"When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8:3-5)
I'm constantly amazed by the photos being sent back to earth by the Hubble space telescope. Of course, the colours we see in these amazing photos of galaxies and nebulae aren't how they would appear if we were up close and seeing them with our own eyes. The camera is often detecting radiation and this data, when sent back to earth is then interpreted and the various elements are colourised to show what might be out there. They are representations often of gases and radiations which would be invisible to the naked eye. Nor can the photos do justice to the immense size of these nebulae and galaxies which are mindbogglingly huge!
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8:3-5)
I'm constantly amazed by the photos being sent back to earth by the Hubble space telescope. Of course, the colours we see in these amazing photos of galaxies and nebulae aren't how they would appear if we were up close and seeing them with our own eyes. The camera is often detecting radiation and this data, when sent back to earth is then interpreted and the various elements are colourised to show what might be out there. They are representations often of gases and radiations which would be invisible to the naked eye. Nor can the photos do justice to the immense size of these nebulae and galaxies which are mindbogglingly huge!
My inspiration to make nebula jewellery came from a life-long fascination I have had with space ever since my grandmother bought me a poster of the Solar System when I was a child and which hung on the wall at the foot of my bed for some years. I wish I still had it, but it's sadly long gone. Of course, even attempting to create polymer clay jewellery which could do justice to the Hubble photographs, let alone the universe itself, is to be onto a hiding to nothing. However, my love of space and my love of making 3D polymer clay jewellery meant that I had to give it a go and there are so many colours and patterns and such a sense of eerie depth in these photos that the possibilities are endless - or at least as far as your imagination and the limitations of polymer clay will allow you to explore.
I was finally galvanised into doing something about it after a trip to the dentist. There, I had picked up a copy of the National Geographic magazine, which had an article in it of the latest Hubble photos. The photo which caught my attention was small, but particularly ethereal and although I couldn't return home with the magazine, I studied the photo and got a general feel for it. It should be noted that very few of my nebula pieces are attempts to recreate the Hubble photographs. A general shape or colour combination is the inspiration and I just go with the gaseous flow! In any case, attempting to recreate a nebula in an inch or two of polymer clay is futile, if not downright arrogant in thinking that I or anyone else could even come close to portraying such awesome glories. So in my jewellery, I attempt to capture the beauty, depth and ethereal quality of these wonderful parts of our wonderful universe. That is a hard enough task as it is and some pieces, I feel, are more successful than others, but all are a joy to create - even if I only create in a secondary sense a mere shadow and an almost laughable representation of what The Lord created out of his mind. God has the monopoly on the creation of glorious things - and talk about thinking big!
This was the first one I did after that dentist's visit - the first visit of many! Like many of my nebula pieces, it is set in a 1" diameter bezel and it still remains one of my favourites to date - perhaps partly because it was the very first ...
Quite a few others have followed since all based loosely on the images returned from Hubble and other telescopes. I know they look like a piece of cake to make - and in one sense they are - but they are actually quite time consuming and difficult to get to look right. Most of the ones I have made are based on a dome of black Sculpey Premo Accents Twinkle Twinkle clay although sometimes I just use black clay with different coloured fine glitters worked into the clay. One or two sizes of micro bead are added to represent the larger stars and bursts of colour often seen in the photos and the wispy, gaseous elements are attempted with very thin layers and smears of different clays with more micro beads added. However, I decided that it wasn't just a case of throwing micro beads at the clay and the more the merrier. It's amazing how just one tiny bead in the wrong place can make the piece look wrong - at least to me and so I assume to others too. Contrary to what I am sure must be public opinion, I don't just slap
the beads on. Rather, each colour and each micro bead is chosen for its
place in the piece and placed carefully. And the 'stars' have to be visible to varying degrees, so it has to be decided in advance which beads need to be partially buried in the black clay before the first baking as these pieces may be baked three or four times before they are finished.
I was asked by someone if I could make a purple nebula pendant for them to give as a gift to a friend. I came up with a couple for them to choose from, but I especially liked this one as a very thin layer of translucent clay does actually give the illusion of gas ...
Each of these small pendants takes me 2-3 hours to make, but I love making each one and it is an especially pleasant and relaxing way to work with polymer clay.
Some of the others I have made can be seen below. I assure you that quite unintentionally, but with sleight of thumb I have managed to create things which I hadn't noticed until after completion and often pointed out by others in the patterns and colours of the pieces. In the ones below, you may be able to spot a red fox, and Woodstock, the bird from Charles M. Schulz's comic strip, Peanuts. While in another piece alone, I saw a goose, while someone else saw a sea monster rising through the foam from the deep and yet another saw a black poodle - all in the same piece. Can you spot them? You may have to turn your screen to see the goose and sea monster. None of these were intended, but such is the way of clay!
Two of my favourites were a broach (pin) which I made. I especially loved the bezel and the colours in this one ...
And the final one for this article was one of my very favourites. It was made slightly differently in that some of the colour is polymer clay and some is alcohol ink on translucent clay.
Some of these have been sold, but some are still available in the 'Space and Science' section of my Etsy shop ...
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