Peraud's polymer denim

Several of us examined the photos of Sylvie Peraud’s new denim line, skeptical that the fabric could be made from polymer clay. We were forced to run the text through the translation from French which says, “Contrary to what your eyes tell you, there is no fabric here.”

Sylvie promises that she will reveal all her denim secrets on Donna Kato’s upcoming CraftEdu.com site. Meanwhile, marvel at her sleight of hand. We can’t figure it out.

The link first came to us from Randee Ketzel. Have an incredible weekend.

  • reply Christine Dumont ,

    Ca alors!!!! Comment tu t’y prends?????

    • reply Pippa Chandler ,

      I am marvelling! That is just incredible!!! Don’t you just love this medium!!

      • reply Shirley Guenther ,

        Thanks for the link! Her designs are phenomenal!! I looked at her designs on Flickr and love the way she has used magnets for the catches…very very unique. What a creative mind!

        • reply Cara ,

          Wow, amazing! I’d love to know how she managed to make it look so real.

          • reply Randee M Ketzel ,

            I have cudgelled my poor brains to a pulp–still can’t concieve how she does this! It is one of the most marvelous trompe-l’oeil examples I have ever seen. Even under intense magnification it is flawless.

            • reply Alison Gallant ,

              What a fantastic idea, Sylvie, it’s brilliant! Looking forward to seeing you again in June.

              • reply Meisha Barbee ,

                In One Word…..AMAZING!!!!!

                • reply Cynthia Becker ,

                  Too cool! Now I’m really looking forward to Donna’s CraftEdu.com.

                  • reply Jeannie ,

                    I can’t believe my eyes

                    • reply Lynda Moseley ,

                      Hmm…are you taking guesses? I believe this is an image transfer, or maybe a light stamping on white clay which was treated with paint and lightly sanded. Awesome effect, whatever it is! I’ll be watching for the reveal.

                      • reply Priscilla Lane ,

                        I go with Lynda. Embossed and painted. I hadn’t thought about sanding, but that would give it the stone washed look. Tres bien, Sylvie.

                        • reply Craig Massey ,

                          I absolutely love it, but I can’t tell for sure how it was done either.

                          I came across someone else doing a similarly realistic denim in their sculptured figures. She said her process used layers of translucent and shades of blue clay and that it was a little hit and miss whether she’d achieve the desired effect. I’d guess that was a mix of texturing and sanding back, somewhat Mokume-gane ish? Possibly using the translucent to give it some depth?
                          Absolutely dying to know how it’s done so that my sculptures don’t just have a generic “blue” to indicate jeans (which *everyone* I sculpt seems to wear)

                          • reply Carol Shelton ,

                            Wonderful. It fools the eye. In the enlarged picture a few things are obvious. First, the stitching is like other polymer pieces in that the reddish thread has been indented (but oh so evenly spaced!). Second, the belt loops have been fed through cut-outs. Third, the denim itself is too good to be imitated. Am I being fooled here or is my eye being fooled here? I’m going out on a limb and saying that Sylvie used a a large-format photo transfer to get the denim print. As others are, so am I eager for the revelation.

                            • reply Leslie Sirag ,

                              You don’t think it’s just many layers of blue & wht/translucent reduced ad infinitum? Will be interesting to find out.

                              • reply Sherry Bailey ,

                                Gotta be a transfer, maybe using real denim pressed onto that for texture. (Unless she’s insane, in which case it might be caning. But nobody is that perfect! Well, except Sandra McCaw!)

                                Cool effect, however achieved!

                                • reply Sylvie Peraud ,

                                  Oh, well CradtEdu has to be launched very quickly it seems…. Otherwise you ladies will go nuts trying to guess how I made this denim. But promise, no transfer at all.
                                  Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments on this pendant, rendez-vous soon on CraftEdu.

                                  • reply naama zamir ,

                                    what a wonderful method – this material has endless possibilities. can’t wait for “the reveal”
                                    Naama

                                    • reply Sera ,

                                      I get the stitching, the pocket and the studs. The actual “fabric” – I’m stumped! Good Job!!!

                                      • reply Anita Brandon ,

                                        WOW! Amazing work. CraftEdu better launch soon.

                                        • reply Craig Massey ,

                                          In case anyone comes back to this, CraftEdu is up and the secret method is available to purchase. I won’t give it away, but I was on the right track. 🙂

                                          • reply Bananalana ,

                                            I must admit: I have no idea how that amazing texture was made. I love looking at it over and over again. Maybe I should just purchase the tutorial ;-). That would help.

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