Jennifer Culp

I attempted a polymer clay-only week this time around, and stuck to it until a friend’s request got me off the hook for the last two days.

The goods:

I started out with a different concept in mind, and after unsuccessfully playing around for a while I ended up with this fun, simple shape. Someone on Flickr commented that it looks like a baby snake. Snakes: they follow me!

I really enjoy the position of this ring on the hand. It’s not exactly practical for everyday wear, but it’s pretty awesome looking!

Red polymer clay and fine silver bezel wire. I’m pretty pleased with this one, too. It was terribly difficult to get that polymer clay shank to stay where I wanted it to before I baked it, though.

Here’s where it got frustrating. I found an old (from early 2008, I believe) experimental polymer clay ring with an eyeball on a tentacle in my studio. I wanted to make it a little more practical for daily wear (also, less phallic), so I started playing around with a new glass eye and some clay.

This thing just would NOT do what I wanted it to. Finally I called it a day with this version.

I think it would be fun to make a similar semi-circular polymer clay segment with lids for an eyeball and set it in a metal bezel. Actually, this attempt probably would have worked out a lot better if I’d baked the first section of the ring and THEN added the polymer clay shank, instead of trying to do it all at once. That just occurred to me now. Oh well. Maybe next time!

Busy day, tendril ring. This one is very comfortable to wear.

Space balls! For this one I rolled up a bunch of clay spheres of varying sizes, stuck them together with the help of some short lengths of wire, then stuck ‘em on some silver wires and baked it all. This also would have been easier if I’d baked the polymer clay before adding the wire shank. Ah well. Live and learn. Though this one was a little rough, I like the look of it. I might play around with this idea some more in the future.

At this point I was starting to get polymer clay fatigue, and a friend providentially requested a ring on Culp Baubles’ facebook page. He asked for “Dice rings. More specifically d20 rings.” As it so happened, I had a bag of long forgotten d20 dice lying around in my house, so I hastened to fulfill the request.

This was fun! This was one of the larger dice, so I made the shank out of a thick brass rod. I like the color contrast between that particular die and the brass.

…and since I had so much trouble deciding which die to use for 1/29′s ring, I decided to make another! I loved the way the d10 die shape referenced a diamond, and since I had a sparkly silver one at hand, I had to use it. I ground off the bottom point of the die (adhesives don’t stick to plastic well, I’ve discovered), made a sterling silver shank, and popped the two together. I do enjoy a whimsical ring to round off the week.

Things I learned this week: I am not particularly adept at working with polymer clay, but it can be a valuable tool to experiment with new forms and shapes quickly and cheaply. Also, taking requests can be fun!

Since I had so much fun with the dice rings, I am now taking requests for potential rings of the day! Hit me up with ideas on Facebook or Twitter. Coming up soon: a ring with mini metal antlers, and a boot or shoe ring.