Road Trip

There is nothing better than a good polymer clay retreat (IMHO). We have been to Connecticut, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia.....any excuse for a road trip! Our next biggie is the International Polymer Clay Association's Biennial Retreat outside of Chicago. It is being held in conjunction with the Metal Clay conference, so we can partake in both with one ride! We're going to play polymer but will be bringing some of our favorite products. Of course, we'll have filigree and brass stampings,but we'll also have gilders paste and Nunn Design bezels (Ellen is doing a demo on our gilders gane technique, showcasing both the gilders paste and bezels. We'll be bringing PYM II, some select Eurotools (like the metal punch pliers), brass keys, silicone mold material, Genesis heat set glue, and other goodies as space and time allow.

PYM II Fixative



Flower Pendant by Carissa Nichol

PYM II is a product that is being adapted for use with polymer clay. It started its life as a product to coat bullets to give its inventor an edge when target shooting, by making the bullets glide through the barrel with less drag. He discovered that it worked great as a fixative for inkjet photo prints, making them more permanent and impervious to water. We (and others, like Valerie Aharoni) have been experimenting with PYM and polymer. We have an abhorrence of varnish and other coatings on polymer.....we would rather sand and buff to get a beautiful shiny finish. However, there is often a need to seal gold leaf, silk screened paint, alcohol inks and perfect pearl powders. Our good friend and ace heart maker, Ron LeHocky, has discovered the nice semi-matte finish left by PYM II. While at a retreat in Ohio, we introduced Carissa Nichols to the finger pump spray to use on her wonderful flower pendants. She needed a way to seal mica powders to the surfaces of her ultralight polymer creations. I think she is hooked! We also showed Lynda Gilcher that it would help keep her white ultralight flowers white, and it would seal the ink on her colored versions. She is using it on her wonderful new floral pieces quite successfully.We have chosen to sell the finger pump, non-aerosol version, although it is available in an aerosol can. Either one needs to be used outside....it stinks(Donna, our friend from PYM II likens it to the smell in natural gas - the odor keeps you from being tempted to use it inside)....but it works like a champ. We have tried using it on Japanese papers to combine with brass filigree for interesting beads, with good success.

Lynda Gilcher's White Necklace

Earrings by Lynda Gilcher

Nunn Design Bezels

We are always looking for high quality, unique products that we like to use and are a good value. Not long ago we decided to carry a subset of products from Nunn Design (www.nunndesign.com). They make a nice line of American made jewelry findings cast in pewter and plated with .925 silver, 24 kt. gold or copper. We have found that they work quite nicely with polymer clay (although I think they were designed with resin and mixed media art in mind.) They are a good substitute for soldering your own bezels, if you are in a hurry. Ellen has been using them with her mokume gane and gilders gane pendants. We carry a variety of shapes and sizes in pendants and bracelets, adjustable rings, toggles and bars, keepsake bottle pendants, lockets and all the latest offerings from Nunn.

Gilder's Paste

One of our favorite products is Gilder's Paste. It's a wax based product with a high concentration of pigments. It's used by gourd painters and antique restorers, and now by polymer artists. It comes in 28 colors, which can be mixed for a custom palette.

We started using the paste on our raw brass filigree to color the metal, and discovered it could be used on polymer clay. We are busy figuring out different ways to use it. The metallic colors are great for creating faux bezels. It can be used to antique a piece, instead of acrylic paint. It can be drybrushed on, diluted with mineral spirits to use as paint, or rubbed on with a finger or cloth. Our latest experiments are using the paste in place of metallic foil in mokume gane. Whenever we go to a polymer retreat we encourage everyone to experiment. At the Buckeye Bash in Dayton, Ohio, Debbie Jackson spent a happy afternoon playing with our samples and came up with some great pieces. Her textures are amazing, made even better by gilder's paste.

Websites Galore

So just what is Filigree & more? We have a site in progress (www.filigreeandmore.com) with Yahoo, where, if we live long enough, we will be able to sell from the web. We travel to polymer retreats, and do an occasional bead show. But here is the big news.....we now have a mortar and bricks store, housed in Woman Creative. You can learn more about Woman Creative Art and Jewelry Design Center by checking out the new website (www.womancreative.com) or the new blog (www.womancreativeartcenter.blogspot.com).
Our main product is raw brass filigree, manufactured here in the U.S. from vintage dies by a family run company. It comes in a variety of color shades, depending on the color of the sheet brass being used in a particular run. It will oxidize, but can easily be polished. (you guessed it - we sell a convenient polishing cloth and Quik-brite from Eurotool, as recommended by Ronna Weltman.) We have an amazing selection of filigree, stampings and charms....now over 400 pieces. We love combining polymer with filigree. Sometimes the polymer is the star and the filigree is the armature. Other times the filigree is the star of the show and the polymer just embellishes it.

Welcome . . .

Ellen and I have been friends for over twenty years. First we were tennis partners, and then we moved to crafts. We took pottery classes together. Then we moved to glass...fusing, stained glass and flame-working. Then one day we stumbled onto polymer clay. Ellen's sister-in-law, Laurie, had told her about how great Barbara McGuire was and what a great art medium polymer clay was. We were at a bead show where Barbara was teaching. We sat down and the rest is history. Over the past few years we have developed an obsessive interest in the art of making jewelry.  We have an interest in the components, the tools and the products used in this pursuit.  Searching for the best products led us to open a retail outlet selling products we like to use and are hard to find. We'd like to use this blog to bring you along on our journey.