Polymer Clay loves glitter and glitter loves polymer clay - and
I love them both!
This is a fairly
simple project that brings them both together.
Material list:
Black
Polymer Clay
Pearl Ex
Mica Powder
Deep Bezel
Pendant Setting
Art Glitter
Dazzlers – D20 Laurel
Art Glitter
Vintage Glass Glitter – 923 Briar Rose
Jewelry
Grade Resin – I used Lisa Pavelka Magic-Gloss
Jewelry
glue
Tools and supplies:
Clay
Texture Stamp – I used Lisa Pavelka “Flow”
Pasta
machine or brayer
Ceramic
Tile for work surface
Small Clay shape
cutters - “cookie cutters”
Large Soft
brush – large china mop or large make-up brush
Craft knife
1. Begin by
conditioning your clay and then either roll a piece with your pasta roller or
roll with your brayer onto tile until it is an even thickness – about 1/8”
thick and bigger than your bezel setting.
2. Dip your soft
brush into the Pearl Ex and then brush the area of the texture stamp until
there is a light, even coating covering the area you want to use for your
pendant.
3. Lay your clay onto
the texture stamp. The mica powder will
act like flour so the clay will not stick to the texture stamp. This is a good thing, but also makes it easy
to mess up your imprint if the clay moves, so hold the clay in place in one
spot, with one hand, while you lightly push the clay into the texture stamp
with the other hand. Remove the clay
from the texture stamp and place, design side up, on your ceramic tile.
4. Place the bezel
setting face down onto the clay in the area you want to use for you
pendant. Press lightly to mark the line
of the bezel into the clay. Remove
bezel. Use your craft knife to cut just
inside this line and remove the excess clay so that all that is on the tile is
the square piece that will fit into your bezel.
5. Use a small clay
shape cutter to cut out a shape that will later be filled to create your
“jewel”. Since the stamp I used had a
teardrop shape in the design, I used a teardrop shaped cutter. Be careful when you remove the cut-out that
you don’t distort the square shape on the tile.
Bake the piece, as is, according to clay manufacturer’s instructions.
6. While the first
piece is baking, re-condition the excess clay you had pulled off the tile to
mix any mica powder back into the black clay.
Roll this through your pasta machine or use your brayer to again create a
flat piece about 1/8” thick. This needs
to be larger than the square you made in the steps above.
7. When the first
piece is done baking – let it cool and then carefully remove it from the clay
tile. Check that it will fit in the
bezel setting. If it is too big, you can
sand it down until it fits.
8. Place the unbaked
sheet of clay on your tile. Press the
baked piece on top (design side up). Cut
around the baked piece so that you now have a double thickness and can see
black clay thru the shape that you cut out in step 5. Remove excess clay and bake this new
double-layer piece.
9.
Once this piece is
baked and cooled you are ready to jewel it up!
Fill the bottom of the recessed area with a layer of Art Glitter
Dazzlers.
Carefully add a drop or two of
resin and mix the resin and glitter.
If
you are using Magic Gloss, you will need to cure this outside in the sunlight or
under a UV lamp.
(Check instructions on
the resin you are using.)
Once this
layer is cured, add a layer of Art Glitter Vintage Glass Glitter and another
drop or two of resin.
Then cure this
layer.
Finish this “jewel” section with
one last layer of resin.
This should
dome up a little higher than the clay.
Cure this layer as well.
My original plan was to have the piece all silver and black
with just this one “jewel” in pink glitter, but then I decided it needed a
little more glitz. I added AG Dazzlers
and a drop of resin to the other teardrop section in the clay pattern, and then
glued some flat back Swarovski crystals in some of the other recessed
areas.
10. To finish, glue
the clay piece into the bezel setting with your favorite jewelry glue. Add a chain or cord.
KC Eddy
