My first polymer clay jewelry

[AllegroRondo]

so I took the big leap and bought some polymer clay and a pasta machine, and worked on these during spare time over the last 2 weeks.

My daughter managed to borrow a dress from one of her older cousins for an upcoming formal school dance, its black with pink trim. So I though, "sure, I can make some jewelry to match that!"

So after looking through my old beading magazines, I found something similar, and gave it a shot.

Heres the beads:



and made into a necklace and earrings:

[Left Brain]

1. Wonderful!

First try, first success!

[Longhorn]

2. Those are stunning!

A pasta maker? Who knew? :)

[AllegroRondo]

6. yup - they sell them in the clay aisle

you use them to work the clay and roll it flat into sheets of whatever thickness you need. Incredibly handy - I dont know what Id do without one.

[Mrs Robeson]

3. Perfect...

and your first ones? They are GREAT!!! I have bought alot of stuff to use to make clay jewelry and have a pasta machine right behind me in my cabinet that has never been out of the box.
Your daughter will be so proud to wear the set and tell all of her friends-Get ready for requests.:thumbsup:

[AllegroRondo]

8. I already have a request from one friend

who saw these while I was making them. She will be wearing a brown dress, but I'm clueless as to what kind of necklace to make for that. At least I have another month to work on it.

Now break out that pasta machine and get to work!

[eridani]

13. Dark brown and gold?

I've never gotten the metallic clays to actually look shiny, but sanding them definitely makes the mica in it glitter a lot more.

[AllegroRondo]

14. My daughter just gave me an idea for it

it seems her friend likes butterflies, so Im going to try a set of monarch butterfly beads. Orange/brown wings with black and white accents, and maybe gold edging to the beads. A background of dark green perhaps to simulate leaves.

Butterfly wings shouldnt be too hard to do with clay, as the two wings are mirror images. Just make a loaf of one wing, slice, and flip over one of them.

Yes, I promise to post pics when Im done!

[Sweet Freedom]

15. I saw a picture recently

I think it was Scarlett Johanssen... and she had a huge blue butterfly on her hand. I couldn't tell if it was a real butterfly or a piece of jewelry, but I thought, if it was a ring, it was quite spectacular -- and I want one.

Just and idea. It's something different and it was really beautiful.

[AllegroRondo]

16. Funny, I just bought some pearl blue clay

that could make a very nice irridescent butterfly. I'll have to give that a try too.

would you have a copy of that pic?

[Sweet Freedom]

17. This isn't the same picture I saw, but it is the same butterfly

[AllegroRondo]

18. Amazing

although I think clay might be too brittle to get that thin.

I could definitely work that kind of pattern into a pendant, though.

[eridani]

4. Wonderful!

Did you have a lot of leftover slices?

[AllegroRondo]

7. lots of leftovers

as you can probably tell, these were made by making a square loaf of clay and cutting slices to whatever thickness is needed. The big pendant started out close to 1/4 inch thick but was sanded down, the earring are maybe 1/8 inch thick.

I also took some very thin slices and used them to make round and cylinder beads, but Im not sure what to make from those yet. Maybe a matching bracelet?

[eridani]

12. How about using some smaller squares--

to make a bracelet by putting them back to back with double parallel holes? You could use smaller round beads as spacers and maybe have 5 or 6 square links for the bracelet. I really like the stretchy Powercord for both single and double hole beads in bracelets. Getting the bracelet on and off is so much easier than fiddling with a clasp one-handed or hunting down a helper.

[eleny]

5. love em!

[Le Taz Hot]

9. How cool!

I love those! I'm not sure I have in my head how the polymer clay thing works. I know you said you used a pasta maker to roll them out into the desired thickness but what happens after that? Do you have to have a kiln or can you bake them in the oven? Also, did you paint the design and if so, what kind of paint did you use?

I love it when DU crafters show pictures of their projects. It's amazing the talent we have on this board.

[AllegroRondo]

10. A short explaination

you can buy the clay in dozens of colors, and mix those to just about anything you want. No painting was done on these, but thats another option too.

You can bake them in your oven, or in a kiln. It only takes 275 degrees for 30 minutes to harden.

For these items, I used pink, black, and white clay. These were mixed into 5 different shades of pink. I rolled those out on the pasta machine in the thickest setting, then stacked them up to make the loaf going from darkest to lightest. 2 layers of black, then 4 varying shades of pink, then 2 layers of the lightest pink. Roll them lightly to squeeze out any air bubbles, and trim the ends.
Then, I just made some random slices to get the triangles, flipped over every other one, and restacked. Roll out the bubbles again, and re-trim.
Now you have a loaf you can cut into whatever thickness is needed, and use the slices to make the jewelry. Bake, sand, and slap on a coat of clear epoxy to make it shiny.

[snappyturtle]

11. Kudos! You've gone all out! Pasta machines

are miracle workers and your work is great....very neat,,,,as in cool and tidy!