I first played with polymer clay in the mid 1970's when I discovered it as a medium for dollhouse miniaturists to make 1/12 scale food. I made and sold tiny candies, gingerbread houses, fruits and veggies made of Fimo at the local dollhouse shop, partly inspired by a booklet by the late Esther Olson.
At that time, I was part of a co-op art gallery called Gallery Upstairs, in Grand Haven, Michigan. Among the other friends and members of the gallery was the now-famous Kathleen Dustin. I remember a conversation where she and I discussed Fimo as a material she might try out. Kathi worked in colored porcelain then, and was about to move to the Middle East (again!) where setting up a kiln was a major nuisance. But I sort of thought Kathi was an earth-clay purist, so was kind of surprised years later when I found out what had happened since I'd seen her last!
I, myself, put my Fimo away and only got it out again years later in 1991 or so, when I got the book The New Clay and suddenly considered ways to use polymer clay outside the world of minis. I haven't looked back.
The Celtic pendant shown is an example of the "dabbling" I have been doing with techniques. It is made of faux jade Fimo (learned from Tory Hughes) and was made in a press mold which I created myself. (I made a photocopy transfer of the design onto white clay, carved the dimensional aspects into the raw white clay, baked it then cleaned up the dteails with carving tools, then used that original to make the mold from Super Elasticlay.)
The pendant could be hung from the shield top points, with a pendant or tassel suspended from the bottom, or it could be hung "upside down" from that point, with perhaps a loop of beadecd chain suspended between the two corners. I like versitility!
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