Thursday, May 17, 2012

Faux Techniques Submitted for 2013 Fandango Class

For polymer clayers, Fandango can only mean one thing. The Orlando Clay Fandango Polymer Clay Retreat held in Florida annually at beautiful Lake Yale. I've had the privilege of  teaching twice and am hoping that my project will be chosen for next year's retreat.

Faux Silver bracelet with faux turquoise and eagle feathers
This bracelet is my submission for next year. 

It contains three of my own techniques.
  1. Faux turquoise in a copper matrix
  2. Faux eagle feathers with down
  3. Faux silver.
Well actually the Faux Silver won't be so very unique but the layout and use of the Viva Decor Inka-Gold Silver 902 is an improvement over past silvers in my opinion. After drying the metallic finished is lightly buffed to a nice shine.


The eagle feather cane is my own design, not derivative. The four color shading of the feather, the shaded center vein and the splits that 'disappear' as they near the vein are the results of  a number of attempts. The downy ends are a cane and are added after slicing. Below are attempts 2 and 4.  The earrings shown below left are of Attempt 2 cane.
Faux Turquoise in Copper matrix
Attempt 2

Attempt 4
 Another faux technique that is from research in a variety of turquoises and jewelry making is faux,  turquoise in copper matrix.  The easier of the two challenges with this one was the veining, the lines between the bits of turquoise. The tougher part of this project was to create a gleaming copper that, after baking and sanding would still be gleaming. The attempts with metallic copper polymer clays was not satisfying to me.

Having recently discovered the excellent qualities of Pardo Translucent clay, it became the carrier for a mix of materials that, after baking and sanding, remained shiny and gleaming. 
Another view of the turquoise/feather Bracelet.


 Joe and I both hope that our project will be chosen as one of the three classes that will be taught at Fandango next year.

Penni Jo
The cabochon in the bracelet was molded using PJ046 Deep Cabochons and is available on our website. Best Flexible Molds


2 comments:

Marlene Brady said...

Beautiful piece. It will make a wonderful class. Hope you are chosen. I love classes where I learn more than one technique and have an exquisite piece to wear home. I appreciated your sharing your "attempts" as I could relate.

Penni Jo AKA Claylady43 said...

Thank you so very much. It is always good to be able to wear a design home that has taught more than one technique but more than that the colors and style are your own.

It's good to know that others have to make many tries until a satisfactory result is obtained.

Penni Jo