Making Beads from Polymer Clay - Makume Gane Technique

This website, Bead Making, gives an excellent tutorial on making beads using the Mokume Gane method of layering clays, alternating with a sheet of gold laminating paper.

If you are interested in the process of Japanese bead making using this silversmithing technique, this video is excellent to review and follow. Just click here: Makume Gane

I used that YouTube video to make about four dozen colorful blue, green, pink, gold and aqua beads. Following the steps in the video tutorial, here are my steps in making Makume Gane clay beads, shown in pictures:

First, I rolled five colors of Sculpey clay (available at craft stores for about $1 per cube, sale price) with my pasta maker machine. This machine saves your hands from a workout, and thoroughly mixes the clay while taking out air bubbles at the same time. (Use any of the clay colors to make scrap balls which will be layered with the Makume Gane processed clay slices.)

Next, I layered five colors of clay together. Different colors can be created by mixing the clays from their primary colors originally purchased; this is how I made the aqua and the pink colors from the purchased primary colors of clay.

Translucent clay is necessary to add to the layers of clay, because it gives a nice sheen to the finished bead. The translucent clay looks white, so make sure you purchase the clay clearly marked "translucent".

The gold leaf sheet was added last, then folded over several times (not in the pasta machine during this process) to make a stack of clays about 1/2 inch thick.

Then the stack of clays was shaved off to wrap around balls of clay. This makes the design on the covering of the previously molded bead from scrap clay. I made three differing sizes of beads. After trying to get them into uniform sizes, I learned that the trick is to take one round ball (again, scrap clay) which you have shaped, and cut it into two equal halves...ta da....each ball will then be the same diameter after rolling. This shaping was done by hand, but there are various little machines to purchase if you think you are going to get into this hobby in a big way.

The colors I chose to make are some of my favorites, and will complement some yarn recently received in a yarn swap on Ravelry.

Next, a hole was bored through the bead with a T-pin (used in jewelry making), or a large needle could be used to make the center hole. When the beads looked symetrical after poking the center hole and with a litte more cylindrical or round reshaping, I placed them on foil and baked them on a cookie sheet in the oven for 25 minutes at 265 degrees. After baking and cooling, the beads were buffed with wet sandpaper a few times.
Then I sprayed the beads with acrylic spray several times to make a shiny surface.

I'm in the process of making earrings with these beads and will show more pictures of the finished beads in the next post. There are enough beads to make another watch band with earrings to match, similar to what was posted a few weeks ago in this blog.

If this process sounds like work, I can only say that in my humble opinion (IMHO), it was a lot of fun. And it was rewarding to make beads in the colors I desired, while at a fraction of the cost to purchase ready-made beads. And I ended up with a slew of cool beads.

Emmeline Apron by Meg McElwee

Back in July, I wrote about designer McElwee and The Sew Liberated-Apron. Since it is Friday and a day for finishing up projects, thought I would show how the apron and pocket project turned out. So here is a picture (too bad there is no cute young girl around to model it).

It is reversible, and each side has this a pocket made from a vintage apron, transfers, and embroidery.

A few of the steps on the embroidering of the flapper girl pocket are shown in the photo below and previously written up here.

Coloring with crayons on fabrice is a neat and easy concept. The idea was blatantly copied from giggleface studios for all steps of the Flapper Girl face.

The apron has a flattering fit over both the bodice and hips, and I'm wearing it today over crop pants.

Making Transfer Images for Collages Using Transparencies

In working with collage art, practically anything goes by way of materials and subject.

By definition, collage is an artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and/or color. The origin of the word "collage" comes from the French word "coller," which means to glue. Simply put, anything that is glued or pasted onto something else might be broadly interpreted as collage. Historically, collage has existed for many centuries; and, notably, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque launched collage into the art world of Paris in the twentieth century and made it a mainstream term with a more widely accepted understanding. But, much earlier, experimentation in collage took place in France (Madison ArtShop).

The first source I researched about the process of making transfers of images was art-e-zine for easy directions for making transfers of images onto fabric or paper by using your chosen art object, an inkjet printer, imaging paper (transparency paper), Golden Brand fluid matte medium, and a rolling pin.

Ensure that you are using the correct transparency type and print onto the textured side of either Great White Photo & Imaging paper (#86010, or Apollo Jet Printer Transparency Film (Not Quick Dry) or JetPrint Inkjet Imagining Photo Paper or JetPrint Multi Purpose Imagining Paper, glossy. Note: I could not find any of the cited transparencies available in stock at local stores, so I ended up with this product: Brand name: 3M, “Transparency Film for Inkjet Printers CG3480”

Here are the basic instructions:

1. Copy your image from your inkjet printer onto the textured side of the transparency paper. All to dry for 15 min. after printing.

2. Paint a thin coat of the Golden fluid (not gel) matte medium atop the image you want to transfer to the paper (or fabric). Easy clean up can be accomplished by using a small foam brush for the application of fluid medium. Also apply some fluid matte medium to the object where it will adhere.

3 Put a sheet of waxed paper over this wet image.

4. Then roll over it with a rolling pin or the back of a spoon for burnishing.

5. Wait one minute and carefully lift off backing paper, and the picture will be transferred.

Reminder: Do NOT USE anything BUT the recommended Photo paper, an inkjet printer, Golden Brand Matte Medium, and heavy paper to transfer an image onto (like heavy watercolor paper) … as your skill level increases, you might add metal or glass under the image transfer.

Any little slubs or wrinkles acquired in the burnishing process just adds to the vintage look.

The person who first originated (or documented) and copyrighted this innovative process was Leslie Riley in 2002 . Riley also administers the inkjet transfer group at the InkJet Yahoo Group, where you can find her original documentation in the "Files Folder".

Some lovely work can be found here: art-e-zine by Donia Nance.

Free vintage art can be found here: Transfers and at art-e-zine. Here are a couple of pictures I plan on using for inkjet transfers from these sources:

Have a go at it. It is fun!