Mokume Gane Pendants with Beaded Bezels - Beading, Polymer Clay & Resin

I've been doing some beading instead of wire wrapping on my last batch of MG pendants because I liked the look so much more. It is not really a cost effective thing to do though! If I were to sell these factoring in the actual time it takes to make one....well, I'd have to charge more than many would want to pay, I think. It is the problem with doing something you love...:)

This one is reversible. I would also have to take that into consideration as a cost factor!

The black beads in the bail below are matte finish Toho beads. Love how symmetrical they are.

Here is the other side of the pendant above.

I used some matte finish Toho beads on the pendant below. Loved the verdigris look with the polymer clay colors! There is so much foil in this cabochon...hard to see in the photograph but the color really pops. I had someone ask me where I got all the colored foil to make these pendants with! That's why I love this method so much...all the sparkle! This one reminds me of a dragon eye!

This one is from my second batch of the Mokume Gane method Marilyn Ray Knopic teaches.

This is one of the older ones, too. I didn't really like this Mokume gane batch until I put the resin on!

This one is actually made with scraps. I think it's my best beadwork in this batch! :)

But those aren't the only things I've been working on! Here's some others...

I've made these flags before...there's a simple tutorial on the internet here for it - but the person I made it for told me the finding turned immediately....that's what I get for not buying real silver! So this replacement I made for her is 999 sterling. :) 

I've also been playing around with resin some recently and had these tiny dragonflies and gears from Lisa Pavelka that I thought I'd use with this setting I came across. I really like the way this one turned out.

This is another resin bracelet I came up with using my tiny gears and sprockets with Lisa Pavelka Magic Glos. :) First steampunk items I've ever made that I liked! :)

Now you know what I've been doing lately! Let me know what you think in the comments! And make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and please like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti!

UPDATED: I'll Stop Whining Now - Marilyn's Mokume Gane Technique #4 - Polymer Clay

Some of you may remember a couple of posts ago where I was complaining about the colors I picked for my latest batch of Marilyn Ray Knopic's tutorial for Mokume Gane. But there is NEVER any waste with PC so I took those uggs and made them pretty again! I am very happy with the redo! I added some liquid Kato Polyclay to the front of the ones I didn't like and rolled out flat pieces to cover. Trim, polish, and VOILA!

This one is actually one of my LEAST favorite but I still like it a lot. It reminds me of an abalone shell. In fact, many of these do. I have a hover extension for Chrome that lets me point my mouse at a photograph and a larger image appears. If you don't have that, just click on the image to see it bigger. :)

The ones below (and the one above are not covered in resin yet. There is NO finish whatsoever! I did do some shaping with my rotary tool around the edges and glad I took the extra time.  I just gave them a polishing (220 and 2500 grit) and buffing with my rotary tool, for less than a minute each on the buffer. I found out that the lighter the touch when buffing, the better the shine! And in my opinion, the fact that it is Kato helped it shine more easily. This is the "front" (some of these could use either side for the front!) Doesn't it remind you of an abalone shell? If I had used pearl clay it would have looked even more like one...These are all Kato clay again.

The back...love those fine lines...

Front...aren't the colors awesome? These remind me of the painted desert rocks...

Here is the other side of the one above.

Really like how this one came out. The back is silver crackled foil leaf on black clay. You can't see the sides of these pendants but many of them show the very fine layering of the top colors. Neat effect. This stack was made with a variation on Marilyn's technique in that I added some Old Silver Inka Gold paint to the clay. I was advised to sandwich it inside layers of translucent, so I did. Then I added the foil leaf on the upper layer along with the inks. Hard to tell which shimmer is the Inka Gold but it's in there!

This one I used the rotary tool to trim off the edge...it was pretty rough before and I almost left it that way, but I am glad I shaped it. The buffing on this one came out great! I like this side the best. See the tiny "spiderweb"? :D

The reverse. The colors are a little muted in this one, but there is that abalone look again.

The shine on this one came out great! I wasn't pleased with where the original hole was so I filled it and need to redrill and use an eyelet in it still.

This is the other side of the one above.

Another one that looks like abalone shell. I love how it looks like layer after layer of shell!

Love the color in this one. The green is the Mermaid again...sort of an aqua color. I used Mountain Rose, Sunset Orange, Sunshine Yellow, and Wild Plum. The Lettuce nearly disappeared!

The opposite side.

This one got really shiny!

Side one.

The other side.

This is the first one pictured in this post that I put Magic Glos resin on.

A freehand shape. Resined again.

The other side. This is the other version of Marilyn's MG technique I tried with no black or white in it. Lovely color in this one...and yes, it is the dreaded Indigo! Not having all that black made it better, somehow...More of the foil shows through, as well, brightening it.

Same with this one.

The other side. I love the little star shape....faux spider web! :D And those colors! The Mountain Rose is a favorite of mine, as is the Sunset Orange.

Another with the no-black-or-white-clay MG tech. And the Indigo ink...and maybe even some of the (ew) Teakwood! I still like it, though. :)

The other side. I love the way it doesn't look round...it looks like it dips in on the left side...but that is an optical illusion. :)

Last one of this batch...for now! Love the colors! Forgot to drill holes before I resined it though...

Can't decide which side is the front. :) You can see the tiny faux spider webs on both sides with this one. SO, I am finally happy with those dark MG pendants I made! What do you think?

OH and an update I forgot to put on my last post, about the faux gold. I used my homemade clear stamping block polymer clay cutter for the leaves and flower petals. It works GREAT. See how evenly and THIN it cut? :) This photo kind of shows what I meant about making plain clay look like it has a gold reflection....

Thanks again for looking - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and please like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti! 

Dark Matter - Marilyn's MG Tech again - Polymer Clay

I was so hopeful...after all, I'd never had a bad batch at this technique. BUT, I am not fond of my latest attempt at Marilyn Ray Knopic's Mokume Gane technique.. It looks promising in the photo below, doesn't it? I used some new Alcohol inks I hadn't seen before, Indigo, Mermaid and Teakwood. The reds are mostly from a try at making my own AI, using an alcohol ink marker in 91% alcohol...it's very bright but I like it!

 Here they are, pre-baking. Looks good so far, right?

Pre-baked still. Had high hopes for the one on the right.

These are baked. These are the "uggs". :D They are just SO DARK. I HATE the Teakwood! The indigo ink was waaaay too dark, although I tried to lighten it with some straight 91% alcohol...The one on the right above is the one about 4th from the top below. EW. See what the Teakwood did to it? EW. I think some of them could possibly be salvaged by using some Magic Glos but I may not even bother...

These are the ones that are salvageable. Not finished yet. A note: I used Kato clay on these, I hit a good sale at Hobby Lobby, 30% off all clays, so I got a few big blocks of translucent, white and black. The Kato is shiny while raw! And even before sanding the clay had a shine! Not sure if you can tell in the photo...I am going to use Kato exclusively, I think! I liked the way it rolled out and how it cut...it's a little stiffer than other clays but well worth it. I have a new system for softening tough clays, btw. I keep them wrapped up and place them on a brick, and beat them with my clay roller till they behave! :D It WORKS....Much easier to condition after that! You just have to show it WHO IS THE BOSS....lol.

Here's a closeup of a few that I resined. The bottom one is one of the uggs that I mistakenly wasted resin on. Still not TOO awful buuut...still an UGG. :D HATE that Teakwood with this technique...You can see that bright homemade red I was talking about. There's some Wild Plum in there too. I just wish I had used something besides that teak color! It would have been nice beneath the translucent, not like THAT color looks. :P Ew, ick!  The indigo in the one on the left isn't too bad, but it's probably where I attempted to lighten it with additional alcohol. Sorry for all the whining...

Now, these are still not the best but they'll pass. Was trying to show the shine these got once I buffed them. Sanded with 220 and then 2500, then buffed with my rotary tool. LOVE the Kato for the shine it gets! As I stated above, it almost comes out of the oven shiny...These two are front and back.

To make these hollow beads, you need two different sized (but close in size) cutters. To make the bottom of it, you cut out your clay sheet with the smaller of your two cutters and place it with the side you want to see in the finished bead face down on your claying surface...I used a sheet of copy paper. Then cut your top piece with the larger cutter, and lay the resulting circle (prettiest side down) on top of the BACK dull side of the smaller cutter, so that it lines up evenly with the edge of the smaller cutter and droops into it a bit. (You can make your dome higher by using a smaller circle cutter, but it may be harder to line up the larger cutout on the smaller ones). Make sure it's stuck to the sides of the cutter well, but not TOO well, and flip it over, centering it on top of the pre-cut bottom piece. and press gently to seal them together, capturing air between them. I then flip the smaller cutter over and cut the resulting domed circle out to neaten everything and make the seal better. Then I used a tiny circle cutter to cut out the hole in the center for a donut. The bottom of the one on the right caved in a little. I may have trapped air under it when I went to bake it, not sure. But you can see how shiny they got with minimal sanding. I noticed the other ones I domed like this shined better than the others, as well...

My technique with these stacks is to cut thin slices off the MG clump and place them on other sheets of clay. I decided to try a twist on Marilyn's technique by not using any black or white clay, just the trans. Interesting effect! Below is the raw stack. I used them on the back of the sheets I covered with the other dark stack. I guess I should've taken a photo after I started cutting into it, because this doesn't show much! See how pretty that blue is, though? That is the indigo! Not sure if I had lightened it with alcohol or not....The Indigo kept reminding me of when I washed my husband's pants with a pen in the pocket...that is the EXACT same shade of blue. XD

So, these are the backs of the previous pendants I've shown in this post. I like the effect, it reminds me of watercolor or something. Keep in mind these have NOT been finished. You see the foil much more with this method. Some of them are also very dark but the translucency kept it from offending me as much as the other beads do. :D

I am probably going to use the uggs by making a new clay stack and covering the baked pendants I don't like with it. Never any waste with polymer clay! Thanks for looking - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and please like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti! 

More Fun with Marilyn Ray Knopic's Mokume Gane Technique

Warning! This post has a LOT of pictures! I've been playing around with the Mokume Gane technique by Marilyn again, this time with greens and blue inks only. Here are some of the nicest! 

This is the back of the previous one. I had these baked for a couple of weeks now but ran out of Magic Glos. I ended up getting a 6 oz bottle from Amazon because I know I'll be using it for these! It came out about half the cost of getting it in the store....well worth it!

It is amazing how the blues and greens pop on these once the resin is on them. They are quite dull without it, even if you polish them...The shine from the foil really stands out after doming!

This is the back of the previous one.  This side is flat. It just looks textured. :)

Front. 

Back. This one is textured.

Front. Love the colors in this one. I used Sailboat, Stream, Lettuce, Bottle...a few others...

This is the back of the previous one. 

Front.

This is the back of the previous one. 

Love the ones with the dots in them. :) Front.

This is the back of the previous one.  The backs of some of these aren't great...

Front.

This is the back of the previous one. 

This is one I wrapped from the previous batch with the reds and yellows.

This is the back of the previous one.  No resin on this side.

Previous batch again. Front.

This is the back of the previous one. No resin on this one. The matte finish can be interesting, too.

Back to the blues! This one is much smaller.

This one is a bit different from the other ones in the red batch. I used some Kato Liquid Clay over it at first and didn't like it, so I sanded it smooth and used the MG. It gave it a hazy look that I really love. It reminds me of Bryce Canyon.

This is the back of the previous one. 

First one I used the twisted wire with. Had a coupon @ Michaels! :) The bursts of pink look like tiny flowers...love this batch!

This is the back of the previous one. 

The red batch again. 

This is the back of the previous one. I use coarse sandpaper to make the texture on the back.

This one is a little different from the others. It is still the same red Mokume Gane stack, the very end scrap...I flattened it over a previously completed bead and pressed a stamp into it. Then I rubbed some copper powder into the high spots. I really like it.

 Made a couple of swirl beads with some scraps I had laying around (from my next post!) and decided to use some eyelets to run the cord through.

This is the back of the previous one. 

Another swirl bead.

This is the back of the previous one. 

Then I had been thinking about a bead I saw online recently that had a lot of swirls and layers and translucency. I had got a new Fimo clay color called  Blue Ice Quartz and wanted to try to emulate the one I had seen, making a light blue striated "stone" of clay.

Well, I may have wanted a light blue stone but this is what came out of the oven.  I think the Ice clay is a transparent clay and it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I used a variation of the Mokume Gane technique Marilyn uses, without any ink or foil. I just wanted the layers. I am not saying it's ugly, it's just not what I planned on. :) I used transparent, the Ice blue and some white. I have the light pink quartz, too and may not try it with this technique! 

I also got the bright idea to use some of the sheet metal I've been working with (available at Home Depot, 10 5x7" sheets for less than three dollars!). I had been cutting very thin strips of it off and noticed how it curled up. I decided to embed it in the clay to give the plain clay some life. It does make it a little harder to sand the piece after baking, so plan accordingly!

I also used white eyelets to strengthen the holes. I love the polish on this one! Again, I just sanded well at 220, went over it again with some 2500, then buffed. I did find a trick that makes it shine even more though...use a light paste of cornstarch and water. Rub it on the stone and use your Dremel to buff it off....outside, preferably, as it makes a mess! But look at that shine...!

More sheet metal. This one buffed up very nicely, even with the aluminum on top...

I really loved the shine on this one, as well. Maybe not what I was going for but still nice. Can you imagine it in a light blue though? :P I have to say it reminds me of faux ivory, which I love.

The darker area is where the blue Ice was. Hmph. ;)

Last one! I loved the striations in it. Hope you enjoyed the photo show! 

Thanks for looking - make sure to stop by my Pinterest page to see a lot more of my creations, and please like my Facebook page, Karmic Confetti!