I haven't blogged for awhile... time flies when you're having fun and even when you're not. I've had a bit of a cold so I've been sleeping or sitting in the recliner with a cat on my lap. Our weather has turned a little chilly and cats are good heating pads.
First let me explain the photos. I have this Jello Cook Book that I was going to list in my Etsy Shop, Swan Song Antiques. I was thumbing though looking at the illustrations and thought the magician would be fun to use with my most recent creations.
I have mostly been playing with wire, I can do that sitting in my recliner...without a cat on my lap... but I did make a few things with clay as well. I am still using Pardo Art Clay.
Click on the photos for a closer look.
I made the wire frame first for this one and then added the clay by pressing the wire down into the clay and trimming around the outside with an Exacto knife. Before curing I place a piece of parchment paper over the clay and smoothed with the back of a spoon and my finger to give a smooth even surface. I can't sand clay when I combine it with wire without sanding the color off the wire. This is another thing I like about the Pardo Art Clay, you can get a very smooth surface without sanding.
The next piece is 18 gauge bronze wire wrapped with pink 26 gauge wire and I used yellow seed beads along the edge of the curled section.
This one is 18 gauge amber colored wire wrapped with 26 gauge amber wire and adorned with goldstone beads.
This one is really cool, the photo doesn't do it justice. It is 18 gauge brown wire wrapped with 26 gauge burgundy and tangerine wire. I used glass seed beads on the bottom loops and a Swarovski crystal bead on the drop. The center is a textured vintage button. I think I will put this one on a copper chain.
I like this one too, these are my colors. The center strip is a mirror image with strips of gold Pardo Jewellery clay on each side. I used my ripple blade along each side and added the pieces of orange and black cane in each of the ripples. This was a experiment to see how well the Art Clay sections bond.... and it works very well, the piece is strong and secure. I added the black wire bail and Swaroski rhinestones for interest.
I used 18 gauge amber wire and 26 gauge wire with iridescent green seed beads to make this one. I used a hammer to flatten the curly cues. I need practice hammering but it doesn't look to bad and as you can see the color on the wire doesn't hammer off.
This next one is more wire weaving using 18 gauge wire and 26 gauge yellow lemon wire and faceted peridot crystal beads. I may add something clay to this one.... haven't decided how or what... so you may see this one again
This last one is one I showed before but without the bird. Please forgive the lousy photo, I tried and tried to get a good one and this was the best I could do. Everything about this piece was a struggle. Things were going along really well, I used a mold Heather made for the bird, placed him on the pendant, highlight with PearlEx powders to give his feathers a shine and popped it in the oven. After it cooled I brushed on a thin layer of Kato sauce and cured it again. When it came out of the oven I was using the heat gun to clear the Kato sauce... this is where bad stuff stared to happen... because I was jabbering away to Heather I wasn't looking at the pendant... glanced down and saw a curl of smoke..uh oh... I burned the clay above the bird... the white/gray striped canopy. I'd put a lot of work into this piece so I better come up with way to fix it...right? After it cooled I decided sanding the burned part might work. Not so. Sanding didn't remove the burn but it did remove color from the wire. Now I have two problems, a burned canopy and copper wire showing through the green. Fortunately I had a small piece of the striped clay left so I used it to cover the burn. I covered the paint loss with fringe beads and 26 gauge wire, I like it. Problems solved.. here it is. (just don't look to close, not that you can with that lousy picture!).
Okay, now tell the truth, wasn't the magician fun?
where are these pages from
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