Every month when I create my New Color Tuesday mixes for Sculpey, I have these small bits and pieces of wonderful colors left from the mixes. It is my MOST favorite thing to do after I finish the month of mixes to create a piece of jewelry from the mixes. I challenge myself to both work with the quality of the scrap mixes and color as well as create something NEW.
We are all experiencing a shortage of our favorite colors in the stores and online, but we usually don’t have a shortage of scrap clay, so before you mix it to mud PLAY WITH IT!
This is what I’ve been doing with my scrap lately – testing to make sure that it wasn’t just a magical “glop o’ scrap” that I used to create this technique with the first time! I’m nicknaming it Mondrian Gane..
So let’s start at the beginning. Yesterday I grabbed this ball of scrap and sliced it apart.
So I pushed the pieces together and rolled them with my acrylic roller a bit to flatten it. They are still about 3/8 of an inch thick. Looks kind of like burled wood with some bits of contrast in it.
Next, I sheeted out some 18k Gold on the #5 setting (0 is my widest), and cover BOTH sides of the sheet with the 18k.
A similiar #5 sheet of a dark color goes over the TOP layer of Gold. I’ve used Souffle Poppy Seed here, but in one of my MANY after-thoughts, I wish I would have used a dark contrast color, for instance, Sea Glass?
After a quick rollover with my acrylic roller, I dig out some of my small cutters – usually my oval, circle and rectangle.
I push the cutters, often overlapping them, and flip the pieces to bring the 18k bottom layer to the top.
Yes, I go a little crazy with this!
Once I’ve decided that I’ve cut and flipped enough, I gently but firmly press on the edges to help tighten and seal the cuts up. I find that using my acrylic roller to lay against on side and then pushing against the roller is pretty effective. Then a quick roll or two over the top to smooth it and seal it a little more. If I’m not already on a smooth tile, I transfer the stack to a smooth tile and press or roll it gently to adhere it.
Now the fun begins! Normally, when we cut a mokume gane stack, we try to slice as then and evenly as possible. Not so much with this style. In fact, I curve my blade and let it dig in a little and make short slices.
Continue across the stack, carefully removing those slices to a sheet of clean paper.
How cool is this!?! I purposely left some of the black around the edges in the hope of using a little bit of it in my final cuts.
Once again, a quick rollover with my acrylic roller to smooth out the uneven surface. Not only does this smooth the surface, but it also helps turn the micas to make those GLOW..
Now all I have to do is figure out what spaces and shapes I want to use! THAT is the tough part…
And don’t forget to remount those slices and use those as well!
Now, here’s a look at some more finished scrap pieces that are patiently awaiting my assembling into finished pieces…
xoxo, syn
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