Mokume Gane I
May 7th, 2006
This is an adaptation of the old Japanese metal working technique called Makume Gane to Polymer clays. Well, it won’t look like the original Mokume Gane metal works if you have seen one but we will still get interesting colors and patterns. You can see a sample above.
I used a gold leaf and four different polymer clays, namely, metallic blue, pearl, translucent and white. The latter three clays might seem too close in color but they will be look quite distinct at the end.
Start with rolling the clays into thin sheets. How thin? Mine was less than a mm. Generally thin sheets will give you better results. Cut the sheets with the help of a square stencil.
Stack the clay sheets with the gold leaf in the middle.
After applying slight pressure, cut the stack in half.
Place the two halves on top of each other.
Then repeat the cutting and stacking to obtain a multi-layered stack as shown.
Here is the creative part. Push a stick (circular section) through the stack (see above) to create a number of deep holes. Pay attention not to create too uniform holes for better results. I used a chopstick here.
And here are the results. I think it is an amazing effect. Different pattern in each slice.
Hello!
Thanks for comment on my blog! Your things are great! Mokume gane is always fun, isn’t it? Unpredictable and nice results. I like the result of holes filled with scrap clay too; you should try that if you haven’t yet!
Btw, I posted some pics of my latest work in my blog. Stop by when you have time.
I wish you a lot of nice creations! Have a nice day!