Rock Art Pendants

I live near the beach in wales UK. The cliffs here are largely made of slate which crumbles into the ocean and over time is sea-sanded into smooth pendant like shapes. Slate is easy to sand and drill so is perfect for this project. My pendants are created by combining the sea sculpted slate with casting plaster forms and various decorative elements.

• MATERIALS
• sea sculpted slate
• strong casting plaster
• acrylic paint
• gold leaf
• marker pens
• super glue
• leather cord
• TOOLS
• Paint brushes
• Metal sculpting tools
• sandpaper
• drill

I start by picking out the pieces of slate that are a nice shape and the right size to display my chosen plaster casts. Slate is a very easy stone to drill so I usually use a small electric drill but I have also used a variety of different hand tools. Even a flat headed screw driver will create a hole if twizzled on the spot. I also use a piece of sandpaper to adjust the edges of the stone if the shape of the slate is not to my liking

Using a variety of silicone moulds I cast various pieces to adorn my slates. I use a strong casting powder and a reasonably thick mix for extra strength.

Once the casts are dry, I sand the base of the cast and scrape away any unwanted areas with a metal sculpting tool. I then superglue it to my pre-drilled slate shape.

I mainly decorate my pendants with acrylic paints and metallic foils but it is also possible to colour them using marker pens if you give the plaster a coat of varnish first and let it dry before you start. Once all the decoration is finished I give the whole pendant two coats of varnish. Almost any varnish can be utilised. I have used water-based varnish and spirit based spray varnish. Both look equally good. On the sun pendant I used hot glue to create the rays emanating from the smiling sun face and covered it in gold leaf. The gold leaf in the background was coloured with marker pens before varnishing

These pendants were made just by adding metallic foil and colouring it in with marker pens. A few coats of varnish and they look delightful. I also created a batch of stamped pendants, using metallic foil, marker, pens, and embossing powders. You need to heat the embossing powder with a heat gun for a little longer than you would with paper, but the results are fabulous. A couple of coats of varnish protect the design.

I complete my pendants by stringing them onto a leather or cotton cord. I sometimes use beads for added interest.