October 2010

Harvest Wreath

By Deborah Anton

Products used:

Amate Studios Design Base Elements Gold Large round pendant

Gold wire 24ga

4mm bicone Swarovski Crystals in coordinating color

Mini silk flowers

Bird Decal or Sticker
Coordinating ribbon for necklace

Lisa Pavelka Magic Glos

Toggle

UV Light or Sun

Round nose jewelry pliers

Instructions:

1.     Roll your wire into a wreath form looping it thorough the pendant bail to secure.  The wreath will swing up but that is ok.  As you are looping the wire throughout, curl wire for decorative look and add your crystal and flowers throughout.

2.     Once your wreath looks the way you want it, lift it up and apply your decal in the appropriate spot so it can be see through the center of your wreath.  Add a low layer of Magic Gloss an close your wreath on top.  Place in your UV curing light tray and place something semi-heavy on top so that the wreath will cure into the resin. 

3.     Once that is cured, check to see if you would like more resin in the center. Add more Magic Glos and cure.

4.     String your coordinating ribbon through the bail to form your necklace and if you so choose, wire wrap the ribbon at the ends and the bottom for a matching look. 

5.     Attach your toggle and wear!

Dangling Birds

By Tanya Allen

Supplies:

Amate Studios earring blanks #093

Amate Studios resin Crystal Blue

Cardstock and scrapbook paper

Art Lemon Custard acrylic paint

Apple Barrel Tropical Blue acrylic paint

Gelly Roll Pen, black

Marvy ¾” Circle Punch

Instructions:

1.    Take a piece of white cardstock and trace around the earring blanks.

2.    Paint one circle with Folk Art Lemon Custard acrylic paint.

3.    Print out the word “Nest” on a laser printer and tear it to fit in the bottom of the circle.

4.    Once paint is dry, glue the word “Nest” on the bottom of the circle.

5.    Use Apple Barrel Tropical Blue to paint an egg inside your word nest.

6.    In the 2nd circle glue down a piece of blue scrapbook paper with yellow polka dots.

7.    Use the yellow Lemon Custard to paint a bird onto this background.

8.    Outline the bird and egg and a branch under the bird with a black Gelly pen.

9.    Punch out both circles with a ¾” circle punch.

10. Glue your artwork down into the earring blanks.

11. Use a small medicine cup to mix the resin: 1 Dram of bottle A with 1 Dram of B.

12. Pour just enough resin over artwork to fill the bezel.

13. Allow the resin to dry for 6 hours.

Landscape with Yellow Flowers
by Sam Katz
 
Supplies Needed:
 
•Amate Studios Base Elements Collection Deep Welled Rectangle
#PN-048 in gold brass.
•Small amounts of Premo polymer clay in blue, white, brown green & yellow-you can use the colors straight from the package, or mix your own.
•A tapestry needle
•A needle tool
•A tissue or clay blade (or an X-Acto knife will do)
•A Yellow glass flower
•2 green bugle beads
•a short length of 28 guage craft wire & wire cutters
•Any cyanoacrylate glue
•1 small smooth ceramic tile to use as a work surface
(these are actually smooth white bathroom or kitchen tiles & can be found inexpensively at places like Home Depot).
 
 
Instructions:
 
1. Condition your clay.
(If you are not familiar with conditioning polymer clay, you can go to:
 http://www.artjewelrymag.com/art/Default.aspx?c=a&id=755
for a short video.(You will need to create a free account, but it is fast & easy)
 
2. Using your pasta machine or Acrylic roller, mix some blue & white clay. Don’t mix completely, just mix until you have a pleasing “cloudy sky” look.
 
3. Press a flat piece of your blue & white sky mix slightly about half the “height” & as thick as the depth of the bezel.
 
4. Press the top of bezel face down into the clay.
•Push almost all the way through the clay. (If you push all the way, it may be difficult to remove the clay)
•Gently remove the bezel.
•Using your clay blade (or X-Acto knife), trim the clay following the indentations made by pressing the bezel into the clay as a guide. (If you are new to clay blades, be sure to hold it by the dull side!)
• Flip the clay over & gently fit your raw clay piece into the top half of the bezel.
•It should be an exact fit so you may have to bend & cajole it a bit to get it in -be patient.
•Once you have the clay in the bezel, gently press with your fingers to ease out any air bubbles that may be caught under the clay.
 
5. Using your brown clay, fill the bottom 1/2 of the bezel-you will want a straight horizon line.
 
6. Tear a thin piece of green clay on a diagonal & lay over the brown clay, from the bottom & up, so the tallest edge comes just tiny bit above the horizon line.
 
7. Usine your needle tool; work your way down from the top, “draw” the grass texture with the sharp point using short strokes bottom up & overlap as you work your way down.
 
8. Roll several different sized brown balls of clay to build your “rock wall across the bottom. I like to squish them into different shapes; ovals & rounds & press them over the grass, working my way across the bottom row & work up. Smooth the edges down to your bezel.
 
9. Depending on what type of flower bead you have, how you attach your wire to the back of the flower (I ran my wire twice through the holes in the back & wrapped one end once around the length left hanging down. Add your 2 bugle beads & then trim the wire about 1/8th of an inch below the 2nd bead. Bend half of the remaning wire back up
into a hook.
 
10. Holding your flower as close & parallel to your clay as you can, slide the wire hook into the grass clay (this will hold your flower to the background, so be sure to push it well in) & then press the flower into the background.
 
11. Make 3 TINY yellow balls & place low in the grass area, using your tapestry needle to press down in the center. This will adhere you clay, as well as giving the suggestion of tiny flowers.
 
12. Place your pendant on a ceramic tile, piece of cardboard or a cookie sheet & bake, at the temperature recommended by the manufacturer of the clay brand that you are using, for 20-30 minutes. Let cool.
 
13. Using you blade (or any sharp tool you like), if you can, carefully remove the cooked piece of clay from the bezel, apply some glue to the bezel & replace the piece. If you can’t get it out, it will probably stay in the setting.