What a difference a couple of cheap wire spacer beads make. . .

The thing is, my interest in Polymer Clay has led me into making beads and suchlike, as that is one of the main things it is used for. Logically, I should really try to make the beads into pieces of jewellery and adornment, rather than just hoping people will buy them and use them in their own constructions. 

To this end I got some cheap, but quite nice wire spacer beads and some leather thong to string them all on. It kind of legitimises the beads somehow and makes them look like they should be part of a necklace. I wasn't expecting that really. So, I shall experiment further with this necklace etc making thing. The image trans tube beads came out best.

OH well

We're all still here. Internet meltdown failed to occur. Goody good. Normal service will be resumed.

Just checking to see where this post ends up. I'm making another attempt at mastery of FB and Twitter.
I can share this post on FB and Twitter, but I think my Twitter is linked to my FB, and possibly the other way round too, so if I post something here and share it on Twitter and FB, that might that trigger it to re-appear on FB and Twitter which will trigger it to re-appear on Twitter and FB and so on. . . .
It could very well be the trigger for the mother of all feedback loops, expanding exponentially, building up into a nightmarish swirling vortex, causing servers to spontaneously combust, thereby destroying the entire internet, and it'll all be my fault. Sorry about that but I have to know. . .

More Texture sheet stuff

These are some discs I made to show off the textures I made with my photopolymer stampmaker kit. Not sure what to do with them as I am not any kind of jeweller. I see people making inspiring necklaces, pendants and other assemblages, but haven't yet put my toe in that particular water. It's the making and experimenting I like. It will be a bit of a learning curve. But if you don't try you don't learn, I need to give it a go. Any tips? ;-)

Textured Spikes

Here are some  long thin spikes with an added strip wrapped round, all textured fairly aggressively using my photopolymer texture sheets ;-)
They could be long dangles on a necklace ( about 4" 10cms long ) or as a couple of people have suggested, they could be stuck into a 'twisty bun' hairstyle. I would need to make them with a wire core for this use to be viable though. I like them and I'm going to make some more and try different surface treatments etc.

Textures and such

You probably know all this already, but bear with me.
To make raised textures on Polymer Clay artists use specially made sheets or stamps which they press into the clay. You can make your own by pressing textured things into flat pieces of raw clay, baking it and then using that baked clay as a texture stamp. People use leaves, tree bark, in fact just about anything with an interesting texture on it. I've had some fun making these myself.

The thing I really wanted to do was take the images I make on my computer and make them into texture sheets to use with Polymer Clay. It took a while and much googling for me to find out how it could be done.
It is achieved by using something called Photopolymer Gel, which is a kind of rubber/silicon which is sensitive to UV light. You shine the UV light through a negative image, and the black part goes hard and the clear part stays liquid (or possibly the other way round. . . ) and can be washed away leaving a rubber stamp. The negative image might be a print on acetate of your computer image. . .

So, this is what I did. Sparing you further explanations, here are a couple of examples of the images I used as negatives.

And here are a couple of examples of textured items made with the texture sheets derived from those images and other similar ones. . .

My newest obsession

I've recently discovered Polymer Clay and all the interesting things that can be done with it. It is connected, in my mind at least, with the abstract work I make on my computer, in the texture generating parts of 3D software. There I often produce faux real textures, which can resemble wood, metal, rock etc, and I make abstract patterns using the same procedures.
With polymer clay I can imitate and echo different mediums and surfaces in actual 3d form. Faux glass, stone, wood etc. I'm finding the whole area fascinating.
So much so that I have just started an Etsy shop to feature the things I am making as I experiment. These things are mainly beads, as beads are perfectly suited to the medium of Polymer clay, are a large part of what polymer clay is used to produce, and are in themselves historically significant in human history. I have seen pictures of beads said to be 40,000 years old, which is hell of an age to be ;-)

Here's a couple of things I've put up for sale. As you can see I am definitely on the 'rustic' end of things, partly due to inclination and quite probably at least partly due to lack of precise skill at this stage. That said, as far as I am concerned they work well and reflect something of who I am I think. . .