Hi there!
So, I've been away from this blog for about a week, but during this time I've been working on some new designs.
Now that my new materials have arrived, I've got plenty of coloured clay to work with, so I've been using this. And I definitely prefer working with coloured clay, rather than painting the pieces using acrylics--also, there was a slight problem with glazing painted pieces, but I'll mention more on this later.
So, these are my new pieces:
For all of these, I predominantly used mainly white Sculpey Ultra Light clay and mixed in small snakes of H&S coloured clay--oranges, yellows, and reds. The H&S clay is a lot heavier and denser than the Sculpey Ultra Light, so I wasn't sure exactly how well the two different types would combine until I tried mixing them. But it worked really well--and as the majority of the polymer clay in these pieces is Sculpey Ultra Light these pieces aren't too heavy either--especially important for the earrings.
To create the patterns, I ended up using two different methods. For the earrings in the top row of the photo above, and the pendant in the bottom left, I created long snakes of the colours and twisted them together to form one log of different colours that entwined. I then rolled them in my hand to create the desired shape. With the earrings, I used a lot less of the coloured clay and tried to keep the white as clean and unmarked as possible. I was pleased with how these turned out, but with the bigger piece it was harder to get definite patterns without the colours blending too much.
So, for the other two pendants (pictured below), and the smallest pair of earrings, I used a different technique. I rolled out a large square of white, and smaller squares of colours. I then layered them together, and cut them in half, before re-stacking. Doing this several times kept the layers quite definite. I then impressed a circle cutter through the layers twice, but rolled it flat and smooth again. This would impress and distort the layers. I then cut horizontally through the layers--exposing the patterns (this was quite difficult as my wedge of clay was only about 2cm thick to start with! But it exposed beautiful patterns. I cut out a square from the middle, and used that one to make the pendant on the left below. I ten used the outer-cuttings to create the one on the right--it had more white due to the white layers being the biggest and the coloured squares having been in the centre of the stack originally.
From the scraps left after this, I had enough to make a set of earrings as well (see the first photo--in the middle of the bottom row).
I made the thread holes in the pendants and cut down eye-pins to create fastenings for the earrings--and embedded the fastenings into the raw clay of the earrings--before baking.
Once I'd baked these pieces for the correct amount of time, I set aside to cool. And then yesterday, I glazed them.
The glaze I used was Sculpey Gloss Glaze and I was really impressed. The easiest way to glaze the earrings was to dip them right in and then let the excess glaze drip off--but the pendants were harder as I couldn't dip them into the pot due to their size. In the end, I used a soft-bristled brush. That presented its own challenges as I didn't want any brush marks to show, but on a couple of them it was especially difficult!
I also glazed the other pieces that I've made in the last few weeks, and constructed this drying rack out of books, thread, and rulers!
When glazing the pendants that I'd painted in acrylics I noticed the glaze caused the acrylic paints to soften and liquify--especially the darker colours. This then caused the glaze to become slightly tinted in that colour, but the shine is still there.
These will take about 24 hours to completely dry, and then after that I can finish attaching the final fittings to the earrings, and the chains for the pendants.
I'll post photos of the finished pieces here.
Thanks for reading!
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