PCAGOE December Challenge - Faux Mokume Gane - Vote and Win!

Taken from the PCAGOE Blog:  

Our theme this month is "Faux Mokume Gane."

Mokume gane is an ancient Japanese metalsmithing technique which artists in other mediums, including polymer clay, have adapted. The term Mokume gane literally means woodgrain metal or eye of the wood metal, and refers to the elaborate woodgrain patterns which can be created with the technique.

There are many ways to achieve the look of mokume gane in clay. The traditional method is to stack different colors of clay and/or translucent clay and foils, compress the stack, emboss it with a patterned texture sheet, then shave horizontally the raised areas of the stack to reveal the different colors and patterns. It requires a light, but steady hand. If you shave too deeply, you will ruin the pattern. If the cut is too shallow, you won't reveal all of the color bands.

Some artists stack the colored layers and then use a ripple blade to slice vertically, revealing wavy patterns in the clay.

Each entry must be at least 50% polymer clay.

Please vote for your top 3 favorites at:  http://www.pcagoechallenge.blogspot.com/

Voting begins December 1, 2010 and ends at midnight Eastern U.S. time on December 7, 2010. Winners will be announced on December 8, 2010 at www.pcagoe.com.

Here are this month's beautiful entries:

And here are the prize choicess available for 3 lucky voters to win (one of the prizes was made by me - top row, right side):

Again, just go to: http://www.pcagoechallenge.blogspot.com/  to vote for your 3 favorite entries and a chance to win a prize!