Something Out Of Nothing

Rorschach Pendant

...make something out of nothing, I do that every day. I just read an Ornament magazine article about Tory Hughes with that title. Tory is known for her polymer but I like that she said the work is about the artist, not the material.

I swap between polymer and painting. In my recent paintings, I start with watercolor but find more and more mixed media getting put into the piece, so it no longer can be categorized as a watercolor. Though I have yet to incorporate polymer into my paintings, I have found that making skinner blends and mixing colors has informed my painting, and I have discovered color combinations through polymer that I want to use in painting.

In polymer, I have been making natasha or rorschach pendants lately. The fun is in the "what if"color combinations and the accidental nature of the finished piece. Some of my rorschach pendants achieved the intent I started out with, such as the bright, fun piece at the top which came out of making skinner blend spirals, striped canes, and checkerboards within a color scheme.

But then there are leftovers.

scrap pile-"nothing"?

After spending considerable amount of time being "intentional", I wound up with a large pile of scraps. I grabbed some and made these two pieces without regard for any kind of color scheme or superimposing my will over the pattern.

scrap pile pendants- "something"?


It's all good. It's all fun. Keep making something out of nothing!

Faux Coral Beads

I made some faux coral beads using the instructions in Tory Hughes' book, The Chameleon Clay. I made them a little more misshapen than Tory's examples. I like the natural look of the odd shapes. This is my first batch, I'm sure when I make them again I will tweak the recipe and shapes even more.

If you want to make your own coral, turquoise, jade, ivory, or other natural beads, consider making your own out of polymer clay. Think how much money you'll save by buying a bit of polymer instead of buying the real thing!

Fun With Tory: More Imitative Ivory

imitative ivory beads-fish 1 1/2", horse and rabbit 1"

I carved and sculpted a fish, horse, and rabbit bead, then made a two sided push mold for each design. The figures appear on both sides of the beads. I used the imitative ivory technique that I learned from Tory Hughe's book. I have been making these types of beads in ceramic for many years, but for the polymer version, I was inspired by Dayle Doroshow's Imitative Ivory Face Beads shown in Tory's book.

Speaking of Dayle Doroshow, I am taking a two day workshop with her in Colorado Springs on April 19th and 20th! I couldn't be more excited and will report back here on how the workshop went. Colorado Springs is about 225 miles from where I live, and it will be a nice weekend road trip and I look forward to meeting the clay artists of Pikes Peak Polymer Clay Guild.

Fun With Tory: Imitative Ivory

I just finished making my first batch of imitative ivory using the techniques in Victoria Hughes' book, Polymer The Chameleon Clay. Her ivory technique is not just getting the color right, but imitating the striations and aged look of ivory. This was the first technique in her book I tried, it is very exciting to me as I see the potential of making old looking beads.

I made some disk beads from the ivory stock, and also made two pendants, a carved turtle and a carved bird using prebaked inclusions.

Fun With Tory: Prebaked Inclusions

I recently acquired Victoria Hughes' book, Polymer The Chameleon Clay. I am having a lot of fun with it and will be doing many more posts with the results of the imitative techniques she pioneered. For starters, I made a batch of prebaked inlays for future use.