Mokume Gane - Stamping with a Difference by Frankie Gaywood

Woo, I am so excited to be bringing you my first piece on this wonderful Artistic Stamper Creative Blog!! So, stamping... yes it is, but with a difference. As the title suggests, it is actually Japenese and is a metal working technique, to make wood grain effect in metals. I am using it with polymer clay, and I want to share 2 projects with you. It is quite photo-heavy, so get a cuppa and enjoy.

 So, on the desk is a whole lot of new clay and all the tools I need to get going., including my pasta maker.

 Each pack needs to be cut and then -

 popped into the pasta machine to be conditioned...

 When all my colours were conditioned and softened

 they were cut and layered with each other and with some gold foil... is she ever getting to the stamping, I hear you cry!!  Yes I am so see below...

I lay the mini polka dots background stamp on top of the stack and pressed down hard to imprint the image through the clay. The beauty of this technique is that you never really know the beauty of what you have made until you cut into the stack...

 I slotted some orange clay into the stack then started to slice...

 The blade slices as thin slivers as possible, being careful not to cut your own fingers!!!! Tee hee...

 So I used the mini polka dots and the cogs background stamps - yummy deep-etched rubber and below it is possible to see their influence!!

 This slice shows the cogs and the dots beautifully...

On another stack, I used the grid backround stamp and made some holes with my pokey tool!! Just look at the wonderful clay markings that produced...

 Beautiful squares of colour... and such texture...

 So I wrapped some beads made from spare clay. I will make something with them and show you the finished articles in a later post...

 Here are some of them, surrounded by a bracelet I made recently. They will match beautifully...

 Woo, such lovely colours and swirls, and I LOVE those cogs and squares!! Great stampimg!!

 With another stack, I decided to create a frame for one of the 15cms collage alterable frames. I laid thin slices around the edge and trimmed ...

 Look at the bright sunshine streaming in through my craftroom window... and the frame finished and waiting to be "cooked""... I use my halogen oven, it's quick and easy and less costly than my large cooker.

 I made a Tim Holtz-type background with distress inks and stamping using the dots and checks background stamps, and then added the teeny tiny butterfly. The beetle in the bottom corner and the beautiful large buttlerfly are from the same plate called insects and butterflies.

The leaves are from the Graphic 45 Tropical Paradise Pad. I fussy cut them. I used the pad because my frame reminded me of the paper when it was finished...

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my first project of the month with you, and look forward to seeing you all again soon, in a couple of weeks.

Love and Light

Frankie xx

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