Looking for something more natural and less formal? These invoke a sense of history and mystery. How they are produced: Taking a good, textural object (a charm, small sculpture, berries & leaves) I embed it into a prepared piece of polymer clay. That makes my primary mold. Using dental tools and small picks, I add shape & bring out detail that doesn't show up after removing the positive. After baking the mold, I am ready to make my own positive. I dust the inside of the mold with tinted and ground mica. Preparing polymer clay to the right consistency and using the colors that work best for that subject, I push in the clay, taking care to reach deep into the mold. After a short refrigeration, I "decant" the positive, cut out the shape and add more powder to bring up the design. A hole is very carefuly added through the center of the soft, molded clay and then it is baked.

After it cools, I finish the edges with several grits of sandpaper. On the large fossils, I mix up a special combination of water putty, acrylic medium and tints to get a rock-like color. I usually mix up 2 batches to have 2-tone rock. It gets slathered on the back of the Fossil and I let it dry. A good sanding leaves me with a rock/slate appearance, which enhances the fossil effect. The small and medium fossils have a smooth, sanded back the same color as the rest of the bead.

Pearlescent colors range from coppers to blues, golds and pearl. Clay colors range from hot pink and purple to green, teal and navy plus pastel swirls of any of the colors are also used.