Are these pieces painted?

While colorful and vibrant, the colors you see on Cheryl’s pieces are not painted but are inherent in the medium. The material, polymer clay, has a texture and moldable properties similar to mineral clay, hence the name. A benefit of the medium is that the colors don’t fade and stand up to elements similarly to pearls.

 

Cheryl selects clays having a number of characteristics including hue, translucency, opacity, fluorescence, with some showing degrees of iridescence and pearlescence. Cheryl may choose to mix embossing powder into the clay to give it a distinct look. She uses a variety of techniques to work or “construct” the material lending the clay’s color, texture and shapes into their final forms. In many cases, the clay is stretched or folded into canes and then sliced. She then cures the clay in an oven which results in a hard and durable piece. 

 

Each piece is fully hand-crafted
Cheryl hand-fabricates her own metal chain, links, clasps, earwires, and posts. Starting with silver wire, she works them into their final shapes. To achieve the metal’s iridescent patina, she soaks the silver in a solution as a final step before affixing to the pieces. Unlike other pieces such as ear rings where the reverse side is unfinished, the design in Cheryl’s pieces comes through the entire piece creating a complete work of art front to back.