Steampunk Collar Necklace

This month Makin's Clay® challenged it's Design Team members to select a Pin from our Tutorials & Techniques Board or our Polymer Clay Inspiration Projects Board and create a project using Makin's Clay® based upon the chosen pin.  Our goal was not to have our designers simply copy of the projects, yet be inspired to perhaps try a new technique, or create a project style they might not normally have considered.  My project was inspired by two pins - 

This collar necklace, and this metallic mosaic necklace from our Inspiration Projects board 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/501588477234081932/

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/501588477234081932/

Materials:

Makin’s Clay® - 2 120g Black 

Makin’s® 

• Clay Roller
• Texture Sheets - Sets A, D, F, G, H

Makin’s Professional® 

• Cutting Mat
• Ultimate Clay Extruder® - Disc #31 

Beacon 527 Adhesive™

Craft knife 

Oversized closure, jump rings 

Jewelry pliers 

Lunch sized plate, pen/pencil, paper 

Scissors 

Hole punch 

Instructions:

Trace lunch size (or desired size) plate onto paper.  

Determine desired width of finished collar necklace, and draw inside line.

Divide up the collar into pieces in assorted sizes as shown.  

Cut out pattern.  Reassemble. 

For this project, I used rolled and textured & colored pieces of clay leftover from another project.  To create sheets, roll black clay to about 1/8” thick, texture with assorted texture sheets, creating some with embossed pattern and some with debossed pattern.   Let sheets dry. 

Note:  At this point, you can choose to color the sheets with DecoArt® Metallic Lustres™.  Or, you can cut the pattern pieces from the textured clay and then add the metallic color as you arrange them.  

Use pattern to cut out pieces from the sheets of clay.

Roll enough black clay (to about 1/8”) to create base for necklace in a single piece.  I used a 120g package.  If the sheet is not perfectly smooth, it will not effect finished piece.  

Reassemble cut pieces on rolled clay.

Apply Beacon 527 Adhesive™ to back of each piece and mount to black clay base.    Use craft knife to cut away clay around necklace.  Place clay you remove into zipper bag with damp paper  towel for later use.   

To help give the desired curve, I placed my necklace onto the back of the plate to dry for 24 hours.

Use curved shape disc # 31 with Ultimate Clay Extruder® to extrude enough black clay to encircle necklace on inside and outside edges. 

Apply 527 Adhesive to inside of curved extruded clay, carefully apply to inside and outside of necklace to cover edges on front and back of necklace. 

Let dry 24 hours.  

Apply desired shades of Metallic Lustre to back of necklace and to extruded clay borders.  (If any colors overlap, they can be easily covered with a second coat of the desired color). 

Punch hole in back edges and add oversized closure.