"Arugula & Fennel Salad"

Polymer Clay, Resin, Thread

I drew color inspiration for this necklace from the photo below.Vibrant & pure, these natural colors deserve the attempt to duplicate.  

Photo Courtesy of: Anja's Food 4 Thought Blog

Color Inspiration

Color Inspiration

This beautiful collection of Kale leaves grabbed my attention & wouldn't let go. The striking array of lush greens could keep me going for a while. Vibrant, pure, & natural. From moss to verde, I couldn't ask for a more inpsiring palette. Earth tones are difinatley my comfort zone. I settled right in & tried to use a few of the color grabs from these photos found on Natalie's Killer Cuisine blog, much thanks to Natalie for capturing such beauty.

Tomato & Basil Angel Hair Pasta

Inspiration Photo

My Take:

“Tomato & Basil Angel Hair Pasta”

This one was fun. I love to make double sided pendants, two different options are appealing to me. I had a great photo to work from: Uni Pasta. First of all, the pasta coloring is truly inspiring, so alive & vibrant. While I was not able to reproduce the exact hue, I settled on two colors that work well with the pendant base. The pasta falls in such an organic way, I thought it would be fun to duplicate. My “pasta” placement is deliberate but hopefully not too contrived. I went crazy with the thread inlay on this one. I think there are 5 layers inside. With the domed pieces, I had a lot of space to work with. I look forward to carrying several design techniques from this pendant into future pieces. Without a doubt, this necklace could be a fun addition to your summer collection.

"Blueberry Lattice Pie"

"Blueberry Lattice Pie"

Apple Pie Pendants

Apple Pie Pendants

You can't deny the craftsmanship & artistry that goes into the making of a lattice top pie crust. An edible craft project that is picture perfect.

I was inspired by Novel Eats' Apple Pie photos & was a bit surprised with the difficulties I encountered when trying to make my ideas come to life. In the photos, I was drawn to the gentle draping of lattice pieces & the achieved coloring of the dough after baking. I anticipated doing a simple reproduction of a lattice weave.

With the first pendant, I went with a slight variation & created different sized pieces to stack for a tiered effect. It became obvious, for reasons that would bore anyone but myself, that I would have to fill the thread inlay window with resin. This is where my difficulties began. Being so new to resin & with so much to learn, my attempt ended with having to paint the underneath layer of the pendant due to a poor resin fill. And this process determined the color palette, which was different from what I envisioned. Regardless, after taking a break for a few day it is growing on me...

With the second pendant, I tried to bring it back to basics with a primitive weaving. I took acrylic paint and did a simple technique with shadows under & highlights on top. I am pleased with the outcome.

This was a fun endeavor & more so I have gained a heightened appreciation for lattice top pie maker bakers all over the world, especially Samantha with Novel Eats :)

Apple Cinnamon Balls

Apple Cinnamon Balls

Finally, the necklace derived from the Raspberry Macaron, Lemon Sorbet inspiration board comes together:

Raspberry Macaron, Lemon Sorbet

Inspiration Board Results

I was attracted to the composition & delicate architecture

presented in this beautiful photo Raspberry Macaron, Lemon Sorbet

My goal was to carry the dessert configuration into jewelry design. The first several sketches were a literal translation with two domed pieces connected by a bridge of circles, which were to be polymer clay balls. But as I've learned over the years not all ideas manifest into reality. This being one of them. After many attempts, I was not able to carry out the design. The result would be amazing, so I do hope to revisit this construction.

I continued to sketch & scratch my brain... and the result -

In the dessert photo, I love the crevices where light & dark meet unexpectedly. I drew my color palette from such areas. Cherry red meets dusty black. I am pleased with the result & excited about the possibilities that will be born from the concept of marrying bead weaving into polymer clay.

This pendant will be made into a necklace & added to my Etsy shop. Look soon :)