Let your light shine through

 

Hello dear friends,

I am fascinated by light and it’s been a while since I am trying to put together a project using LED light and polymer clay. I have some other attempts, but this piece is the first piece which really appeals to me. And I hope it will appeal to you too.

So, if I have a message for you, it would be to find your own voice, to express your way the things you love, in a sentence: “Let your light shine through!” 

I have also prepared a video for you to see the jewelry pieces from different angles and with the lights off.

 

 

I made this jewelry pieces inspired by the ArtbeadScene July Challenge. This is the inspiration image. I played with some of the colors of the color palette.

 “Fireworks at Ryogoku (Ryogoku Hanabi)”

No. 98 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 8th month of 1858.

By Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando)

Woodblock print, Sheet: 14 1/4 x 9 1/4 in. (36.2 x 23.5 cm)

 

Back to the making-of:

Materials and tools used: Fimo Professional silver metallic, Fimo Professional marine blue, Fimo Professional Terracotta, white Fimo Professional polymer clay,  pasta machine, blade, earring findings, memory wire, silver-plated chain, jump rings, 4mm crystal bicones, triple thick varnish, LED candle light.  

 

I have conditioned the  polymer clay. I made a skinner blend from blue to gray. I used one thin sheet of the skinner blend and one thin sheet of white mixed with  a little bit of silver clay and put them on top of each other and rolled them from one side to the other.

Then I cut a thick slice and flattened it between my hands.

 I put it through the pasta machine through a thinner setting.

I started to cut thin slices.

 I put the slices on top of a marine blue sheet of clay (conditioned on a thin setting) leaving a little space between the them.

I put a sheet of paper on top of the piece and pressed everything together pressing  gently with my hand (I  used the sheet of paper to avoid leaving fingerprints). 

Then I turned it upside down and I added a thin sheet of terracotta polymer clay and another thin sheet of marine blue.

I used again a sheet of paper to press everything together. 

I started to cut thin slices.

I assembled the pieces together (I used some slices facing up, others facing sideways).

I assembled some slices to create a zipper pattern.

I decided to put everything on a thin slice of marine blue.

I used a sheet of paper to press them together by gently pressing on the paper.

I trimmed off the excess clay.

I cut it in four parts.

 

I decided how I would put them together. I gave an undulating movement to the pieces that were to be used for the earrings. I joined the other two pieces together into a dome shape with a hollow in the middle. 

I textured the back.

 

These would be the earrings.

I put them in the oven for 40 minutes at the temperature recommended by the polymer clay manufacturer. I tented them.

They looked like this after baking.

 

 

I varnished them with triple thick varnish to have a glossy look (I thought this would go well with the sparkling crystals). 

I used memory wire, chain, wire and crystal bicone beads to make a “frame” for the pendant. Then I decided to take advantage of the hollow in the pendant and place a LED candle light between the wired back and the domed pendant.

The back looks something like this (the idea was to have access to the on-off button. You can easily remove the LED candle from the pendant and change the battery. 

And the front

the earrings

and the ring

 

I hope you liked my tutorial!

My best to you!

Mihaela 

 

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