Made In Ja-Pam

Earlier this year, a friend of mine commissioned me to create a couple of mustard seed pendants to give as gifts. You can see them here. She liked the pendants so much that she asked if I could create another pendant to give as a birthday gift for her daughter!

For her daughter’s pendant, she requested that it be another round version, but with a silver metallic finish instead of the gold I had done originally.

It is basically the same design as the round gold pendant except I used components that matched the silver finish she requested. As usual, I harvest pieces and components from jewelry I already have on hand, or make them from wire. In this case I took a link off of a large silver chain and wrapped it with wire to create a bail.

The pendant itself is polymer clay dusted with silver metallic powder. A channel was carved into the side of the pendant so that the text could be inlaid then encased in clear resin. This time I lined the bottom of the channel with white polymer clay so that the text would show more clearly once the resin was used.

A round hole was cut into the pendant then filled with clear resin in layers. This allowed me to float the single mustard seed inside the resin. Here are a couple more shots that show more angles.

I received an email from my friend the day after she gave her daughter the pendant. She said her daughter really loved it and thought it was extra special since her mom had come up with an idea for a special gift, and that she knew that I had actually handcrafted it especially for her. It felt great knowing that it held special meaning for her and that she really liked her birthday gift!

Here are some earrings that are a little different, that I tried as an experiment. Instead of simply attaching a bowl-shaped piece onto a square shape and calling it a day, I decided to connect them together with wire and thread charms and chains to each end. I felt it would add more visual interest and give it much more movement.

I started out by creating square shapes in polymer clay and coating them with gold metallic powder. The bowl shapes were sculpted in translucent polymer clay and dusted with yellow-green metallic powder. A wire runs through both pieces. At the back of each earring is a single copper bead to anchor it, with a chain and circular charm hung between the copper bead and the back of the square piece. In between the square and bowl shape is another shorter piece of fine chain. To anchor the front of the wire inside the bowl shape is another copper bead. I decided to loop the end of the wire so I could dangle a tiny silver charm at the front of the piece.

Here is another shot of the earrings at a slight angle that better shows the different layers.

I’m pleased with the results and will most likely try other pieces using this basic idea. They would most definitely be a good conversation piece when one wears them!

A friend really liked the Tiny Clear Earrings With Aqua and Gold I had posted earlier, and asked if I had a pendant that went with the earrings. I didn’t have one, so I created a custom pendant for her to make up a set.

Here are a couple of photos of the front of the pendant. I included two shots since the lighting on the right image shows that the resin is actually clear. (too much glare in the outdoor shots!)

The rectangular piece is clear resin with tiny aqua glass beads and tiny gold beads floating inside. Instead of simply attaching a bail to the top of a resin, I decided to sculpt an asymmetric piece that covers one corner of the resin. I used polymer clay and embedded some wire at the top to act as a bail. Metallic powder was applied to give the clay an antiqued gold look, and finished it with some clear resin embellishments.

Here are some additional shots of the pendant from different angles:

It was a bit of a challenge to create a snug fit between the resin and the corner piece, but well worth it to give it a different look. I hope she likes it!

Recently, a good friend of mine asked if I would create a pendant for her niece. The only thing she requested was that it contain a single mustard seed, and the text, “all things are possible.’ I wasn’t familiar with mustard seed pendants at all. She suggested I do a search online to see what is out there, but that she didn’t like any of them. She wanted me to create something unique and different.

I created this round version first. Originally I wanted to engrave the text, but found this extremely difficult on such a small piece. Reluctantly I had to cave and use printed text. The pendant was sculpted out of polymer clay and finished with a metallic powder. I dug out a channel on the side of the piece, inlaid the text then filled the channel with clear resin. The droplets on the front of the pendant are a combo of plain clear resin and some with resin mixed with a bit of metallic powder. I made the bail by using a link from a thick chain I had and wrapping it with some thinner wire to anchor it to the piece. The mustard seed is encased in clear resin inside a round hole that was cut through the entire piece.

Here are some other views:

After I finished sculpting the round pendant, I wasn’t quite sure I really felt confident in it. Another design popped into my head, so I created another pendant and decided I’d let my friend choose which she would like to give to her niece. This time I sculpted a rectangular shape with a metallic finish. Again I dug out a channel on the side of the piece, inlaid the text and encased it in clear resin. The mustard seed is also suspended in clear resin inside a round hole that runs through the piece. I embellished with a sculpted swirl and a single resin dot as an accent. The bail was created by taking a link from a chunky chain and secured with wire hidden inside the polymer clay.

Here are a couple of other angles, showing the side with the inlaid text and the back of the piece.

When it came time to show my friend the results, surprisingly she loved both and asked if she could take them all! She gave the round pendant to her niece and kept the rectangular pendant for herself. I felt very flattered by how excited she was with both of them (and a bit relieved.) She has even commissioned me for a couple more of them! Pretty cool!

Here are a couple of new earrings I created which have a sort of ledge on the front where resin was applied.

This first pair are tiny rounded rectangles with an antiqued gold effect on them. The resin filling the ledge on the front is mixed with a bit of green metallic powder to give it a bit of shimmer.

The round pair above have a gunmetal grey metallic finish as the base with half circle antiqued copper metallic finish on top. The ledge on this pair is filled with resin tinted green with alcohol pigment. It’s a little hard to tell it’s green but the resin is extremely shiny, which catches the light really well. A single copper bead connects it all to the earring wire.

I like the effect of the resin sitting on a ledge in the clay, so I’ll definitely be trying out other variations in the near future.