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Published: 2012-07-30 20:56:49 +0000 UTC; Views: 206; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 0
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So with Technique 2 [link] I said there was something else you could do with the trimmed bits from the stack of transparent and/or opaque sheets of clay with metal leaf in between. Well this is itI basically rolled those bits till they resembled sausages with pointy ends, twisted them a little so the stripes would spiral and then I turned them into swirls. And I have to say, they make great pendants (and earrings).
The little block-like beads are called Natasha beads (presumably the name of the person who discovered the technique) and are also made of scraps. Any type of scrap works as long as there's at least 2 colours and the colours haven't been blended (too much).
What you do is take the scrap clay and turn it into a block, use a little acrylic plate or a tile if necessary. You then cut the block in half lengthwise and then those halves as well. Now you turn those quarters and put the block back together again basically turning the block inside out. If you do it correctly the patterns will mirror and thus will no longer look randomly. As if it took you hours of painstaking clay modeling
The last thing in the picture are the butterfly earrings. These butterflies are originally made of cheap plastic and came with the coloured bottles (attached to a small string of beads of the same cheap plastic). Cheap or not, the shape looked nice and with 6 bottles I had 6 butterflies so 3 pairs of earrings that could be covered with one of the 3 metal Swellegant paints.
So I did one pair in brass with rust patina, one pair in copper with rust and one pair in iron with rust. To add some luster to the iron set I rubbed a little gilt wax on it in a colour with the lovely name Ruby. I think it works rather well.
All in all a great way to make something of leftovers and scraps. I'll probably not do anything with the cheap plastic beads though.