March Polymer Clay Smooshers Challenge

The theme for March's Smoosher's Challenge was "tribal".  I was inspired to create some "faux bronze" some pictures I found of some ancient Celtic artifacts. 

I created a mix of copper and black Kato polymer clay.   I used a few basic tools for making pendants and beads.  The needle tool and sandpaper are invaluable for adding texture.  The little orange bit is a triangle shaped template made from orange card stock.

Here are a few of them after being cured in the oven.  I "abused" them quite a bit with the sandpaper and needle tool.

After curing I Added some acrylic paint to age and highlight the details.  I first used thalo green - brushed it on and rubbed it off.  Then I hit the highlights with metallic bronze. After that, I did a quick 10 minutes in the oven.

To better emulate ancient bronze, there should have been more green in the final product.  But, I am pleased with how they turned out.  Note in this closeup, the crack in the round pendant. (The penny is there for scale)

And here is a picture of the final necklace.  For the blue, black and white beads, I created a simple cane.  I purposely made sure the cane slices were not round and did a little color blending here and there.  I attacked with sandpaper and the needle tool.  Patina and age was added with burnt umber paint.  Inspiration for the beads came from this page of Celtic artifacts.