Bhuddha

Another mixed media work.

Buddha – The mind is everything. You become what you think. 

The process of making this necklace was quite a long one.  Many techniques go into this, different material used to get this together.  Each bead is handcrafted including the tiny silver spacers.  The Buddha face is acrylic on water color paper.  The effect with leaves on the left is made by my technique (frost glass) on polymer clay.  The beads of the necklace are polymer clay and glass.  An opera necklace, about 17 inches, light as wind.  I managed making matching earring this time J.  Photographing necklace this big is a task.  This is the best shot I could manage. 

Anuraga

The artist in me gets bored very quickly.  I have taken time to know the polymer clay and its working, now slightly getting bored with it.  Love to combine all the art forms I know to make mixed media work.  My next attempt is that.  I love beads from my very young age. I used to collect them whenever possible. I am so happy now I can make beads of any color I wish.

This is a painting done using a technique called relief technique which I had to fit into a 3x2.5 inch frame, then varnish and waterproof it.  I have used glass beads and semiprecious beads to complete the necklace with the painted pendent.

I called it Anuraga, meaning love, nothing less when it is Radha and Krishna comes together in a single frame.  What was more astounding was when I looking for other words for love in Sanskrit.  They have 96 odd other words for "Love".  No other language has this many words to choose from. 

All is fine.  When it comes to photograph this big a piece of necklace which is 17 inches long and is called opera, it gives you a tough time.  You can never get the whole thing in one picture.  somehow managed to get one with a new prop.

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A simple one which I managed to make with left overs from another project.  A simple pendent giving it a faux leather look finishing with African antique beads and red leather cord with matching earrings. 

Lapis lazuli

Another one re-paired from my discarded bead box.

These beads were made with a terracotta bead mold long ago. 
I was attempting to make faux lapis lazuli with silver bezel.  The beads did not turn out to my liking so was kept aside.  It was a long time ago, I still did not know about sanding and buffing and it is not done on this.  It is as it was baked.  I will be keeping this too with me.  

Beaded cord by Mom

My parents are at the "empty nest" stage.  My mom was depressed and we had a tough time with that.  We introduced her to the internet.  She was reluctant in the beginning, she has got a hang of things now :).  Her favorite is Pinterest.  She is brushing up her interests which she had kept aside for us, for our children.  She is happy with her old hobby revisited.  The result is in the above picture.  the tiny beaded cord is made by her. 

The pendent itself was a discarded one which I had made for a customer.  The beads too were in my discarded bead box or call it a we-will-look-into-it -later box.  The black and the gold ones have picked up the initial stage of the bubbles when it is just going to be charred (rescued in time) and other black beads and bead cap were made to complete the necklace for me to keep.  It is a slip on necklace with no clasp.  yes this is going to stay with me.  

Infinity

I named this piece Infinity.  Looking at it, looked like the design ends at the infinite.  Came up with this design in an attempt to use up an old cane I made during the learning process of cane making with polymer clay.  This necklace is a grand one with tube beads and textured handcrafted pc beads and complete with glass beads and adjustable cord with black and white handmade tassel ( I love making tassles) 

Random Muse

Made a jumki after a very long time.  I dread the thought of making jhumka.  This time made it with a mold.  A heavily detailed texture and I am love with that.  Added a bit of mica to bring out the beauty.  the base color is a beauty by itself.  I was so elated with this work. 

Simple Necklace

Finishing up a slab of my first Makuma Gane technique with a pendent, a dangler and a stud earring.  the pendent sways on leather cord.  The pendent is further decorated with metallic pen with self design.  you have take a closer look.  It is slightly obscured with my water mark.  

Dragonfly

A simple necklace with tassel earrings.  I was trying to get some stain glass effect with the design.  The color is vibrant. Bright green and blues apt for a child.  The pendent is on a organza cord.

Festive

Trying to make something that will take the essence of the festival.  I don't know if it did.  But I am satisfied with the work and one of friend commented it looked like wearable flower decoration called "Athapoo kalam".  That means it hit the point :) .  This was made during the festival of Onam, I think. yeah, I am so lazy to update the blog so it is difficult to remember.  Doing it today as if I a have an assignment to complete.  yes yes I do this pending work when I have found something else interesting and want to eagerly start with that.

A piece of art which I took a  long time to plan and execute.  The beads are woven with black cotton cord and adjustable cord attached.  A pair of earring to go with it. 

Photo Frame

Another image transfer technique.  This is my favorite.  This gem I found in my stash of wedding cards. This was actually a piece I made for a challenge called "into the frying pan" on my group HOP.  The pendent is finished with tube beads and simple beads made of polymer clay on matching cotton cord.

A small tutorial on how to string the pendent with all the metal parts concealed.  

The link to the trick of transferring the image is given in my previous post.

A friend had asked me to share the the secret of its stringing.  Here it is.  I am not an expert.  I take a lot of time to finish my creation.  So a lot of thought go into it. 

I do not have pictures of some of the initial steps.  I have managed some pictures for the later part.

Step 1: Bake the pendent with 2 eye pins inverted at an equal distance.  You will have the stem of the eye pin jutting out after the bake. ( No pic)

After baking the piece.
 Step2 : insert a bead into the eyepin and make a loop.

Step 3: knot the cord in the loop.  I have used a 5mm cotton cord.

Step4:  Now use a wide mouthed bead to cover the cord knot and the loop. I made a tube bead for this purpose.  Can also use store bought large mouth beads.

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Step 5: Add another bead if you wish after the tube bead.

 Step6 : knot the end, so that behind the scene is hidden, and leaves one wondering how the whole thing is strung.

 The secret  is revealed 😎😎😎

Image Transffering

A fun technique using printed paper towels.  A technique which went viral on the group by Patricia-Robert Thompson.  Click on her name will direct you to her YouTube channel.  You will find a lot of awesome tutorials.

This made me go searching for pretty printed paper towels.  My mom's kitchen was the perfect place.  Found a few there but made only one decent looking piece of jewelry :) .  I am not a kitchen person.  My craft shelves will be pretty much stocked up, more than what I may use in my lifetime.

The pendent and earrings are made of image transfer technique completed with purple shell pearl with uneven cut stone beads as spacers with a toggle clasp.