Polka Dot Cottage: Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations + giveaway

Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations + giveaway

Posted March 12th, 2010 by

Polymer Clay Flower Bracelet

I have Sherri Haab to blame for all of this.  And by “this” I mean the polymer clay supplies that lurk in many corners of my house, the business I’ve built around clay books + videos, and the piles and piles of polymer jewelry mostly gathering dust in my bedroom.  (You know how that goes – you have your two or three favorite pieces, which soon are replaced by new work, and this continues through the years until you have a jewelry box full of stuff that is just hideous compared to your most recent masterpiece. You wouldn’t be caught dead in them now, but you feel funny throwing them away, knowing as you do all of the blood sweat and tears that went into making them back in 1996.  Please tell me you do this too.)

Anyway, I’m sure it’s completely unfair to blame Sherri.  I should probably be blaming Neil, who brought the book into the house in the first place.  Or maybe I should just accept that polymer clay and I were destined to meet one way or another, and the mechanism by which we came together those 14+ years ago is largely irrelevant.

In any case, I did get my first exposure to polymer through Sherri Haab, I enjoy her style, and I like her books, even the ones that are not specifically about polymer clay, like this brand new one: Sherri Haab Jewelry Inspirations: Techniques and Designs from the Artist’s Studio.

Sea Urchin Rings Vintage Glass Bead Earrings

Metal Clay Molded Bee Pendant Resin Clay Flower Bracelets

There are three polymer projects in the book, all of which are interesting, but none of which really float my own particular boat.  Luckily, what Sherri lacks in polymer clay depth here, she makes up for in general clay breadth.  In other words, I don’t mind the lack of polymer here because she’s playing with other kinds of clay that I find pretty neat.  In particular, metal clay and epoxy resin clay.

I plan on dusting off my metal clay supplies in the next week or so, but until then I decided to try a more instant-gratification project.  I had trouble choosing between the Sea Urchin Rings and the Resin Clay Flower Bracelets, but in the end I chose the bracelets.

Like I mentioned a few days ago, we’re in a financial crunch around here, so I didn’t want to invest in any new materials (as super cool as that epoxy resin clay sounds) so I substituted polymer in making the flower.  This is one case where the material used really doesn’t matter, because the sculpted part could be cured by itself.  (In other projects, it might not be appropriate to substitute an oven-bake clay for an air-dry clay, because the materials embedded in the clay may not be heat-resistant.)

Polymer Clay Flower Bracelet

I also used some of the leftover clay from the flower to make the easiest. button. ever. instead of using a mass-produced one.

I actually think that this bracelet looked just as nice before I put the flower on it.  I may have to make myself a little pile of braided fabric bracelets with matching solid-color buttons for the spring…

Polymer Clay Flower Bracelet

So I had fun with this book.  There’s nothing overly artsy or complicated here, just plenty of fun, lighthearted, and hip designs to play with, and a handful of new materials to explore.

How about you?  Want to have a little fun with this book?   Learn to make this bracelet, some big funky rings, vintage glass bead earrings, metal clay charm pendants, and more?  Leave a comment on this post, and I’ll choose a random winner sometime Monday evening (3/15).  Good luck!!

Until then, here are some links to keep you busy:

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