Going along with the garden theme but on a bit of a tangent is inclusions. You can mix the neatest things right into the clay – particularly into translucent clay – and it makes wonderful speckled pieces. Some excellent inclusions are the dried flowers and herbs from your gardening efforts. A little crushed oregano is a lovely addition to a faux jade and dried poppy petals make wonderful additions to beads. Anna of SilverleafShinyStuff has a collection of inclusion beads here as well as many more in her photo album.
A friend, Cat Therien, took the idea a step further and started a line of beads that used the dried flowers from events – weddings and funerals – for her customers. Here’s one lovely piece. You can check the album it’s in for a stack more.
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