Technique Tuesday

All the Daughters of Eve
I’m going to be tantalizing you with lots of beautiful handmade beads this month (stay tuned for tomorrow’s post!), and so I thought it might be a good idea to remind you that we’ve got a treasure trove of links on making your own beads. Every year, I like to add to my personal repertoire of techniques, so if you are in agreement that that’s a good way to keep your designs interesting and fresh, check out all the different types of beads that you could learn to make for yourself!

1000 Jewelry Inspirations
by Sandra Salamony
[Wicked big disclaimer: I've got 7 pieces in this book, so of course I think it's really good!]
OK, that being said, it is really good! Page after glorious page of beautiful designs. Some so simple that you say, “Yes, of course! That’s all it needs.” Others are complex enough to make your jaw drop. I will be leafing back through this book over and over and over…
One of my pieces even (sort of) made it onto the cover! There it is – a teeny piece of it anyway – in the lower righthand corner. Here’s …read more

You aren’t the only one who needs to show off some Valentine’s Day fun this holiday. Don’t forget your purse! Yes, that’s right. I made this Paper Heart Purse Charm for my purse. Next to jewelry, I’m a purse fanatic. Now, I can’t buy those $500 Prada purses, but I’ve got a few really nice leather bags along with lots and lots of fun bags I bought at art shows or even just Target.
Purse charms are become pretty popular, so my jewelry genes kicked in and this is the first of what I hope to be many more purse charms. I …read more

I’ve finally gotten a few paper clay jewelry experiments finished, and I think the results are promising. I’m not 100% happy with the results yet. I think I still have that learning curve thing going on; therefore, my finished pieces are a little rougher than I’d like them to be - nothing at this point do I feel is polished looking enough to sell or even give as a gift.
Pictured is an example of what I’m talking about, my Painted Paper Clay Pendant project. This is what I came up with after playing around with rubber stamps and using one to …read more

I mentioned a while ago that I was working on a paper clay star ornament, and here it is – finished! You can read complete directions here: “Paper Clay Star.”
I think for a first effort, it’s okay. I am a little bummed that I didn’t manage to use some lace to get a textured affect with my gold paint, but I’m still happy with how it turned out.
One thing that I didn’t think about before making this was the fact that the whole drying process involved (and since I live in a humid climate) would eat up a lot of …read more

You may (or may not) have noticed, but I’ve added two new categories to this blog – paper clay and polymer clay.
These are two media that I have to admit that I’m not very familiar with, really only played around a little, but I’ve got the clay ich and decided to scratch.
Any clay people out there?

Okay, here is the beginning of my paper clay star ornament. I rolled out the clay and used a cookie cutter to cut the shape. I know, kind of big for jewelry, but I’m going to look around for maybe some smaller cutters.
One thing that didn’t work out so far like I had expected is the texture on the clay. When rolling it out, I pressed some lace into the clay to create texture on the surface. Now that it’s dry, you can’t really see or feel the texture so much. So, I’ve got a plan B I’m going to …read more

 While this project on the Paper Clay web site is designed to make a box, obviously many of the techniques can be adapted to jewelry.
I’ve been experimenting some with paper clay, and so far, I like it. The finished pieces are really light, so you can have large items and not have to worry about them weighing too much, that is if you like to make bold jewelry. And, I especially like how you can use thing like rubber stamps to create patterns in the clay.