Week 5 - 52 pairs of earrings a year challenge

This week, before I could get to make any new canes...I made myself clean up first! So I used up some odds and ends of canes I had made recently in a new Stroppel cane. The first two cuts through this fresh cane turned into my funky '52 pairs of earrings a year challenge' entry for week 5!!

Week 5 - 52 pairs of earrings a year challenge. Organic Stroppel earrings.

Mad Hatter Brooch.

Organic Stroppel bangle.

With the same scrap cane, I made two pairs of earrings, the Mad Hatter brooch and the Organic Stroppel bangle shown above. Aaah how I love that cane - it makes cleaning up so much more interesting!!

My earring frenzy

On the eve of my first BrisStyle indie Twilight Market, I've finally gotten around to taking photos of all my stock. In particular, the 30-something pairs of earrings I have been busily making up over the past week or so in readiness for market night! These 30-something pictures have now been uploaded onto my Flickr site.

I've also joined a new challenge on Flickr, hosted by Anke - the "52 pairs of earrings a year" challenge. An amazing source of inspiration to get and keep creating! I must admit, I've been a little time-shy during the last four weeks since I started this challenge but am hoping to keep to the weekly schedule from now on!! Here are my first 4 weeks of earrings:

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

WEEK 3

WEEK 4

Mokume Who Now?

Mokume Gane is an amazing technique that can give some stunning results when applied in polymer clay work. It always catches my eye when I see it and as such it's a technique that really appeals to me but that I am yet to master! Here are a few examples to show the effects you can achieve:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/artandtea/4688478570/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandarinmoon/5948541916/
http://www.thewhimsicalbead.com.au/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Envy_2.jpg

For the aussiepolyclayers December/January challenge, we decided we would "Challenge Ourselves." It's such a busy time of year and this challenge was perfect! It has run for two months to give everyone time to challenge themselves in their own unique way, in their own time. I have finally been able to spend some time with my clay this past week and got stuck into my chosen challenge - Mastering Mokume Gane!

I have tried once or twice before but never been happy with the results so I decided that for my personal challenge over this December/January, I would sit down with some web tutorials and try to master this technique.

The first web tute that grabbed my fancy was this one by Korinne Zimmerman. I followed it exactly for the green cane in Image 1. Then played about adding extras and more texturing and manipulation of the cane.

Image 1: Mokume Gane first attempt, pre-cured cane slices.

Image 2: cured and finished Mokume Gane beads and bits!

Image 3: MG earrings, made to cheer up a friend.