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Washi
Paper & Polymer Clay Bracelet
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The
holidays are filled with lovely papers – why not use some
of these papers to create a wonderful bracelet? The new Pearl
Ex Varnish will protect your most delicate papers.
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Yasutomo
Yuzen Washi Origami Paper in 5 inch size papers
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2
Bamboo Skewers
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1
mm Stretch Magic Jewelry Elastic – 2 14 inch pieces
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PolyTools
beveled cutter – I use the 1 inch square or “H”
cutter
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Needle
tool – I use a Poultry needle from the cooking section
of the grocery
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Heat
Gun (optional)
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Cut
out 8 squares of the Washi paper, selecting the most interesting
areas of pattern. As you can see, I’ve cut a pattern out
of another paper to use as a guide. My pattern is just slightly
smaller than 1 inch square (.8 inches square).
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Slice
your clay into sheets just slightly thicker than the widest setting
on your pasta machine and roll through the machine a couple of times
to condition the clay and turn the mica so the surface is bright
golden. Create 3 large sheets of clay.
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one of the sheets on a thinner setting, about 3 settings down from
your widest setting. Glue a piece of the Washi paper to this sheet.
Trim to about ¼ inch selvage on all sides. |
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Manipulate
one of your other sheets of clay through the pasta machine to make
it long and narrow. This will form the base of the bracelet. Position
your bamboo skewers about ½ inch apart on the clay and press
them down using the bottom of the glue bottle. Remove the skewers.
You should have two even channels in the clay now.
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Set
the trimmed piece of clay with the Washi paper on the channeled
clay sheet, centering the Washi paper on the channels. Trim to the
clay that the Washi paper is mounted on. Set aside.
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Use
your cutter on the final remaining piece of clay to cut out a square.
Trim this piece to at least 3/8 inches selvage around the square.
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Align
this piece of clay over the Washi paper assembly.
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Use
your Super Slicer blade to trim the edges of the frame. I found
that cutting closer is easier than trying to leave a large border.
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Measure
each bead against each other to maintain a matching size.
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Recheck
your channels by running the needle tool through each channel.
Repeat this process for each of your beads. I use 8 beads on a bracelet.
You may wish to add more or less.
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Place
the beads on a sheet of unlined paper on your baking sheet and bake
the beads in a preheated oven at 275 degrees for 25 minutes. Allow
the beads to cool before continuing.
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Rub
the sides of each of the beads and the top of the frame on a Gold
Pearl Ex Stamp Pad. This will add golden highlights that echo the
gold in the Washi paper. (This ink is water soluble, but I wear
gloves to keep the ink from my hands during my photography design
sessions.) Allow the ink to air dry or heat set it with a heat gun
for a few moments. You can even put the beads back into the warm
oven for 5-10 minutes to set the ink.
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Seal
the clay and the paper with the Pearl Ex Varnish. Heat set the varnish
with either the heat gun or the warm oven. The varnish will dry
in just seconds with a heat gun!
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Align
the beads and string through the top channel of the beads. Cut the
elastic, leaving 3 inches on each end of the beads. Flip each bead
up from the bottom and thread the elastic through the bottom channel.
Cut the elastic leaving the 3 inch selvage.
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up the ends of the elastic and tie a double knot in each set of
elastic for the top and bottom channels. Once the knot is tied,
gently but firmly pull on each end of the elastic to tighten the
knot. Trim the knot, leaving a small selvage of about ¼ inch. |
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