365 Days of Lip Service

Messing with Mona

   

I named today's lid after a class concept I've taught from time to time. Students work with a Mona Lisa image transfer as the focal element of an accessory or jewelry creation. The goal is to embellish the image for a whimsical effect. I love creating anything Kinetic. I'm moved by moving parts. I made the polymer clay image transfer, adding the tiny crown embellishment. Before framing this under glass, I added micro embellishments including SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS crystals, semiprecious gems, jewelry spacers and other elements. I surrounded the glass frame with a striped clay border. The components under the glass move freely when the jar is turned or shaken. The result: pure silliness and joy through creativity!    

Mirror, Mirror on the Jar

     

This is one of my favorite designs for the jars I've made for gifts. It "mirrors" another gifty creation I've been making for years and years - "Peek-a-Boo" pocket mirrors. For well over a decade, I've been covering the back of small craft mirrors with decorative clay designs. These are ideal to slip into a purse or pocket. Who wants to pull out a huge compact mirror when applying Carmex, lipstick, or checking your teeth for leftovers? I love that I can do these in manly colors and patterns so fellas can check their look on the sly too. Soon after I began making single mirrors, I also started attaching these to Carmex lids and embellishing around them for a similarly functional use. Securing the mirror are detailed millefiori cane leaves, tipped with SWAROVSKI ELEMENT flatback crystals framed by clay. A textured black clay border covers the rim and highlights the leaf slices. Who's the fairest Carmex wearer in the land?  

Flannel-ish

     

This criss-cross millefiori cane reminds me of one of my favorite flannel shirts. Sadly, I wore it into extinction, but I always found it's softness comforting and the colors soothing. I can recall exactly what it felt like to wear this shirt just by looking at this jar. Before gluing the cane slice to the lid, I gave it a gentle tug from each side, gently distorting the pattern for a fabric-like effect. I used abstract cane slices, abutted side-by-side, to create the border for a woodsy feel. This lid just makes me want to nestle under a blanket with a good book and say aaahhhhhhh!  

All Buttoned Up

    

JHB International has some of the most amazing and artistic buttons imaginable. Walking through their headquarters is like being a kid in a candy store. I have an incredible stash of buttons I'm dying to create with, but with so many hours in a day, I have yet to make a serious dent in the ideas I've got waiting in the wings. Today's lid features one of these amazing buttons (#50107). I backfilled the button's openings with metallic mica-based polymer clay. After trimming the excess clay and leaving it flush with the button's surface, I textured the backfilled area with a needle tool. A large SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS chaton crystal was added to the center and framed with two layers of black and gold clay. The side of the lid is made using the Sutton Slice technique (found in "The Complete Book of Polymer Clay") and my "Stripped Tube" texture stamp. Lastly, I glued SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS plastic banded crystal (#50 002) around the edge for a glittering border. 

Fit for a King

  

Among some of Tierracast's newer findings are the Quatrefoil frames. These remind me of Medieval architectural elements often found in castles throughout Europe. I used a large finding (#94-3141) in gold to frame one of my favorite millefiori mirror canes set with a small SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS chaton. The base surrounding the focal element and the lid's rim are made from a sheet of orange clay with Staedtler's Abalone Leaf Metal applied to the surface. The sheet was gently stretched to create a crackle effect and glued over the surface of the lid using Poly Bonder Hi-Temp glue before adding the framed cane slice. A second frame of orange clay was added last and textured with a needle tool before baking.    

Mille-Filagree

    

Upon finishing this mirror cane, I felt that the design resembled filagree. I feel that the subtle play of neutral tones with green shades creates an elegant feel to the overall design. Layered teardrop cane slices and clay faux seed beads adorn the rim made with a textured base of pearl clay. A single SWAROVSKI ELEMENT crystal adorns the center in a clay frame. 

Crystal Flip

    

The lovely and dimensional crystal embellishment that adorns today's lid featuring SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS crystals set over into a feathered polymer clay bull's eye cane slice. I created a repeat border pattern from the same cane seen on the lid from April 10th. I soldered a piece of 16 gauge piece of silver toned Parawire to form the ring the frames the edge of the lid. 

Aqua Velvet?

    

Browns and turquoise tones are among my favorite color combinations for caning with, especially when making mirror canes. This lid is embellished with teeny, tiny, metallic nail heads (from Kandi Corp). A "deckled" effect clay border frames the lid and drips down over the rim. The base of the rim is a mesh-effect millefiori cane of black veins instersecting through turquoise colored clay.

 

Good Day Sunshine!

    

The gradient petals of the sunflower were created using a texture stamp and the Sutton Slice technique (found in "The Complete Book of Polymer Clay"). After texturing the black clay substrate layer the surround the flower, the center was filled with a thin layer of Crystal Clay (epoxy clay). Graduated colors of SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS chaton crystals were pressed into the Crystal Clay to form the center of the flower. The "pinecone" style border was made by layering gradient cane slices, one over the other and trimmed flush with the lid's edge. 

Cane-errific

    

I used an "amalgam" of canes from my studio stash for this lid. A mirror cane slice is the primary element with feathered petal cane slices adorning the lid in a scalloped fashion. In between the top petal slices, faux "seed beads" made from identically-sized balls of blue clay were attached and decorated simultaneously by pressing the center with a needle tool. A SWAROVSKI ELEMENT chaton crystal is embedded in the center. The base of the rim is textured black clay.