Steampunk Jewelry Article

Yes it's that time again! This is my latest offering in Making Jewellery Magazine. A very pretty pin, though I say so myself, It also made it onto the cover!! (Top right hand side) however I must admit it is not clockwork (I did not create the title - before any irate emails come my way...) although it uses assorted steampunk-style cogs and gears.

It also namechecks the adorable Clockwork Girls of Caledon, foremost of whom is of course dear Cornelia Rothschild who inspired the clockwork hearts collection of my steampunk jewellery.
I've been making like mad for the first UK steampunk convention, at which I am to have a stall. A ghastly cold has stopped me going to the studio for a few days so I've just had to sit on the sofa with pets and a whole pile of beads and wire. Hubby has been most tolerant of the house becoming my studio for a bit and has even suggested we get in a curry tonight to cheer me up! Hurrah!

from Polymer Clay to Fabric!

I've been experimenting with polymer clay for a while now in my Steampunk-style jewelry, creating beautiful textures and layers with stamps, millfiori etc.

One day I was showing my muse/friend Lyssa my latest piece, when she said "Oh that would make such a beautiful decal for my nails". Lyssa has lovely nails and regularly adorns them with spectacular patterns and motifs. It got me thinking though, as well as decals, why not fabric?

How beautiful would it be to have a corset or waistcoat from custom steampunk style fabric? So I set about finding somewhere to print it!
I just took a photo of my polymer clay slab, tweaked it and cropped it in photoshop and saved a 300dpi jpg. The polymer clay is on the left, the fabric on the right of the photo!

Spoonflower were by far the easiest (and cheapest) net based company - you can upload and play with designs online, automatically "tiling" your image in a number of ways. Then order cottons by the meter, all from their user friendly website. Despite coming from the US, my fabric arrived incredibly quickly, and looked stunning! It's so nice to be able to just get a meter or so rather than a whole roll of a custom fabric!

Then I made the polymer clay slab into pendants and pins to match the fabric ;0 watch this space for the custom corsets!