Happy Autumn

Ok, so it's not quite official yet, but, who cares.  I love Fall.

Football has started and already my grandson is a fan.....and sooo cute too.

I have buckled down and taken this week to start on my goal of perfecting one polymer clay technique before moving on to another one.  Thanks Star for the link to all those wonderful techniques! 

I decided to try my hand at mica shift.  For those of you who aren't familiar with mica shift, it involves using special metallic clay, run through a pasta machine multiple times to allow the mica particles to line up.  Once impressed with a stamp, the raised areas are carefully sliced off leaving an image of the stamp on the smooth surface.  After the clay is baked, sanded and buffed {or coated with a glossy medium} the result is a 3D effect that is hard to believe unless you see it up close and personal. 

I made a few pendants using several colors of the metallic clay.  Here are a few in a soft copper.

This really looks better in person!

I was attempting to show the gloss from buffing.

I hope you can see the 3D effect.

This one shows the glossy effect a little better.

Here is the one I did in silver.

The silver looks a little darker in this picture.

Once I get some better pictures with my light box or outside, I'll be posting these on my ArtFire site.

I gotta say, I really like this technique. It took several attempts to get the right amount of slice off the clay, but, that's OK, if you don't have success on the first go round, just start over.  With all the stamps available the design possibilities are enormous.  I can't wait to continue with this process in different colors. 

If you are interested in trying your hand at mica shift, here are a few links:

http://www.hobbizine.com/pcmicashift.html
http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/ms_texture.html

Til next time, remember..........

"Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung."

- Voltaire (1694-1778)