Kristi Bowman is the owner of Dream Some Designs, a lovely shop on Etsy.  Amazingly, Kristi has been working with metal clay for less than a year…I know you’ll be surprised when you see her work!  She is enjoying working color into her designs by incorporating different stones and beads.  Nature and rustic artifacts are a big influence on Kristi’s work.

Kristi writes about her pieces:

The Blue Topaz and Metal Clay earrings were a special order for a friend on Mothers day, they turned out so beautifully that I will surely make some similar pieces.

The necklace titled Artifact is a rather free form piece with 3 different textures. I used Amazonite and Metal Clay beads strung on a Sterling chain to finish the piece. This is one of the pieces that is meant to look ancient and somewhat rough like it was found buried in the earth.

The earrings titled Arrow are made out of Bronze Clay. They are 2 parts so they are fun to wear, only the wearer can hear the tiny jingle of the 2 parts moving against each other.

Jewelry Design Challenge: 30-Minute Necklaces
Editor: Marthe Le Van
Deadline: August 3, 2009

Lark Books is looking for designers who are up for the challenge: design a necklace or pendant that can be made…start to finish…in 30 minutes flat.  30-Minute Necklaces will not be teaching fundamental techniques, so you can assume that your readers are already proficient (and quick!) at the basics.

30-Minute Necklaces will showcase more than 50 incredibly stylish step-by-step projects that can be created without investing too much of a valuable commodity—time! The selected designs will be modern and sophisticated and encompass many different styles and techniques. The common denominator will be fast projects that look terrific!

More information and entry forms

Custom Cool Jewelry
by Melinda Barta

Melinda Barta came up with a brilliant idea for this fun book. Instead of spreading her many talents out too thinly, she concentrated on just three areas: pendants, charms, and clasps.

It’s often hard to find exactly that perfect piece to customize your jewelry, and if you can make your own pendants, charms, and clasps, you can add them to readily available lain beads to create a masterpiece that is distinctively yours. Melinda includes over 275 quick and easy ideas for mixed media components as well as 7 full stringing projects. Once you start making these components, you’ll never run out of ideas about what to do with them!

Custom Cool Jewelry teaches you how to create personalized, affordable, and unique alternatives to store-bought beading components using a wide range of jewelry and basic crafting materials including embossing powder, collage papers, wire, fibers, glass etching cream, patinas, found objects, fabric, memorabilia and more.

Check out The Bookshop for lots more links to books about jewelry-making in addition to this fine guide!

Kristal Wick is the well-known creator of Sassy Silkies, and she has a fun book out now that will teach you how to make the fabric beads that she’s famous for!  Kristal says that she first thought up her bead-making methods in response to complaints from people that their earrings were just too heavy.  “I wanted to make something colorful yet lightweight that could change each season for my fashion-conscious customers,” she says.

Fabulous Fabric Beads
by Kristal Wick

Kristal has 30 different custom bead designs for you to learn to make in this fun book.  The colors are sumptuous, and your mind will spin with the possibilities!   Fabulous Fabric Beads is available through the Interweave website (link above).

Check out The Bookshop for lots more links to books about bead-making in addition to this fun fabric guide!

Barbara Daoust, creator of Soul Notes, likes to share her upbeat take on life with all who come in contact with her.  Heartbreak in her own life led her to look for the type of healing that would transform her own life, and the lives of others.  PMC is one of the media that Barbara uses to spread her message.

Ladder to your Heart: The Ladder to Your Heart is a reminder to keep climbing higher and and to take life one step at a time. The intention is to live from the heart and connect to that place of loving.

Affirmation Vessel Kit: I created this piece to have a place to hold my personal affirmation. After the loss of my husband to lung cancer six years ago, I entered a very dark night that limited my hope. I attended a program in spiritual psychology where I discovered the power of affirmations and decided to create an affirmation vessel to hold close to my heart. My intentions helped me to transform my life.

Big Swirl Heart: This piece is a hollow form with a ruby and garnet dangles. The intention for this piece is Room for Love. The spirals represent the unlimited possibilities where love can show up. We are living in a spiral universe and all things are possible.

Betsy Baker, owner of Stonehouse Studio, creates lovely classic jewelry from polymer clay.   The combination of polymer with beautiful metal frames and findings makes gives it timeless style.  Betsy writes:

I love the contrast between metal and polymer clay.  Metal is bullied and cajoled into doing what you want by hammering, sawing and torching.  Polymer, on the other hand, is the most cooperative, versatile and forgiving of mediums.  As is so often true of opposites, the two work beautifully together.

My work is inspired by nature, which may seem strange since my primary medium is a synthetic plastic.  But the chameleon-like qualities of polymer clay allow for innumerable ways of bringing an artistic vision to life.  My polymer work encompasses a variety of surface techniques, including alcohol inks, acrylic paints and image transfers altered with colored pencils.  The end result is jewelry that is organic, simple and very wearable.

Lauren Abrams, owner of LaBeana, makes eye-catching polymer clay jewelry.  I love the tribal/ethnic/bohemian feel to her pieces.  Lauren writes:

I love polymer clay because of the immediacy of it as a medium. It is endlessly challenging yet among the simples of mediums to us. There are new techniques being developed daily and the excitement of trying new ones keeps it fresh and enticing. It’s great to be learning from other polymer clay artists(who are among the most generous of artists when it comes to sharing information) and a day does not go by when I don’t see something done in polymer clay that  intrigues me….

Krissy Fernandez, of Junk & PO, shared her wonderful cupcake series with us!  She calls them the “No Fat, No Sugar, No Calorie Cupcakes (…. Without all the artificial stuff.)”  Isn’t that great!  I can imagine simply hanging one of these off of a plain cord necklace.

Here’s more from Krissy:

These are the perfect cupcakes for all you health nuts! And if you’re not a health nut (like me), even better — these cupcakes are sure to satisfy any sweet tooth! Each cupcake necklace is one of a kind, and I’m not just talking about its handmade nature. You will never see one with the exact same variation of colors, accents, and quirky style. For that reason, these cupcakes are numbered, and each number is pretty much its own bar code. They also come with a special photo ID card indicating what number it is in the collection.

=The Art of Cupcaking=

I really enjoy making these polymer cuties because each one I complete is totally different from the next – kind of like meeting a new person every hour (and yes, that’s how long it takes me to make one cupcake). Some cupcakes are outrageously wild, while others are sophisticated and chic. When I sell these at craft shows, I actually get to meet the people that these cupcakes are destined to be with. You can definitely see someone’s character shine through just by seeing what cupcake they purchase - because all my cupcakes have a distinct exclusiveness to it just as each person would have too!

=The Artist=

My dad once told me that it’s okay to color outside of the lines, heck, on the walls if I wanted to, and I haven’t stopped exploring my creativity since — thus, the reason why I just can’t seem to settle on one medium or style. It’s just too much fun trying to absorb anything and everything I can about what inspires and fascinates me. I also get “un-fascinated” pretty fast so my mind is constantly racing for new things to keep me from losing it. Screw compromising a vision to have a defined style - Art isn’t just a marketable business. I’m in it for the growth of my own soul. However, I’d love for you to be a part of it.

Source of inspiration: cute & creepy things, the awkward & obscure, hip hop, lowbrow art movement, and life.

Location: Now resides in San Diego, CA after moving from Guam four years ago

Rickie Leiter, of Rickie Leiter’s Ocean Stone Jewelry, has a totally unique inspiration for polymer clay jewelry pieces.  I love the idea of combining a precious antique material with something as accessible as polymer clay.  Rickie writes:

Childhood experiences started me on a path of looking at nature with appreciation and awe. Collecting stones, shells, and pieces of pottery from trips around the world always kept those memories alive in a special way. Some tokens became necklaces or pins, as I learned new ways to create jewelry with different mediums.

The pieces shown are built with polymer clay and are embedded with pieces of pottery shards that date back to 165 BC, the time of Judah Maccabbee. No longer used to store wine, oil, or perfume, these shards come from Tel Maresha, in the 1,250 acre Beit Guvrin National Park which lies one hour southwest of Jerusalem. The darkest shards were used for cooking over and open flame.

I took part in an archaology “dig for a day” program, with members of my group uncovering chicken bones, pieces of pottery, and the top third of a wine amphora intact! We toured where the former residents raised doves, stored their crops, and buried their dead. At the end of the day, we were allowed to take shards of pottery that the archaologists determined were no longer of interest to them. These “relics” now have a new life and can be appreciated in new ways. Much like finding a new path on life’s journey.

Mags Bonham, owner of Really Unique Creations,  is a self-taught artist who began working in the versatile medium of polymer clay upon moving to Vermont in 1999. She works out of her studio - Vermont Hearts & Crafts – in Bolton, VT.  I love the combination of materials that she comes up with in these pieces!

Mags is known for her high quality fanciful boxes, imaginative jewelry, and functional art handcrafted from Polymer Clay. This fascinating material has lead Bonham on a constant journey of exploration and experimentation. Her work is contemporary, yet classic, with an occasional element of surprise.

Bonham creates an ever-changing variety of original jewelry pieces, decorative boxes, and home décor items. Each item is individually handcrafted by the artisan - giving each it’s own subtleties that make every piece a unique piece of art. Mags is always open to discussing custom work to suit the customer.

Bonham also produces a line of brooches, under the Studio name of Vermont Hearts & Crafts, as fundraisers for various organizations. Her work has benefited Breast Cancer Research, Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation, and The American Red Cross.