Making Pendants with Premo Accents

click to enlarge

This morning my goal was to get up really early and start working on the  pendants I wanted to create today. I must admit, I did not get up as soon as my alarm went off but I only hit the snooze button a few times.

I have a craft fair quickly approaching in January 2015 and need some more jewelry pieces for my display table.

Now, on to the pendants. The polymer clay colors chosen were all Premo Accent colors of 1oz size bars. The colors are Bronze, Peacock Pearl, 18k Gold and Navy Blue.



All bars were chopped into little pieces and conditioned. I find chopping them up first allows the conditioning process to go a little faster. Some people use a food processor for this step. I just use a sharp blade.

Next, I laid the colors side by side and ran them thru a pasta machine until the desired colors were reached (technique is called a Skinner Blend). Clay was cut diagonally so each piece would have all color mixes included. 

I like to run some of the strips back through the pasta machine for a more defined color combination. When the clay sheet is cut into strips, the strips are easier to handle.

I used a round cutter to cut out slices. I found this to be a good technique to use if you want all your pieces to end up being the same size. Next, I rolled the cut out slices into balls.
 

This is what unbaked looks like.

The final steps are fun since it involves my creative side. I look at all sides of the bead and decide what will be the front of the pendant. 

Then, the bead is either left as a bead, flattened or swirled. Add the hole now. After the piece is baked, you'll need a drill to make a hole.

This is what baked looks like.

Viola! I'm done.  Time to bake @ 275 degrees for 30 minutes per 1/4".

Since one of the Premo Accent clays is a pearl, I like to plunge the pieces into a bowl of iced water immediately upon taking them out of the oven. This little technique really brings out the pearl in the piece.











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Bye for Now.