Medieval Crown Jewelry Box - challenge entry

I made this small Medieval Crown Jewelry Box last week for the October edition of the Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy's monthly challenge, the theme being "Medieval".

The jewelry box opens to hold a small piece of jewelry, some coins, or any small items that are special to you.

I had a tough time with this challenge initially, my plan was vague, "a castle", but when it came time to put it into action, I had nuthin'! So I began searching the web, and in the process I learned so much about medieval art and medieval times. I know I took that class in high school, why wasn't it as interesting then?

Finally, I came upon a video tutorial by Tejae Floyde for these small crown boxes, and I decided to see if it would have merit for the challenge. I was so pleased to be able to create this box by using her ideas! It was really fun and I'll be doing more and yes, they will be listed in my Etsy shop soon.

I hope you will vote in the PCAGOE challenge this month, please!! To do so, all you have to do is click on this link - Voting Link - and choose your favorites. Voting is until October 7th. Three voter winners will be happy to choose from the awesome prizes offered, one of them could be you!

Thanks for looking and extra thanks for VOTING!!

Three Necklaces

I've been working on and photographing three necklaces recently. I love them all for different reasons. First I have a really long (31 inches!) almost lariat-style necklace with a front dangle. It is so great that I made two - one for me. And it looks good on, especially with a black or navy blue shirt.

Click on images for a closer look.

We all love Julie Picarello's style (Yellow House Designs), and so here is a pendant I made using polymer clay in Southwest colors with her style of mokume gane, and strung on a simple gold chain.

Finally, I adore this red coral and lava beads necklace! This is one that was in my mind's eye for several months, and it came together nicely. The coral beads are heavy, but the lava beads are light, and it ends up being quite wearable.


I'll be posting them on my Etsy soon... trying to find time! We need to slow down the clock, that's what I say. Thanks for looking!

A November Necklace

The time change has me off balance... it's 5:30PM and dark already. Hmmmmm. The long winter looms.

Please click on the necklace photo to enlarge.



To take my mind off the fact that it's suddenly November, I've been making even more jewelry. I really love this slighly asymmetrical new necklace I made. It has a front toggle clasp that doubles as a pendant, and the square pendant is reversible. How cool is that? It has a grid design on the other side. The shell circles look really good as part of the "chain" look, and the 3/4 round bead near the pendant adds to the asymmetrical look. It has a seed bead section for around the back of the neck.

As a birthday gift to myself, I opened up my new Etsy store, The Pleasant Pheasant! It's my dream come true and I'm having fun filling up the shelves with both polymer clay things and new jewelry. There is a link to my store to the right side of this page, I really hope you will go take a look at what I've put up so far. I have a lot more to come, so please keep checking to see what new things I'll be offering.

My next project is going to be polymer clay. I'm going to move the beads aside for a few days and see what kind of polymer claying I can do. I have some good ideas to work on.