Jade Pavilion

Form Ellen Kharade's amazing faux jade jewellery from polymer clay

Ellen Kharade, MJ Designer

I love creating faux gemstones from polymer clay; it’s amzaing how the different shades mix to create a realistic effect

Jade is a beautiful semi-precious stone that has been used extensively in the Far East for jewellery, often incorporating elaborate carvings into the designs. We have recreated the colour and texture of ancient jade using polymer clay, mixing in special effects transparent clay to achieve the translucent quality of the stone. Faux coral and turquoise cabochons add an eye-catching splash of colour to our bohemian pieces.

Pendant

1. Roll out a 4cm ball of translucent clay, a 5cm ball of white clay, a 1.5cm ball of green clay and a 5cm ball of chocolate clay. Roll the balls into long sausages and twist them together until the colours combine. If the sausage is too large to roll, chop it in half and work the pieces separately. Using a grater, grate the clay into shreds; if it is too soft to grate, pop into the fridge for half an hour to firm up a bit, then try again.
2. Using your fingers, bring the pieces slice off the sides at a slight angle, then the top and bottom and finally, take off the bottom corners. Use your fingers to gently re-mould and form the piece into a pouch shape as shown.
3. Make pilot holes in the clay by gently pushing a fine needle through one side of the piece and out the other, then push a head pin through the pre-made holes with equal amounts of pin either side. Turn the ends of three head pins into neat loops, trim to 1cm and push into the base of the pouch. Roll out a thin sausage of leftover jade clay and wrap around the top of the pouch, then gently score in a diagonal pattern. Put the pouch to one side.
4. Mix up a large ball of translucent clay with a little tangerine, sunflower yellow, and raspberry and make five 8mm coral balls. Make a 5mm ball from peppermint clay. Bake all of the pieces, including the pouch, for 10 minutes at 110°C. Once the pieces have come out of the oven and cooled, but are still a little pliable, cut the balls in half using a kitchen knife to make cabochons.
5. Mix up a little black and brown acrylic paint and using a sponge, rub it into the pattern on the pouch. Leave it to dry for a minute, then rub off the excess with a damp cloth. Place a blob of bake adhesive onto the back of a cabochon and position on the pouch. Roll out a thin sausage of jade clay and wrap around the fake stone, trimming the ends to meet. Use a cocktail stick to dot the sausage to look like milling. Repeat for four more coral cabochons, plus a peppermint cabochon in the centre. Bake again for 20 minutes at 110°C.
6. Glue bead caps onto three half drilled 4mm turquoise beads, allow to dry and attach to the looped head pins at the base of the pouch. Trim the horizontal head pin to size and turn into a neat loop. Attach 5mm jump rings to the end of a 70cm silver belcher chain and attach to the loops. Apply two coats of clear varnish to the cabochons for a glossy finish.

Earrings

1. Mix up some faux jade clay in the same way as the pendant and roll out to a thickness of about 10mm. Press an Asian Writing stamp into the clay; this should squash it to 5mm thick. Using a round cutter, cut out the motif. Carefully insert a needle right through the disc and replace it with a head pin, then make another disc in the same way.
2. Roll out a peppermint ball and bake for 10 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, cut in half and glue each to the centre of the jade discs. Finish with a thin sausage of jade clay wrapped around the cabochons and decorated with milling as before. Bake the discs for 20 minutes at 110°C.
3. Thread a coral seed bead onto a jade disc head pin. Trim the end to size and turn over into a neat loop. Make up a small amount of coral clay and roll out two large and four small balls, push head pins through them and bake for 10 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, trim the head pins with the larger balls to 3.5cm and the remaining head pins to 2.5cm, then turn into neat loops.
4. Wrap a length of 0.7mm silver wire around a circular bottle with a circumference of about 9.5cm (see Designer Tip). Wind the wire around twice, then snip in the centre so that you have two identical 3cm hoops. Take one hoop, turn the ends into horizontal hooks and link with a jump ring. Attach a jade disc to the jump ring plus an earwire. Give the cabochon and beads a coat of varnish, then repeat to make a pair.

Bangle

1. Twist together a ball of simulated jade clay in the same way as for the pendant, but this time leave fine swirls of colour in the clay to mimic the natural variations and marbling in the stone. Pinch off a large blob and form it into a rough oval shape, using a part of the clay with attractive marbling.
2. Pop the clay piece into the recess on a silver cuff bangle and gently work it into the space with your fingers. Smooth over and round the clay with your hands and fingers and trim any excess clay with a scalpel. To achieve a smooth, stone-like surface to the clay, gently rub over the surface with a piece of smooth white paper.
3. Make a turquoise cabochon by rolling 8mm of peppermint clay into a ball, baking it and then cutting in half. Place the cabochon in the centre of the stone using a little clay bake adhesive. Roll out a thin sausage of jade clay and wrap around the cabochon. Decorate with the milled effect as before.
4. Make up some coral coloured clay in the same way as the pendant, roll into tiny balls and set around the outside of the stone. Bake the whole bracelet for 20 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, give the surface of the clay a couple of coats of clear varnish.