So, a couple of weeks ago I had decided I was going to try making some of my jewelry pieces with porcelain clay instead of the precious metal silver clay. I kind of knew a little about porcelain, but really not much. After some research about firing it and looking at info on my glass kiln, I realized my kiln does not safely fire to a hot enough temperature for porcelain (over 2200 degrees). Bummer.
So I bought another packet of silver clay. It is very expensive. I have not opened it yet.
Today Mark and I were at Michael's and I decided to see what they offered in the way of clay I might be able to use. I settled on an extremely inexpensive packet of white Sculpey III clay. Some of you may be familiar with this clay. It is used for everything from jewelry to buttons, sculpture and a lot more.
I did not know much about it and found a couple of interesting articles and videos, but nothing that really told me exactly how to do what I wanted to do. Most of the online info is about making millifiore canes or beads. So I just went for it.
It's properties make this such a wonderfully workable medium. And the best part - it only has to cook at 275 degrees and DOES NOT SHRINK!! I can insert my glass with absolutely no worries. I am very excited and thrilled to present my first piece of polymer clay and glass jewelry.
Like I said, this was made from white clay. I layered a base sheet, stamped it with this attractive tree shape, then centered my glass on the front of that, wrapped a "snake" of clay around the glass, then layered strips across the top all the way around the glass. With my fingers I smoothed it all around, poked the holes, trimmed it up a little bit, then cooked it in my oven.
Then the work began. I used a tiny carving tool to carve all of the grooves in to the face of the frame. I also used an exacto blade to trim all the way around, round the corners and clean up the inside edge of the frame. I sanded it all over with a very fine sanding pad.
As I was carving I accidentally carved a hair too deep on one of the corners and the glass poked through. I thought "UhOh" but did a tiny little patch and refired it and it came out perfect.
I then put some black acrylic paint on a rag and just basically painted the entire piece black. Then I took a clean rag and rubbed it all over so that the black stayed in the texture and crevices. After the paint dried I brushed on a coat of clear satin acrylic finish to protect it.
In some lights it actually looks like silver, but it is very lightweight and not as shiny as silver is. I attached silver filled chain with beads and a lobster clasp to finish it off.
I am bubbling with excitment and looking forward to making a whole series!!
