My recent free tutorial on creating polymer clay pods sparked some interesting conversations about pod shapes, names, uses and variations.
There are literally hundreds of ways you can “alter” something to make it look different. It’s actually heaps of fun for me to challenge myself to do this. My visual diary is full of pages where I’ve simply drawn up different “cone” shapes, different “round” shapes – you get the picture. This way of thinking is really exciting for me and I feel it’s a great way to come up with unique ideas.
It was a rainy day yesterday so I spent some time (not long mind you) playing at my clay table with pods. There are so many different ways to change a pod!!!
Check out some of the pics I took – and remember this is the tip of the iceberg so to speak – there are so many more ways you can change these pods.
This is my basic pod shape (or torpedo bead as some call them) and some simple variations to the basic shape.
This is the basic pod cut with a tissue blade.
Basic pod flattened!
What about curving or coiling!
This one has very basic texture added. There are literally hundreds of things you can do here.
and lucky last but certainly not least, organic shaped pods (so many variations here as well).
I can think of a few more ways to make changes which I haven’t explored.
You could add additional clay elements to the surface of the pod.
You could cut away sections of clay to reveal treasures inside.
What about carving, drilling, backfilling – oh so many options!!
The one thing you will need to think about is how the addition of a clay veneer, cane or additional decorative layer will look if tit’s then manipulated, cut, flattened etc. This is something to explore and offers a huge range of variations.
I hope I’ve given you something to think about here, I would love to hear your thoughts on how you “create change”.
Oh what fun. You have nudged me into exploring. Thank you.
oh yay that’s great Deb!!
Classic Deb, superb info on pod beads. I love these especially the coiled ones as they can easily be converted into clasps too. Thanks my lovely, you’re so generous with all your hints and tips.
hey Deb, it’s my pleasure! and yes, I was only cleaning up my millions of pictures yesterday and found the “clasp ideas” file with the coiled ones. Glad you enjoyed it Deb xx