Softball Necklace and Earrings and spotting a Niche Market

Neon Dayglow Yellow abounds in this new Softball necklace handmade from Polymer Clay

Last spring I wrote a blog post about some baseball jewelry I had designed in honor of Major League Baseball, including a necklace with a beaded chain that could be custom ordered in the team colors of most teams.

I was wearing my baseball necklace and earrings while shopping recently and struck up a conversation with a woman whose daughter was an avid softball player. The daughter wanted a softball necklace for her birthday and her mom told me that she was having such a difficult time trying to find one to purchase. Admittedly we live in an area without easy access to metropolitan-type shopping, but I thought if she was having trouble locating a softball necklace perhaps that might be a niche market worth exploring. (Softballs are 25% larger than baseballs and are a bright neon yellow color called dayglow or DayGlow or DayGlo).

As I was analyzing my data from a search ad I had placed at Etsy I realized something that was quite enlightening. There were almost 50% more searches for SOFTBALL jewelry/earrings/necklaces than there were for BASEBALL jewelry/earring/necklaces. I think that's probably because there are more females playing softball than baseball.

So those two events were my impetus for breaking out the neon yellow polymer clay and setting out to make softball jewelry. I've been baseball fan for most of my life, but knew very little about softball equipment and had to do quite a bit of research. Bryant Riggs, Technical Sales Manager at Fujifilm/Sericol and a member of the Softball group at LinkedIn was so helpful with his guidance into softball bats and balls and pointed me in the right direction for the online resources I needed. Kathi Briefer-Gose, a former avid softball player and artist member of Polymer Clay Central discussion group, enlightened me on softball, bats and the proper size proportions between the bat, ball and glove. Thanks go out to both for their valuable help!

Softball is no longer played with a wooden bat (who knew?). Aluminum bats can be used, but it seems like the majority of players prefer the relatively new composite bats. These are brightly colored and many have graphics on them that remind me of those on skateboards and surfboards.

One of the major bat manufacturers is the "Easton" company. I wanted to pattern my on a real bat, but I was concerned about copyright issues, so I decided to go with the made up brand name of "Weston" for my bat.

EDITED 7/24/13: The bat is now available with an custom option where a person's name or team name can be written on the bat instead of a brand name. Click to read a post about that option as well as the unveiling of a new economical Softball Pendant Necklace.

I tried to limit the labor intensive aspect of having to make the 10mm balls myself by searching for a source of commercially available well made yellow softballs with diminutive red stitching lines. Alas, non were appropriate. So, I ended up handmaking the balls and then meticulously hand painting the red seams on with Sakura's red Pigma Micron pen using a magnifier. Alas, these colored pens are not color fast on polymer clay unless one takes precautions. I heat cured the painted ball for 15 minutes at 200F. Then I used a very thin coat of Matte Varathane varnish, dabbing it on with a makeup sponge rather than dragging the sponge across the surface, Normally I would water down the Varathane a little, but had to use it straight for this application.

Some of the raw materials, tools and supplies used in making the softball jewelry

My entire baseball and Softball Jewelry Collection is available for sale at MelodyODesigns at Etsy

To access my other blog posts about making my baseball jewelry please click on the links below:

Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Necklace and earrings

Baseball Necklace featured in “Polymer CAFÉ “ magazine

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

Sunflower Pendant Necklace from Polymer Clay

The optimistic sunflower is one of my favorite flowers. This necklace was originally made as a gift for a friend who lost almost all her possessions when her house burned to the ground.  I wanted to make her something hopeful. It is handmade, entirely from PREMO polymer clay. 

 The pendant was constructed on a "sandwich" base made of two identical flat circular 1 1/4" diameter pieces of pieces of clay (a thickness of 5/64" or Atlas PM#4) containing portions of the broad ends of the three heart-shaped leafs to hold them in place.  A channel was formed formed horizontally between the two pieces near the top of the pendant to act as a channel for the stringing wire by curing the pendant base with a straight piece of 20 gauge wire that was coated with ArmorAll and to be removed after curing. The two pieces of the base "sandwich" were then "glued" together with liquid polyclay.

A petal shaped plug of golden yellow clay was hand-formed and then thin slices were cut off to create the petals. Once the raw petals were thinned at the tips, the characteristic sunflower veining was added by drawing them on with the tip of a piercing pin and the tips were pinched together they were added to the cured base.

Dozens of "Bulls-eye"canes were made of of browns and golden yellow and then reduced to tiny diameters. Once reduced, they were combined together making a round tubular cane to mimic the brown center of the sunflower which eventually becomes  the delicious sunflowers we love to eat. A thin slice of this “seed cane” was added to the center of the flower and the pendant was cured. The ladybugs were studio made with polymer clay and acrylic paint, dabbing on the tiny dots with a "used up" Micron .3 pen tip (and a 3X magnifier!)

 The handmade cobalt colored beads range in size from 4mm to 15mm. Some of them were appliqued with thin slices of a sunflower cane based on a design by Sue Heaser. The canes were meticulously smoothed onto the beads using a 1/4 inch acrylic rod. After curing, the beads were sanded through four grits of sandpaper, then two-part buffed and four coats of heat-set varnish were applied, all making for a shiny glass-like finish that mimics Italian Millefiori glass beads.

Copies of the newly re-designed necklace and matching earrings are available at my on-line shop, MelodyODesigns at ArtFire 

You might also enjoy viewing my Sunflower Collar Necklace.

Cottonwood Leaf Necklace from Polymer Clay

We recently moved to Cottonwood, AZ and this is my tribute. Thin layers of a mix of Kato Liquid Polymer Clay, Pearl Ex and Genesis heat set oil paints were applied to cured PREMO poly clay leaves. Each layer is set individually with a crafter's heat gun. Veins are individual tiny lengths of 24-26 gauge brass wire laid onto 1st liquid PC layer. 4 coats of glossy Varathane were applied with a slightly moistened makeup sponge. Ladybugs are made made from PC and painted with acrylics.

For an updated post on this necklace when it was featured in "PolymerCafe" Magazine Cottonwood Leaf Necklace.

This shimmering and sunny necklace has been newly re-designed and is available for sale at my on-line shop
MelodyODesigns at ArtFire.  There will also be matching dangling pierced earrings available just as soon as the special surgical steel earwires I ordered arrive, sometime around July 2, 2012.

Sunflower Collar Necklace

I've always loved sunflowers. We used to grow many kinds in our garden and their sunny faces never fail to make me smile. I thought it would be fun to create a sunflower collar-type necklace that would make the wearer's face into the sunflower's "face".

The petals were made from PREMO poly clay using a mold for the veining I made from real flower petals. The cured petals were antiqued with acrylic paint to accent the veins and were attached to a base of hand-sewn macramé cord. The seeds were made from a PC cane. The ladybugs are made from PC and acrylic paint. 

You might also enjoy viewing my  

Sunflower Pendant Necklace