Thistle Medallion

Taking a walk through a forest, on a mountain trail or through a meadow, always inspires me.  One of my favorite flowers on these walks is the thistle.  The details of that flower make me smile.  When I found this thistle stamp in a store, of course, I just had to have it.  I put it on my work table waiting for the right time to use it. 
One day I decided to make the thistle in fine silver clay and put a wire staple on the back.  That staple would allow me to make a backing of polymer clay and attach it securely to the silver.  I also made a silver flat bail with a hole toward the bottom so I could put it between two layers of polymer.  Both the staple and the hole would force polymer clay into those openings locking the silver in place.  
These are the 3 slabs of polymer for the Illuminance & Clarice beads
The back of the medallion is made from the sunburst slab in the front of the picture.
Combining metal clay with polymer clay fascinates me.  I love blending the colors of polymer and trying new techniques.  I just purchased a new tutorial (ebook) ‘Illuminance and Clarice Beads’ by Emma Ralph on the internet and have been anxious to try it out.  http://www.ejrbeads.co.uk/  What fun I had making luminescent beads!  I happened to glance over at the silver thistle and decided to use one of the luminescent slabs of polymer as the backing. 
Shows the first backing of polymer around the silver medallion that has been cured.
2nd backing and outside edging
I made the back, adhered the silver using the staple and cured the piece.  Then I placed a second piece of polymer on top of the back and added the bail and cured that.  The edge piece was applied and cured again.
Finished Medallion
 
The finished piece makes me think of my walks through a meadow with all the shades of yellow, gold and green.  The piece could easily be reversible.  Sometimes it just takes a while to put all the pieces together.  


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Location: Prescott, AZ, USA

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