Mokumite pendant and gold leaf

The mokumé technique is very old and was used in the past to forge swords. and adapted to polymer clay, giving it astonishingly beautiful effects. In this tutorial, we'll make a pendant.
Step 1
Take 2 bars of Cernit Shiny cosmos-colored clay and 3 bars of Cernit Métallic turquoise. Place them side by side, then roll to bind them together.

Step 2
Run your clay lengthwise through the clay machine. Fold your length in 2, shifting the colors slightly so that they don't face each other and the gradient is created. Make sure you always put the clay in the machine in the same direction, and continue 3 or 4 times, shifting the clay from one side to the other. To get a nice gradient, you need to pass the folded clay about fifteen times. You can use this video to create a color gradient.

Step 3
Take 3 bars of translucent clay, and pass it through the machine at the thinnest notch. Cut your length in 2, then cover one of the parts with the color gradient.

Step 4
Take a gold leaf, place it delicately on the square of clay and brush it to ensure it sticks to the clay. Trim off any excess.

Step 5
Cover the gold leaf with the rest of the translucent plate. This is a meticulous step, as you don't want to trap any air bubbles between the layers of clay. Use the rolling pin to place the plate, working in small increments.

Step 6
Put a little talcum powder on your stamp, tapping to remove excess powder. Press hard on the pad to mark your clay block in 2 places.

Step 7
Scalp with a very fine, rather recent blade the entire surface of your plate, removing any raised areas. Work in small pieces, one at a time. Pay attention to the angle of your blade and take your time.

Step 8
Once you've finished scalping the relief, you need to level the clay. To do this, take some parchment paper, place it on the clay and, using a smooth card, make small circular movements to remove all the blade strokes.

Step 9
Cut a rectangle or any other shape you like around one of your patterns. With the remaining cosmos-colored clay, make a plate with the thickest notch. Set aside 4 lengths in this plate to frame your pattern. Run this plate through the machine again, this time at the medium setting. Using the plate as a base for your project, roll out the pattern clay on it. Place your strips of thick clay around the pattern to frame it.

Step 10
First, smooth the surface with parchment paper. Cut out the edges, leaving only 2 mm. Note that the bottom edge is not cut out; leave the sole as it appears, and texture it with a few strokes of the cutter blade. You can now bake your polymer clay at 120 degrees for 30 minutes.

Step 11
Sand the edges and corners of your creation with a very fine abrasive paper under warm soapy water.

Step 12
The surface of the pendant must be either varnished or resinated to bring out the effect of depth and transparency. We chose to resinate it with UV led resin, but we could also have done it with epoxy resin, but that would have taken longer.
Drip a few drops over the entire surface, spread with a toothpick or rod. Press the lamp button 4 times in succession. Don't put resin on the slices, as it won't set. If you want to even out the shine on this slice, you can use a varnish for these areas only.

Step 13
Apply glue to the metal pendant clip, then place it on the top, back side of your pendant.

Step 14
Take your ball chain and cut one end to a length of around 70 cm. Pass the chain through the pendant clasp. Put a little glue in the tubes and crush them with a pair of pliers. Place a ring in the hole in the end pieces, then a Lobster Clasp on one side.