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How
Your Polymer Clay Jewelry Is Made |
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previous steps, I conditioned my polymer clay and formed different
sizes and shapes of beads. The beads are plain and have no decoration. |
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After
I have formed my beads, I will want to apply some type of design
to decorate them. One technique I can use is to create a "cane."
I combine different colors and shapes of clay to create a design.
This can take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or more, depending
on the complexity of the cane! The finished cane is usually
too large to be used to decorate the beads, so I must "reduce"
it to a more usable size. Note the reduced cane next to the
original. |
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Another
technique I can use to decorate my beads is called "mokume
gane." It is a Japanese metalworking technique that has
been adapted to work with polymer clay. Different clays are
layered (somtimes with metal leaf, mica powders, or other inclusions)
and then thin slices are removed to reveal a design. |
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There
are many other techniques that I could use to decorate the beads,
such as mica shift, marbling, or the use of metallic leaf or
other inclusions. The possibilities are endless! We don't have
the time or space to discuss all the different methods. I recommend
looking at various tutorial sites available through the Internet. |
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