Mokume Gane

Mokume gane with metal

Mokume is a mixed-metal laminate with distinctive layered patterns. Literally translating as "wood eye (i.e., burl) metal".

Mokume Gane with Polymer Clay

When we use the term in polymer clay, the process is very similar to metal work in that many layers of different colored polymer clay are layered, "distressed" and sliced to reveal the layers.

In the case of "mini-mokume-gane", a technique demonstrated in an online tutorial on Polymer Clay Central, several layers of clay are layered, run through a pasta machine, stacked, run through a pasta machine, stacked again, and run through a pasta machine once again.

A texture plate is then impressed in the resulting stacked sheet. I prefer to lay a clear texture sheet misted with water on top of the layers and roll over it with a brayer, because I feel like I have more control over it than if I were to place the texture sheet and layers back through the pasta machine.

I went through a little "mini-mokume-gane" frenzy a few weeks ago, and thus have a bowl of beads and pendants waiting to be sanded and buffed. Here is one of those beads I finally got finished up today:


This stack had, I believe, yellow, metallic green, metallic fuschia, blue and black. As a result, some mica shift is evident in the dots. I love it!