Faux Talavera Pottery Frog from Polymer Clay re-located to a Lily Pad Necklace

Several years ago I made a small faux Talavera pottery frog necklace from "Kato Liquid Polyclay" that had been inspired by a much larger authentic and very colorful Talavera pottery frog that sits on our back fence. The frog in the old necklace sat on a black speckled faux stone.

Faux Talavera pottery frog necklace pendant. 

However, though I'd tried many revisions to the piece over the years it never seemed quite "right", so I never sold it and eventually banished it to shadowy corner of my studio.  I'd more or less forgotten about the frog, (nicknamed Raulito at the time), until I happened to mention him to Chrissie,  an enthusiastic and talented new PC friend at the Delphi Polymer Clay Central Discussion Forum when she asked about making molds for use with polymer clay. Yesterday, after looking at the piece again with with fresh eyes I realized that perhaps he just needed a different kind of perch, perhaps a lily pad. Meet the new and improved Sr. Raulito Rana de Talavera who sleepily sits upon his bright green lily pad throne, majestically surveying his domain. 

He is currently for sale at MelodyODesigns at Etsy

To read the blog post about the making the FIRST polymer clay frog on the rock please click here:Faux Talavera Pottery Frog
 
Changes, adjustments, corrections, evolution,............this week as I gave my studio a spring cleaning I spent some pleasant time looking at the 15 years worth of poly clay prototypes tacked up on the 5 large midnight blue velvet covered bulletin boards that make up my display area. I found it interesting to re-visit my older pieces and note the evolution of style and the changes that have occurred to some of my designs over the years. I'm sometimes frustrated because I can have an annoying tendency to be quite resistant to change (especially so, when the changes involve polymer clay companies making changes to their formulas!). Yet, one's reaction to change and the act of creatively working out solutions is how life lessons are learned. The polymer clay learning curve,............... a metaphor for life.

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