MADAGASCAR DENDRITIC AGATE!

I have been very busy lately with tucking my more tender plants up in the garden as the winter progesses, lately it has become quite cold and the tree ferns have had to be wrapped up in fleece for the winter I do leave it as long as possible, but the time has come and I would hate to lose them.

On the jewellery scene I have been claying and making more Kumihimo braids which I can use in necklaces I will post one of those later.

I really enjoyed designing this setting for a large and unusual shaped piece of Madagascar Dendritic Agate, I designed a template and used gold Polymer to set the stone I did add a pair of Carnelian cabs as they seem to work beautifully with it. The Jasper and Carnelian gemstones make a great combination for the necklace I think.

Your comments are very much appreciated thank you.

~Jackie~

 

Diamond Jubilee Necklace

I thought today as the Diamond Jubilee weekend is all over I would post my Jubilee necklace.

I had been thinking of something pretty to make as I don't have the diamonds I am afraid Swarovski crystals have had to do duty in this flower necklace.
I sketched the piece first as I usually do. It is fashioned on an armature of bronze and each leaf, petal and flower is hand sculpted. As Roses are some of the Queens favourite flowers along with Lily of the Valley I decided on pink wild Roses I sculpted these in clay and also some tiny Forget Me Nots in blue. For the Lilies I used some lovely vintage white glass with 14kgf as the stems, the centres of all the flowers are the crystals and even the Lilies are tipped with tiny crystals, oh my poor eyes!

I really enjoyed designing this as it is so lovely for the summer we are still waiting for!

Ancient Egyptian Artifacts

Jackie's hand made clay pendant was announced a winner in the Egyptian Treasures contest in Beads and Beyond magazine in October 2008! The inspiration was the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 in London. Each polymer clay piece was made separately and applied, no molds were used. The central winged scarab is a vintage brass componant, as are the two ankhs, the cabochons are vintage Swarovski crystal. It also includes turquoise and glass beads. It hangs from a vintage brass chain with lotus flower ornaments. This ornate and intricate pendant was inspired by a piece from the tomb called Tutankhamun's pendant.Jackie is now working on an Egyptian collection.

Please click here to see the rest of the collection so far.

~Lara

Dragon sculpture

Hey everyone!

First let me thank you who have left nice comments on here. I'm sorry I can't reply to them individually, Blogger doesn't seem to have a feature that allows you to reply which I think is pretty silly. I think I might write to them and suggest that they make a feature where you can reply. The other weblogs I'm on have a reply thing, so why not here?

Anyway, today I would like to show you a dragon sculpture I made a couple of days ago.

Click on it to see the full size version. I am working on my sculptures slowly but surely. To do this I have been making a wide variety of characters, both those that belong to my friends and also my own. I wanted to make a dragon sculpture so this is not a character I have but just a random dragon. Afterwards, it occured to me that I could have made one of my own dragon characters so next time I make one, it will be one of those.

This one is called Augustus P. Drake. I don't know what the P stands for and the name is just one I made up. He's the biggest sculpture I've made so far and one of the most detailed. I didn't use armatures although I should have really because I had to prop bits of him up while he baked. I need to use armatures in wings so they don't flop around as much. He is holding a crystal and I am happy with how his paws came out since usually I make paws too big and clunky and they just look fat and silly.

I love how I did his head and for once I can say that I am happy with the sculpture as a whole. Usually there are various parts I think I could have done better or that didn't come out very well. The only small niggle I have is that one of his wings should have been higher and it was when I put him in the oven to bake, it must have slipped down so that was disappointing. Once again, I really need armatures.

As I said before, I have another dragon in mind and I want to make another of the characters from my book too. I have already made one which came out nicely (except for the front legs) and is in my deviantART gallery but if I do another, sadly I won't be able to show it since my book characters are pretty unique. It will be a test to see if I can make a reptilian character standing on all fours with a wire armature.

I hope you like Augustus anyway, I've come a long way since I first started with polymer clay.

~Lara

Our wedding jewellery

We have decided recently to add a wedding gallery to our web site, The Silver Lodge. It all came about when we received an email in March from a young woman who was getting married in May this year. She had been browsing our web site and came across some polymer clay calla lilly focal beads I had made using the colours of real flowers I grow in my garden as these flowers come in beautiful shades, not just the usual white. She asked if I could design a bracelet and earrings for her in cream to match a tiara she had just bought. I sketched a design and made it up using sterling silver and some Swarovski pearls and crystals. It was really pretty and unique.

The young lady was pleased with the photos we emailed her and was thrilled when she received her set. It was a real joy to be able to make this unusual design and know it was for such a special occasion. That was when we decided it would be really nice to add a bridal gallery even though much of our jewellery is occasion jewellery. We have since made another but different bracelet as most of our jewellery is only one of a kind!

Jackie & Lara