Celtic Jewelry Items

My first attempt at celtic knot dragons are patterns designed and sold by Cari Buziak of Aon Celtic Art & Illumination. She has graciously given me her permission to reproduce some of her artwork into 3D with polymer clay. So if you copy it, please notify her at artinfo@aon-celtic.com and ask her permission. She is quite an amazing and generous person and easy to work with.

Cari's drawings.	My rendering.
	This was my first ever effort at a celtic knot in clay and my first dragon. Not great, but not bad for a first! I will be remaking this knot and it will be a brooch.
	This was my second effort and shows great improvement and great promise! This one is a brooch about 3" long.

Click on the picture for a closer look.

The first attempt I used sculpey glow in the dark with a pinch of lavender that didn't really show up after baking. For the middle of the knot and the dragon's "mane," i used a pinch of red. I rolled out a couple snakes and wove the two triskele shapes. Then I rolled another snake and wove that in and out to connect the two triskeles. Next Ishaped the dragon head. It didn't come out at all like I wanted it to, so in a fit if frustration, I just smashed the "body" of the dragon so the whole thing would hold together and baked it. I was unhappy with how the dragon turned out, but not displeased with the effort. So I wandered off to think of a different way to go about accomplishing the celtic weaving.

The result is the second dragon. This handsome fellow is made with one of those sparkley Fimo soft colors: the green that comes with the glitter in it. The texturing was accomplished after the pin was baked by mixing Fimo pulver into diluted TLS (Transparent Liquid Sculpey) and applying it with a paintbrush. Quite a different effect than when applied dry and then coated with a sealer. The eye is a gold seed bead.

With this knot, I wanted everything to look almost flat, as if it's on a piece of paper. So I laid the pattern of the dragon down on a sheet of clay and traced the pattern onto it and then cut out the open spaces with a craft knife. Next I sliced out the section where the tail crosses over his tummy. I laid a snake of clay in the spot. I smoothed the clay into a small depression on either side on the body to make it SEEM like the body went under the tail. So there really isn't any weaving done at all. The "over" pieces are merely ropes laid into a cut out area and not blended in!

I finished the back of the piece by painting it with the pulver and attached a pin.

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Copyright 2004-2010 Colleen D. Bergeron.
Last revised: May2 2010