beads were supposed to reflect those on the floor of a woodland forest, somewhere in Europe maybe? And I can just imagine the song "Teddy Bears' Picnic" playing in the background. What do you think? Thanks for looking and again please click on the photos if you would like a larger view.

A few pendants I love to wear

I have to admit that, as much as I love making large elaborate pieces, I would very rarely wear them. The ones I wear often are smaller and simpler. These are a few of my favorites, all of which I made a few years ago. The first and third are dichroic glass cabochons which I set in silver clay. The cabs were from a very talented American glass artist Donna Cason. The second one is a cloisonne enamel piece which I made from a copper base, with a black onyx cab set with silver bezel wire. I think it looks rather Art deco. These pieces have traveled with me to many places. Interestingly, I've been asked many times if the blue cab in the last one was opal. Anyhow, as you can see in the photos, I do like strong colours. Hope you like them and thanks for looking. :)

Celina - A necklace inspired by my scrap fabrics treasure

My husband and I went to Hong Kong and China a couple of months ago for a holiday. While I was there, my best friend Celine took me to a tailor in Shenzhen, to have some clothes made. As she's a regular customer, I thought I would ask the tailor if I could have some scrap fabrics that he didn't want, and to my surprise, he gave me two big bags full of beautiful remnants! The pieces were only small, but their colours, patterns and textures were absolutely stunning. I came home feeling totally inspired. I picked a piece of lavender lace (the one in the top right hand corner of the last photo), teamed it with a resin coated polymer clay cabochon which I painted a little while ago, added some bits and pieces including a couple of fabric flowers and brass stampings from B'sue Boutiques, and turned it into a Gothic style necklace. The brass leaves and purple flower were coloured with acrylics and Gilders paste. I decided to name the piece Celina, after Celine who led me to this fabulous scrap fabrics treasure hunt. I'll no doubt make more pieces using them. The last picture shows a small sample of what I was given. Hope you like what I've done with the fabric, and again, please click on the photos if you'd like a larger view.

My Chinese New Year Necklace

Growing up in Hong Kong, I have very fond memories of Chinese New Year. Since our family migrated to Australia twenty odd years ago, I've only been back during Chinese New Year once, and that was the beginning of this year. We celebrated Chinese New Year's Eve with my best friend, her daughters and my cousin by going to the New Year's Night Markets. The place was absolutely chock-a-block full of people, and the vendors were selling all kinds of festive food, fresh flowers and knick-knacks. It was noisy, exciting and fun, and the air was full of the aroma of food I loved. Traditionally, during Chinese New Year, every household would have a Togetherness Tray in which various confectioneries and snacks would be placed, and visitors would be served tea together with the food. I bought one of those trays when I got married, but as you can see in the photos, it looks rather new as I have rarely used it. Chinese New Year is just not the same here in Sydney. Anyhow, I decided to make a necklace to celebrate all these sweet memories of Chinese New Year. The main cabs were made with polymer clay covered by washi paper and coated with resin. I also made the flower-shaped metal pendants with bronze clay, and set a couple of small cubic zirconium in them. The small side pendants with faux pearls are vintage buttons. The necklace is actually longer in real life; I tucked it up at the back for photo purpose. I plan to wear this to work here next year on Chinese New Year's Day, unless I am in Hong Kong again at that time, in which case I may wear it to watch the fireworks over Victoria Harbour..... Please click on the photos if you would like a larger view.

Gothic Bronze Clay and Amber Pendant

This is a piece I've been working on for a few weeks. I was in Krakow late last year, and bought some beautiful Baltic amber beads and cabochons. Have been wanting to use them in my creations for a while. Anyhow, got out my bronze clay which has been sitting in the fridge for a few months, and started playing with it. Then decided that I'd carve a stamp out of a carving block to texture the base of the superficial part of the pendant. The pendant was hand moulded with bronze clay and made in two parts, with bits of wire at the back of both pieces which I then used to wire them and the beads together and "sandwich" the beads in between. I used moulds to make the skull and beast head. The beast didn't have very obvious lower fangs originally, so I did a little "dental work" for him by sticking two rice-shaped pieces of clay to the lower part of the mouth, and filed, sanded and sharpened them to make the fangs. Also set a couple of olivine cubic zirconia into the pendant. and added a patina to the finished piece with liver of sulphur and Gilder's paste. Am really pleased with how it turns out. The beads in the pendant are amber and citrine, the drop is lemon quartz, and the necklace is made up of various beads including amber, Swarovski crystals and some cute little metal skull beads. The necklace is actually quite long - I had to tuck it up at the back of the bust for photo purposes. The pendant is also quite sparkly in real life because of those gorgeous faceted beads, the czs, and the high polish of parts of the bronze. I really LOVE working with bronze clay and have started on another couple more pieces, so, please watch this space!

Hope you like the piece and please click on the photos if you'd like a larger view.

A Mixed Media Gothic Pendant Necklace

Every now and then I would go through a phase when all I want to make are dark and Gothic pieces. Anyhow, this is one I just finished. The main pendant is again one of my resin coated cabochons, which I painted on a white polymer clay base using water colours, acrylics and a little Twinkling H2O, and added some collage elements. The little skulls and Gothic man face were made from black polymer clay and coloured with acrylics and Gilder's paste. The spider web shaped thingy and blue rose were raw brass stampings, similarly coloured with acrylics and Gilder's paste. Added some crystals, lace, beads and chains etc to make up the rest of the necklace. It was fun doing it and I'm quite pleased with how it turns out. I may even wear it to work one day with an all black outfit just to shock everyone, LOL! I have made another Gothic cab in a different colour scheme. Will turn it into a necklace when I have time. Please click on the photos if you'd like a larger view.