Fun with polymer clay beads and pendants

Recently, I met my friend Sharyl, from Sharyl's Jewelry for lunch and she was kind enough to invite me to her home to see her work space.

Sharyl is a multi media artist/designer who creates gorgeous jewelry and beautiful metal components. Lately, Sharyl was bitten by the polymer clay bug and she has been creating fabulous clay components.

While I was visiting Sharyl, I picked up a few things and she gifted me a pendant.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, which is unusual for me.

I made a cellini spiral and started a few lengths of chain maille and started them in an ammonia patina.

Unfortunately, the blue color from the ammonia wasn't quite what I wanted. It's gorgeous though, and I have other ideas for it.

I went back to the drawing board and dug out ribbons, chain, leather, and anything else I could find.

After several backs and forths, I settled on leather.

Sharyl does an amazing job with color on all her components and I love how the color and texture play off of each other and the leather.

You can find a similar pendant (with a Kansas wheat coloring) here. (But only if you hurry, this one is on my wish list.) :)

While I was contemplating how to finish the necklace, I started browsing though my (not so small) collection of Sharyl's components.

I found that her metal components worked well with her clay pieces and made a pair of earrings.

 

The large rings are from Miss Fickle Media and were the perfect size.

I loved how these looked and went to town!

 

 

Sharyl mentioned that the products she uses on the metal components are different than the ones she uses to color the clay. I would not have imagined that, as the colors compliment each other so well.

Right now, I've got my eye on these links and these charms. I think they would look so cute together.

When I ran out of metal links, I tried something else.

 

I love how these look like little flowers. I couldn't decide whether I should hang little drops from the bottom or not, so for now, they are plain. I might go back and add something later.

You can find Sharyl's creations in her artfire store.

Check out the polymer clay section of her store for more clay components.

You can find Sharyl's altered metal components here and her handmade metal components here.