Necklace with Creative Paperclay® Face Pendant

Necklace with Creative Paperclay®

Face Pendant

Supplies:

Creative Paperclay® Sculpted or molded face

Black or White Gesso (I used Liquitex brand.)

Acrylic Paint (I used Silver and Violet)

Paint Brush (Gesso can be hard on brushes.  Use cheap foam brushes for this.) 

Sandpaper
Metal Leaf or Metallic Foils

Mica Powders or Metal Pulver (I used Eberhardt Faber Pulvers in purple, green, & blue)

Ranger Perfect Medium or other adhesive for leaf, foils, & powders

Fine wire - I used 30 gauge.  This is for adding beads and other embellishments to your pendant.
Assorted beads and embellishments
Bead Stringing Materials – I use Medium Soft Flex® Beading Wire

Jewelry Findings – To finish off your necklace you will ned crimp beads and one clasp

Leather, Suede, or Felt – Just a small piece to cover the back of the pendant for a professionally finished piece.

Glue – e6000, Fabri-Tac, Barge, or other heavy duty adhesive. 

 

What's on my Workbench Wednesdays? 

Today I have made a Necklace with a Creative Paperclay Face Pendant

I've been experimenting with Creative Paperclay® and Delight Clay™ modeling materials.  I am new to working with both of these mediums so there will be lots of test pieces as I explore all of the fun possibilities.  As a sculptor I especially love faces.  I am quickly amassing a collection of faces that will never become full sculptures.  As my collection of faces grows I am thinking up lots of ways to use these spare pieces.  The possibilities are endless!

Here are a few of my test pieces.  The blue one is made with Delight Clay™.  Delight Clay™is pure white out of the package.  I made this one blue by mixing in some alcohol inks.  I like how once the ink is blended into the Delight Clay™ modeling material it becomes fully incorporated and doesn't stain your hands or work surface.  This material sculpts and holds detail amazingly well for being so soft and marshmallow-ish straight out of the package.  I will elaborate more on that in another post.  The other faces were made from Creative Paperclay® using molds of some of my original sculpts.  As a side note, sometimes I sell my molds and faces.  Hit me up if you need some for your projects (LALA_415@Yahoo.com).

One of the things I like to do with these Creative Paperclay® faces is to make jewelry.  They make great brooches, pendants, earrings, beads, bracelets, and hair ornaments.  The toughest part for me is deciding which face to use and what to make with it.  The options can be mind boggling!

I like them all but, I have decided on this face for today's project, a necklace with a Creative Paperclay®  face pendant.  For your project you can use any face mold or sculpt your own.  Even simple sculpted faces make great jewelry!

I thought she should be dressed up a bit so I gave her a beaded headdress.  I made the headdress using one of my texture sheets. 

Roll out a bit of Creative Paperclay®, press into lightly, oiled texture sheet or rubber stamp, decide what part of the design you like best, cut to fit across forehead, moisten forehead with a bit of Creative Paperclay® slurry (just add a bit of water to a pea sized bit of Creative Paperclay®.) to adhere headdress to forehead.  Play around with the placement before sticking it on permanently.  I also added a few sculpted details on the sides.

Since this is a pendant you will need to add holes for stringing it up and adding beads and embellishments.  Use a needle tool or a toothpick to make holes on either side for stringing and adding optional embellishments.  You can drill holes with a simple hand tool after it's dry if you prefer.  When I don't know what the piece will be used for I often leave them without holes.   The beads will be added later but I made sure to add extra holes across her headdress to add a band of bling.After the Creative Paperclay® face and headdress is dry you can lightly sand the surface to remove any imperfections.  

Optionally, you can add a couple of light coats of gesso sand after each coat dries.  I used white gesso first and then black.  No reason for this really.  I just didn't know where this piece was going.

Paint your face with acrylic paints.  I used violet and silver mixed together because I wanted her to be metallic.  I dabbed the paint on randomly with my finger.  A brush, sponge or dabber would work as well.

At this point you can add metal leaf, foils, mica/metal powders if you would like. I also dabbed a bit more paint over the metal leaf. 

Allow the paint and adhesives to dry completely then add a couple coats of sealant or varnish.  Allow your sealant or vanish to dry completely between coats.

Now comes the fun part!  Decorate your Creative Paperclay® face pendant with beads, crystals, feathers or other embellishments.

Different background and lighting give her a completely different look.  Look at your piece in natural light, once she's dry before adding your sealer or varnish.

Now comes the REALLY fun part!  Using complimentary beads create an original, show stopper necklace!  Glue leather to back of pendant.  Allow glue to dry completely.  Wait at least an hour.  Trim off excess leather.  

Finally you get to the Really, Really fun part…. Wear your gorgeous new creation with pride!  BRAVO!  You did it!

I hope you have had as much fun creating and wearing this necklace as I have!  I still have a collection of tester pieces to work with.  Come back for more cool ideas and projects!  Creative Paperclay® and Delight™ are conveniently available for you to purchase online and at the below listed retailers.

Creative Paperclay® Online Store

Michael's

Hobby Lobby

Joann's

I'll be back with more "What's On My Workbench Wednesday" fun on the first Wednesday of each month.

Until then, stay creative!  

Ciao!
LaLa