“Like the ruffled
skirts of a forest sprite,
the blue petals of this
beautiful sculpted Iris
pendant, shimmer and
dance on the…” ~Cindy Lietz
Not surprisingly, if you look up Iris in a book of flower meanings, the definition is, Inspiring. I mean just by gazing upon these gorgeous flowers, you can’t help but be inspired! So what better piece of polymer clay jewelry could there be, than a Sculpted Iris Pendant to share for today’s inspirational spotlight.
In today’s photo shoot, Doug captured a the Sculpted Polymer Clay and Copper Wire Wrapped Iris Pendant that I made just recently, using some of the new pearl colors from Premo.
As you may have noticed from today’s featured Gallery post, as well as from previous ones (see Mosaico Earrings for another example of a recent Gallery feature), these photo spreads are included here at the blog to provide you guys with ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
Please use the comment section at the bottom of the page, to discuss the items presented… or to let me know what other projects you would like to see and learn more about.
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Sculpted Blue Iris Polymer Clay Pendant:
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************************************************************************************************** Like the ruffled skirts of a forest sprite, the Blue Petals of this beautiful Sculpted Iris Pendant, shimmer and dance on the neck of whomever wears it. Shifting from a Dark Navy Blue, blending to Peacock and then fading to a soft Violet, this artistic flower pendant will compliment any wardrobe… whether a delicate silk blouse or a great pairs of jeans and a T-Shirt. Wire wrapped with hand torched copper headpins, the pendant is approximately 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) long, and 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) wide. It hangs from a Black nylon coated steel cable that can be cut any length up to 20 inches (51 cm) maximum. This necklace would make the perfect gift for a girl or woman that loves the beauty of nature and wants to stand out from the crowd. Price: $30 (US) Sculpted Blue Iris Flower Pendant – If you are interested in purchasing the jewelry item shown in today’s gallery post above, then please send an email to let me know. Be sure to include your full mailing address so I can work out the shipping cost and get back to you with payment instructions. ************************************************************************************************** |
| ** Did You Know… Members with current subscriptions to the weekly tutorial videos are always entitled to a 10% discount when purchasing 6 or more back issue packages in a single transaction. If you are interested, let me know which back issues you would like, and I will send further instructions on how to complete your order. |
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Love the colors. How does the clasp work? It looks interesting.
Thanks for the compliments guys! Hope you all had (or are having, depending where you live) a great holiday weekend. It is absolutely beautiful here today. Wish I was at the beach with my family. It would be the perfect day for it!
As far as the clasp and cable goes, I purchased these ones from a local store that sells them unfinished. One side is the barrel side (the part you see) and it is threaded inside. The other side is a small kind of screw end, that is crimped on after cutting the cable the right length. When you spin the barrel side onto the screw side, the screw side disappears inside. Next time Doug photographs this style of clasp, I’ll get him to show it apart, so you can see it a little better.
The clasp is normally just a plain silver color, but I added a strip of Copper Tape down the center of this one that I made for myself. The copper tape tends to peel up though, so if someone buys this pendant, they will get a cable without the copper tape and it will be cut to their own size. I don’t mind the peeling up for myself, but until I can figure out a way to stick the edges down better, I don’t want to sell it that way.
@Cindy Lietz from Sculpted Iris Flower Bead Video Tutorial: This is an absolutely beautiful iris pendant..!! It’s just stunning! I love the copper wire wrapping too! Love this piece all the way around…! Once again you’ve done what you’ve set out to do – you’ve got me inspired to break out the clay…. As soon as I get home from the grocery store (I’m leaving after I post this) I’ll start to play with my clay. :)
Thanks Cindy – You Rock!!!
Peace, Love, & Clay,
~Lisa :)
The color is beautiful and I love the wire around it.
Simply gorgeous, Cindy….
Beautiful Cindy, “Like the ruffled skirts of a forest sprite.” Love it.
It really is beautiful Cindy! Love the blue color.
I am also interested in the black cable and clasp you used. You say that the cable can be adjusted in length? I actually purchased a few of these cable wire necklaces from FMGems, but they were premade and not adjustable. Are you able to remove the clasps and adjust the length of this wire, then?
Lovely piece of work, Cindy. Of course, I expect nothing less from you…you’re work is always exceptional :)
Oh, how I wish we could go back and modify our messages to fix our errors! Of course, I meant to say, “your work is always exceptional.”
Oh how I love that shade of blue! Very pretty.
What a gorgeous shade of blue; the pearl in them makes it even more beautiful and the blend is just perfect. Stunning pendant!
Cindy – I have looked and looked, but can not find the info you shared with us about making our own copper ball head pins. Would you mind directing me to that video? I don’t remember if you demostrated it, or sent us a link for a video. Thanks so much.
@Jonalee M: I found a description here: Making Headpins
Looks like Cindy just put her method in the blog up top. Hope this helps!
Ditto on the hand torched head pins?
@Michelle L:
Ditto from me too, Cindy! In fact it would be great if you could include a few simple torch techniques, perhaps with PMC – as this medium is so closely linked with polymer clay?
Also, may I add my thanks to you Cindy for all the effort you go to for all of us, you deserve to go from strength to strength!
Jonalee, Marion and Michelle: “torched head pins” in search box = Making Your Own Jewelry Headpins, plus lots of other references. Hope this helps.
@Jocelyn: THANK YOU! I’ll be going through these this weekend!
My gravatar has disappeared. Can anyone tell me how do i get it to show again?
It’s back. Don’t know why it was not showing.
I thought you could find anything on google, but I am stumped. I was in Lowes looking for wire. The man who was helping me took me to some welding wire. Lincoln Electric .8mm SuperArc copper. It looks just like the wire in the craft stores. But I am thinking it must not be good for bead wrapping because I can’t find anything good or bad when I put welding wire and jewelry in the same search……..
@Lisa Potter: Lisa, if the copper is solid, then it’s OK. I googled “copper welding wire” hoping that there would be a simple definition somewhere, but I couldn’t find one. I did look at multiple websites and, reading between the lines, my conclusion is that this wire is steel that is coated with copper. If that’s the case, then it’s not going to work for jewelry.
Love this pendant!
The color is vibrant ~ eye catching…
The copper adds a nice warmth next to the cool blues & violet!
Thanks Linda,
It seemed like such a great deal, but I think I will return it. I bought copper, silver, and a kind of smokey gray. BIG spools for about $10.00 ea. As the saying goes, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. I still think there should be some commentary on it somewhere!
@Lisa Potter: Lisa, it’s really weird that nobody in Lowe’s can tell you what the wire is. If the copper-colored wire is pure copper, then you’ve got a great deal.
I did a search and found that .812mm is equal to 20 gauge wire. If it’s copper with some other metal core (I’m seeing steel in most of my searches), see if it bends the way you need it to. If it does, then why not keep it? However, if it does have a different metal core, you won’t want to try balling the end with a torch.
Regarding the silver and smokey gray colored wire, if it bends well enough to do what you want and you like it, then keep it. I’d be cautious about using it for earwires. You might want to spray it with PYMII to keep it from tarnishing or rusting…I don’t know if PYMII should be used for earwires.
@Linda K.: If not solid copper, then of course you won’t want to hammer it, either. But, it would still be good, as you say, Linda, for other types of findings, jump rings, wire wrapping, head pins not balled, etc. Good price on that. I agree with using the PYMII, as well. Good idea.
@Rebecca (Becky) Chisenhall: Oh, yes. I forgot about hammering. Depending on the metals, it might be OK if you’re careful.
@ Lisa, when you hammer it, if the outer coating is thin it will probably chip off as you hammer it. If you’re trying to flatten the metal (like when making a paddle at the bottom of a head pin), you’ll have to use a chasing hammer and that’s when the outer coat could chip. If you’re only trying to work harden the metal, then a nylon, rubber, or rawhide hammer shouldn’t harm it.
What will happen if I hammer it? Will it become brittle? I have had some major life issues to contend with since I started asking this question. I haven’t returned the wire, or had a chance to really check out it’s bendabilty. Trying to figure out how to do that in a way that I can still return it if I don’t think it is going to work. I have been looking locally for the PYMII because the shipping is 1/2 as much as the cost of the product. Any suggestions? Can’t find it at Hobby Lobby or my little JoAnn Fabrics……..
@Lisa Potter: Hi Lisa, PYMII is also sold under the name of SuperSeal. If you go to the link by my name, it will take you to a post where there is a discussion with the makers of PYMII and some info about store locations to get their product.