Mokume Gane with Makin's Clay®

Mokume Gane with Makin's Clay® by Bea Grob

Lately, I have been experimenting with the Mokume Gane technique with Makin's Clay®.  Right away, yes it did work, but you have to adapt a little bit if you are coming from the oven bake clay. 

Materials:

Makin's Clay® - Vineyard Tones, Peach, Black 

Makin's Professional®

• Ultimate Clay Machine®
• Cutting Mat 

Makin's® Clay Cutters, square Set Nr.  36002  

A spray bottle with plain water

Piece of plastic wrapping or household wrap

Cording, earring wires, closures, findings, etc. as desired

Instructions:

For this project I used the set with the Vineyard colors, every color except the brown. You need colors that give some contrast also in value. So I did add the peach color as a light value and the black as dark value.

First, I ran every color through the Makin's Professional®Ultimate Clay Machine® on setting #1 and progressively increased ending on setting #8.

I started with peach and stacked the other colors on top. 

I added some metal leaf to second layer of peach.

The final sheet was black. 

This is what the whole stack of sheets looks like. Don't worry to much if they don't match perfectly. Even though I had roughly the same amount of clay, the squares didn't come out exactly the same.  

Next, I trimmed the edges a bit.  This is what the stack looks like from the side. 

Back to the Makin's Professional® Ultimate Clay Machine®... I ran all the stacked sheets first through the setting # 1 and then stepped up the #8 again. You get a long sheet like this.

The next step is to cut 4 equal squares and then stack them together again (and keept the cut offs, we need them later).

Next, I used a tool to make indentations, here I use the back end of a brush.  Experiment with any of the tools in the Makin's Professional® Professional Tool Kit®, they would also work well!

I ended up with a stack like this. 

The stack is still a little to wide for my taste, so I squeeze it into a log. I took my time and rotated the log quite a bit to squeeze from all sides.

When finished, you can see the distortion on the sides, which is good, so no worries.

Now it is time to make a jewelry form. I ran all the leftovers and cutoffs again through the clay machine to make a uniform color. When it all was mixed together I made sheet on the setting # 1 of the clay machine.

I cut the first piece with a flexible clay blade and stacked it on a second sheet again from the same sheet and made it double thick.

To smooth out the seam I used one of the Makin's® clay tools. Just add a tiny bit of water and smooth it out with the round part.

I cut the first piece with a flexible clay blade and stacked it on a second sheet again from the same sheet and made it double thick.

To smooth out the seam I used one of the Makin's® clay tools. Just add a tiny bit of water and smooth it out with the round part.

In the meantime the stack had a little bit of time to begin to dry. Usually, you want to put unused clay

 into a zip lock bag together with a damp paper towel to prevent drying out. But for cutting slices from the log it is easier if it has dried just a bit, but of course not completely. If it is to soft, then you have to let is sit another 10 minutes or so. It also depends a little bit on area you live in.

I started cutting off slices from my log. I used more a sawing motion then running quick through the log. You can't cut really thin, so I did run it through the clay machine again to get an elongated piece which I then use to cover up the jewelry pendant form.

I wrapped the pieces around the edges  of the pendant form and cut them flush on the backside.

To make a hole I  used use a piece of a straw on the first pendant.

For the second pendant I added a hole through the top of the pendant. I used a needle tool and with a drilling motion to run it through. 

I also made some beads, again I used the leftover as a base and then wrapped it with the slices. To get  even sized beads I use the Makin's® Clay Cutter, square Set Nr.  36002 to cut out squares from the sheets and then I rolled it into a core bead. 

Next, I sliced the cane again and formed them a bit over my knuckle. This makes it easier to wrap the core bead from the scraps.

The next day I was ready to turn my pieces into a completed jewelry set.