Inspiration – Veneers; What Can I Do With Them?

Stuck for ideas on what to do with all those beautiful polymer clay veneers you’ve just created?  I have a few ideas, there are many more but these might get you thinking.

Let’s start with some wall art.  Create simple wall art pieces from those veneers that are too beautiful to cut up, or go large and create something from a range of veneers and some mixed media perhaps.  Small wall flowers look beautiful when hung in groups or again, go large and create a stunning feature wall flower.  (PS – I’ll be teaching the mixed media wall art piece at the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas this year – woohoo!!)

What about art objects, vessels etc, there are simply so many options.  The pear is created from the scrappy stripes veneer, birds are luscious, crackled veneers and the teeny ring bowl is a mix of leftover bits.

What about beads?  Way too many options here.  Let’s look at tubes.  A simple tube created from one veneer only.  Tubes with a mix of crackle and simple black…or go for broke and create tubes with a variety of different veneers – yummy my favourite.

Cabochons are a great way to use your veneers.  You can make them as large or as small as you want.  You can also hand shape your own cabs so it’s unique.  A simple cab with two veneers that work well together can look quite stunning or again, go the whole hog and use them all up.  I had lots of fun creating this range of image transfer cabs.  They worked beautifully with a variety of different veneers.

What about beads?  Oh how beautiful it is to create luscious beads from a range of veneers.  Large, round hollow beads (courtesy of a workshop a few years ago from Christine Dumont). Long flared cones with veneers. Hollow tube beads.  Unusual shaped beads (start thinking outside the box for shapes).  Arched cones with pieces of veneers.  Image transfer beads with a variety of surface techniques.  Try cutting up your veneers and adding them to the surface of hand shaped beads as in this round, blue bead.  Scrappy striped beads are fun and easy to make from those scrappy striped veneers.

What about pendants – there are literally hundreds of options here.  Cut up your veneers and use small sections of them in certain pieces.  Add them to sticks, arches, in frames, mix and match different veneers etc etc etc.  I also love creating concentric circle pendants and have a couple here showing one piece using one veneer and then a number of pieces that have been cut up and rearranged to create a whole series.

And pods…some of my favourite things to make as well.  Try some pod pendants with a flat back and a variety of veneers on top or create pod shaped beads – these look stunning either kept simple (as in the Damask pod bead) or created more complex (orange spot pod).

And sticks – yummy sticks.  So many people ask me what I do with these because I guess they don’t really look like a conventional jewellery components perhaps.  I like to use them for all sorts of things.  Create them simple or complex – it’s up to you.

….and bangles.  So many bangles can be created from your luscious veneers.  Here are just a couple (I don’t normally create them too much so don’t have many to share). Use the whole veneer on the outside of a bangle or create a bangle core and cover with portions of different veneers – the options are endless.

So there are just a few ideas on how you can use your polymer clay veneers and I haven’t even talked about brooches or rings.  I bet there are so many other ways to use your veneers once you start looking and playing.

This was a long post so thanks for reading.  Have a great day everyone.  Love Deb

Debbie Crothers

I love working with polymer clay and I love to teach others my techniques for working with polymer clay. Thank you for stopping in to read my blog - I hope you have found the information valuable. Be sure to join my Newsletter to receive regular updates directly to your inbox!