....After a Long Hiatus ......

Back to my polymer origins for awhile, when my pleasure was in paint and polymer and fooling around.  I loved veneer before I knew people used such techniques as well as other applications that I discovered for myself.
Klimt inspired, these six pieces of veneer (#7 Atlas) black clay, design drawn into surface, acrylic pigments.  Not yet cured.  Not yet tweaked...if necessary.

Next?  What to do with it?

Micro Mosaic Pendant, Southwest. Mexican Hat, Utah. Unisex. Wearable Art.

 

  It isn't that I haven't been working, it's that I'm out of synch with myself.   Since that annoying hip replacement thing a year ago ....   

This is a pendant I made in 2009 and have never offered before.  I have a number of these pieces that I learned a lot from.  It isn't that I don't need them or love them any longer, but it is time to move on and I'm running out of space. 

It is currently in my Etsy shop  "Pati Bannister" ...

It was inspired by my love of the Southwest, more specifically the area around Mexican Hat in Utah. 

The pendant is polymer clay and slightly trapezoidal in shape. It is a tiny bit under 1 1/2 inches wide at the top and an equally small bit under 1 3/4 inches wide at the bottom. It is 2 3/4 inches long including the bail. Two coordinated beads, also polymer clay, finish the toggle closing. It is 18-19 inches long, not including the pendant length. 

I made four small batches of marbleized color, the channels were extruded and each piece was placed on the cured backing before curing.   

http://www.etsy.com/shop/patibannister

Comments and questions welcome. 

My Cat Bookmarks and Polymer Clay Daily

I was so happy to see my bookmarks featured in Polymer Clay Daily on the 20th of this month...of course, if I had even thought this could happen my blog would have been more up to date. That said, creating this little family as well as others who are in various stages of completion has been such fun, allowing me to combine my love of cats, carving, painting and polymer clay into something whimsical and even useful.

Autumn Beads .. Soon I'll Hear Old Winter's Song ...

A week or so ago I spent the day building stacks/loaves of colors inspired by the colors outside my window. While we haven't had a spectacular autumn, more one of those one tree at a time things, the colors are still in evidencef, rather like a slideshow when one segment dissolves into another. That said, I've made a selection of beads. Here are two. More to come.

This Week on the Worktable

For myself more than anything, I have started to take a few snaps of the week...on days when I feel as though I'm accomplishing nothing, maybe this will encourage me.
Sunday I made a bunch of stacks, some, not yet cut into, shown. Each day since (3 so far) I've taken a stack and done something...
A couple of the stacks are really ugly but marbelized into yummy burgundy and port pieces ....
Will have to see where the rest goes.
Am eyeing the bits lower right that might go with vintage Italian millefiore glass beads.
One bunch, not shown here coordinates gorgeously with unakite.

Hand Carved Artifact Bangle Bracelet

I loved making this bangle as well as a number of others using similar techniques. I built the mosaic on a simple bangle base; tiled inside and out for comfort and strength. The textured tiles are patterned from an original design of my own, and are accented with circular tiles and small individually made balls. The piece has been glazed with a burnt umber-burnt sienna glaze.

The inside is also tiled and signed. The interior diameter is just at 2 3/4 inches, medium to medium-large in size, and the width of the bangle is 1 1/2 inches.

It is currently in my Etsy shop.

Blue Currents Mokume Gane Earrings

Very thin, ultra-lightweight slivers of silver and blue(s). Buffed, polished and glossed on the front, the back is deliberately left somewhat "unfinished" which feels to me like a bit of exotic shell.
Overall length about 2 5/8"; drop 1 3/4"

Tidal Blues Bangle Bracelet

Not exactly leftover scraps, but I had been fooling around and came up with this mixture and then didn't know what I wanted to do with it. After making a couple of pairs of earrings (not yet photographed) and a small pendant (ditto) I decided, being on a bangle binge and all to make this ......

Faux Leather and Genuine Turquoise Treasure Box

First prize winner in last October's PCAGOE competition (2010), this beautiful box would make a great gift for lovers of the Southwest, a special guy, or a Sagittarian with a fondness for turquoise.
A imitative leather technique was used in creating this piece, and a genuine turquoise disc is framed and centered on top. Entirely handmade.
The box is just over 3 inches square. The lid extends 1/4 inch all around. The dark areas were glazed with burnt umber; the interior of the box is also burnt umber, and the bottom is fitted with dark brown suede. The adorable little feet are textured.