Designing Museum Quality Fine Art Jewelry - Part 2

I lay a single sheet cut from a page protector over the final side piece designs and draw the outlines of the various pieces with a sharpie. I label the pieces (I'm blond - I tend to confuse easily)

 

These are cut out with scissors and used as templates. I used to use acetates but found that they fuse with the clay and will lift off some of the surface clay when removed so I needed to spray with water each time as a release. More work, more clean-up. These page protectors (some artists store sheets of clay in them) stick to the clay but don't bond with it so the template stays put for cutting (fine surgical scalpel, disposable) but lifts cleanly off afterward.
Now to place on the form for baking (this is an old ikea glass lampshade - perfectly round) for a soft curvature.

I ran into a bit of a problem with this. The clay is so malleable that I pushed the tails up too far when placing the thinner black pieces on the form. The curvature of the thin black pieces do not marry with the wider black pieces so I'll have to cut new thin ones and use the template to draw the outline directly onto the form with a grease pencil, then use the outline to make sure the curve conforms to the original template.

Two invaluable tools