This newest project has a story behind it.  When I started with polymer clay less then a year ago, there was of course a lot to learn.  One of the things I didn't understand was the difference in all the different polymer clay brands.  I started off with Sculpey III which is very widely available and has a fantastic array of colors.  I also picked up a few bars of Premo, usually because there was a color that caught my eye that didn't exist in Sculpey III.  I had no idea that Sculpey III is more of a student version of clay.  Anyways, my very first cane was done with Premo.  I chose it because it had the colors I wanted and I didn't have in Sculpey III.  This was fortunate because it doesn't distort as much as Sculpey III and so my cane actually came out mostly the way I wanted.  Weeks later, I was making a bowl, and the colors I wanted to use I only had in Sculpey III.  I proceeded to learn a very important lesson.  The canes came out very distorted and didn't look anything like what I wanted them too.  I made the bowl anyways since I had already made them, and called it good.  I entered that very bowl into a competition in the magazine Polymer Cafe, even though it was my least favorite piece and was honestly not very good in my opinion.  I didn't really expect anything to come of it, but I wanted to get used to entering contests, so I did it anyways.  Much to my surprise the bowl actually won 5th place in the January/February edition of Polymer Cafe.  Here is the bowl if you don't remember it from me posting it awhile ago.

Now I told you this story to give you some background how this new piece came to be, (and to boast a little bit about placing in a contest. :p)  

The leftover pieces of the canes I used in this bowl have sat in a container since then.  I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I didn't want to just mash them up and turn them into scrap.  I am glad I waited now because they are going to make great starts to pendants and earrings, bracelets, and rings. I joined a group on Facebook a couple of weeks ago that is called "52 weekly cane projects".  I really wanted to learn more about caning, and also to get to know more people that work with polymer clay.  I have learned a lot in two weeks, but one of the things I learned wasn't in the lessons we have had so far.  One of the people in the project turned their cane into something I hadn't seen before.  It's called the "Natasha technique", as well as a few other things.  It takes something that would normally end up in a scrap pile and saves it and turns it into something beautiful.  When I saw the tutorial for it, I fell in love and immediately thought of those canes sitting in the box that I hadn't touched in months.  The use of those canes inspired this necklace, and it cascaded from there.  I worked very hard on this piece, and there were times I wondered why I was doing it.  But now that it is all done, I am SO glad I did it and persisted. (even though my hands are NOT glad)

The Natasha part is the center of the pendant.  It's made with manipulating several colors of clay and then cutting it open and refitting it to make a mirror image.  After making that part, I played around with ideas for a few days and then it came to me.  It reminded me of Africa and the ivory trade there.  It also reminded me of the art of "scrimshaw", which is when bone or ivory is carved into and then stain is done on it to pick out the design.  I combined these two ideas and came up with this necklace.  All of the pieces done in this necklace were done with Premo.

I started with the central part and then built up the ivory part around it.  There are several tutorials out there for doing Faux ivory or bone.  I looked at them all and decided to go with the one that has you tear the pieces of ivory color you created to put them on the translucent slab you have prepared.  Once I had a large sheet of it conditioned, I finished the pendant with a piece of clay that was part gold Premo Accents and part Premo Burnt Umber.  When it was done, I textured it and put some bronze Pearl Ex powder on it to bring out the glitz and the appearance of metal.  I added the piece of "bone" at the top to give it interest and capped each end with some of the bronze clay and textured to make it look like metal.   I then concentrated on the beads.   I wanted to use mostly pc beads, so I went for more faux ivory.  I made two kinds of beads in the same ivory I had done on the pendant.  I rolled the round beads over a texture sheet in random ways to get it to look like it had been carved or handled for a long time.  For the flat round beads I used two texture sheets that are exactly the same.  I put the bead in between and pressed to get the impression on both sides.  After the beads were baked, I antiqued them.  I used a wash of Liquitex acrylic paint in burnt umber, then I sanded them to show the design.  Then I sanded some more, then when I was done I sanded some more.  My fingers are killing me from holding small beads between my fingers.  At the end I learned a few tricks about how to make that faster, and the last half of the beads went VERY fast.  I also did a wash of the ivory on the pendant to match.  You will notice lots of nicks and imperfections on the ivory beads and pendant.  These were created intentionally to imply great age and lots of handling.  When I was done I decided I needed a couple of accent beads and used some of the left overs from the pendant central design to make two rough beads with hammered edges.  I used some bronze colored glass spacer beads to go in between each of the beads.  I used a 1mm black cording and crimping clasps to finish off the piece.   

I am still deciding if I am going to make a pair of earrings and bracelet to match, but in the meanwhile I am enjoying my new necklace.  I honestly don't make many pieces for myself, I always seem to be making it for other people.  As a result I only have a few pieces of jewelry that I have made.  This piece though is one I am keeping, I know exactly what I will wear it with.  I am very happy with how it came out and am planning on entering it into the International Polymer Clay Association yearly contest.  I don't know if it will win, but I am willing to give it a shot. I hope you all like how it turned out.  This is one of my favorite pieces that I have done.  I would love to hear from you all on what you think.  

As always, thank you for visiting my corner of the internet!! :)

Sharon Mhyre