The most popular compound for making clay art jewelry today is polymer clay. This versatile, durable modeling compound is not actually a clay at all, but is made of plastic materials. It doesn’t dry out, remaining pliable until you cure it in your home oven, creating a permanent, durable piece. The durability of polymer clay, along with its ease of use, makes it ideal for jewelry pieces. The wide variety of colors, textures and finishes available can even let you create clay bead jewelry and pendants that look like stone, glass or ceramic. Here are some tips to get you started making beautiful polymer clay jewelry pieces.
As with most modeling clays, polymer clay must be worked and softened before you can use it. The easiest way to do this is by breaking off a small piece of clay and working it in your hands, as the heat from your hands will help soften the clay. For larger quantities of clay, some polymer clay artists choose to use a small food processor to chop and work the clay to get it started. This saves some effort, but keep in mind that once you’ve used the processor for clay, it can’t be used for food anymore. You should work the polymer clay until it is very soft and pliable.
Clay bead jewelry can be whimsical and colorful, it can be subdued and sophisticated or it can be anything in between. The sky is the limit when you’re creating beads from polymer clay. The simplest beads are created by simply rolling a bit of clay into a ball, then poking a hole through the ball with a toothpick. You can also make beads that are quite elaborate, incorporating different colors, shapes and textures. Don’t be afraid to experiment and be creative. To help your beads keep their shape while curing, you can thread them onto a skewer or thick wire, and lay it across a baking sheet.
Here is where your creativity can really soar. There is a little more leeway with pendants, as they can be larger than beads, and are generally the focal point of your finished jewelry piece. To make flat disk shapes to use as a base for your pendants, you can use a pasta roller to flatten your polymer clay, making it perfectly smooth without much effort. You can then cut out your desired shapes and embellish them as you wish.
Tags: Bead Jewelry, Jewelry Piece, Stone
Promise rings are becoming a common piece of jewelry among couples from all walks of like these days. However, many people are still a bit confused as to what the meaning of a promise ring actually is. Most commonly, promise rings symbolize a promise of commitment and love between two people. However, promise rings can also be used to denote any sort of promise between a couple, and doesn’t just have to be limited to a promise leading to an engagement or wedding.
It is important that both people in the relationship should be made to understand the reason for giving or accepting the gift of a promise ring. The most common reason for exchanging promise rings is when a couple has decided that they want to commit to spending the rest of their lives together, but aren’t quite ready for an official engagement or marriage. In cases like these, the promise ring will be replaced by an engagement ring when the couple is ready to make the next step.
Another common type of promise ring is known as the purity ring. Purity rings have a slightly different meaning than the typical pre-engagement promise ring. The usual meaning of a purity ring is a promise to remain chaste or to abstain from something, but can also be used to symbolize the promise to stay away from bad virtues such as drinking, drugs or smoking. It is common for a parent to give a child a purity ring with the promise that the childe will remain pure until marriage. This type of promise ring is becoming more and more popular in the United States and Europe.
Friendship is another reason for the exchange of promise rings. While the meaning would have no link to a romantic relationship, it would symbolize the promise of two people to a commitment to always be there for one another in times of need. In a case like this it is extremely important that both the giver and the recipient are aware of the meaning of the promise ring, so there is no confusing it for a promise ring based on romantic feelings.
Tags: Engagement Ring, Jewelry, Promise Ring