The Clay Art Process

Designing clay beads is both tedious and fun.  The process begins by choosing a few colors and softening the clay with with my pasta machine.

With the softened pieces, I begin the creative part of the process.  I use different colors to form a design which begins around the size of a small cookie. Below is a snapshot that shows a butterfly piece "in the works".

Once the design is complete, the clay is reduced in size by rolling or extruding.  The pieces that you see below are commonly referred to as clay canes.

From here, the canes are sliced using a sharp blade and laminated onto clay balls.  These soft clay beads are then pieced with a skewer, placed onto my trusty baking rack (shown below) and cooked at 275 deg F for 15 min.  Yes - that is the only recipe I know by heart.

That's it!  Once the clay is hardened it can be fashioned into jewelry just like any other bead.  I find the entire process to be relaxing and creatively stimulating.  I like to call it my "clay therapy"!

White House Black Market Inspirations

I designed this red braclet set for a friend who adores White House Black Market. What color goes better with B&W?! This was also the first time I designed larger, flat links with polymer clay versus my traditional disc and ball shapes. I may try a few more of these...

Seattle Collection

The dreary Boston summer has inspired lots of rainy day colors. Here's a few shots of my latest work.

Cross Pendants

I designed these cross pendants for a friend last week. I started with the flat design (on the left) by assembling 3 different square shaped canes. However, after I baked it...it looked a little plain Jane. So, I decided to make a second version that was 3-dimensional. For this one (on the right) I layered clay pieces from several canes onto a clay backing. Then, I cut a cross shape from the finished design.

White House Black Market Collection

Unfortunately for Ann Taylor's stock price....I've discovered a new store! White House Black Market has some fabulous office and evening wear styles. A little pricey, but worth it! Below is a new braclet and ear ring set that I designed to go with a few of my new digs. Hoping to create a red set sometime next weekend.

The Fulani Wudabi Tribe

While we were in Niamey, Niger (West Africa) I met Renata. She is a wonderful lady living in Niger who is working to develop the trade skills of local people. With a trade, they can sell and market goods to provide an income for their family.

Renanta mainly teaches the locals how to sew and craft. She even has a storefront where they can sell their goods to locals or visitors (like me!) While there, I checked out her storefront and brought my beading supplies to finish a necklace (see previous post.)

What followed, was an impromptu jewelry lesson with about eight people from the Fulani Wudabi tribe. They were so interested to learn whatever I was willing to teach. We spent most of the time practicing wire working skills to make earrings. I left a bunch of supplies and my tools with them. I can't wait to hear what they've done with them.

Jewelry Party in Niger

In December, my husband and I had an opportunity to visit our missionary friends in Niger (West Africa). While there, I hosted a jewelry party for the missionary ladies around town. It was fun working with such a diverse and interesting group of women. One lady actually spends much of her time with a tribe out the bush - so coming into town was an extra treat!

Here's a few pictures of the group stringing and designing clay beads.