Trial : Jhimki Caned and textured

Hi :)

As this week continues with the set challenge , I did not want to start anything new.I was going through my pieces stash   ( which is  full by the way) , and I saw a few half done pieces.I thought it was time to fix them up!

Since I rediscovered jhimkis last week , I sat down and made a few  caned jhimkis.I shall put those pieces up soon for sale.

These were the few pieces that were already completed. I made these in November. I was terrible at making canes , and these are the very first canes I made.These are not for sale , just for my reference.

As you can see , they are not perfect.
There are spots around the dome structure devoid of any cane and just showing the scrap clay.
The wire work is quite terrible and uneven.I had made the holes in the dome with a toothpick and this led to hole sizes of uneven sizes.I used 22 gauge of wire for wrapping both , this meant that for one piece it was just right , but the other one the wire work  just sank through.
I had not added the balls at the end as they were not staying on for me.

I have no intention of selling  them , but they are easily wearable as long they are tweaked a bit, These are the results.

I also made a few more Jhimkis before trying out the new caned versions.

These were fun to make as well.I shall try to update on the newer cane jhumki's as soon as I am done.

Thanks for reading :) Have a great day!

In the garden : Week 12 #2015PCChallenge

Hi !

Its week three of the jungle challenge and I realized one thing , that  I love my jungle leaf cane. I am almost finished with it though , hope I can make another one just as awesome :)

The plan for this week has kind of turned towards home , towards the garden in our Kochi house. Kochi , like much of Kerala is a humid place , which makes it  very green. I never quite realized what an incredibly green state I lived till I moved onto college. Kerala has a lushness that Ihave never seen anywhere else. Green is certainly the predominant natural color,the various shades of green that pop up during the year are uncountable.

We haven't lived in the Kochi house for years , but I still remember the garden and my parents' constant struggle to keep it weed free. It could have been a house build in the rain-forests , ok probably not, but there was a small pond right next to us, and beside it grew huge towering bamboos , tall cotton trees ( teeming with little orange warrior insects) , wild cashew, wild almonds ,cassava plants and  yam plants with giant leaves.This bounty also meant , varieties of birds and snakes (hanging very picturesquely from the branches of some tree)  came to visit, and mongooses too.It was a tiny spot , but I could have spent the whole day studying it and the designs and patterns it presented to me,
This tendency meant we had a lot of Anthuriums and orchids growing aplenty in our garden. Roses never took too well.

This pendant was meant to be  jungly one , but somewhere along the way it went home :)

That was my primary piece , and here is my companion piece. This is an attempt to make Jhumkas.
Lots to fix in that prototype , but I am happy my idea worked out , so presenting it as my companion piece.

Thanks for reading ! Have a good day !

Polymer Clay : Experiment 2 : Simple canes : Bulls eye

One of the most fascinating things about polymer clay is the ability to make canes.There are many types of polymer clay canes , however for my trial here I have chosen to start off with the bulls eye cane.This seems to be the easiest cane to make.

Items I have used: Detailed explanation here.

1.Polymer clay : I have used purple,gold,black and white colors from Premo! by Sculpey.
2.Dedicated cutter
3.Dedicated blades
4.Rolling pins
5.Plastic sheets
6.Tooth picks
7.Aluminium foil trays : 2
8.Binder clips : 2
9.Oven Thermometer
10.Toaster oven
11.Wire : I have used 20 gauge
12.Cornflour
13.Zip Loc bags


Process : These are very simple to make.I have not followed any tutorial here.I have made some bulls eye canes then just cut them and rejoined them.In two places I have wrapped them again in other colors such as black and white.
It does take a bit of time , but its fun :)

1. I cut equal sized pieces of purple and gold clay.Just mash them with your fingers to soften them , then roll it in your palm to make little globes.Once they are merging seamlessly , the clay is conditioned.Store unused clay in separate Ziploc bags.

2. I made snakes with all the separate colors.Then I used the rolling pin to flatten them.Do this till you have two identical pieces of flattened clay. I cut both the flattened snakes into half.

3.I took one half of both the flattened pieces and rolled it again into equal sized snakes.Wrap the purple snake with the gold piece and gold snake with the purple piece.Ensure it gets covered completely,only leaving the ends free and then cut off the extra from the sheet.

4.This is a bulls eye cane.But I didnt like the look of it a whole lot , soI then rolled them into longer but equal sized snakes.I cut of the ends.

5.You can see how the cane has turned out. I got through the very first step when it comes to making polymer clay canes , not very neatly I am afraid.

So that's the bulls eye cane !

Now that the boring bit was done , I had lots of fun re-arranging them,putting on different colored layers and squishing them to different shaped canes.And this is the fun part , this also takes time though.I used basic colors because I dont really how colors combine in polymer clay and these were safe options.

I made a base of scrap clay, thinly sliced the canes I made , stuck them on the base , used slight pressure on the rolling pin to blend it.I then used cutters to make them into even sized bits and baked them.

Baking

I have baked the items between two aluminum foil pans.I pre-heated the oven for ten minutes for 130 degree Celsius, then baked them for 45 minutes. 

Thankfully , nothing got burned and I was a happy girl !

The very first one is lightly sanded and polished by hand , the other two are quite raw.They do not look professional by any standards yet.

Thanks for reading.Your comments are always welcome :)