Oriental Totem

Oriental Totem
Originally uploaded by JanGeisen

Visions of gold, jade, and an ancient oriental coin..... familiar, but with a modern twist. Jan Geisen works such artistry with her jewelry pieces. The composition is unique, but familiar - bold, but tradition - and attractive in all aspects. I can see wearing this piece with so many outfits, especially because I'm very fond of these shades of green! =) Jan's work is outstanding! Her shop is filled with wonderful pieces - some with asian influence, some with wonderful faux, and others with peaceful swirls and designs that go so well with so much. Each one a treasure! You can view more of Jan's wonderful designs in her etsy SHOP and her WEBSITE or follow her on her BLOG.

Jan's necklace is another entry in July's PCAGOE Faux challenge. Voting goes now through July 7th. Don't miss out on your chance to win a wonderful prize from our member prize pool! Vote HERE.



I've been thinking ahead and behind a bit lately. I needed a birthday gift for a good friend and was trying to decide what to make for August's PCAGOE challenge - paint, foil, and leaf. The idea of inlays was still stuck in my head from this month's challenge piece and I was thinking about how you could go about making a true polymer inlay piece with just polymer clay. Well - all those thoughts just kind of meshed together and this is what I came up with. It was made in several stages and I still plan to experiment with the technique some more - it was a very satisfying creative endeavor. The background for the guitar is a mokume gane with several layers of black with varying degrees of translucent added, gold foil, metallic red, and ink painted translucent. The guitar itself is layers of metallic red, red, and orange red about 1:5 with translucent. This will be a fun technique to perfect for a tutorial and something unique that I look forward to experimenting more with. Hope you like it!