Saturday 16 January 2010

Carnival


Carnival
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation
I posted this photo on Flickr yesterday and got so many lovely comments on it, I thought I would share it with my blog visitors too.

There are 95 individual beads on here - each of which I hand sanded and polished! It took a very long time as you can imagine, but even longer to put together - 95 wire wraps take forever!!

It is the fullest bracelet I have ever made and I wondered if maybe it was a little too full, but when it is on it looks fantastic and makes such a great sound too!

The technique for the beads comes from Donna Kato's book, "The Art Of Polymer Clay - Millefiori Techniques". I can recommend this book 100% for anyone who works with Polymer Clay - it is a constant source of inspiration to me.

The colours I have used are quite muted, which I wanted because with so many beads I thought that brighter colours would make the overall effect too "busy".

I would love to know your thoughts on this. Would a bright one be something you would like? Would it look good in lots of shades of one colour? How about a sort of rainbow effect, starting with one colour at one end and then working its way round the spectrum to the other end? What do you think - I would love to know!

Tuesday 12 January 2010

New Year - New Work


Sea Pod
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation
A belated Happy New Year to you all!

The Christmas period was so busy for me that I did not have time to blog at all, or take photos, or do anything apart from make jewellery and try to fit in all the normal Christmas preparations for the family!

At last, it is January, which is cold, extremely snowy and most importantly a time for a little breathing, calming and experimenting. I have been playing around a little at the clay table and enjoying having extra time to just think and spend some time on the computer and catching up with all my friends on Flickr, who I have been missing like mad. It has been good to start reconnecting with them and seeing all the new work that is emerging in this new year.

This new necklace, which I have called Sea Pod, was a happy accident. I was planning on making one sort of bead, but somehow, it morphed into something completely different, with no seeming input from myself. The clay sometimes has a life of its own and will go it's own way! I hope to take this design further and already have some idea of other things to do with it, as well as make some more like this in different colours.

These pod beads remind me of something that you might find on a coral reef.

I hope that 2010 is a wonderfully creative year for all of you!