Chatoyant Snail Rolls! Mica Shift Tricks, The Learning Curve!

 Chatoyant (cat eye like) snakes, notice the bar of light in the very center.

Creating what looks to be a really amazing way of making my work shine and reflective.
I was crazy about mica shift technique when I first tried it. I thought how easy is this, and how beautiful. I then started reading more on the subject and how one can achieve amazing results by playing with the mica particles after being shifted. I love to read on and learn as much as I can even before even trying it out, at least that's what I do now!

The necklace and beads I created with that first tiny cane.

Well today I decided I read enough, know enough and was curious enough to finally try something other then a mica shift or skinner blend and the two intermixed. I want that reflective quality one can achieve by learning how to add depth and texture, without executing a simple ghost image, or using a stamp to disrupt the mica particles then shaving the surface level. I want this reflective quality going all the way through, the entire piece from front to back and that is something I have not yet seen in my work. 

Triangle cabochons covered with the chatoyant snail slices.

I had created a skinner blend/mica shift/metallic cane, I was experimenting and I created this incredible cane, but instead of writing down what I did, and thinking about how to best utilize this miniature cane that was so small. I instead stared to slice it and make beads out of it, I was excited to see what was inside.

Chatoyant Gold Metallic/Translucent Snail Roll.

Only to learn later that I should have sliced it extremely thin, arranged it on a sheet of base clay and rolled it out in all directions to make a large patterned sheet .... then you can start to decorate with a whole sheet instead of tiny square pieces.

 Several Metallic Chatoyant Canes, two are skinner blend metallic colors.

 Sliced Chatoyant Rolls Placed On A Sheet of Metallic clay and is covering those tiny cabs.

I want to start my blog feature called "Learning Curve" where I discuss and share my experiments and learned techniques complete with the original creators techniques and the techniques I have developed to use it in my own way. I explore and look for way to be innovative even before start to create, and would love to share, encourage and inspire others to create with aspirations of being innovative. Does that sound like something you'd like to read? Please let me know with a comment and please feel free to post your links to similar work or findings, or just post questions. I will answer all! I will get a detailed bases for this section, as I want those who post links to be innovators or at the very least explorers using Polymer Clay. Artist and enthusiasts who are bending the the curve and want to share and explore other possibilities of innovation and creation.

Miniature Mask Exchange! Who wants to participate?

I read about a miniature mask exchange, where artists created miniature masks to collect other artists work. I have seen some amazing work from you all and believe this would be amazing inspiration and it would create a niche for us as a group and a great promotion tool.

The artists involved in this online exchange would create masks and send them to a "mask master" and that master, would send each artist one of the other artists mask. And she had collected hundreds of really cool ornate miniature masks and permanently affixed them to a turquoise felt covered piece of wood and it look amazing. I would love to start a miniature mask exchange, would anyone want to participate? Please let me know,  I will start it on my own and hope others want to participate.

I love the idea of collecting other PC artists work and this seems the best way to do it, and everyone benefits! And it can become for all involved a great collection of art, so what do you say?
As you can see I am already creating miniature masks, this is my very first attempt and I am letting happen organically. I think she is going to be my Paisley Goddess! She is not pretty, but she is the Princess nest in line to the throne! =) With that nose she could be a vaudeville sensation! 

To those interested in participating, leave a comment here and we will see if we can't get this started! This exchange would be open to Polymer Clay artists only, others will be open to all artists! One thing remains the same, they Must be within 6 inches total! Don't forget to comment and be included.

My line Origins... The beginning!

Was a flash in the pan, I was thinking about a new line and in my research I found that all areas had been tapped out. There are so many Jewelry designers out there, and so many great ideas it is getting harder and harder to come up with new ideas... ones that not have already been done.

Ideas that will catch on and hopefully become the next big thing, are not easy to come up with, and I am one who likes to come up with new uses for everyday components. It is part of my creation process, pushing and testing myself to create more with a toggle clasp then using it for it's original use. This allows me to imagine and put my creative mind to work, it is a simple yet really effective way of keeping my imagination working and sharp.

I find that my subconscious mind works better then me trying to make something happen, I leave it to my intuition to work it out or rather to do what I feel. In this way it is easy for me to continue with the more difficult task of figuring out the "mechanics" of the piece. I learned to concentrate more on the way a piece is going to lay on the body, and how it is going to behave when worn, rather then what colors it will be. Everything seems to work itself out from there.

I was not sure of anything when I started out in the early 90's creating jewelry... I just needed money and had all these crafts I knew how to do, from camp and from my mother. She owned a gift shop and we her children would make all the gifts.... Child free labor... they call it these days! =) I learned how to do just about everything, including knitting and embroidery... how embarrassing!  I mean she pushed us to finish product and stressed us out to do it!  But without that "guidance" I will call it... I would not have had the knowledge to create in the first place and would never had been able to turn my last US $300.00 into US $1,600.00 by creating beautiful necklaces and selling them at Magic Mountain... I sold every last one!

So needless to say I have learned to follow my intuition very early on and it always works for me.
So when I started to try to figure what direction to go, there were just to many visuals coming into my minds eye and was clouding my perception and making it difficult to come up with anything. So I listened to my intuition and decided to create a new beginning... Origins.... The Beginning!  And I am happy to say it is selling, I have sold 7 pieces from this line already and that is a great start for me, so I am happy and inspired!

This collection is my first break from creating with a structured technique, this collection is all about the very first pieces of personal adornment and what those pieces might have looked like. So it is interpretive on my part and the viewers part as well as they are pushed to ask, what is this... this new beginning. And do they look like they could have been created by our very first intelligent ancestors.
Do these pieces look like relics or authentic enough to pass??? You have to answer these questions, I will try my best to keep you guessing and waiting to see the next piece from my new line, Origins... The Beginning!

Silver from Fetish to Fashion! Index, Author's Note

I originally wanted to share this entire book with you all, it serves as visual inspiration and has sparked off so many different design choices and looks for me. With inspiration from original pieces of tribal and ethnic jewelry brings my mind to wonder and almost day dream of these fantastic Artisans working out their concepts design choices and components, that were usually native to their environment creating an original look from their surrounding found and crafted objects. 

However the process of scanning the pages is daunting and just hard to say the least. But there is such amazing amount of visual inspiration, that I am all giddy about sharing it, for those of you who can be inspired as I am by visual stimulation... and this is top notch visual stimulation. 

So I need some encouraging words from you, if you are interested in seeing and being inspired by these works of art then please say so. Let me know that this is something I need to share with all of you, and you would come back to read it to be inspired as i have been. This will encourage me to continue scanning each page... one by one, if I know that others are benefiting from this it will inspire me to share more and not simply forget about it! 

So come on let me know, I will however clean up the scanned pic's and make them as presentable as possible, as not to distort the pic's and text. I also will leave the files really large so you can click to enlarge and read. All this takes so much of my time, but if I do it as I am creating it becomes less of a taks and become more of an inspiration boost! Yea or Nea, either way leave me a comment and subscribe, if you don't want to miss a page!

 

 

  

Sophia Lauren models an Elsa Perretti, Cuff bracelet. 

Silver from Fetish to Fashion!

 Cover Photograph by Chance ye

Cover design by Orit Mardkha

Silver... From Fetish to Fashion, Danile & Serga Nadler

This is an amazing book! It was incredibly expensive but I had to have it, I call it a splurge kind of like rewarding myself for being productive. I also thought I could "right it off" so in my head it was a done deal!
But when I opened up and started to read and see the gorgeous photographs of authentic pieces from each region covered is just invaluable, so my investment has already paid off.

I feel that this book has so much to offer, and so much visual inspiration that it would be ashamed if I kept it to myself. So I am thinking of featuring this book on my blog as a way of sharing the inspiration of these authentic intricate, ethnic and some what Tribal looking Masterpieces! I will start to feature this book for all to see and be inspired by, but I need you artists and craft enthusiasts to comment, and let me know you are interested, otherwise I will not go through the trouble of scanning each page for naught! Below is the inside of the jacket, read it and let me know if you want to be inspired!???

If you want to be inspired COMMENT! =) 

Click pic  to read!