Bending polymer ?

Hi from thepapersac
What a lovely bright, sunny day but so very cold. The sky is very blue and the sun is very low - looks lovely.

Ive just reviewed my post from yesterday and am struck with how 'frantic' it reads back to me ! It's my practice to read the previous post before writing just incase I forget to mention something promised from the day before. I think this 'frantic' style came out of my tooth issue. Thankfully, the tooth is sorted - my mouth is a bit tender but generally I feel 'all is well'. I hope today's blog will be a little more relaxed.

My head is still packed with new ideas for jewellery design. I have a vast range of Pinterest Boards developing, filled with things I like (for a design reference starting point). I'm still going with the 'faux metal' thing. I didn't get much done yesterday because of 'the tooth' but last night I tried out some shapes and am thinking about getting some paint layers onto these pieces, later today. I had no particular plan other than trying out a new star cutter (it's sold as a cake icing cutter). I'm not sure about the star shapes they are a bit too 'formed' I favour a more organic shape. However, I like the tiny size and they have baked beautifully.




Here is the batch of stuff with a few photos of re baked items.



The next few photos show the tiny kidney shaped post earrings. Ive buried the posts and now need to add some paint. They have worked well so far.








The next photo is a new layered piece which I want to make into a necklace. I will add several more layers to this piece as well as some paint techniques. Ive developed some earrings too and need to consider findings ? I have ideas but still not sure how they will evolve.



I do want to experiment, so nothings 'in or out' as far as design is concerned. I've made some paper shapes to act as a cutting template and will try them out later. I like to do this for sizing and it stops me getting carried away with very large earrings. I like large earrings but they don't suit me at all, so I like to stick with a smaller, thinner shape. The photo below shows 4 designs.


The templates on the right are based on a lovely idea by Amy Tavern here - check her out. Amy has an Etsy shop with fantastic jewellery. Ive been drawn to her bow style jewellery for some time and am trying to see if I can make polymer do something similar. If I can get the 'bend' to work I will experiment to develop my own shapes. Amy works in metal which is obviously a very different material - it's about wether I can get the polymer to bake and hold the shapes and then get the earring post to hold the structure. Great project - I love this sort of thing. Here is a photo of Amy's masterpiece.




I need to be focused today. I will spend some time experimenting later but for now it's down to work and mostly packaging (not my favourite thing). I need another coffee to get me going.

Bye for today.