Polymer Clay Jewelry- Part 2

Yesterday, I showed you beautiful jewelry made from polymer clay. Many of the pieces contained striking geometric patterns and we are often asked how this is achieved so today, we're going to show you how it is done.

We start by mixing up the desired colours: (and by we, I mean Vickie)

These colours are then assembled into various patterns and shapes:

These shapes are then assembled into what is called a "cane" and reduced to about 1.5 square inches. This reduction process creates a cane about 10 inches long and this is then cut into two or more (in this case 4) sections each 2.5 inches long. The blade needed to produce these cuts is a tissue blade and is EXTREMELY sharp!

Two of these sections are then cut on the diagonal through the length, cutting opposite corners on each of the two. This yields 4 differently patterned triangle canes, each of which can yield 3 different patterns for a total of 12 potentially.

Each triangle is cut into two equal segments and the two pieces are picked up and placed face-to-face.

This is further reduced to about a half inch square which produces a length of about 4-6 inches. This cane is then cut into 4 sections:

Each piece is arranged in one of the three possible double mirrored arrangements ( called a tessellation).

Then this final arrangement becomes the new cane and can be wrapped in complimentary colours and then slices can be taken and used to  cure and produce the final beads.

Pretty easy, huh?

Actually, you can see that this takes a lot of skill and practice as well as an artistic sense to choose the most desirable options and colours.

So now that you know the process, we hope that you find this jewelry even more special!

P.S. Thought you might like to see a shot of what we woke up to this morning and what makes this place so special. Enjoy!