Hello, Muse! Long Time No See!

Finally, I did some work yesterday that satisfied me. About time, too. The garbage can was full to overflowing! Here are a few necklace designs I finished yesterday and last night.

My friend Kate at organicodysseys sent me some neat animal print background images, including a Cheetah print, which I scanned and shrunk to about 25% of the original size and saved as a jpeg file. I love the subtle shading and the touches of salmon/red, which match perfectly with Leopardskin Jasper. Leopardskin Jasper is my favorite gemstone because it is the chameleon of the gem world and adapts to almost any color because there are so many colors included in it. It can go from pink to peach to tomato red to burgundy. I also used Dalmation Jasper and Grafic Feldspath, two more very versatile gems whose colors and patterns adapt to their surroundings, so to speak.

This is another image transfer, of a piece of wrapping paper which I scanned and converted to a jpeg. I used it to make my shop banner at Etsy and her, and I couldn't resist turning it into a background image for a few pendants, too.

I enhanced it with polished black onyx rounds; facted, basketweave cut black onyx pillow beads and Turquoise, faceted Czech glass cathedral beads tipped in silver.

This pendant is another image transfer from the decorative papers Kate sent me. I love a zebra print, how could I not? It screams Diva, doesn't it?

I have tried cylindrical pendants before, but they always cracked. I really like the look of them, and thought I'd try it again with the zebra print transfer. For this pendant, I had to bake the paper right on the raw clay because the design would have smeared when I touched it and shaped it. Baking the paper caused a few little horizontal creases which I think give it a bit of a vintage look. I applied several coats of Glossy Glaze by Studio by Sculpey to protect the image and soften the creases a little. I am very pleased with the results.

I added fuschia pink turquoise rounds, faceted black onyx and Balinese sterling silver drum beads to enhance the pendant.

Today, it's more image transfers. I have some interesting Victorian ladies and some sepia backgrounds sitting on my workshop table waiting for me.

Happy Sunday, everyone. I hope it is a glorious day wherever you are!

Lynda