This collection of sea turtle mandala necklaces was not created for a monthly design challenge. They were made in between making beads and things for the monthly challenges.
The year 2018 was a year of challenges for Paisley Lizard. As in, design challenges. I participated in at least one design challenge each month. In the process, I tried a few new polymer clay techniques and stretched my skills and imagination. Here are some highlights by month.
January began with a challenge to design earrings inspired by Pantone’s Color of the Year: Ultra Violet. For this theme, I created a batch of floral earrings using polymer clay petals, birds, and accent beads.
Pantone’s 2018 Color of the Year – Ultra Violet – inspired this collection of floral earrings. Most of the beads, with the exception of a few Swarovski crystals, are my handmade polymer clay creations.
In February, I submitted some designs to an Art Bead Scene challenge for the first time. That challenge was to design beads or jewelry inspired by the Warwick Goble watercolor image, Star Lovers. For the beads, I tried the “torn paper” or “watercolor” technique in polymer clay. I then used some of those beads to make a necklace, which I call Magpie on a Watercolor Sky.
The round pendant and beads in this necklace were made using the watercolor technique. The magpie is a matte black brass charm that I painted with white accents.
Also in February was a challenge to design chandelier earrings. Because I have always loved long elaborate earrings, I happened to have quite a few existing designs to share. However, in the spirit of the challenge, I also made a couple of new designs using some of my painted polymer clay flower focals.
The flower focals on these chandelier earrings are polymer clay painted with pastels. I made a batch of these flowers in assorted colors and sizes but haven’t turned all of them into jewelry yet.
March was a very busy month with three different design challenges. The first was to create black and white earrings. For this challenge, I used silk screen painting on polymer clay to make earring focals.
My biggest challenge for this black and white theme was making “simple” earrings. Half the designs were simply an accent bead and a focal on wire. The designs for the other half were slightly more elaborate, but still look “simple” because of the black and white palette.
The next challenge for March was another inspired by a piece of art. This time the inspiration was a watercolor by Marianne North titled “Red Water Lily of Southern India.” For this design I created a necklace and earrings using some of the painted flower focals I made earlier in the year.
The vivid flowers in this necklace are polymer clay painted with pastels and distressed with acrylic paints.
The final challenge for March was themed “nests” and I had a few mishaps with my planned designs. Nothing terribly tragic, just colors that didn’t turn out as planned. I count it as a lesson learned, to test cure my polymer clay color blends before investing time in the whole project.
My nest jewelry included a necklace with mud dauber tubes, earrings with paper wasp nests, a flat honeycomb pendant , and spiral bee hive necklace. All made from polymer clay.
For April, in addition to two design challenges, I started posting on Instagram. That was a challenge, learning the icons and instructions for a new social media platform. You can follow @PaisleyLizard there to see more of my polymer clay experiments and jewelry designs along with the occasional cat pix.The earring design challenge for April was themed “tropical paradise.” I got a little carried away making batik style earring components, which lead me to open a “bead shop” section in my etsy shop where I now offer some of my handmade beads to other jewelry designers.
After creating a boat load of batik beads, I used a few to make these earrings. The beads are silk screened polymer clay.
April ended with the reveal for the “horses” themed design challenge. The new technique I tried for this was carving my own rubber stamps. It was fun and I may need to invest in better carving tools to pursue it further.
These necklace and earring sets were some of the designs I created for the horses design challenge. The pendants and earring focals were made using stamps that I carved.
The design challenge for May was themed “tidepools” and once again I got carried away making beads because I was having so much fun. In addition to beads, I also covered a glass jar in polymer clay for the theme, which was perhaps the largest polymer creation I had made.
Tidepool inspired jewelry included earrings and a necklace with sea urchin spines (made from polymer clay) and abalone shell and fossil coral (both made from polymer clay) earrings.
This tidepool jar is polymer clay sculpted and molded over a glass jar that once contained salsa. It now holds some of my polymer clay tools and decorates my work space.
June’s design challenge theme was sunflowers and if you thought I got carried away making beads for the other challenges, well, I was just getting warmed up. Even after making almost a dozen pieces of jewelry, I still have a box of sunflower beads left over.
A sample of some of the sunflower themed jewelry created with painted polymer clay beads and focals.
There were two design challenges that occupied my time in July. Once was a challenge to design earrings inspired by summer cocktails and the other was to create art inspired by seed pods. The seed pod theme was much more fertile ground for my muse than the cocktails.
These cocktail-inspired earrings have polymer clay diamond focals paired with Czech glass. They were one of five designs I created for the challenge.
Some of the seed pod beads and headpins created from polymer clay for the monthly challenge. Most of them became earrings.
This seed pod sculpture is polymer clay over a glass bottle, painted with pastels. I am currently using it as a reed diffuser with lavender essential oil.
The theme for August’s design challenge was “swirls” and I had too many ideas for the amount of time. As usual. In addition to an assortment of polymer clay swirl beads, including the requisite swirled lentils, I tried a new tutorial. I really loved the simplicity and versatility of the technique for making tentacle pendants.
These swirled tentacles pendants are polymer clay painted with pigment inks and distressed with acrylic paint.
The month of September began with a “fall” themed earring design challenge and ended with a “faery” themed challenge. I managed not to go overboard with the polymer bead making for a change, but only because I was busy making my largest polymer sculpture ever.
These simple polymer clay acorn earrings were created for the fall-themed earring design challenge. They feel unfinished to me and have been sitting in a bead tray waiting for me to figure out what else they need.
There was a batch of faerie earrings and necklaces for the monthly challenge, but the piece de resistance for the month was my faerie sandcastle sculpture.
The central tower of this polymer clay faerie sandcastle is a glass jar. When an LED candle is placed inside, faerie lights shine through the windows.
October’s design challenge theme was petroglyphs, which prompted me to play with making faux stones from a brand of polymer clay I rarely use. It was perfect for the task, and I also got to use my stamp carving tools to make the glyphs.
The petroglyph pendants on these necklaces are carved polymer clay. They aren’t as heavy as rocks, but they have a very convincing look and texture. I’ve since made some earrings and a bracelet to go with them.
In November, there was an earring design challenge themed “cornucopia.” I didn’t make any polymer beads for that challenge. Although I was tempted to make some polymer clay horns, I used some brass bead caps instead. Because I spent most of the month making too many beads for the “stars” themed design challenge.
These cornucopia earrings have filigree brass bead caps with cascades of wire-wrapped glass pearls and AB glass beads on antique finish brass chain.
These are some of the polymer clay beads and jewelry created for the stars theme. My personal favorite is the faux terracotta goddess.
The final design challenge of the year, in December, was a “shades of white” theme. I battled with lint in white clay before resorting to a faux antique ivory finish for a batch of beads, some of which became a bracelet. There was an arctic fox and some white rabbits and owls too.
Polymer clay jewelry designs for the “shades of white” theme included snowy owl feathers, antique ivory owl pendants, a winter white bracelet, icicle earrings, white rabbit earrings, and an arctic fox necklace.
The final design challenge of the year did not get its own blog post. It was a last minute, down to the wire submission for a “mixed metals” theme on the Self Representing Artists in Jewelry Design group on Facebook. I don’t have the tools, space, or skills for actual metal smithing. What I do have is polymer clay, the great imposter, and some Swellegant metal coatings.
This mixed metals hearts brooch and pendant are polymer clay coated in silver, brass, and copper metal paints with a dark patina to highlight the textures.
One other thing that happened in 2018 and which didn’t get its own blog post is that my jewelry was published in a magazine for the first time. I was contacted by an editor for Belle Armoire Jewelry in the spring. She discovered my jewelry on etsy (which is not easy to do because, wow, is there a ton of jewelry on etsy) and asked me to submit some pieces. Two of my evil eye talisman necklaces were featured in a four-age spread of the winter issue.
The first two pages of my article in the Winter 2018 issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry. That’s there photo of my necklace. I am in love with that vase as photo prop, and in general.
As you can see, it was a productive year for Paisley Lizard, and these are just the highlights. There were many other jewelry designs and polymer clay experiments, which I also shared on my Facebook and Instagram pages. If you would like to own a Paisley Lizard original jewelry design, I have a shop on etsy. I look forward to more design challenges in 2019. Thank you all for your support of my blog. I wish you all the best for 2019.
