The African Souffle Necklace & a FREE Giveaway!

As an Artist, and more specifically a polymer clay jewelry designer, much of my growth happens thanks to the materials and tools that make my work possible. My brand of choice has been Sculpey from the very beginning. Even though I’ve tried a handful of other brands, working occasionally with FIMO and KATO, somehow I always end up coming back to Sculpey III and PREMO.  But a few weeks ago a new polymer clay brand by Polyform (Sculpey), called SOUFFLE came to my desk, and I had to give it a try.

This post is a little different, because aside from revealing a beautiful new Fall/Winter Necklace, I’ll be also sharing with you a bit of the behind-the-scenes experience making this necklace using this brand-new kind of polymer clay: SOUFFLE.

My SHORT verdict on the experience: FANTASTIC! And this necklace tells you why.

Inspiration:

Before I get into the specific uniquenesses about this clay, let me first introduce you formally to today’s necklace: The gorgeous AFRICAN SOUFFLE NECKLACE, which is inspired by the beautiful colors and patterns of African Turbans that have also inspired countless couture fashion collections for both Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter. I chose this inspiration not only because of my love for the kinds of patterns and colors they bring about, but because I wanted to see how easy or difficult it was to make and work with tiny pattern cane-slices made of Souffle-clay, structured on very curved surfaces. The perfect challenge to get a pretty good idea about its strengths & weaknesses.

Materials and Tools:

All the colors of the necklace, with exception of the blue and light pink, are original Souffle colors. The blue and light pink were custom made, by mixing the original blue and pink with black and white respectively. Besides a bit of scrap clay, sandpaper and stainless steal wire, the only tools I used can be seen below:

What is unique about Souffle Clay?

• – Powerful flexibility: If you’ve worked with other brands that are a bit harder to condition and mold with your fingers, such as FIMO Soft for example (which I also like but for very different reasons and projects), then you will immediately notice the nice flexibility that Souffle’s texture offers as soon as you get a piece out of its pack. This particular necklace would have been very hard to complete with “tough” clay (or clay that “crumbles” or “cracks” easily). You see, the “curved cilinder-like” pipes that hide underneath the patterns of clay you see on the necklace, required that the slices of canes be flexible enough to stretch a bit, and meet the corners of the other slices of cane that were next to it but at a totally different angle, without deforming its patterns nor cracking/braking easily.
• – No Fingerprints: Unlike Sculpey III which I really like for very small-scale 3D sculpting portions of projects for its flexibility as well, Souffle doesn’t leave any fingerprints on its surfaces. You’ll notice a powder-y kind of surface that not only prevents the clay from “sticking” to other clay, tools or even your hands in unwanted ways, but will also leave no marks of fingerprints! (No sanding needed!!).
• – Easy to mix: As much as I love the vibrance of most colors that Sculpey delivers, there will always be a handful of colors that I’ll need to create in-house. Mixing colors couldn’t be easier and faster! I LOVED this about Souffle!
• – Colors: This is a very subjective topic to discuss in the polymer clay world. But if you’re familiar with VeruDesigns, then you know that I’m drawn to vibrant, subtle, sometimes loud, contrasting and very very happy colors. Yes, I like neutrals too, but I’m never afraid of bringing more than just browns, tans and greys. So, for VeruDesigns, the Souffle range of colors is a gift sent from the heavens 🙂

Personal Tips: 

Different kinds of polymer clay are wonderful for different kinds of projects based on the techniques that the Artist uses to create his/her Art. So, given my own unique techniques (which differ from others), I intend to incorporate Souffle particularly for:

• – 3D sculpting projects (portions of my Bridal necklaces),
• – Designs where I’ll be creating many custom-colors.
• – And designs with curved surfaces (such as beads).

If this post has sparked your curiosity, then I have another beautiful surprise for you.

After all, it is the week of Thanksgiving Day. A time of thanks and giving back. So, here is the deal:

SCULPEY’S (POLYFORM) & VERUDESIGNS FREE THANKSGIVING GIVEAWAY

On Wednesday (December 3rd, 2014), Sculpey (Polyform) will be announcing a winner among one of our VeruDesigns subscribers ONLY. Yes, the Company behind Sculpey (Polyform Products) has been a huge supporter of VeruDesigns for a while, and in a lovely gesture of appreciation on Thanksgiving week they are hosting FREE Give-Away only for VeruDesigns friends and subscribers.

The Winner will get 2 PRIZES:

1) A complete SOUFFLE MULTI-PACK, where you’ll have almost all the clay colors available in this new range. But that is not all.

2) A 1-hour FREE PRIVATE CLASS with me! No matter where you are in the world via skype! In english, spanish or german. This 1 hour FREE session will be scheduled at a day/time that works best for you and can be one of these 3 things:

a) You can choose to have me teach you how to make this exact necklace (THE AFRICAN SOUFFLE Necklace), using your brand new Souffle clay.

b) You can choose to have me customize a 1-hour class based on your specific interests and experience with polymer clay (beginner, intermediate, advanced).

c) You can  choose to use that hour to have a Q&A session with me, and ask me ANYTHING you want. About jewelry making, polymer clay, techniques, how-tos, business, etc.

Of course I wish that we could give this to ALL of you!! But don’t worry, because to be elegible for this FREE Sculpey Giveaway, there are only 2 super easy and FUN things you need to do!

1) Please visit and “LIKE” the SCULPEY’S Facebook Page (Which is the PolyForm Products Facebook page), by clicking HERE.

2) Leave/post a brief message on their page, saying that you are a VeruDesigns friend, so that they know to include you in the give-away raffle next Wednesday! Simply leave this message on their wall: “Hi from a friend of VeruDesigns!”.

That’s it! You’ll be in!

The Winner will be announced by Sculpey on Wednesday December 3rd,  but I will also announce the winner via our newsletter, so please stay tunned!

If you’re new to polymer clay as an art form, or have been playing with it for a while, then you should “LIKE”/follow Sculpey’s facebook page anyway. They are full of tips, lessons, inspiration and techniques that will keep you delighted and will absolutely enrich your growth as an artist!

What do you think?

Did you enjoy today’s post? Would you be interested in learning more about what the process of jewelry making is like? I’m asking because even though I know that there are a few of you who are interested in learning about working with polymer clay, I don’t have much of a sense on whether this is an interest of a minority or a majority of you.

I’d love to read your comments below 🙂

Finally, a heartfelt thank you to Marnie Lersch, the BEAUTIFUL MODEL in today’s photo-spread. As is the case with most of my models, she is not only a beautiful woman, but a beautiful human being and believer in the value and importance of the Arts for the wellbeing of cities and communities alike. Marnie is dedicated to making the Arts thrive, by connecting the Arts to the Public. Marnie is currently part of the creative team at The Center for Emerging Visual Artists here in center city Philadelphia. She is also pursuing a Masters of Science in Arts Administration at Drexel University.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! No matter where you are in the world, it is never a bad week to be grateful for all the good in our lives.