Sedona Angel Christmas Ornament from Polymer Clay with Sedona Red Rock Dirt Inclusions

Sedona, Southwestern, or Mexican Angel Ornament available at and MelodyODesigns at Etsy

I had so much fun designing this new Southwestern angel ornament which has joined my 2013 MelodyODesigns Southwestern Christmas Ornament Collection.  She's made from terracotta colored polymer clay with real "magical" Sedona red  rock dirt in the matrix and is targeted to the Sedona tourist trade, so I call her my Sedona Angel. 

Below is a photo of some of the materials and tools that were used to make her.

She has embedded black seed bead eyes. I make the initial "eye socket" holes for the bead with a studio-made tool that I made by gluing a seed bead onto one end of a round toothpick. Then the black seed beads are applied with another little studio-made tool, a seed bead applicator tool I made by dipping one end of a round toothpick into a tiny drop of "The Ultimate" (glue) by Crafter's Pick and letting it dry (a one shot glue application good for the life of the tool). This tool makes is much easier to securely pick up a seed bead without dropping it and then the bead is applied into the "eye socket". Once the ornament has been cured I remove the seed bead eyes with the sharp end of a dress pin and then permanently glue them in with Zap-A-Gap glue. 

Her mouth is made by gently pressing round Kemper cutter halfway into the clay. Getting her mouth into her face in symmetrical way proved challenging and I found that I actually like her expression best when her smile is charmingly off kilter. 

 Her hair is actually hand braided using three thin "strings" extruded from a Makins Clay Extruder. I weigh the three "strings" down one end with some heavy metal washers  while I braid them. 

Her fringed blue-turquoise colored sarape shawl is decorated with a hearts and flowers pattern made by lightly dusting the turquoise shawl with corn starch, cutting the fringe with a craft knife and then GENTLY pressing the heart or flower Kemper cutter into the shawl leaving a delicate impression beind. 

Her body is made from PREMO artist-quality polymer clay to which a small amount of "magical" Sedona red rock dirt has been added. Once the ornament is cut out the surface is textured with 36 grit (very coarse) sandpaper to make it appear to be real terracotta. I prefer the 3M brand I formerly used, but have been unable to find it locally, so I use "Gator Grit" brand. One key I've found to effectively using sandpaper to texture polymer clay is to make sure all loose bits of sanding material have been removed near the edges of the sandpaper (especially any cut edges) before a new piece of sandpaper is used on clay. I also keep a pair of tiny tweezers close by in case I need  to retrieve a loose bit of sanding material from the clay surface. 

Her dress is decorated with thin slices from geometric clay canes. For those who might not be familiar with that term, caning is a labor-intensive construction technique where colored rods of clay are laid horizontally forming a complex pattern  from which a thin slice is cut from the end allowing the pattern to be seen. It is borrowed from the glass making technique used to create millefiore beads. 


 More Christmas ornaments and a wide variety of other ornaments, magnets and jewelry pieces lovingly made from polymer clay are available at MelodyODesigns at Etsy

Click to see an additional blog post on the Crafter's Studio stash and the Creative Process involved the making of Sedona Angel Ornament.

Red Hot Chile Chili Pepper Necklace from Polymer Clay

Red Pepper Necklace available at MelodyODesigns at Etsy 

This necklace pays tribute to the Arizona red chile pepper and my love of chili and Southwestern cuisine. All the components were hand crafted from PREMO polymer clay. The veins on the leaves were made by imprinting real leaves onto the clay and were highlighted by antiquing with acrylic paint. The shine on the peppers was achieved by applying several coats of water-based varnish (indoor use Varathane) to the cured PC. Each bead was hand made and was textured by carefully rolling the raw bead on very coarse sandpaper. To create the subtle variety of color that appear in nature the beads are made in three slightly different tints of green. 18 gauge green wire was used to craft the wirework. The ladybugs were made using PC and acrylic paint.

Red Chili pepper necklace shown being worn. Perfect for both dancing the Salsa and eating it!

Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Necklace from Polymer Clay

I remember the joy and  excitement of the fiestas that I experienced as a child and wanted to capture that feeling in a high gloss faux glazed pottery necklace.  Though difficult to capture the "glassy"shine in a photo, these beads are sometimes mistaken for Italian glass when I wear them. Actually, the beads and all the tiny, intricate designs are painstakingly handmade from artist-quality polymer clay.

The necklace features tiny appliqued butterflies, hearts,

bright flowers,

Dragonflies,

and Ladybugs.

To keep the weight of the necklace as light as possible the beads were constructed on a bead core base of Sculpey "Ultralight". Once cured,  a veneer of PREMO polymer clay run through an Atlas  Pasta Machine set on #3 (medium thickness setting) was applied using 2 circle cutter cutouts per bead and the bead was re-cured.

Various appliques of canes and tiny pieces of clay were added using "Kato Liquid Polyclay" as "glue" and the appliques were lightly cured to keep them in place with a crafter's heat gun. The entire bead and appliques was then coated with a thin layer of "Kato Liquid Polyclay" applied with a small paintbrush to mimic ceramic glaze and then cured. Six coats of Varathane polyacrylic varnish were applied with a slightly moist makeup sponge, each coat briefly heat set. Then a mixture of Varathane and Mona Lisa pale gold metal powder was applied with a "used up" ball  point pen refill to make the gold dots.

The spacer beads are PC tube beads formed around a narrow copper welding rod used as a mandrel, cured, sanded, buffed and varnished with Varathane, and cut apart using a heavy duty craft knife. My wonderful husband Sy, who has a great eye, is responsible for the eventual stringing design using the matching spacer beads. Feliz Cinco de Mayo! This necklace was featured at "Polymer Clay Daily".
http://polymerclaydaily.com/2010/05/21/brandons-faux-mexican-pottery/

Cinco de Mayo fiesta necklace shown being worn. 
 This Cinco de Mayo Fiesta Necklace is currently available for sale at: MelodyODesigns at Etsy