Still cleaning

The cleaning continues.......

This past week I spent many, many hours, trying to figure out what to do with a fairly large (actually to me it is down right huge!) piece. I made the piece probably about two years ago; mostly as a what if project.

When I was teaching, the last six weeks were tough. The students were tired of being in school and were more focused on getting out of school than on their assignments. It was a perfect time to introduce a new medium to them. So, we spent the end of the school year creating with polymer clay. (The bad thing about doing it then was how warm the room was. Not the best thing for polymer.)

Of course, I played with the polymer too. I made a couple of pieces that I used to decorate the tops of some wooden containers. One was in warm colors and one in cool colors. The design reminded me of a Van Gogh painting.

It was one of these polymer pieces that I used for an impression with the silicon mold. It was rather a large mold, but I used Standard PMC since it shrinks 30%. (Even still the finished metal clay piece is big!)

It was also my first try with Aura 22. I used the gold as an accent on the small circles within the piece. But I don't think the consistency was right as the gold came out rather lumpy. Aura 22 requires having a medium mixed in with it and I wasn't sure exactly how much to add.

I really didn't like the piece when it was done. So away it went to be hidden in a drawer. Every so often I would pull it out, take a look and put it back in. Occasionally I would ask someone for some input. It wasn't until Laurie Kulkulski suggested that I turn it on it's side, that I decided it wasn't so bad. A different viewpoint was just what was needed. So, I drilled some holes in it and put it back in the drawer.

Another year would go by before I would pull it out again. Every so often I would take a look, still not knowing what to do with it. But, some ideas were formulating.

I had it laying out in my studio, when Swan, another jeweler in the Transit, said she could see it curved. So, I did just that. Another couple of months went by while I kept trying to find the perfect beads to compliment the piece. (You won't believe how many different strands of beads I bought for this purpose.... most ended up in other pieces.)

Now I am not a beader and maybe that is why this was such a struggle. I finally finished the necklace on Saturday. Even then I had to go ask for help on how to keep the twisted strands from untwisting.

I'm still not sure it is finished. I wore it today to see how it would hang (even though it is not me.) It didn't hang quite the angle I thought it would and it might be too long. I really don't want to work on it anymore, but that is exactly what will probably happen.

But I'm still considering it as one more piece finished. Haven't opened a package of clay in over a week. (I think I'm having withdrawal symptoms though.)