Found objects & polymer clay

found object for web

Found object Necklace: polymer clay, metal paint, brass bead, vintage icing nozzle, vintage sewing machine bobbin, small plastic & brass objects, steel wire.

Some years ago I did a class with Tory Hughes.  While Tory often uses imitative techniques, the topic for that class was mokume gane.  One of my samples was the centre piece here, which I didn’t like much at the time.  Tory encouraged me to try to make some pieces from polymer clay that would work with some of my found object pieces, which I did.  So, after having these polymer clay pieces sitting around for years, I finally put them together in this necklace.  The polymer clay pieces are the long brown bead (which has been painted with metal and rust effect), centre square bead, imitation ivory, and rough grey bead.

Pendant for Lucy

Lucy pendant main

I enjoy the process of designing and problem solving when working with found objects.  I only do this occasionally (despite my growing collection of objects!) so it can take some time for me to work out my design, and to solve problems – such as how to attach the typewriter key.

Parts of the design is informed by the person I’m making for, but for the rest, I just decide what looks right.

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Printers’ trays

printers trays wp

Better than getting a printer’s tray for Christmas – two printer’s trays!  The design is beautiful, perhaps more so because it was purely functional.  See here for a demonstration of how they were used in the printing industry.  According to this article, which explains the layout, compared to previous designs it reduced a compositor’s hand travel by more than half a mile per day.

I first started collecting bits and pieces, sometimes taking things like cameras apart, with the intention of incorporating them into jewelry and other creations.  However, with more ‘stuff’ than I’ll ever use,  the collecting has become an end in itself  – at least I now have a way to display some of my favorite finds.