Some of Heather’s polymer clay work, related to her Segmented Pendants as presented in Belle Armoire.  If using these photos, please reference Heather Roselli’s name with them.

About the Article

Polymer clay artists today have taken their material – really an assortment of clay materials – to many new levels.   Heather Roselli is one of those artists.   Her polymer clay work, like the Segmented Pendants discussed in this article, epitomize artistic and fashion design goals.  

These Segmented Pendants are influenced by many design, medium, and technical considerations.    The clay is worked as a slab, and articulated in the final jewelry design.  The patterning within the clay – the swirls, the wavy lines – shows how well the clay may be controlled and manipulated.   The mica shift technique is applied which allows the surface to move, vibrate and sway.

The article goes into detail about the steps involved in recreating these pendants.   Strategic tips and ideas for variations are offered.  Some resources for materials are given.

About the Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts

The Center for Beadwork & Jewelry Arts was founded in 2000, and began offering classes in 2001.   The CBJA is a school for beadwork and jewelry arts, providing elective and progressive track courses for students at all levels of skill.    The CBJA is committed to offering a comprehensive range of bead and jewelry related course topics, from bead stringing and bead weaving to lampwork bead making, silversmithing, polymer and metal clay, wire work and wire wrapping, and fiber arts.

The CBJA is a different kind of school.    CBJA offers classes structured in a particular order, rather than just a collection of mini-workshops.   The CBJA uses a skills-based, rather than a project-based, approach to curriculum design.   That is, in designing courses and structuring a curriculum of courses, attention is paid to what set of skills should be taught, and in what order these should be taught.  The emphasis is more about, for example, teaching the control of thread and its tension in a stitch, or learning how to shape and use the structural tension of wire to make jewelry.   While every course uses a project in which to provide a context for applying skills, the outcome we are seeking is the learning of skills, not merely completing a project.

We have also tightly focused on the quality of instruction.   We believe that each class must present material in written, visual and oral forms.  All teachers are required to provide written instructions.    Written instructions have been pretested to improve clarity and usability.   Teachers are required to provide physical samples of the projects taught in classes.   

We have tried to structure and interlink courses so that it becomes clearer for the student how best to develop his or her skills.    We have specified prerequisites, and progressive course pathways so that the students in any one class are more similar in their beadwork or jewelry making development abilities and needs.

Beadwork & Jewelry Making

Beadwork and jewelry-making are not only crafts, but  arts, as well.   As art, they have definable sets of interrelated skills which can be taught, creatively applied, and further developed.   These skills can be used to create and enhance color, shape, texture, sensibility, perception, sensuousness and emotion.   They can be applied to bring meaning, cognition, culture, connectivity and wisdom to a situation.   They can be used to create the tangible from the intangible, and the object from nothingness.   

The skills of combining materials of physical and/or esthetic wealth into wearable art forms and adornment -- this is jewelry making.  

Beads, wire, jewelry findings -- they bring visual and tactile feelings and thoughts to life in the objects we create from them.   There is a sense of awe and power, esthetic feeling and historical connection.    The CBJA develops and educates its students, through its elective and progressive track courses, for joining the professions of beadworking and jewelry-making, and expanding their horizons.

The CBJA offers courses, for all levels of beaders and jewelry-makers, in the following areas:
- Bead Stringing, including Attaching Clasps, Pearl Knotting, Hemp Braids and Knots
- Bead Weaving, including Peyote, Brick, Loom, Right Angle Weave, Stitch of the Month, and other bead-weaving stitches
- Wire-Working and Wire-Wrapping
- Art & Craft as a Business
- General Co-Curricular Skill Areas, including Color, Jewelry Design, and Strap/Edge/Fringe
- Silver Smithing
- Lampworking
- Polymer Clay
- Precious Metal Clay, including PMC+ certification
- Fiber Arts

The Polymer Clay Curriculum at CBJA

Core Courses
CLAYPC4301:  Getting Started With Polymer Clay
CLAYPC4302:  Building 2-D Designs in 3-D:  Canes

Electives
CLAYPC4303:  More Caning - Geometrics
CLAYPC4304:  More Caning - Picture Canes
CLAYPC4305:  Imitative Techniques - Ivory and Jade
CLAYPC4306:  Imitative Techniques - Turquoise, Lapis, & Rose Quartz
CLAYPC4307:  Imitative Techniques - Dichroic and Fiorato Glass
CLAYPC4308:  Using Liquid Polymer Clay
CLAYPC4309:  Mica Shift: Two Metallic Colors from One
CLAYPC4310:  Translucent Techniques
CLAYPC4311:  Endless Possibilities with Polymer Clay
CLAYPC4351:  Using Transfers with Polymer Clay
CLAYPC4391:  Advanced Comparative Analysis of Polymer Clay Techniques