More pendants, with homemade scarab cabochons

Here are two pendants I've embroidered with homemade polymer scarab-inspired cabochons. 

The first is a green and bronze polymer clay cabochon, attached with circular peyote and with a brass dragonfly stamping and a stone drop bead. The bail is herringbone stitch. I made this cabochon deliberately more oval, with sloped sides, than traditional scarab cabs. 

This one is actually built around two focals made from air dry clay (the first thing I've ever made from air dry clay)! It's the super cheap and fluffy stuff from the dollar store -- I think it was a sickly pale blue originally. I made a silicone mold from a vintage scarab bead and then cast the air dry clay. It's weird to work with -- stays somewhat squishy for quite a while although after a few days it's pretty much hard now. I needed a small circular cab for the top of the piece and it was so easy to custom make and finish one out of the air dry clay. I emphasized metallic/iridescent colours to go with the insectoid theme. The copper drop bead was one that's been in my stash for the longest time -- so glad it found a home!