This might be of interest to those of you who work with clay, whether metal, polymer or ceramic. I'm exploring some new organic shapes to complement some of my floral-styled disc beads, and made these in Precious Metal Clay (fine silver) the other day. Here they are after patina and tumbling overnight. I swear, opening the tumbler and picking out the goodies is almost as fun as digging for potatoes.
These are destined for some very special pieces.
I used some new tools from Green Girl Studios for some of the texture with these, and it's working wonderfully for me. Here's the swirly tool:
The possibilities with this tool for any kind of clay are endless, and I found that the shape worked very well for my organic forms. There's also some great detail on the bottom end of the tool. There are several variants of these available on the Green Girl Studios site, but I got mine in person from Andrew when they were at the Best Bead Show.
I also used some dried poppy seed pods for texture - see this image (courtesy of Auntie P on Flickr). Look at that pattern! Wonderful stuff!
Anyway, not much from me here today, but thought you might like to know about this wonderful tool.
6 comments:
Patty, I love these organic pieces! This looks like a lot of fun to make.
there is actually lots here - beautiful work to look at, links to follow, and the realization that i really really do need a tumbler... but i am certainly grateful for what i have...
thank you so much for sharing this! and the poppy seed pod photo is really just beautiful...
I love pulling things outta the tumbler! Its always fun to see how they have smoothed and hardend.....and I have also learned to attach small pieces by wire, because sometimes the treasure hunt gets too tedious to be fun;-) They look great. Love the organic shape- I am a big fan of bloom shaped discs.
I asked my 5YO to "dig for treasure" in my tumbler last night to which he replied "Mommy! That is the BEST JOB EVERRR!!!" I know how he feels. Your work looks beautiful and I am excited to see the finished results!
D'Arsie, that cracks me up! Imagine if he could dig for potatoes and metal treasures both in one day.
Great post! I just might need to get one of those tools :o)
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