London Polymer Clay Group

Here are photographs of some of the jewellery on display last Sunday at the July meeting of the London Polymer Clay Group. If you are interested in coming along to future meetings you can find more information here. 

Et voila…

The end of the process. After mixing the colours, shaping the beads, baking, sanding, drilling and varnishing them, the necklace is finished. This was a commission from someone who is allergic to silver plate. So the necklace has a sterling silver clasp and crimp beads as well as black onyx spacer beads to avoid any allergic reaction. Lets hope she likes it…..

All sorts all done

Drying out

After sanding and drilling, the beads are almost ready to be strung.  But first the little darlings need three coats of varnish to protect them from knocks and daily wear and tear. It takes several hours for them to dry out between coats. Here’s one way of keeping them captive while they dry.

Down on the bead farm

 

The worst bit

The worst bit of working with polymer clay is sanding the beads. They need to be sanded with heavy duty wet and dry sandpaper in water to get rid of fingerprints and marks. White is the worst colour as it picks up every little bit of dirt possible. I’ve often managed to sand off  my fingertips in the process. 

necklace in waiting

So I find myself staring at a large bowl of liquoice allsorts beads with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. There seems to be an awful lot of them. But a necklace has been commissioned so there’s no point in prevaricating.  Anyway fingertips grow back,  I think.