Playing with the Combing / Feathering Technique

Following my inspiration from Stephane Rolland dress I have decided to try out the Combing/Feathering technique.  The tutorial I have used for this comes from my very first polymer clay book How To Make Polymer Clay Beads by Carol Blackburn.  She has two tutorials for this technique in her first shes uses clay and calls it combing, which I have actually used before in my early days of claying as you can see below

Ocean Beaded Necklace - Combing technique using polymer clay

Ocean Teardrop Pendant - Combing using polymer clay

Her second tutorial is called feathering and she uses liquid polymer clay for this, I did also try this method first time round too but my piece would not dry and had to be scrapped.

This time round I will be trying both again but using only three colours mainly black and white with dashes of red. 

Feathering technique using liquid clay 1st attempt

Feathering

Here is my first piece ...
and although it looks great it just did'nt dry and I had to scrap it again.

I think I may have used too much oil paint which can take days to dry

Feathering with liquid clay 2nd attempt

Second attempt...
at first seemed better but after leaving it to dry it all blurred into each other and the feathering pattern was lost.

I think too much liquid clay this time, its obviously a real balancing act and one I will have to try again after all practice makes perfect.

If you have tried this effect and have any tips to help me get it right I would love to here from you.

Combing with clay 3 colours used

Combing

Here is the results from my combing technique using 3 colours of clay.

Its looking good, the pattern is larger than when I first tried this technique but I have put that down to using just the 3 colours this time.











Despite looking good its not been so easy to apply as this time round it lost its shape and pattern when applied to beads or onto a cabochon.

Combing sheet applied to pebble shaped beads

Combing sheet applied to a raised cabochon

It looks much more effective when kept flat so the pattern can't be altered, so I am still toying with some ideas of what to make with my remaining sheet.

Combing a section has been used to create a part of this pendant

Things British this March

Spring is finally here, its beautiful outside but alas I am indoors blogging to let you know about my latest jewellery available for sale now at Things British.

Green Daisy Elasticated Bracelet

Millefiori Beige Thong Necklace

Millfiori Oblate Necklace

Just a sample of a few new items, I'll bring you more soon, I'm off to enjoy some sunshine.

Inspirations from Paris Fashion Week 2012

I was recently inspired by Lava dress I saw at Paris fashion week by Stephane Roland as part of his Haute-Couture Collection

 I love the simplicity of the black and white but the flash of red I feel adds an inner layer a glimpse of another side of ones personality maybe.

So with this inspiration I have been working on some clay pieces here

Monochrome Floral Brooch

Monochrome Pendant

Monochrome Wrap Beads

Its not actually as simple as one would think you really have to get the balance of the red right and in the right place too some styles I tried just would not work.  Here are some bracelets I also made, my intention was for a single red bead to be included with each bracelet but the balance was just not right, it could have been because they where solid red beads unlike my pieces above where the red had been wrap around a black bead breaking the colour up.

Monochrome White Floral Bracelet

Monochrome Black Floral Bracelet

Strawberry Truffles Etsy Treasury

My new chocolate candy handbag charm has been added to a yummy Etsy treasury by Emma-Louise and Sandra

Strawberry Truffles

 

Chocolate Candy Handbag Charm

On my worktop today

Here's a quick look at what I'm working on right now

My Worktop

Back to work lots more to make