CHENNAI: Whether you are wearing a new saree, a lehenga or a pattu pavadai this Diwali, doesn’t the outfit call for some chic jewellery too? Meet Chennai-based Linda Prem Kumar who makes jewellery made out of polymer. Classy and colourful, it is also surprisingly light, despite the heavy detailing in her designs.
Talking to City Express, Linda says terracotta and quilling might be the jewellery people often opt for when it comes to handmade jewellery, but she couldn’t be happier with polymer. “It never dries out. You can manipulate the clay into whatever shape you want it in. In case it does dry, there is a liquid that can fix it. So there is really no chance of wastage!” she grins.
We run our eyes through her latest collection comprising jhumkas, danglers and neck pieces all in made in bright-coloured beads with gold dust seated perfectly on a white marble colour and an array of colours from turquoise to coral adding to their sheen. But the colours aren’t painted. Surprised? So were we!
“In case I want to mix colours, I use a pasta machine. I get two colours through it at least 10 times to get it right. If I want blotches of colours to remain, I run it through the machine twice or thrice. It’s not easy and takes a lot of effort,” she says. In the end, the piece is baked in a conventional oven to harden it.
For Linda it has been five years of rolling, moulding and baking polymer clay. Her passion towards jewellery making began in the US after her marriage. “I was bored and lonely. To cheer me up, one day my husband bought me a sample of polymer clay and I began passing time by making flowers. It came out well that I made a wall art. Slowly, after a lot of YouTubing, I made beads and gifted them to my friends. And then came jewellery. My first customer was a call from a boutique in the US. After that, I started getting orders and my hobby turned into business,” says Linda, who came back to Chennai this January.
Linda has earned about `10,000 since January. One thing that she finds is a drawback is that people in the city aren’t very familiar with polymer clay. “They mistake it for terracotta and find the price unreasonable. It is not possible to make such intricate designs in terracotta.”
Prices for jhumkas start from `350 and neck pieces from `1,000 to `2,200. She also accepts orders for custom-made jewellery. “I just have to work for a few hours every day else, my day is incomplete,” she says and point to a small room. “That’s my happy place.”
Visit udesignvmake.com for more details.