Knightwork: Playing with Clay

Thing a Day Day 2

2012-02-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

Day 1 was a big success, some very cool entries by my fellow clayers... run over to Polymer Clay Central and take a look.

I made this pretty pendant for Day 2.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The center design is a thin slice from a cane scrap... yip, still playing with scraps. I think I told you about the ball chains I purchased from a shop on Etsy. I used all the first order so I ordered more... lots more. I like how they look with my pendants and I love the brilliant colors.

A closer look. I used silver leaf crackled on black clay to make the center background and the scrolls on the sides. I added a Swarovski rhinestone in the center and green Swarovski crystal beads on the coiled wire bail.

I textured the back to give it a finished look....and I didn't have to sand.

I am working on another pendant for Day 3.... or maybe some beads. My pasta machine jammed and I had to get out an old one... yikes... guess I better order a new one from Mona.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thing A Day Day 1

2012-02-01T10:41:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day of our "Thing a Day Challenge" on Polymer Clay Central. Many talented artists participating so I hope you'll stop by and see all the goodies.

I finished my ATC' and will get them in the mail in a day or two. I've taken lots of photos so I can show them to you as soon as the swap takes place. And I will be able to show you the ones I receive... that will really be the fun part for me!! Now I can concentrate on Thing a Day

Here is what I made for Day 1

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I'm still kinda in my ATC mind set... can you tell? I made a couple mirror image pendants.

I thought this mirror image looked like a lion face... Heather said tiger.... but I'm sticking with lion. I gave him a wire mane or at least that was the plan... poor old guy is having a bad hair day!! He looks a little irritated... not overly pleased with his "do" I'm thinking.

I used a cane end scrap that a friend gave me... to make the lion and the other mirror image. I love these colors together don't you?

I will use the glass beads in the first photo and colored wire to make a chain for the pendants.

Thanks for stopping by. More TAD tomorrow!!

Mostly Playing with Wire... Plus a little PC

2012-01-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

I finished my ATC's today.... at least I think I did. I'm tempted to make one more group.... really shouldn't but I'm tempted.

When I watch television I have to keep my hands busy.... if I just watch the television I nod off (another fun side effect of old age).... and miss the show I've waited all week to see.... so I get out my wire. Tonight I need to stay awake for the 4th chapter of "Downton Abbey" last week I missed the first half hour of the 3rd chapter cause our electricity went off.... no rain or snow tonight so I think I'm safe.

Here's what I did with wire last week.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Green...Work in progress ... I'll make more leaves tonight

Red Heart.... another Work in Progress. Both wire pieces will be necklaces. I may back the hearts in clay... haven't decided yet.

I used the scraps from one of my ATC's to make the mirror image and added wire and beads to make this piece.

This was going to be on an ATC but I decided to make it a pin/pendant instead.

I made this ATC for the swap but Heather wanted it so I gave it to her.

The day is fast approaching for the 5th annual "Thing A Day" Challenge on Polymer Clay Central. If you'd like to play come on over to PCC, we would love to have you join us.

Soooo starting February 1st I will be posting every day.... how about that?

Thanks for stopping by

Colored Wire & Polymer Clay

2012-01-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

I have been working on ATC's all week but I did manage to make a couple things with wire.

I made a tile from canes and added matching wire to make this brooch.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I can't decide how to use the wire piece with this Mokume Gane Scottie dog. Does it look better this way?

or this way? I still have to sand the pooch and drill holes to attach the wire work.

and last, I finally go around to backing my bluebird.... I must have tried a dozen different background and settled for this one.... still not thrilled but it looks pretty good.

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

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Back to Playing with Clay

2012-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

There was a couple weeks where I didn't have time to play with clay but the holidays are over and it's time to get back to the clay. Mostly I've been working on Artist Trade Cards for a swap, can't show you those until the swap is over but I've made a few beads, I can show you those.

I always have scraps on my work table and it's hard for me to toss them in the scrap bags so I make beads instead.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

A couple tiles and some swirly beads in shades of green and brown.

More swirly beads and a pendant tile in magenta, red and blue.

A mirror image pendant and matching beads in ambers and reds on a sage green background.

Another mirror image tile and beads in green and black. I used scraps from one of the border canes I posted earlier. I love this shade of green. I am going to make more beads so I can make a necklace.

A variety of shapes and sizes in yellow and red. These were all made from scraps. I think of them as "end of day" beads.... guess I should say "end of month" beads cause the scraps have been laying around for a month of more.

Okay I can show you one ATC... This is my first attempt at a Artist Trade Card.... it got a little to thick so I'm not going to use it in the swap but it was fun to practice on....

Okay, now my table is cleaned of scraps so I can get out fresh clay and get to work. I need to mix some colors and maybe do some canes.... we'll see. Now that the holidays are over I plan to blog more often.

Thanks for stopping by. Comments and questions are always welcome.

2nd Half 2011 Gift Wrapping Contest.

2012-01-08T01:19:00.000-08:00

Okay where did I leave off? Oh yes, Lynn had just received his gift from Nick... so I'll start this half with the gift to Eugene from Lynn.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Now Lynn and Eugene are the two grumblers in this contest. In the past Heather and I save ourselves a headache and grudging wrap Lynn's gift. Patty always makes Eugene wrap his own which Eugene felt was unfair. If we wrapped Lynn's gift he felt Patty should wrap his. He was doing a lot of moaning and groaning.... not to mention swearing.... so this year we told Lynn he would have to wrap his own, or at least help a little.

The gift is two tickets to a Cardinals game in April. I ordered the tickets online and then printed them out so they are on a standard 8 by 10 sheet of paper. First Lynn was going to make them into paper airplanes... we vetoed that.... then he bought a six pack of bottled beer and was going to stick the tickets down in the carton.... we vetoed that too... but the beer triggered the plan for the following gift wrap.

Heather saw the beer bottle reindeer on Pinterest. Okay, Lynn had help but he did participate. He's not allowed to touch most tools, and we try to keep him away from anything that heats up or has sharp edges. He wasn't allowed to use the super glue but he did make the paper punch noses for the deer and, after several tries he made the gift tag himself. He then put the tickets in the little stocking and tied the tag on the stocking.

A closer look so you can see the red paper punch noses. I'm not going to tell you what he said to Eugene when he gave him the gift. It wasn't very Christmasy.

Now Eugene's gift for Andrea... he did it ALL himself. Apparently Patty trusts him to not burn the house down or glue his face to the table. Although I'm not sure it is in the spirit of the season to say all those bad words when your wrapping wise men. The gifts are figures for Andrea's nativity set including the 3 wise men. They are wrapped as gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense. The 3-D star above the manger is pretty impressive.

Andrea created a white Christmas for Heather with this little gingerbread village. Lily liked this one... little houses made of candy... yum!!

You've already seen the gift Heather wrapped for Cory so we will move along to Amanda.... my other granddaughter with a strange sense of humor. Her gift was for Benjamin.

This poor snowman fell on his head and the neighbor dog came over and peed on his cheek. "Why?" I asked "Why, would you have a dog pee on the snowman?" She felt it made it more interesting.

Benjamin's gift is for Zachary. He made Zachary a music award trophy featuring the "Doors" on a large guitar pick and a saying by Jim Morrison printed on the plaque.

Close up of the plaque on the front.

Brandon is a big "Star Wars" fan so Zachary wrapped his gift as..... what else.... R2D2. He used one of Patty's stainless steel bowls for the head so once poor R2D2 was opened his head went back to the kitchen.

Brandon used the 3-D printer at school to make this box for his Uncle Brad. He first designed the box on paper. It took a full day to print the bottom half and a 2nd day to print out the top. The letters on top are a Caesar shift code that gives the combination to the lock.

Can you figure out the code? With a few hints Brad finally got it open.

Brad was sick when he arrived and spend the first couple days in bed. His first attempt at wrapping a gift for Amanda didn't work and he was going to wimp out but we insisted that was not an option... so with a little help from Heather, Eric and me he made this German advent calendar house. Once again my colored duct tape came in handy..... not to mention my handy supply of odds and ends. You never know when you are going to need a hunk of styrofoam, a bottle cap lid or a empty cardboard tube. "Waste not, want not" I always say.

He had several small gifts for Amanda, each is inside one of the little doors. Another gift that impressed Lily.

We are hoping this says Merry Christmas in German.

Now for the WINNER!!!! Are you ready?

Patty's gift is for Roger. Roger, Brandon and a group of friends play Dungeons and Dragons every friday night come rain or shine. I mean they are serious D&Der's!!

What better gift for Roger than a Red Dragon. The photos do not do him justice, he is really a very neat dragon!! He was going to be a fire breathing dragon but Patty couldn't figure out how to install the special light she purchased to make him breath fire.... more well laid plans gone a stray, maybe she can use it next year.

Another view with his eyes lit up

and Roger trying to figure out how to get the gifts out... one in the dragon and one in the base... with out hurting the dragon.

And now the torch... or I should say trophy... is passed from last years winner, Brad, to the new Champion Gift Wrapper. The coveted trophy will proudly sit on her mantle while the rest of us plot how to take it from her next year.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed our family gift exchange.

I know it's a bit belated but I wish you all a Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year!!

1st Half. 2011 Family Christmas Gift Wrapping Contest

2012-01-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

A few years ago our family decided to draw names for the family Christmas celebration. In order to add a little excitement we added a gift wrapping challenge. Each year the gifts have gotten more interesting and elaborate, this year was no exception. (If you would like to see previous years look in the January sections of my blog..... you can see how the the creativity has evolved. )

This will take a while so fix yourself a snack, grab something to drink, put up your feet and enjoy.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The first gift requires a little background. Last October Heather wanted to take part in the Warrior Dash Marathon in St Louis. It's a 5 K run with 12 obstacles .... wiggling under barbed wire, climbing up cargo nets, crawling through mud, walking across balance beams, climbing over walls, jumping over fire.... you get the idea, not everyones idea of fun. The only person she could convince to do it with her was Cory.... although Amanda and Roger did attend to give moral support (and poke fun at) the contestants... and to take photos. It's my understanding that Amanda spent most of the time grumbling about "being cold" while Heather and Cory were crawling through mud and being spayed with hoses.

This is a photo of the two "warriors"

The obstacle that Cory dreaded most was the fire pits... Heather said he jumped really high and cleared the fires with room to spare. Looks pretty scary to me!

Now for the gift. Heather drew Cory's name so she made him a trophy commemorating his mighty leap.

She sculpted Cory in polymer clay and has him leaping over the fire. The plaque on the front reads "Cory Smith, The Ultimate Warrior, 2011" The actual gift is in the bottom of the trophy.

Close up of PC Cory. She did a marvelous job, it looks just like Cory.

Next up is Cory... this year he drew Sarah's name. Some of you may remember a couple years ago Sarah had Cory's name and she won the contest with her rendition of "Cadaver Dog Darby"

I tried adding a link but it didn't work so if you would like to see "Cadaver Dog Darby" go to Jan 12 2010 on this blog. For those who haven't seen it, it's worth taking a look.

Anyway Cory's gift wrapping this year is payback for poor Darby... who, by the way is alive and well. Be forewarned that Sarah and Cory are a little weird... and not for the faint of heart.

Sarah is a college student taking classes to become an X-ray tech.... she was on a waiting list for a year before she got into the program and after a semester she discovered she hates it (she is changing her major next semester!) .... mostly she hates the enemas and other other bodily functions..... I tell you this to prepare you for the "gift"

As you can see Sarah's gift is wrapped as a large paper mache posterior..... I will leave it to you imagination on how she had to retrieve her gift. "Yes", I do have photos and "No" I will not show them to you. The butterfly tattoo is cool.

Now let's move on, shall we?

Sarah's wrapped a gift for Eric. A couple years ago Eric and Brad went on European tour with Eric's parents. While there Eric became interested in the British Royal Family, he now collects tins and china related to the "royals'. Sarah borrowed one of my antique dress forms and fashioned a paper mache head of Queen Elizabeth. She found several tins and china items, one was in the head and the others throughout the body.

Here is Eric helping the Queen wave to the on lookers. Eric wanted to save the head but unfortunately the only was to get to the gift was pull the head apart.... poor Queen! Lily latched on to the Queen's crown and pearls.

Eric drew Patty's name. Patty and Eugene love wine, one of their favorite past times is to visit the local wineries... and of course sample the wine. Eric got her some beautiful ruby red wine glasses and concealed them in a giant wine bottle.

Here is a close-up of the label. Patty's full name is Pathena... hence the name on the label.

I will show you the gift Patty wrapped later. She had Roger's name.

Roger drew my name. As my friends know last summer I had a little mishap in the kitchen... just a little grease fire that damaged the stove and lit the cabinet on fire. No big deal, I put it out myself, the repairs took a couple month, alls well that ends well.... I got a new stove and kitchen re-do.

The gift wrapping was in the form of a stove with a pan of grease blazing away.... one little fire and they never let you forget ... sheez!!

The oven door opens and the gift... the Dremel Stylus that was on my Santa list, was concealed inside.... wrapped in brochures from the local old folks home. How subtle is that?

Next please!

My gift was for grandson Nick. When Nick was just a little guy we had the first Nentendo with the orginal Mario Bros. game. We loved that game. He would sit on my lap and we played for hours at a time. I pressed the button that made Mario move and Nick controlled the "jump" button. I miss that little guy, he was so sweet... he's still sweet but he's grown up now and to big to sit on my lap.

My gift was wrapped as a section of the original Mario Bros game. I had big plans, I did research, I found photos, I found music, I had it pictured in my head. I wanted Mario to move along a track... with the original music playing... the track would allow him to jump into the tube, slide down a wire, land on a button that would turn on the lower chamber music, the lights would come on and everyone would be sooooo impressed. Sounds like a winner to me!!

I explained my plans to grandson Brandon, who is a member of the high school Botball team and Roger who teaches computer science and is working on his PhD.... both nodded and gave me a knowing look...like, lets humor the old girl.... both said they would give it some thought. Easy peasy right? I don't think I was asking to much, do you?

So here is my non-mechanical gift wrapping. I made the Mario and Mushroom guy with polymer clay. Heather helped me duct tape and draw the graphics... the inside does light up... all in all it turned out pretty well.... no thanks to the two "you know who's". And Nick liked it, that's what counts.

P.S. Duct tape is a wonderful thing. Did you know it comes in a wide array of colors and now in prints too? Several of the gift wrappers used my supply of duct tape. Heather laughed at me when I bought a roll of every color.... ha... who's laughing now!

Here it is lit up... if you look closely you can see Mario on top of the green tube.

Moving right along.

Nick wrapped a gift for his granddad. Lynn likes old Hollywood detective "film noir" movies so Nick got him several DVD's and the book "The Best American Noir of the Century"

The gift has Bogart being smacked on the head with a present, the others are concealed inside his jacket.

Time for Intermission

That concludes the first half of the gift wrapping saga... tomorrow I will start with Lynn's gift for Eugene. The 2nd half has more traditional style gifts..... and of course the Winner.... so please stay tuned!!

Lots of Canes

2011-12-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

I started out trying to make new borders for my canes and ended up making a variety of canes to use in more complicated canes.

This is the first border cane I made.

I used it to make this pin

and I used it on the larger hearts and then used the scraps for the smaller heart beads.

Small canes from the border cane and end pieces

Corkscrew with border cane

More corkscrew canes and a Skinner blend bullseye cane

Border cane in green and black. This is my favorite, I like green and black together especially this olive green.

Complimentary canes to use with the border cane

Close up of flower cane and corkscrew canes.

Pendants I made with end pieces and scraps.

I have beads in the oven, maybe I'll take photos tomorrow. I am suppose to be baking Christmas cookies and my muse wants to make canes... guess who won!

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Art Nouveau Canes & Hearts

2011-12-10T11:20:00.001-08:00

I have always been a fan of Art Deco and Art Nouveau designs so I decided to try my hand at Art Nouveau canes

I haven't worked with Kato clay for awhile... I had forgotten how time consuming it is to condition, especially the older formula... lots of hammering and swearing was involved. I tucked one hunk of particularly hard blue clay inside my bra to warm it up while I conditioned the other colors. I then spent 20 minutes trying to find where I put the blue clay.....

Here are the canes. Click on the photos for a closer look.

Not crazy about this one... it's okay

This is one of my favorites.

This one is pretty cool too.

I like this one.

Another set of Art Nouveau Cane

Least favorite of this set

I love this one!

Another favorite

This one will make fun beads.

If you are wondering where the blue is, I mixed it with green and black to get the dark green... of course I didn't record the formula, I always forget to write things down.... I just mix colors together until I come up with a color I like.

I used the cane ends and scrap pieces to make hearts. These haven't been sanded or buffed yet.... my dremel died. I'm hoping Santa will bring me a new one.

I'm making more canes but I have to spend the next few days "wrapping" my gift for this years gift wrap challenge. I want to get it out of the way so I can stop fretting about it. I'm thinking this challenge is going to a good one... several folks claim to have the winning gift.

Thats it for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Please feel free to ask questions or leave a comment, I love hearing from you.

More Mixed Media "Circles"

2011-12-03T00:53:00.001-08:00

Staying with the "Circles" theme I made a few more pieces.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The first one is a work-in-progress, I haven't decided which end is up or how I want to use it....

which do you like best.... this way?

or this way?

This pendant/pin is very similar to the first one I showed you a couple weeks ago. I made this one for a friend.

I used a different method for this one. When I made the first "circles" pendant I stamped the design on the raw clay. This time I cured the tile first then stamped the design, re-cured, added a thin layer of Kato liquid clay, cured for an additional 30 minutes and then hit it with a heat gun to clear the liquid clay. The stamped design is brighter on this one. This method is more time consuming but I like the end result.

I gave this one a layered look and stamped it with silver ink. I used 18 gauge amber wire woven with 28 gauge silver tone wire and adorned with carnelian beads.

a different angle

My family is getting ready for our annual gift wrapping challenge. The excitement is building... soon to be grandson-in-law Cory is boasting he will be the winner this year. We shall see!! I never imagined when we started the challenge that it would become such a hit...

Thanks for stopping by.

New Coiled Wire Bail for Polymer Clay Tiles

2011-11-18T13:42:00.001-08:00

First I am happy to report the little bird was safely rescued. Heather helped me open the BIG window and with very little fanfare we were able to shoo the little guy on his way. Amazing how much easier it was without the cats in hot pursuit.

Here is a photo of the the birdie perched atop a framed fashion print. (My clay room use to be my sewing room.)

Then he flew over to a basket sitting on top of a cabinet in the corner. He stayed up there until we got the window open then, with a little coaxing from Heather standing on a chair, he flew down to the open window and made his way to freedom.

Okay here is my New Coiled Wire Bail. I was thinking about ways I could attach polymer clay tiles to the ball chain when it occurred to me

Click on the photos for a closer look.

First I tried it with 3 polymer clay tiles.

That went well so I tried it with 5 tiles. This is how it looks before I added the chain.

Now with the chain.

This is the back side... so it will work for reversible tiles too.

I made these tiles years ago. I always meant to use them on a bracelet but I like the way they look as a necklace.

I made these tiles years ago too.... for a pendant and earrings.... I added a couple tube beads and made a necklace instead.

I wanted to see how the coiled bail would work on oval beads. I got a little carried away with this one.... kept adding beads and doodads.... I'm not crazy about the black beads in the center.... may have to take it apart and start over. Here it is before the chain. The color is off, I always have trouble with purple...they look blue, they are not blue, trust me they are purple.

Here is with the chain.

I hope to make a bracelet by using the coiled bails on both sides of the tiles.... I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pendants... lots of Pendants

2011-11-15T11:29:00.001-08:00

I have several boxes filled with pendants that I want to list in our Etsy shop. I was going to list them without chains but I found a shop on Etsy that sells inexpensive chains, chokers and organza ribbons that go well with the pendants. The new owners can use them as is or discard the cords and add their own chains.

I spend Sunday evening putting the pendants on the chains and cords.

I ended up with a box full..... over 50 necklaces so far...

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here are the ones on the Organza cords. They have cheapy looking lobster claw clasps and extender chains but the cords look nice. I considered changing the clasps but then thought better of it... the new owners can change them if they want.

These are strung on colorful memory wire chokers with screw type closures. I wish the closures were more attractive but they seem to function okay and the price was right.

.............and the remaining pendants are strung on colored ball chains.

I still have more to go....

but first I have to get another bird out of the house..... right now it is isolated in my clay room. I am waiting for Heather to come help open the window.... it's a BIG window and I can't open it by myself. Fortunately I discovered the bird before the cats this time and was able to exile the blood thirsty felines to the upper regions of the house. Needless to say they are not happy!! I cannot for the life of me figure out how the sneaky little birds keep getting in... tis a mystery!!

Wish me luck.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mixed Media Red & Aqua Necklace and Pendant

2011-11-10T18:12:00.001-08:00

One of the Julie P. pendants I made is the focal on this mixed media necklace. I used red howlite beads, aqua blue magnesite beads, copper and amber wire to complete the necklace. The pendant has circles in the design so I continued the circles on the wire links.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Close up of the woven wire leaves.

I used rows of red mirco glass balls to out line recessed areas on the pendant.

A different view of the necklace. It has a bit of a southwestern look, reminds me of a chard of pottery.

I also made a woven wire pendant with a polymer clay drop in the same colors.

I have three boxes of unfinished pendants. My goal is to string them ... at least some of them, before I start a new project. I found a shop on Etsy that sells inexpensive cords and chains that is suitable for many of them. I hope to get them in our Etsy shop in time for the holiday shopping.

I will take photos tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Circles Pin/Pendant

2011-11-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Circles seem to be a favorite design lately so I have been working with circles. The only thing I finished so far is this pin. I used one of the pinbacks with a bail so it can also be worn as a pendant.

I used Pardo Art Clay translucent over Premo. I used silver leaf on the back side of the translucent and stamped the top with black ink. I then repeated the circles with woven wire and black jade beads.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here is how it looked before curing

and here is the finished piece.

different angles

It was hard to get a good photo of the silver leaf effect, the last one shows it best.

Short and sweet, that is all for today... this is my tv night and I have to gather the pieces I want to sand and "wire up" while I watch my shows.

Thanks for stopping by.

A bit of Dichroic Glass in Polymer Clay

2011-10-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

I paid good money for fancy cat beds and my goofy cats much prefer a ratty old box. I unpacked my order from Fire Mountain Gems, set the box on the floor and Fritz hopped in.

He looks scared cause he sees Corny headed his way. Sure enough she kicks him out, curls up and falls asleep.

Corny is a little things but soooo bossy. I'm always amazed how she gets away with pushing him around, he's a lot bigger but he backs down every time.

Heather gave me several small dichroic glass cabs, I used one in this necklace. It matched this pendant perfectly. I used matching beads and colored wire for the chain.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

A different view.

A close up of the pendant.

I also made more Julie Picarello beads, not sure how I will use them but I like the color combo.

Time for a nap..... thanks for stopping by.

Murphy's Law Necklace

2011-10-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

This is my "Murphy's Law" Necklace, everything that could go wrong did go wrong... first I popped the back off one of the side tiles when I ran the wire through so I had to glue it back together, then I got glue on the tile so I had to take necklace apart in order to resand and buff the tile, then the hole in the black oval beads was to small for the wire and I couldn't find my bead reamer... I reorganized my studio last month so things would be easier to find... yeah, right! took half an hour but I finally found it in my new carousel organizer... sitting there in plain sight! The final straw was when I glued my index finger and thumb together with Zap-a-Gap glue... not just one hand but both hands!!

How, you ask, did I do such a goofy thing? One hand, sure, we have all done that... but both hands? Okay, see the black wire links with the pink and green beads? I was concerned the wire wouldn't stay together on the large O rings so I put a tiny drop of glue where the wire ends meet. slid a bead over the glue and held for a few seconds until the glue set up. This went really well until I got to the very last link. For some reason the glue didn't set so I moved the bead over added a little more glue slid the bead back waited 10 seconds or so, tried the bead and it still moved so once again I moved the bead over added a tad more glue put the bead back and decided to hold it until the bead stayed in place.... I was watching one of my new favorite shows "Person of Interest" so I settled back in my chair and held the wire in place until the next commercial. Several minutes later the commercial came on, I tested the bead with my middle finger and it was secure. I put the necklace down.... uh oh.. it was then I realized my fingers were also secure...very secure! Yip, the glue had run down the wire seeped between my fingers and thumbs and there I sat with my hands looking like kissing rabbit shadow puppets.

Now, I am here by myself so I try to come up with something that will unstick me. I'm thinking finger nail polish remover... I don't polish my nails anymore but I'm fairly sure I have an old bottle somewhere, if I can just remember where I put it. Okay I want you to hold your index fingers and thumbs together and go rustle through your cabinets and drawers.... see, not so easy!

Couldn't find the polish remover so I tried Dawn soap... works for almost everything, right?... does not work for Zap a Gap, tried alcohol, didn't work either... I keep trying to pull my fingers apart and finally the right hand gives way... free at last... but the left hand in another story, lots more glue and it is starting to hurt from so much pulling and tugging, I didn't know skin could stretch that far.

I try all my cleaning supplies, Windex, Mr Clean, Kaboom.... anything I can find.... For a second or two I consider trying to cut it apart with a tissue blade but I'm left handed and not to steady with my right hand. I picture my trying to explain to the ER tech why I sliced off my finger tip.... and his/her head shaking and the "poor old thing" look in his/her eyes. So I scrapped that plan.

I could have called Heather but it was almost 10 o'clock...she is probably in her pj's. So as a least ditch effort I hold my hand under running hot water, hot as I can stand, and continue to tug and pull and wiggle and tug some more... at last, the finger and thumb pop apart. What a relief!! My thumb is okay but my finger is sore, feels kinda bruised.

Next day I did a little research. Seems there is a "debonder" for super glues, found at most craft stores or finger nail polish with acetone works.... or the hot water method I stumbled on works fairly well. Needless to say I made a trip to the store for nail polish remover, less painful than the water treatment. I will get the debond stuff next time I go to Michaels. I am now prepared if the mishap should occur again... just in case I forget... I put the nail polish remover on the back shelf in the clay room.

Here is the necklace.... not sure it is worth the trouble.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

from another angle.

I also made a Mixed Media bracelet with yellow and black tiles. I don't make many bracelet, I rarely wear them, but daughter Patty does. I used 18 gauge wire for the frame, 28 gauge wire with seed beads for the weaving.

The wire can be adjusted to fit any size wrist and is sturdy enough to hold it's shape, I would like to add a closure of some type just haven't come up with one as yet... any suggestions?

That's it for today, I'm on to my next adventure.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mixed Media Pumpkins

2011-10-16T14:56:00.000-07:00

I love autumn. The colors are stunning, the leaves are falling, the air is crisp, the birds and squirrels are fun to watch...... and the sound of the high school band takes me back to the carefree days of my youth.

Inspired by the autumn colors here is my Pumpkin Jewelry made with polymer clay and colored wire.

Pumpkin Necklace and Pins.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

A closer look at the Necklace

and a closer look at the pins. I haven't sanded them yet.

And I made a set of Mirror Image Beads

I hope you are enjoying the sights and sounds and smells of autumn as much as I am.

Thanks for stopping by.

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

2011-10-09T13:27:00.000-07:00

I made a change to my Caterpillar Necklace. Jay suggested it needed a butterfly, he was right.... so here it is. Thanks Jay.

Click on the photos for a closer look... click twice for an even closer look.

I originally planned to back the butterfly with clay but it got a little busy. I like the look with just the wire and the beads. Here is a close up.

Short but sweet, that's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Beads

2011-10-04T03:06:00.000-07:00

The Julie Picarello challenge on "Discussions from the Claypen" was a big success! Most of the regulars showed up and many new folks popped in to say hello. 3 pages of gorgeous photos were on display. Here is a link if you'd like take a peek.

http://gallery.gundo.com/gallery/album400

Marlea was the winner of the beautiful pendant donated by Julie Picarello. Our next challenge will be voodoo dolls of Marlea... lol, just kidding!

I used the recycled canes to make beads.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I used a couple different canes to make this assortment.

I love these, I think they look like fern leaves.

Red and Grey

Mostly Blue with a touch of red and green

I like the stained glass look of these.

Blue and green capsule beads

Mirror image hearts from the cane ends. I am making round beads from the canes. to use with these.

More beads to come. Thanks for stopping by.

A chance to win a Julie Picarello pendant

2011-09-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Would you like to win a Julie Picarello pendant?

This is an invitation to attend the "Discussions from the Claypen" chat on Polymer Clay Central.

Date: Thursday Sept 29th

Time: 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time

All you have to do is show up and your name will be tossed in the hat!

Every thursday a gaggle of polymer clay artists get together to share our latest polymer clay projects and discuss what is going on in our lives. It has given us the opportunity to get to know each other and become friends. We would love to have you join us!! We also submit photos of our latest work and our wonderful moderator, Jackie, has kept an album of all the past entries.....page after page of beautiful art... that alone is worth a visit.

Because most of us either have Julie Picarello's book "Patterns in Polymer, Imprint & Accent Bead Techniques" or have attended one of her classes this weeks project is to make a piece using her Imprint Mokume Gane technique. When Jackie told Julie about the project Julie very generously donated an original pendant and may even stop by, time permitting. That's pretty iffy, but being an optimist I am keeping my fingers crossed.

And more good news.... Anyone who submits photos of their Julie P pieces get a 2nd chance to win... how cool is that?

Now if you can't attend chat you still have a chance to win by submitting a photo. If you want to submit photos of your Julie P pieces leave a comment and I will tell you where to send the photos.... the dead line is wednesday evening.

I spent the weekend working on my entries... now that I have the hang of it I plan to make more today.... this is fun!!

Here is what I made so far.

Armadillo & More Old to New Canes

2011-09-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

Get yourself a cup of coffee... or tea... sit back and relax, I have a lot of photos to show you. I've reorganized my canes, weeded out the old ones I didn't like and made them into new one I do like... only had a couple duds that ended up in the scrap bag. I think I''m pretty much done making new canes from old.... at least for now.

First I want to show you my Armadillo pin... at least I think he's an armadillo, he just kinda crawled out of the clay on his own.... looks more like an armadillo than any other critter.

Back side of pin, I used one of the pinbacks with a bail so he can be worn as a pin or pendant.

Now on to the New from old canes.

Most of the new canes are about an inch to 1 1/2" long, I can usually get a dozen or so beads from each cane. I'm gonna make beads tonight and then start on a special project tomorrow... I will tell you about that later, remind me, okay?

The 4 smaller canes are from ones similar to the one in the middle. These are made differently than the ones I made in the tutorial. To make the two canes at the top I reduced the center cane into a 4" log then ran it thought the pasta machine on the No 1 setting. Cut the strip into 1 1/2" pieces and assembled the canes. I did the same with the two at the bottom only I went a couple steps further, I sliced them across from corner to corner.... like in the tute.. then cut the triangle logs in half and put them together... clear as mud, right?

The small ones are all from the big one on the left. Adding black and white is always a good thing to do.

This is a group picture...

The two square canes are from the round one... I think that was one of my first attempts at a flower cane... not sure what kind of a flower I was aiming for.

The square cane is from the striped checkerboard cane.

Oops... more from the round cane above. I usually make fairly small canes but I had lots of that one!

The two canes at the top are from the bigger one at the bottom.

These are all from my attempt at garden butterfly cane.... makes me cringe just thinking about it, it was pretty pathetic... but I like these. That bottom one makes really cool beads, I'll show you when I get them cured.

I do not remember what I was trying for with the original cane.... it must have been so bad I blocked it from my mind. The background color is strange but it kinda grows on you.... at least that's what I keep telling myself. I sent a set of these to a friend... you know who you are... we will see what her reaction is. Hopefully they will make nice beads.

Made from odds and ends.... except for the first one in the 2nd row... I showed it to you above.... don't know how it snuck into this photo too. My cat was helping me.

More odds and ends..... except for the bottom on the right, showed it before... cat still helping.

and more odds and ends, the two at the bottom were made from the same cane. If you are dying to see the original canes most can be seen on my Flickr page under "Polymer Clay canes".

Okay, that's it for today... thanks for stopping by.

My BIG Mixed Media Pendant

2011-09-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is a little funky and may not be everyones cup of tea but I like it.

First I made the center piece then decided to add wire. Wire always has a mind of it own so I just go where it takes me. I usually work with shiny wire but I have a few colors in a matte finish and the yellow matched well with the yellow in the cane I used. I wove it over burgundy wire and added black seed beads. I was going to trim the wire at the bottom but scrolled it instead and hammered it a bit. Looks pretty good so I left it.

The top knot was made from the end piece of the cane and a piece of left over black clay that I rolled into a log and textured with the same design that is on the background of the center piece. I then used 26 gauge wire to attach the top knot to the base and added the black agate beads.

So here is my BIG pendant. Right now I have it strung on a gun metal chain but will probably switch to black rubber cord later on.

Click on the photos for a closer look.... click twice for an even closer look.

from a different angle

I love that color of yellow....I have a top that color so this is a keeper.

Thanks for stopping by.

Bowl of Beads & a Necklace

2011-09-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last year I took part in a Coaster swap on Polymer Clay Central. Here's a photo of the coasters.

I used the left over clay to make canes. Here is the Bowl of Beads that I made with the canes.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Close up of beads. I really like the way they turned out.

I don't do much in green, not sure why, I like green. I found a green cane in my stash and used it to make the pendant and beads, then added wire for the necklace. I like it.

Another view of the necklace. I like asymmetrical so I did a long bead on one side and a wired piece on the other.

I am working on a BIG pendant with another cane that I made from coaster left overs... it keeps growing and growing.... should be finished soon.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Beads from Canes

2011-09-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

First I wanted to tell you all that Michaels is having a big sale. Clay is 99 cents and almost everything else is 50% off... well maybe not "almost everything" but goo gobs of things are 50% off. I of course had to buy clay although I already have enough clay to build a small house... I did manage to limit myself to white and black and cad. yellow... and maybe a few packs of Premo "effect". The scrapbooking card stock packs were 50% off too... I do not scrap book but I do love those purdy prints and I like to make my own greeting cards... have you seen what Hallmark charges for one measly card? Now that I think of it, I needed that paper! I only bought two tablets and I already used one sheet as a background for some of the photos on this very post (see below). I also bought "Reflection's" brand brads (again 50% off) , 3 rolls of ribbon, maybe I will make a wreath or use them on necklaces, and 3 rubber stamps in the $1.00 bin. Oh, and the main reason I went to Michaels, they were having a sale on the scrapbook storage containers and drawers which works for clay too.... I need sturdy drawers to store my clay although assembling those babies was no piece of cake, the directions said "assemble time: 15 minutes" yeah right!! Fortunately Heather is very handy for building things. The sale lasts until the 17th so I may have to go back for more drawers, you can never have to many drawers.... right?

Okay now on to clay stuff.

I went to my clay room with the intention of working on a butterfly pendant to go with my caterpillar necklace.

I first needed to clean my work area. I put scraps in the scarp bag, gather up the partially used packages of clay and put them away in the proper new drawers, put the tools back where they belong in the new scrap book caddy and started to add these canes to the 100's I have in containers.

I am so bad about making canes, putting them in containers thinking I will make something with them "later" and the poor canes just sit there.... sometimes for years!

So I decided to made another "new cane from old cane" cane. Which I did.

And then I went a step further and made beads! (See the new card stock background?)

That was fun ... I decided to do it again.

I got out this rather strange cane.

and made beads and a mirror image pendant.

Now I'm on a roll! I got out one of my "quilt" canes. I started to make pillow beads. I like the look of pillow beads but I hate making them...made two and decided to switch to teardrops. way more fun plus I had one of those "lightbulb" ideas for a necklace.

That's it for now, I am off to find matching beads and findings to make the necklace. And to turn more canes into beads.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Tutorial: New Canes from Old Canes

2011-09-12T01:15:00.000-07:00

Okay here it is... I'm still not happy with the photos but they will have to do.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Step 1: First I assembled a group of old canes. The canes are 2" long.

Step 2: I laid the corkscrew canes down lengthwise and cut them into quarters and sliced the striped cane from corner to corner.

Step 3: I then arranged the canes. I decided to put stripes on both ends so got out another hunk of the striped cane and sliced it from corner to corner.

Step 4: I then needed something to fill in the sides. I picked out a bullseye cane that matched the color of the orange flower.

Step 5: I sliced the bullseye cane in half lengthwise.

Step 6: I placed the halves on each side of the assembled came, curved sides in.

Step 7: I then squeezed the cane to remove the air pockets and began reducing it.

Step 8: I gently squeezed, rolled and pulled the cane to approximately 6" I then trimmed the ends and cut the cane in half.

Here is how they look standing on end.

Step 9: I set half aside. Using my square acrylic rods I formed the other half into a square. I did this by placing the cane between the rods and squeezing and making quarter turns until I formed a square log

Step 10. Once I was satisfied with the square I stood it on end and carefully sliced in half from corner to corner. I slice very slowly and follow the stripe lines to make as even of a cut as possible.

This is pretty tricky, if you haven't done it before I highly recommend practicing on square logs of scrap clay.

Step 11: I set one piece aside, laid the other down on the flat side and cut it in half.(I somehow missed taking a photo of this step, sorry) I then carefully lined up the two triangles into a square. Check the ends and try to keep the design the same on both ends. After finishing the first I did the same with the other half.

Step 12: I then reduced each cane to approximately 5"

Step 13: Trim about 1/2" of each end. Cut the log into 1" pieces and assemble into a kaleidoscope canes.

Step 14: Remember the half I set aside in Step 8? Here is what I did with the other half. Instead of forming a square log I sliced 1/3 off of the round log.

Step 15: I followed the stripe lines to make an even cut. Again I take my time and cut very slowly.

Step 16: I laid it down on the flat side and cut in half.

Step 17: I then put the two pieces together and formed an oval cane. This can easily be made into a round or square cane but for now I like the oval.

Step 18: I cut the rest of the round half into two pieces

Step 19: I laid them down flat like in step 16, and cut them in half and made these two canes. They can be used as is or reduced, cut in 4th's and formed into kali canes.

And there you have it, my version of making "new canes from old canes". Hope you find it useful.

A word of caution, if your old canes are dry or crumbly don't try to use them with more pliable canes, they won't reduce properly and will ruin the cane.

Thanks for stopping by.

Caterpillar Necklace & Mixed Media Fish

2011-09-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun making this necklace..... It is one of those creations that grew on its own... I had no idea what the finished piece would look like when I started, some of my best pieces just "happen".

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Took a while to figure out how to get this to hang properly.

Close up of long beads... they remind me of caterpillars... hence the name.

I originally planned to use the large tile at the bottom on another necklace, I tried it here and liked it so here it will stay.

It is a large necklace, the tile is 1 1/2" x 4" wide. It looks good on a solid colored top. I am pleased with the final result.

And here is my latest Polymer Clay and Wire, Mixed Media Critter. I love this Fish!!

With most of my critter I make a wire frame and then add the polymer clay. This time I made the fish body and then added the wire elements.

I also made new canes. I have been combining Premo with Kato Pearl to get the colors I want and then add a small amount of Pardo Art Clay , usually white, to firm the clay. It's a bit difficult to get the Pardo to mix with the other clays, it has a tendency to flake and shred but do not give up, continue running though the pasta machine.... it takes 25 to 30 passes, but it is worth the effort.

I used the one in the lower left to make the other four. I know, strange colors and I may have over reduced a bit but I think they will make interesting beads.

I'm getting better at flower canes, the red one is not so great but I like the other two. Packing the translucent is important with flower canes and I rushed on the red one.

The two square canes are made from the round cane. I've made similar canes before only in different colors.

More from the same cane only round this time.

I was going for another flower cane with the top right but it looks more like a cross. I had scraps from the "cross" cane so I added yellow and made the other two round canes. I reduced a piece of the larger square cane cut it in 4 pieces and made the smaller square cane.

The "Making new canes from old canes" is almost finished. Yes indeedy, I should be posting it soon!!

Thanks for stopping by.

How to Make Round beads from a Square Cane ... and other stuff

2011-08-31T19:40:00.000-07:00

I am behind on my blogging again so please bear with me while I get caught up.

First of all this is the shelf above my work table... filled with things I like and goodies from my friends.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here is a close up of "Clyde" my wee cow from Scotland and his wee turtle friend from Nevada. How cute is that? Do not look at the dust on the shelf..... Dusting is not my thing, I have more fun/important things to do.

I am still working on the tutorial "making new canes from old canes". For some reason I keep messing up the photos.... but I did finish this small tutorial on "How to Make Round Beads from a Square Cane".

The "new cane" on the left was made from the "old cane" on the right. First reduce the cane to a 1/2" square.

Then condition a hunk of scrap clay, run it through the pasta machine on the #1 setting and use the next to largest Makin round cutter to cut out circles. After much trial an error I came up with the correct ratio.

Roll the circles into balls.

Slice two pieces from the cane.

Place the ball in the center of the cane slice and bring opposite corners up and gentle press in place.

Bring the other two corners up and press them in place making sure the corners are evenly placed around the center of the ball.

Place the other cane slice on top of the bead, fit opposite corners into the bottom cane slice and firmly press in place.

Fit the two remaining corners in place, pinch and smooth the seams together being careful not to distort the design.

Roll the beads in the palms of your hands until they are smooth with no seams showing. The first bead on the bottom left needs a little more work, I see a seam, amazing how the camera picks up every flaw. When possible I like to let my beads "rest" over night before I make the holes for stringing.

And there you go... round beads from square canes.

Last time I was at Michaels I bought some of the store brand polymer clay, Craftsmart. I thought I would give it a try as it is half the price of the other brands and it was on sale for an even bigger savings. Couldn't hurt... right?

Here are three beads I made. The white was dry and a little difficult to condition and the pink was quite soft. I made a "lacy" cane with the two colors and used it on the round beads.

I made the tube bead from a striped cane with pink and light pink stripes. The effect on the tube bead came about when I cut a strip of the striped cane and began twisting, because of the difference in consistence the darker color reduced faster than the lighter color.

When cured, the beads are "dryer" and have a chalky look. The round beads are big, about the size of a quarter, often with other brands of clay this size bead will crack, these did not. I haven't tried sanding yet and I haven't tried mixing with other clays.... so much to do, so little time!!

I have been doing lots of sanding while waiting for my wire order to arrive. (It came today) I ran out of amethyst wire while working on this necklace. I like how it looks so far.

Close up of the wire and beads. I like the look of the carnelian beads and small copper beads with the amethyst and amber wire.

Close up of the pendant.

Close up of the wire curls with beads inside.

Now that my wire order is here I hope to get more pieces finished.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by.

Mixing Wire and Polymer Clay

2011-08-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

Before I show you my latest creations.... if you are into beading or even if your not, check out the cool beading book give away on Beadwright Blog. (There is link to her blog in my blog list) It's a lovely book and may entice you to try beading. I have the first book by Sherry Serafini and I love it. I must have this book so if I am not the lucky winner of this give away... (finger's crossed!!) ... once I stop pouting I will buy a copy.

Okay here are my new necklaces:

Click on the photos for a closer look

First is a polymer clay pod and leaf pendant to which I added a wire and bead leaf and made a chain with rainbow fluorite beads, lacy silver ball beads and bead caps and amethyst colored wire.

Next is a long focal mirror image bead with a wrapped wire scroll at the top. It measures 5" including the scroll. At the bottom I added a matching bead adorned with copper beads and wire. I completed the necklace with copper chain... I may change that. Heather likes the plain chain but I'm not so sure, I think it needs something on the other side. What do you think?

I also added wire elements to three polymer clay pieces to make these brooches. The heart has a cutout in the upper left so by adding a cord it can be worn as a pendant.

Heather needed coaster for her bedroom so she made these from clay she carefully sorted from the scrap bags. I don't have the patience to sort through the colors, I like to squish and twist to make mirror images. They turned out really nice and match her bedroom colors perfectly. She really should do more with polymer clay, don't you agree?

I'm working on more mixed media pieces but I ran out of the right colors and gauges of wire so I'm once again waiting on an order. I am also working on a "New Canes from Old Canes tutorial". Thought I was almost done but I'm not happy with the photos so I'm starting over.

Thanks for stopping by, please feel free to leave comments or questions.

Polymer Clay Necklaces

2011-08-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

Now that the dog is gone things have almost returned to normal. Corny is back to her old self but Fritz is still a little nervous.... looks around corners and makes a mad dash for the basement if he hears the slightest noise.... .

Here is photo of Holly napping on the couch.... she is not suppose to be up there but her hips were hurting and she couldn't get comfy on the floor, I didn't have the heart to make her get down. I have a throw on the couch because of the cat hair. When I got my new couch the plan was to teach the cats to stay off of it... their plan was to ignore my plan..... guess who won. So my pretty aqua couch is covered with a brown throw.

Corny was greatly relieved when Holly went home, and has return to her favorite spot on the back of the couch right above where Holly was napping.

Fritz usually naps on the other end of the couch but he doesn't like the dog smell so he has exiled himself to the daybed in the backroom down stairs. For some reason he always turns down the corner of the quilt, I guess it's more comfy that way. Heather and I straighten it up when we clean the cat hair but he folds it down and curls up in the corner. It is hard to get a good photo of a black cat. See the white toes on his back feet?

Now here are the necklaces:

First is a pendant I made a long time ago, I added the wire bail and strung it with glass tube beads, round Kashgar garnet beads and copper spacer beads and a copper hook clasp. There is a Swarovski rhinestone in the center that doesn't show well in the photo. I have a top the same shade of purple so I may have to keep this one.

Second is a pendant I made in february during the Thing a Day challenge on PCC. I made a woven wire bail and strung it on silk ribbon wrapped with colored wire.

Third is another pendant from the TAD challenge. I used gun metal 18 gauge wire, black agate beads, yellow 28 gauge wire and yellow seed beads to make the links.

The next two are Kathi scrap pendants that I posted a couple weeks ago. I strung them on black buna cord.

I'm not sure when I made the pendant on this last one, last year sometime most likely. I used blue coin beads and carnelian beads on copper wire to make the links.

That's it for today. Stay tuned for more necklaces, I'm on a roll.

Thanks for stopping by.

New Canes from Old Canes

2011-08-10T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was rummaging around in my cane stash and decided to use some of the old canes to make new canes.

Click on the photos for a closer look... click twice for an even closer look.

I made these canes from an old cane that I've had for years.... it was one of the first canes I made using Fimo Classic. Included in the photo is a pendant that I made from the narrow cane... as you can see Fimo Classic gets several shades darker when it is cured.

The two canes at the top were made from the cane at the bottom. I think I will reduce the one on the left and make another like the one on the right, then I can use them to make beads.

These canes were made by combining several flower canes. The flower canes were in the Trash to Treasure swap, I'm pretty sure most were made by Sue Castle. In any event I think they made very pretty kali canes.

I have also been trying to learn how to Viking Knit with wire I plan to somehow use this small piece with this pod pendant. Viking knitting is fun to do once you get the hang of it but like everything I make with wire, it is very time consuming. Maybe with practice I will get faster.

I finished several more necklaces but haven't taken photos..... maybe tomorrow. Right now it is past my bedtime.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Heart Necklace & More

2011-08-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the annual Street Art Festival on the Square in our little town. I went out early this morning and took lots of photos of the chalk art pictures.... I will show them to you later in the week when I've had time to do a little editing and pick out the photos I like best.

In the mean time here are necklaces that I manage to complete in the last few days.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The first consists of mirror image hearts made with Valerie cutters and pink coiled wire bails.

At first I made wire links with black wire and pink square glass beads..... but I didn't like the look.

See, not good. I wasn't happy with the black wire or the square beads.

So I took it apart, strung the beads on beading wire with pink cats eye beads, pewter color glass pearls and aqua blue seed beads for spacers. I like it much better now. This is the first time I've strung beads since my cataract surgery.... amazing how much easier it is when you can see the holes in the beads!!

The back looks pretty good too. I used silver clay with a textured pattern.

I used one of my many scrap pendants for this mixed media necklace. The links are rainbow fluorite beads on amethyst wire joined with copper wire rings.

I used assorted tiles in fall colors to make this necklace. The beads are hand sanded and buffed. It's a little chunky but it looks nice on.

I have more necklaces in the works. And I made some new canes from old canes that I want to show you.

We are still dog sitting. Hubby had to work friday and last night so granddaughter Sarah let Holly stay at her house for a couple days, Holly is back with us today. Heather and family will be home tomorrow and poor Holly can go back to her normal routine, being away from home hasn't been any more fun for her than it has been for me and the felines. All I can say is, if the happy campers know what is good for them they had better be bringing presents!!

Polymer Clay Canes & Jewelry

2011-08-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here are the canes I showed you yesterday

Click on the photos for a closer look.

And here are some of the pieces I made from the canes.

I will make a necklace with this set.

I will add wire to some of these and make either pendants or pins.

Scrap pendants and a large chunky bead.

This was a fun pendant to make... I used my new cube stamp for the leaf design and highlighted it with Perfect Pearls powder. This is the first time I've used Perfect Pearl, I usually use PearlEx. I made the borders with my also new rollers from Walnut Hollow. I made the embellishments with my ball stylus, it is one of my most used tools.

Here are the tools that I used on the above pendant.

I used the end of the original flower cane for the center on this pendant.

I am playing with my new cutters again.... I'll show you the results tomorrow.

Playing with my New Cutters & other fun stuff

2011-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Check out these new handmade cutters that I purchased from Valerie Wallace. Val is a friend that I met on Polymer Clay Central , she has a shop in Scotland, Polymer Clay.co.uk , where she sells polymer clay, tools and accessories.

These little cutters are wonderful, the seams are tightly soldiered so they make clean cuts. Both sides are sharp, I use a wooden block to push them into the clay. To give you some idea of the sizes the largest square and circle is 7/8", the largest star is 2 1/2", the smallest star is 3/8", the largest heart 1 3/4" and the smallest 1/4".

Click on the photos for a closer look.... click twice for an even closer look!

Here are clay samples that I made with the cutters. Most will be used to make earrings.

I layered these and will use them for pendants and earrings.

I love this necklace I made using the largest stylized heart. I combined it with a flower bead and colored wire to make the pendant. I am trying to decide if I like the copper chain... I may change it to satin cord in lavender or peach.

Here is a photo of the pinbacks with bails that I mentioned in an earlier post. The goldtone is 1" and the silvertone is 1 1/2". I purchased these from Articus Studio owned by Corrine Byers. I was pleased with the price, the shipping charge and the prompt service.

I made these canes last week.

Tomorrow I will show you what I made with the canes.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Pin or Pendants

2011-07-25T00:04:00.000-07:00

My hubby took our grandson Brandon and one of his friends, also named Brandon, to Chicago for a few days. The boys wanted to go to the museums and have real Chicago deep dish pizza. They left thursday morning and came back this evening. Do not tell anyone but... I enjoyed having a few days to myself. I didn't have to cook and could eat what I wanted, mostly salad.... I have a favorite salad, iceberg lettuce, dark red kidney beans, avocado and shredded colby jack cheese with either Ranch or Catalina dressing. Easy to fix, easy to clean up and I didn't have to heat up the kitchen. And fresh fruit, I love fresh fruit in the summer. The blackberries this year are yummy!! Plus I could stay in my pj's if I wanted and I had lots of time to play with clay.

I had my eye check up on friday and they dilated my eyes.... again. They are healing up well. I go back in two weeks then wait a couple months before we discuss the laser surgery.

My eye doctor's office is close to Michaels and I need gold and silver Premo so we stopped by to see if the clay was on sale... it wasn't and they were out of gold and silver anyway but I did buy some Perfect Pearls powders, a couple rubber stamps that were on sale and they had micro glass balls in really neat colors.... I love micro balls... so I had to have the assortment. I also wanted black micro balls. Remember I said my eyes were dilated? after I got home I discovered instead of the black micro balls I had grabbed something call flocking powder. So, any suggestions what I can do with black flocking powder? I know I can return it but I'm not good about returning things... and if I go back to Michaels I will spend more money, I try to restrict my Michael's visits to once a month.... I can't resist.. I am a craft supply junky, if I see a "NEW" item signs, I'm a goner, I buy it every time... the micro ball assortment was a "New" item. Good thing I have my Michael's membership card!! Boy did they see me coming. Hey...Do not snicker, I know YOU are a junky too!!

Okay, I have a couple rather large boxes filled with pieces that could be either pendants or pins. I put them aside until I decide how to use them but the number is getting out of hand. Then I saw how Anita's delightful kitties can be worn either as pins or pendants... check her new shop on Artfire Melody O Designs .... and realized that is a perfect solution to my problem. I did a google search and found pinbacks with bails, ordered a bunch and now all I have to do is wait for them to arrive.

In the mean time I made a few more pendant/pins and am now working on a couple necklaces.

Here are the pendants

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Art Deco design in orange and purple.

Mixed media with gathered polymer clay "fabric" and colored wire. This one is quite large.

Egyptian pin/pendant in gold and red. See the little micro balls? I had the gold ones before I went to Michaels.... did I mention I like micro balls?

I've had these last two layered pieces for awhile and I finally got around to sanding them. I have piles of unsanded items too.....

When the pinbacks with bails arrive I am going to put them on many of my Mixed Media Critters so I can list them in our Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by. I love hearing from you so please feel free to leave comments or ask questions.

Polymer Clay Beads and Charms

2011-07-21T00:13:00.000-07:00

I've been stuck inside because of the heat so I thought I would make some beads.

I used one of my Pardo Art Clay canes to make this large bead. It always amazes me how clear Pardo Translucent Art Clay is.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here are the canes I used and the metallic green bead that I covered with the canes.

Here is the covered ball before I popped it in the oven.

After I took it out of the oven I immediately dropped it in ice water to help clear the translucent clay. I also made a large flower bead in the same colors and a 2 part bead in shades of green.

As you can see I got a little carried away with mirror image beads and charms. That should take care of my mirror image compulsion for a while. I see all kinds of little critters on the charms.... click on the photo if you want to see them too.

I was playing around and made a couple fun pendants with some of the mirror images ....and a few more charms.

I had left over metallic clay so I used texture sheets to made a few large chunky beads.

I have so many "works in progress", the beads and pendants are piling up, it's time to to get out my wire and cord and start assembling jewelry pieces.

Polymer Clay Art Deco & More Scrap Art

2011-07-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

My right eye cataract surgery was last thursday. All went well, more "sticky goo" as expected. I will have laser surgery in a couple months to remove the goo and then I will be as good as new. In the mean time my sight is greatly improved and I use dime store reading glasses for close up work.

I have been working on more scrap pieces and some fun art deco designs.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

This is more Kathi scraps... I made small charm beads to go with the focal bead.

Mirror images from Kathi scraps. These are so much fun. What do you see? In the first one I see a bear head above a skeleton wearing a turban... in the second I see a squirrel.

Another scrap pendant with matching tube bead.

Art Deco tiles in purple and teal. I mixed purple and blue with silver to get these colors. The one on the left has been sanded, I liked the shimmer of the one on the right so didn't sand it.

This one is made from left over scraps from the two above.

I used one of my old canes to make this mirror image pendant. I love the colors in this one. The smaller one was made from the scraps. I rolled a ball, formed an egg shape, ran it through the pasta machine, then folded in half and pinched in the center. There is a different design on the reverse.

More scrap pieces. Sanded and buffed. I will use the two matching tiles for earrings.

I used textured sheets on the backs, it gives them a nice finish and saves on sanding.

I have also made quite a few beads, I will show you those in a day or two. Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Scrap Jewelry

2011-07-06T18:16:00.000-07:00

Some time ago Moe shared photos of jewelry she made with "Kathi scraps". It was very pretty jewelry I was envious and I expressed a wish for my very own Kathi scraps..... so of course Kathi took pity on me, granted my wish and sent me some very cool "Kathi scraps".

I love scraps, I like my own scraps and I've discovered I like other folks scraps even more. Maybe one of these days we should have a "scraps" swap.... or even better, everyone could just send me their scraps.

Here is what I've made so far.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Kathi likes bright colors so her scraps are wonderful.... the first pieces I made have an Art Deco look. I backed them with textured black clay painted with gold PearlEx powder.

"Fruit Salad" pendant ... this one is a work in progress, I haven't backed it yet. I love the colors.

More mirror image pendants in bight bold colors. I twisted the top of the one on the left, coiled it into a knot and added a Swarovski rhinestone in the center of the coil.

A couple more mirror image pendants, the designs are a little more intricate on these. I still need to sand and buff. ... and add bails.

That's it for today. I have more in the oven with a totally different look.

Thanks for stopping by.... and thanks to Kathi for the Fabulous scraps!!

Cataract Surgery

2011-07-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

One down and one to go. The cataract in my left eye was removed thursday. And there are freebe's.... I get to keep the dark glasses and the green shopping bag.... who could ask for anything more?

The process began two days earlier when I had to have one drop of 3 different super duper eye drops dropped in my left eye three times a day and again on the morning of the surgery. First I had to recovery from the "sticker shock". The gal at the clinic told us the drops would be "pricey", not that I'd have to rob a bank to come up with the cash. "Pricey" indeed!!

The drops were no big deal, my eyes are not sensitive... my hubby on the other hand has very sensitive eyes, Eons ago when we were first married he had an eye infection that required drops, I had to sit on his chest and force his eye open to get the drops in.... I may have even smacked him a time or two and told him to stop acting like a baby. Apparently he has harbored a grudge all these years as he appears to be getting a smidgeon of satisfaction from administering the drops. He insists that isn't the case but once my vision clears I'm pretty sure I detect a bit of a sadistic smile.

Both daughters went with me on the big day. We arrived at the clinic 3 minutes early... I point this out because the girls are almost always late... and I do not like to be late. I signed in and we had just sat down when they called me in. The first stop was a little room with a stool in the center and two chairs off to the side. Heather and Patty were instructed to sit in the chairs and this funny old lady wearing a blue smock and paper hair cover on her head instructed me to sit on the stool and handed me a pen and clip board. She asked for my picture ID, my medicare card and my co-pay. I said I didn't have a co-pay so she said "oh, you have a supplemental insurance?" I said "no" to which she said, "then you have co-pay" I said "no, I don't have a co-pay". We went back and forth like this several times... Apparently I was more apprehensive than I realized and my brain had gone numb..... I was equating "co-pay" with insurance and not the amount I owed. Finally one of the daughters. probably Heather said "Mom she means the amount you owe" and I sheepishly handed over my debit card.

The funny lady then said I would be given both "tropical and intravenous medication" Huh? I churned this around in my numb brain and asked "what does that mean?" To which she replied "they will give you "tropical" eye drops and insert a needle in your arm." I was thinking pineapples and coconuts when she began handing me, in rapid fire, papers to be signed, ... she said I had copies in my packet and should have read them over ... okay, I think I did. She was slapping down those papers and grabbing them back so fast I could hardly keep up. There has to be a reason for this, maybe the office staff has instigated a contest to see who can get the most papers signed in the least amount of time... and this lady is determined to win. Every time I tried to hand back the clip board she would hand me more papers, I'm still pondering the "tropical" eye drops and my friend Moe comes to mind ( she lives in Hawaii and most likely is familiar with "tropical" eye drops, I'll ask her later) I detected slight snickers from the peanut gallery behind me. Finally we were done and she left the room with my Id, medicare card and debit card. Patty burst out laughing and says "not tropical Mom, she means topical". Both daughters were amused with the furious document signing and duly impressed with my speed writing... I would do really well at a book signing.

Funny lady returns minus my cards and says they will return them to my daughters later. She hands me one of the paper gauzy head covers and tells me to follow her. The girls are sent back to the waiting room. I trot along behind funny lady stuffing my hair in the paper thingy. The elastic is very loose and it keeps drooping over my eyes. I am turned over to a nurse in the surgical waiting room. It's a large room with 6 or 7 chairs spaced a few feet apart along the walls, two are occupied. I am led to one and instructed to take a seat. I peek out from under my cap, the man on my left has his eyes closed, so does the woman across from me. I soon learn why. There is a person lying on a gurney behind a curtain, after a while the gurney is wheeled off and a new one is put in it's place. I see the lady across from me disappear behind the curtain. The nurse comes over and asks me "which eye?" I say "left", she pushes up my cap and places a red sticker on my forehead above my left eye then she goes over to the man. The elastic in the cap is loosey goosey and keeps sliding down, I keep pushing it up so the can see my sticker. I've heard those horror stories... I don't want them to operate on the wrong eye. The nurse returns, instructs me to put my head back and look at the ceiling so she can administer eye drops.... she hands me a tissue and begins dropping, I lost count at 6 or 7. I'm to busy trying to keep the drops from going in my ear. She tells me to keep my eyes closed and she will return. Several minutes later she's back with yet more drops. We do the dropping and mopping routine once again.... I think the count is now 14. While she is dropping... again really fast... I struggle to keep the eye open (my hubby could NEVER do this) I blinked and felt a drop on my eye lid so I said "I don't think that one went in". "Yip, it did, it's yellow and I can see it in the eye". I have my doubts. "Keep your eyes closed and I will be back" she says. Sometime later she returned with a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, checks my blood pressure, heart and lungs. I pass with flying colors. She then says she is going to insert a needle in my arm, she looks at the veins in my left arm and ties it off with rubber tubing. She says my veins are really small, I tell her the veins in my right arm are better but she sees one she thinks will do... she gets the needle in but the tube won't feed in. She decides to try the right arm..... "much better" she says and she apologizes for sticking me twice. NOTE TO SELF: Be more assertive, insist they use the right arm next time.
I am left to sit for a few more minutes, I'd say about a half hour has gone by so far.... time flies when you're having fun.

The big moment has arrived, it is my turn on the gurney. I am instructed to lie on my back with my head in the donut shaped thing at the top. The nurse places a pillow under my knees and covers me with a warm blanket, I like that. I've been up since 5 AM and am ready for a nap. She asks me to open my eyes for yet more drops "Holy cow, how many drops have I had?" "16" she says and adds 3 more, the last of which is quite thick and will numb my eye ball. She starts the medication in my arm and they wheel me off to the operating room. She puts a blood pressure cuff on my left arm and straps down my arms. The doctor comes in, asks me how I'm doing, I say "fine" and he tells me to look at the light. I can't feel a thing but I can see all kinds of psychedelic lights, pretty cool, like a kaleidoscope. In no time at all they are wheeling me back to the waiting room. It is a completely pain free procedure, the most discomfort I had was from the blood pressure cuff, even the needle sticks didn't hurt.

It seems like they got me up right away but it was probably 10 minutes or so. The nurse helped me sit up and asked me if I wanted "apple juice, orange juice or coffee" All sounded yucky so I asked for water. She had me get off the gurney and walk over to a chair. She had me sign something, I think it was a receipt for my co-pay... or the title to our house... she gave me a cool pair of dark eye glasses (see photo above) and wheeled me out to my daughters. I wanted to walk out to the car but she insisted I stay in the chair, which would have been nice but she didn't put the foot rest down. I had to hold my feet up, not an easy feat as she was moving really fast... speed seems to be important to these people.

All done, that wasn't so bad. I was there for less than 2 hours.

We took Patty back to her house.. uh oh, she forgot her keys and was locked out. Eugene would be home in a couple hours so we decided to go to lunch, I was starving, all I had for breakfast was 4 or 5 Ritz crackers and diet coke... Cracker Barrel is close by and sounded good to me. I couldn't see the menu but I knew what I wanted,,, ham and beans with corn muffins. After lunch we dropped Patty off and headed home. I thought I felt normal but later Heather told me I was moving and talking really slow.

Later that afternoon we walked over to the Farmer's Market and bought tomatoes, cheese bread, carmel apple strudel and half a peach pie. My eye was still very dilated so I was wearing the dark glasses. We stopped at a table where a lady Heather knows was selling beaded jewelry. Heather explained I was wearing the cool shades because I just had cataract surgery, the lady said she'd had the same surgery a year before. I asked her how soon she noticed an improvement in her vision and she said immediately after surgery. Not so for me.... my vision was still very blurry and my eye was totally dilated. It remained that way all evening. The literature said it might takes a few days for the blurriness to go away, so I decided not to panic. I went to bed around 10:30 and went right to sleep.

The next morning I woke up around 6. My vision was still a little blurry but the colors of literally everything was amazing.... really vivid bright colors, WOW, my friend Gilly said the colors would be amazing and she was right. It was like I had been viewing the world through a layer of gauze, I had no idea what I've been missing. I had the best time looking though all my polymer clay jewelry, the colors are so different from what I originally saw.... some are quite surprising.

Later that day I returned to the clinic for a post surgery check up. Turns out I had a particularly thick stubborn cataract. Here's how the Dr explained it to me. There is a very thin capsule in the eye to which they attach the lens. The capsule is very delicate and is as thin as a soap bubble. When they removed the cataract it left a "sticky goo" (a new medical term) on the capsule. It cannot be removed with an instrument without damaging the capsule so once my eye has healed... in about three months... they will go back in with a laser and removed the "sticky goo". It most likely will be the same with the other eye. In the mean time my vision will be a little blurry.

The prescription in my old glasses no longer works. Long distance I can see pretty well, close up not so good. I have a cheap pair of reading glasses from Walmart that helps, I will use those until I have the laser procedure.

That's it for now, my adventure continues. If anyone is contemplating cataract surgery and has any questions please feel free to ask.

Mostly Purple Polymer Clay

2011-06-24T23:49:00.000-07:00

Our farmer's market is on the square this year, very convenient for us as we live less than half a block from the square. It's every thursday from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM...the day and time is a little strange but it works for me. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have fresh homegrown vine ripened delicious tomatoes... so yummy!! I didn't want to appear greedy, they only had two beer flats full so I controlled myself and bought 4 big ones.... we came home, I sliced one, we gobbled it down and then consumed a second... to heck with the greed, I send hubby back for more. I also purchased 3 zucchini, a container of blackberries, a loaf of homemade cinnamon raisin bread, a dozen homemade donuts, a couple caramel brownies and a couple cherry crumble thingies. The lady who makes pepper jelly wasn't there and I didn't find any apple butter... maybe next week.. That is the day I have eye surgery but it's in the morning so maybe by afternoon I can still make the farmer's market.

My muse was in a purple mood this week, Here's what I made

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Mixed media pendant, the frame is woven colored wire and beads. The bird silhouette is on purple clay, sealed with Kato liquid. The Swaroski rhinestone catches the light for a bit of sparkle.

I had purple clay left over from my mixed media purple cats so I made these. The swan silhouette is sealed with a thin layer of liquid Kato.

I am still mixing Pardo Art Clay with Kato pearl, I love the shine it has when sanded and buffed. The pendant on the left is made from left over scraps from the one on the right.

These were made from a small kali cane of purple and yellow. I used the end piece from the cane on the middle tile. I added Swarovski rhinestones for a little glitz. Did you know you can sand rhinestones? It smooths off the points and gives them an opal-like look like the ones in the centers of the square tiles.... just make sure they are firmly embedded in the clay.

Mostly blue with purple accents, made from solid colors and striped canes. I like to cut shapes and assemble them in layers.

and just for fun, mirror image cabochons from Jackie cane ends. Don't you think these would be pretty beaded or wrapped with wire?

I'm thinking green for tomorrow, Thanks for looking.

My Mixed Media Cardinal and His Friends

2011-06-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

The backs are on and I am pleased with the way they turned out. The backs still need to be sanded.... and pinbacks added... I will do that later. I used Pardo Art Clay mixed with Kato Pearl for all the critters.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

My Cardinal is "looking good" don't ya think? I gave him a patterned background in shades of red and silver.

I made a marbled stripe pattern covered with crackled metal leaf for this happy bird.

This is my "skylark", I forgot to take her photo before I added the backing. I wanted the background to look like the sky, I think it does don't you?

This little bunny has been hanging around for months patiently waiting for me to come up with a background..... she hated the others I tried but is happy with her new "pretty in pink" look.

It took me awhile to match the color of the beads along kitty's back and in her bangs... kinda a muted purple blue. I used a new texture sheet for the pattern and highlight with PearlEx. I love her pink eyes.

I used another of my new texture sheets for "Freckles" and a touch of gold PearlEx.

And there you have it.

Wire Birds of a Feather and other critters

2011-06-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

I am having cataract surgery on my left eye on June 30 and the right eye on July 14. According to the surgeon I am "legally blind"..... I must be very suggestible because every since he said that I haven't been able to see worth a damn. Needless to say I am looking forward to the surgery.

My polymer clay muse is also "legally blind" or gone on vacation, so I have been playing with wire.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I like the shape of this one.

This one is a little chubby

I like this Cardinal, this shape works for a Blue Jay too. I'm working on the Jay now.

I made another cat, she's a little fancier than the others I've made, see the beads in her bangs? and she like sitting on the fence.

Last but not least is my begging dog, isn't he cute?

I hope to back them with clay tomorrow.

Heather is at the annual YaYa retreat in " hotter n hell" Texas. She'll be back on the 28th. She took some of our jewelry with her so I put our Etsy shop on "vacation mode". That's why there is a big white space where the link our Esty shop should be....

More Mixed Media Critters

2011-06-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

I put polymer clay backs on the owl and the squirrel . I made a marbled orange sheet with Pardo Art Clay to finish the owll and a marbled green for the squirrel.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

My muse likes owls so I made a couple more. The first one is multicolored, the frame is 18 gaurge wire and the weaving is done with 28 gauge wire. I combined the new soft Kato Pearl with purple Pardo Art Clay for the backing. I used a texture stamp for the pattern and highlight the raised areas with Pearl Ex.

Here's how it looks assembled. I use liquid Kato along the edges to secure the wire to the clay.

The next owl is in shades of green with gold accents.

I mixed green and yellow Pardo Art Clay with Kato Pearl and then created a crackle effect with gold leaf for the backing.

This is the finished owl.

I have been mixing the new Kato Pearl, which is soft and sticky, with Pardo Art Clay.... 1 part Pardo with 3 parts Kato Pearl... So far I am very pleased with the consistency. My next project is to cane with the new mixture. I will let you know how it goes.

Mixed Media Polymer Clay & Wire Critters

2011-05-27T18:23:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I have badly neglected my blog but a lot has been going on. What with scary storms, yard work and vision problems I haven't been doing much with clay.

My vision has been bad for a couple months so I finally gave in and went for new glasses..... or so I thought. Without glasses the only letter I could read on the eye chart was the large "E" at the top and even that was a little blurry. The Doc says glasses won't do the trick this time.... I have cataracts and must have them removed. I have an appointment with the surgeon on June 3rd and I hope to have the surgery soon after that... of course they can only do one eye at a time so I'm not sure how long all of this is going to take but everyone assures me it will be worth it..... "like having new eyes" . We shall see.... at least I hope we will!!

A friend asked me to make a purple kitty, she wants it for a birthday gift for a friend. I have until the end of June to get it made but as I will be preoccupied with with my vision quest I thought it best to make the kitty now... I made two, so she can have a choice... which do you like best?

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Purple Kitty #1

Purple Kitty #2

I also made a couple Wire Doodle Critters. I will back them with polymer clay once I decide what colors and designs I want to use.

The first is a Squirrel

I have a thing for owls... so this one is my favorite.

I hope to do better with my blog... I really like blogging but real life things keeps getting in the way.

Oh... I used Pardo Art Clay for the Kitties..... it is fast becoming my favorite clay, just wish it came in metallics too. I am going to try mixing it with some of the soft Kato Pearl and see what happens.

Back to Pardo Art Clay

2011-05-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

After my experience with the new Premo and the new Kato...... both brands were soft and sticky I found it very refreshing to work with Pardo Art Clay once again. One pack of the white Pardo was a little dry and crumbly but I added a little translucent and after a few passes through the pasta machine it smoothed out nicely. And there is no smell... I love that... the raw clay doesn't smell and it doesn't give off fumes when it is in the oven.

First I tinted translucent with a few drops of alcohol inks. The cherry red beads are from a scrap that I had in my Pardo drawer. I think I colored it with Stewart Gill Byzantia paint.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

This is a two piece pendant made from the end piece of a cane and a round bead made from a striped cane.

Pardo Art Clay Canes. The lines are clean and sharp and they reduce beautifully. They slice cleanly too.

The canes on the right and left are made from the center cane.

This pendant is made from one of the striped canes above.

The last necklace is an experiment. I over reduced a cane..... no big surprise, I just can't seem to stop myself. So I cut off slices and ran each through the pasta machine to the number 5 setting.... fairly thin. I then baked the slices and joined them together with cute little brads that I found at Michaels. I am going to wear it for a couple days and see how it holds up. The slices feel sturdy and they bend but do not break. If they hold up well I will make more necklaces.

This is the back of the necklace.

I am going to take a couple days off from claying. The weather has improved, no rain or tornados the last couple days so I'm hoping to do a little yard work. Grandson Brandon moved the lawn today and Heather helped me pull weeds. I hope the weather says nice so I can start planting flowers.

Mixed Media Odds and Ends

2011-04-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hi friends, I'm back! At least I think I am. I've had some kind of summer flu for the last couple weeks and my muse was on sick leave..... I feel better now and spend the whole day in my clay room. I cleaned off my work area, lots of half finished things lying around covered with dust and cat hairs so I tossed them in the trash. It felt good to have a clean area to clay in so I got to work.

I made the wire portion of this pendant some time ago. I made a kinda peacock cane to back it with but didn't like the way it looked so I got out a striped cane and used it to back the pendant and then made beads to match. I like it with the stripes. Now all I have to do is figure out a bail for the pendant.

Then I made a mixed media "Heart Strings" pendant with assorted beads, colored wire and metallic clay.

The last photo is of the "peacock" pattern that I originally made to back the first pendant. Instead I used it to make a pendant and matching beads. I used some of the new Premo colors mixed with old Kato pearl. I like working with metallic clay, it's fun to sand... I like shiny shimmery beads.

I am disappointed that the new Kato and and the new Premo are soft and sticky, it's hard to work with gooey clay... and I just bought gobs of both. I will have to leach and leach and leach. In the mean time I am going to get out my Pardo Art Clay.

I Shall Return!!

2011-04-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't run away from home ( although the thought did cross my mind!) I haven't been kidnapped (I should be so lucky!!) and I haven't forgotten about my blog (I miss my blog, really I do!!).

I am up to my eyeballs in tax forms...... nasty yucky tax forms!

I would much rather be playing with clay and blogging.... I shall return... if I survive.... wish me lucky!!

Heather has been doing really cool things with vintage buttons..... take a look. To see more of her beautiful creations check our Etsy shop. Knightwork Studio

Sneak Peek at my New Kitchen Colors

2011-03-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

Yipee!! The painting is done. I am loving my new kitchen colors!!

We only had a couple minor mishaps. The painters said they were done last monday, they packed up their supplies, left me a small amount of left over green and gold paint and said they had used every drop of the red. Before they went merrily on their way they told me to leave the cabinet door open for 24 to 48 hours..... so I did, I turned on the ceiling fan, closed the kitchen door and waited....

Finally the paint was dry and I closed the cabinet doors...... wait a minute, I don't remember standing on my tippy toes to open the doors above the sink.... what the heck... did I shrink? Ah ha, the doors are upside down.... well damn!! I sit down at the table to look up the contractors phone #... I glanced at the cabinets and what to my wondering eyes should appear but unpainted areas under the two cabinets next to sink and the little one by the window.... now I am really upset. Those damn painters!! And they seemed really nice to, I even talked about them doing more work for me. The undersides are primed but not painted. Remember they ran out of red paint?.... I guess if you run out of paint that means you're done.

To make a long story short, I called the contractor to register my complaint. The range hood was to be delivered on thursday...( that is another story!!)..... the contractor would come on friday to install the hood and "take care of the touchups" which he did, and now it is done. I still have to hang things on the walls and put out more of my doodads... I have lots of doodads, I like doodads.... here is how it looks now. It is so nice to cook again. There is green beans and ham hocks simmering in the pot on the stove, when they are tender I will add new red potatoes... it will be yummy!

See the white chickens in the window, for many years they sat in my grandmothers kitchen window. I was rummaging around in the attic and found them in a box, now they are in my kitchen window.

This is my granny cabinet that sits on the wall opposite the cabinets. It is dark and dreary outside, snowing yet again, so I couldn't get a very good photo. I have a long antique print that I want to hang over the granny cabinet. It will have to wait until Roger heals from a tendon injury in his shoulder.... poor old guy.

I collect vintage tins. My friend Pat thinks it is weird that I have old tin cans sitting all over my house.

I will get back to claying soon. I need to make outlet covers and fan pulls for my kitchen. Thanks for stopping by.

Trying Out the New Premo Colors

2011-03-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have been distracted by the work going on in the kitchen, hopefully they will be finished soon.

The older I get the more I like bright colors so I decided to do something bold in the kitchen. I have for many years wanted painted cabinets and now I do, or I will when they are done. The walls are "Yellow Squash", The woodwork is"Green Saddle" and the cabinets are "Red Garnet". I will take photos when everything is back together again.

I did get a little clay time in, I made a few pieces I want to show you. All the new Premo colors I have tried have been soft and sticky, much softer than the old Premo. I like the colors but had a difficult time working with the mushy clay. I finally mixed it with Kato Pearl which helped considerably. I also mixed the New Premo 18K Gold Pearl with old Premo red Pearl and got a pretty terra cotta. I still had to add a little Kato to give it body.

Here are a couple pieces I made with it.

Here is a closer look at the plaid piece. As you can see the clay was still hard to work with, It was difficult to get clean lines. I usually put a piece of parchment paper over the top and burnish but the clay was to soft to put any pressure on it. I did cover it with the paper and gently smoothed as best I could with my finger.

I made a Skinner blend flower petal to make the flower piece. I made the golden background by mixing Premo gold 50/50 with Kato Pearl. I placed the petal in a pleasing pattern, burnished the flower smooth and ran it though the pasta machine on the number 2 and number 3 settings. I then place it on layers of terra cotta red and the light gold and cut a shape I liked. I slanted the blade to get the border I wanted. I always enjoy sanding and buffing any piece that contains Pearl clay, I like the shimmer on the petals.

Here is a closer look at the flower piece.

The painters will be back tomorrow so I'm not sure how much claying I will do. I am going to work on some wire pieces tonight, maybe I will have time... and energy... to blog about them tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your comments. I would love to know how others feel about the new Premo colors and the consistency of the clay.

Polymer Clay Fairy Door and New Tin Can Art

2011-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

My muse went on vacation after the February Thing A Day. I've made a few beads but nothing to write home about. I do want to show you my Fairy Door.

I am a fairly new member of the PCETeam on Etsy. This months "Stretch yourself" challenge is to create a Fairy Door. That sounded like fun so I gave it a whirl. I made canes for the little flowers and leaves and the vine was easy enough but the little vases and bird not so easy, my "all thumbs" fingers did not want to cooperate..... and drawing that spider web on the glass made me crazy!! I'm still not happy with it but after 20 tries I gave up..... it looks pretty good in person. So without further ado, here is my Fairy Door.

Now, what I really want to tell you about is Heather's newest creations.

We have added a new line in our Etsy shop. Tin Can Alley Art. Heather makes these wonderful pieces from old tins, the kind that have pretty patterns and once held candy, cookies or fruit cakes. A lot of them have dents, scratches or rust and she has "up-cycled" or "repurposed" them into interesting works of art. She also embellishes with vintage hardware, buttons, sewing items, keys... all kinds of odds and ends. See for yourself....

The first is a cute Owl Wall Hanging

"Circus Act" wall art piece, created inside an old wooden box.

This one is my favorite. Cat and Mouse Wall Art .... on the bottom of an old cheese box.

Raven on the lid of a wooden cigar box.

She is working on a Cow jumping over the moon that I really like too. Heather has been giving new life to old an damaged items for over 20 years.... long before recycling became such a craze.

I still want to tell you about the new Premo colors.... I haven't forgotten. Dealing with insurance adjustors and contractors keeps getting in the way.

Kitchen Fire

2011-02-24T14:45:00.000-08:00

A word of warming.... do not try to put out a kitchen fire with a roll of paper towels. Here's the story.

Tuesday started out as a perfectly normal day. I clayed for awhile in the morning and did a few chores around the house. In the afternoon Heather came over to take photos and get some items listed in our Etsy shop, Knightwork Studio. (Never hurts to advertise, she has added neat stuff, you should take a look) She had just settled down to list when Brandon called and needed her to pick him up at the dentist office. She went to get him and I headed for the kitchen to start dinner.

My hubby had requested hamburger stew, a dish I made a lot when we were poor students at the University of Wyoming... well, he was a student and I was the hussy who had ruined his life. I'm not a big fan of hamburger stew but he loves the stuff. Anyway, that morning I had made bacon in the big frying pan and I needed it to brown the hamburger and onions. The bacon fat had congealed in the pan so I turned the stove burner on high and placed the pan on the burner. I was rinsing off the breakfast dishes when both my birds, I have two cockatiels, started squawking like crazy. I hurried into the dining room to see what all the fuss was about. I thought maybe one of the cats has managed to open the pocket doors but everything was fine, the birds were happy to see me. As I was already there I decided it would be a good time to feed them and change the paper in the bottom of the cage. I completely forgot the bacon grease. The birds and I were jabbering away "pretty bird, pretty bird, kiss, kiss, kiss" when the smoke alarm went off.

"What the heck!" It still didn't dawn on me. I jerked open the door, looked in the kitchen and saw flames shooting all the way to the hood above the stove! Yikes!! I rush over grab the pan, fling open the back door, put the pan down on the concrete and rush back inside. The plastic knobs on the stove are burning and flames are going toward the wall. In a panic I spy the roll of paper towels... I recall in the movie "Sarah Plain and Tall" they try to beat out a prairie fire with blankets.... so I grab the paper towels and start beating on the flame. The paper towels immediately catch on fire... Yikes again!! I turn on the water in the sink, douse the paper towels and then try beating out the fire with a roll of wet, smoking paper towels., that didn't work either. I have an electric stove and some where in the back of my mind I remember you are not suppose to put water on an electrical fire. Is this an electrical fire? I'm not sure. I usually put out fires on the stove... yes, I've had one or two little ones....with salt but I'm low on salt and it's going to take more than a couple tablespoons to extinguish this fire. I grab the sprayer on the sink, turn on the water, press the sprayer and a little trickle comes out... I'd forgotten, to get the darn thing to really spray the water has to be on full blast. I turn the water on all the way take aim and sizzle, splash,... the fire is out. What a relief! However, the room is filled with black smoke and the fire alarm is still making it's banshee call. I prop the back door open and head down the hall with my grabber to shut that damn noise off. The smoke alarm is located above the door. I manage to grab it with the grabber, remove it from the wall and it drops on the floor where it breaks. Thank goodness the noise has stopped. My ears are ringing and I feel a little light headed so I go out on the back porch to get fresh air.

Brandon comes in first.... survey the scene and comes out on the back porch to see if I'm okay, he even gives me a hug. Heather comes in next, she is not so sympathetic... she says "Holy cow Mom, I was only gone 10 minutes!" and when she texts Roger he suggests it might be time to check out the old folks home... now I ask you, is this the way to treat a sweet old lady who just has a traumatic experience? I think not!! Oh, and if your wondering where hubby was... you guess it, sound asleep upstarts. Didn't hear or smell a thing!!

Here is the damage... as Roger says, not so bad, he expected worse from Heather's description.... you see my poor apple timer? I love that timer... looks pretty bad to me. Men!!!

The insurance adjuster is coming tomorrow. 30 years ago when our daughter Pathena aka Patty (the not Heather daughter) set our kitchen on fire the insurance company refinished all the cabinets, put in new counters, replaced the stove and painted all the rooms in the house. It was a bit worse than this fire and the times they are a changing so my expectations are low. We'll see.

I know I haven't been blogging much about clay... I've been busy with the Thing a Day..... check my Flickr page. I do have things I want to share, for example, I want to tell you about the new Premo colors. TAD ends Feb 28th so starting March 1st things will return to normal.... my normal anyway. Talk to you later.

Polymer Clay Extruded Canes

2011-02-13T15:55:00.000-08:00

I have been working on Thing a Day items for the last 13 days. My work table was covered with scraps of clay. I made piles of clay in different color groups ran them through the pasta machine and made clay sheets of rather weird colors. I decided do a little experimenting.

I spent the afternoon playing with my extruder..... now my thumb is sore. Did you know if you put a corkscrew cane in the extruder you get little corkscrew canes? I did not know that so I was pleasantly surprised. Reminds me of chocolate and marshmallow.... yum!

Same thing happened when I extruded a bullseye cane.... little bullseye canes

Same with Skinner blends... I added a border but the center is Skinner blend.

Then I got a little more creative. I made a striped cane, sliced off a piece, pinched the sides together and rolled it into a log, stuck it in the extruder and out cane smaller versions of the big one.

Next I made a cane of different color logs, rolled it smooth and out came little canes just like the big one.

Then I made another striped cane, cut a log, reduced it a bit, twisted it like this:

I rolled the twisted log smooth and loaded it into the extruder

and out came this interesting design. I saw something similar from another polymer clay artist... but I can't remember where, anyone know? ... I think they used logs that they twisted instead of stripes. Might have been on Polymer Clay Central or Flickr.

Please keep in mind the colors are from scrap clay, some are kinda... yucky. I wanted to see what would happened before I opened new packages of clay. If a small canes is desired it sure beats reducing the usual way, it's fast and the canes are uniform in size.

Here are a few other canes I made with my extruder. I used the teardrop shaped disc for the Skinner blend petals on the pink flower.

Next I want to see what will happen if I extrude a flower cane or a kaleidoscope cane.

Like I said, I'm sure this has been done before but it was new to me. Hope you find it helpful as well.

My Homicidal Cats

2011-02-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

They look perfectly innocent here but do not be fooled. Just ask the latest poor birdie that got in the house. Yip, another bird made it's way into our basement, this one was not so lucky.

It happened last week when I was sick. It was another dreary day and I was feeling pretty icky so after I did a few chores I headed back to bed for a nap. I was snoozing away when both cats ran in the room and jumped up on my bed. I sat up to see what the heck was going on when to my horror I saw the limp bird body clutched firmly in Corny's mouth. Fritz was circling around... he really wanted that bird. I gave a holler and they took off up the stairs. I scrambled out of bed, shuffled into my slippers and took off after them. I had visions of blood and guts all over my new living room rugs. The hall way was littered with antique tins and candy containers that usually sit on the shelves. This did not make me happy, I pushed them out of the way with my foot and continued my feline pursuit.

I rush into the living room, the television is blaring at top volume, the man of the house is reclining in his recliner wrapped up in his leopard print snuggy, soda and peanuts on the table beside him, not at all fazed by the dashing and crashing going on around him. I fill the room with swear words and yell for him to get up and help me catch the damn cats. I have been married to this man for 45 years and have never heard him utter a single swear word.... I guess he figures I swear enough for both of us.

I hear the cats in the kitchen and yell for/at my beloved hubby to give me a hand. We head into the kitchen, there they are under the table, I block the door, hubby grabs up Corny, removes the poor lifeless little bird body, opens the back door, flings the carcass out on a snow drift and goes back to his recliner.

Now I am huffing and puffing, muttering to myself and follow him back into the living room and ask "Did you not know there was a bird in the house?" "Sure" he says "It flew in here, I didn't know how to catch it so I let the cats do it." and he goes back to munching peanuts. Now you know why I swear.

Mixed Media Silk Ribbon & Polymer Clay

2011-02-03T22:10:00.000-08:00

I bought these lovely luscious Silk Sari Ribbons from a shop Designtalentedone , on Etsy. They are a perfect setting for some of my pendants. The shop owner is a delight to work with, the service was prompt and friendly and the shipping costs very reasonable. She has so many gorgeous colors I had a hard time picking.... as you can see!!

Heather was over the other day and I was whining about how I never get around to finishing necklaces... oh woe is me... sniff, sniff... that kind of thing.... ( I've been taking whining lessons from my friend Moe) so Heather took pity on me and strung a couple of the pendants on the silk ribbon. She did a really good job... take a look.

The first one is a mixed media polymer clay pendant decorated with wire and beads. Heather added coiled wire and beads for a touch of pazazz.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The other one is in the same color palette with a pendant of metallic clay and gold leaf.

Heather has also taken over the photography and the listing duties for our Etsy shop... how great is that? Check out our Etsy shop, Knightwork Studio " for our new listing.

Annual "Thing A Day" Challenge

2011-01-31T13:46:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the first day of the annual "Thing a Day Challenge" on Polymer Clay Central. The challenge was started in 2008 by one of the PCC regulars, Seana, to chase away the winter blues and get our creative juices flowing. It's a fun challenge, anyone can join, there is no mailing involved and it's great fun to see what everyone is working on.

The rules are simple: Each day in February do something related to polymer clay, take a photo and post it in the Polymer Clay Central Forum. That's it, easy peasy..... come on over and join in the fun...

Now here are photos of more pendants and beads I made from the striped canes.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Pendants

Solid color beads decorated with cross cut strips from the striped cane.

I made tube beads and misc beads from scraps.

That's it for today. Thanks for stopping by....... and don't forget the "TAD"

Polymer Clay Striped Cane and Jewelry

2011-01-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

I like stripes, all kinds of stripes, different widths, different colors. I like to combine them with other shapes.

I am going to concentrate on stripes for the next few days and see what I come up with. Here are my frist stripe canes.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I made a multicolor stripe cane and used it to make the abstract cane.

plus a couple more variations

I made this pendant from the end scraps, added a few little flowers and filled the opening in the center with colored wire and crystal beads.

More pendants, the one on the top right is from end scraps. I made the design on the other two by cutting a log off the stripe cane twisting it, rolling it smooth and cutting length wire. I liked the little flowers on the first one so I scatterer them across these too.

I made beads to use with the pendants but they are in the oven. I'll show them to you later.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Valentine Hearts

2011-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

My muse has been giving me a hard time, she doesn't like dull winter days. I did manage to make some hearts.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

First I made some canes.

I was going to use this one for borders

Then I decided to slice it from corner to corner and made these

I reduced the one on the left, cut it into 4 pieces and made this cane

it's over reduced and it's ugly... it looks like a bug, an ugly tick. So I dismantled the 4 pieces, twisted and rolled them smooth, cut lengthwise and made hearts for this necklace.........

which I love! It looks great with jeans. I used lapis beads and rose gold 18 gauge wire to make the chain.

I used the scraps to make pendants.

I made some tiny heart beads and added them to this wire pendant.

Scrap Hearts

and more hearts

I am working on some striped pieces now and will post them in a day or two.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mixed Media Rabbit & Cat

2011-01-12T16:42:00.000-08:00

I dreamt about claying last night . In my dream I made lots and lots of pretty hearts for Valentine's Day.

So after I had my coffee, checked my email, checked for new posts on Polymer Clay Central, checked for new items on Flickr .... did a few chores... this is my morning routine.... I headed back to the clay room to play with clay. I was there to make hearts, but then I saw my nekkid wire bunny and kitty, they really needed to be finished. I get side tracked so easily.... so, no hearts today... but I did make these.

Click on the photos for a closer look

Another funny bunny

and his kitty friend

Tomorrow I will add pin backs on my critters and then I am going make hearts.... lots and lots of hearts..... really .... you believe me don't you?

2nd Half of Gift Wrapping Challenge

2011-01-07T12:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, where did I leave off... I think Roger is up next. His gift was for Patty (our younger daughter Pathena, the grandmother of wee Lily, we call her Patty cause most folks butcher her name. )

Patty has for many years collected Santa's, she has a whole house full, so this year she decided to start collecting Christmas trees. She also likes wire art so what better present than a HUGE wire tree decorated with many presents filled with a lovely variety of Christmas trees. (Guess who I'm hoping gets my name next year!)

Click on the photos for a closer look. In fact, if you double click you will get an even closer close up....

Patty's gift was for Heather.

Patty recalled when Heather was little she always hoped Santa would bring her a horse... so this year she finally got one.

Isn't he just an absolute delight? He is made of wrapped presents, it was hard to watch him dismantled. This is from the daughter who says she has no talent for making things...

This year Heather drew Eric's name. Eric seems to inspire who every gets his name.... remember the PEZ? He also collects penguins (we are a family of collectors, if you are not a collector when you join the family, you soon will be, its a requirement.) this is a one of a kind addition to his collection..... It's a snow globe.... and it lights up!! and yes, those are handmade polymer clay penguins.

Eric wrapped a gift for Cory. Eric flew in on the 31st and just made it in time for the gift exchange. He had to have something that was compact and easy to carry on the plane His gift was a Yule Log made from real logs that had been hollowed out. He confessed he didn't do the hollowing, he purchased the logs at a pet store.... apparently they sell hollowed out logs for pet snakes.. icky!! but they made an elegant package.

If you are following the order here you will recall that Cory gave his gift to Brandon W. at the first party so the next up is Granddad Lynn, his gift is for Brandon L.

Long ago we made a sacred pact to never let Granddad near a hammer, glue gun, roll of tape, wrapping paper, ribbon.... nothing that requires a modicum of manual dexterity .... makes us all shutter thinking about it... so he is the one person in the family who is allowed to contract out his gift wrapping chore. Last year I wrapped for him, this year I passed the torch to Heather.

Brandon collects comic books (see, I told you, another collector) and his favorite is Green Lantern so of course his gift is wrapped in the form of a Green Lantern with lights and a handle. Amazing what can be done with plastic bowls and cups... and a glue gun. Pretty neat huh?

Brandon's gift was for his brother Nicholas. Brandon is the very worst procrastinator in the family. At 1:00 PM on the 31st he not only hadn't wrapped his gift he hadn't even bought his gift.... his mother and I were verklempted to say the least. We ordered him out the door and threatened him with sever bodily harm if he came back empty handed. Much to our surprise he not only came up with a nice gift he also did a fine job wrapping it. Will wonders never cease?

Nicholas works in a coffee shop so Brandon made a "to go" coffee container, even put the shop name on the cup and gave it a candy cane stirrer.

Nicholas is up next, he wrapped a gift for Eugene.

Eugene is a music lover, he collects records and CD's, his favorite group use to be the Beatles but alas the Beatles have been replaced by a new group "Here come the Mummies" . Now this Mummy group has a nice beat but "my oh my" the lyrics..... not nice, not nice at all!! I will say nothing more.

Nick cut open a poor little Teddy bear put tickets to a "Mummy" concert inside and wrapped the bear like a mummy....see. Isn't he the sweetest thing? I just want to hug the poor little critter.

Eugene already gave his gift to Granddad Lynn... so Andrea is up next.

Andrea's gift was for Zachery. She made copies of photos and wrapped his gift.... not bad, but the competition is stiff this year...she promised to do better next year.

Zachery in turn wrapped a gift for Andrea. He was another of our procrastinators... not as bad as Brandon but ran a close second. He did a darn good job too.

Andrea loves wine, she and Moe would have a great time. Zachery wrapped her gift as a wine glass and filled it with "fruit" presents. Came up with the idea all by himself, he did good!!

That is almost the last of them... just one to go.... the grand prize winner of the coveted Santa Trophy!!

Drum roll please!!!

My sweet son drew my name and wrapped this fantabulous present just for me... made me cry!

Lynn got me a iPad for Christmas so Brad loaded it with games, audio books and songs from the 50's and made a wonderful slide show video featuring photos of the 1st half of my life. He wrapped it in the form of a picture album and used the video like a 50's drive-in theater. My maiden name is Knight.... hence the "Knight Stories" theme. Starts from when I was a baby.

Until Lynn and I got married.... and then kids came along. Thats a picture of us with the 2 girls above the slide show on the iPad.

He put a short bio on the inside back cover.

Here's close up so you can read what it says, You can get a better look by clicking on the photo. (Just so you know, he was teasing his sisters with the comments at the end.)

And on the back cover he printed some of the comments left on my Flickr site. Brad is a stickler for detail... see the "Publisher" and the bar code. A pretty wonderful gift wouldn't you say?

Oh... and the reason he used a print of Wilma Flintstone is because for most of my life I had very long hair which I wore in a bun on the top of my head, like Wilma.

And that ends another Hendershott Family Holiday Special. See you next year!!

Best wishes for a Happy Healthy Peaceful New Year.

Our Annual Christmas Wrapping Contest

2011-01-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

We had a marvelous Christmas, all the wrappers out did themselves and believe it or not are already making plans for next year. With all the comings and goings it was a bit difficult getting everyone together for the opening of the gifts and we ended up with a two part family gathering. The first half was on Dec 26th and the finale was New Years Eve. Worked great....

Here are the entries from the first half

This is a gift for Brandon W (we have two Brandon's... grandson Brandon L and grandson-in-law Brandon W) from Cory

Brandon loves his truck so Cory fashioned a truck from cardboard, filled the back with gifts....

and also put one under the hood. We are off to a good start don't ya think?

Brandon wrapped his gift for Benjamin.

Benjamin loves wine and cigars so Brandon filled a coffin with gifts "that will kill you". If you have followed our previous gift exchanges you know some of our family members are a bit "strange".... and Brandon is married to Sarah who did the bloody dog thing last year.

Benjamin wrapped a gift for Brad.

Brad has always been a fan of Charlie Brown so he was thrilled with his Charlie Brown Christmas theme. How cute is this?

I can't show you Brads right now, I have to take better photos... it was a gift for me... so moving right along... I wrapped a gift for Sarah

A Giant Cupcake filled with.... what else..... polymer clay supplies, books, clay and a pasta machine.

Sarah, our winner last year, wrapped a gift for her sister Amanda. She was pressed for time due to college finals and her hubby on leave from the Navy, plus she is the mommy of a 2 year old... so she wasn't able to devote a lot of time to wrapping...

Amanda is an artist so Sarah wrapped her gift in pictures of fine art. Sara is planning to reclaim the trophy net year.

Amanda's gift was for another past winner, Roger.

Roger has recently become an enthusiastic member of a Dungeons and Dragons group... I'm pretty sure he joined a cult... so Amanda put her artistic talents to work and wrapped his gift as a 20 sided dice.

Granddad Lynn had to work on New Years eve so Eugene gave him his gift... now according to Eugene he thought he had another week to plan his wrapping...so he wasn't prepared and his gift was wrapped in plain old Christmas paper.... didn't even rate a photo...no bow, nothing.... You can believe that story if you want to, me, I'm a little skeptical. Every year we have at least one piker, I won't mention any names but they know of whom I speak. Next year I will be keeping an eye on Eugene.

Roger will be first up in the next installment.... which I will post tomorrow. Some really awesome entries yet to be revealed so I hope you'll stop in..... and you don't want to miss the winner.

Just wanted to add a couple photos of what made this a truly Joyous Christmas. Having a baby in the family reminds us of the true meaning of Christmas.

Uncle Brad bought Lily a set of pink mustaches which she loves.... take a look.

Lily wanted to see how she looked so her grandma, my daughter , (yikes our daughter is a grandma!) held her up to a mirror.

She had no problem keeping it on and walked around like it was part of her daily attire.

This is my favorite and is now my screen saver. She is such a funny bunny!! We all love her to pieces.

Merry White Christmas

2010-12-25T06:43:00.000-08:00

We are having a White Christmas.... just enough snow to make everything look pretty.

Taken from the back porch

Corny checking out the snow

Taste test

My blue and brown tree fell over

It's fine now, Roger fixed it for me.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!!

My Funny Bunnies Polymer Clay & Wire

2010-12-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

I fully intended to decorate more ornaments but I got sidetracked with my Funny Bunnies.... they are more fun and don't give me fits .... I'll try ornaments again later.... maybe.

For the bunnies I make the wire frames first and then back them with clay. Parawire had a new color of wire, Rose Gold, that is the primary color for the first bunny.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here he is before I added the clay background.

Once I added the clay I took his picture with some of my clowns, isn't he a cutie?

Here is a close up

I used copper and orange wire for the second Funny Bunny

and then used clay scraps from the first bunny to swirl the background. I painted him with PearlEx to get the shine.

Next I made a floppy eared bunny. This time I used brown and magenta wire.

I haven't backed him yet.... I know he looks a little chilly but he will have to remain naked until after I bake my Christmas cookie. I have my dough chilling in the fridge. I hope to get some of them baked this evening.

See ya later.

My Attempt at Christmas Ornaments

2010-12-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

It's a rather pathetic attempt, so far I've manage to finish three.

One of the gals over on Polymer Clay Central made bunches of beautiful glass ornaments decorated with polymer clay. "Looks like fun" says I, "I think I'll give it a try.". So I bundle up and head over to WalMart. Walmart is now the only place in town to buy things including ornaments, they ran all the other stores out of town, even the dollar store couldn't compete...but I digress I was talking ornaments. And of course they did not have any glass ornaments, only "shatterproof" plastic. Boooooo!! I really miss Ben Franklin, they closed not long after WalMart came to town but I still miss them.

Next day Heather, Roger and I went to Michaels over in Edwardsville, I needed some clay supplies and while we were there I found some gold and brown glass ornaments.... and they were on sale... perfect, now I could slap clay on them to my hearts content. Speaking of sales, have you ever noticed half of Micheals inventory is always on sale.... you think they see us coming? Plus I had my 50% off coupon which I always forget to use.

Later that evening, after I got hubby off to work, I whistled a happy tune as I laid out my supplies, got out the clay and started mixing colors. I made some stripes, I made some flowers, I cut some stars , I cleaned the first ornament and with much anticipation I placed the first line of clay on the glass.... huh.... it would not stick.... nope, not sticking at all. It stuck to my fingers, it stuck to the acrylic rod, it even stuck to the parchment paper but not to the glass. After much smoothing and rolling .... and swearing... I finally got it to stick... the back of my fingernail worked the best, I've pretty sure the swearing helped too. Here are the results so far.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I had almost as much fun trying to get photos as I did making these blasted things!! Shiny ornaments have lots of glare... grrrrrr!

I used Kato clay for these and I anchored the tendrils with Kato liquid clay. Next time I will try Premo and Fimo Classic... oh, and I will try Pardo Art Clay, maybe it will stick better.

Mixed Media Hearts and Things

2010-12-12T10:06:00.000-08:00

I just this minute finished my Christmas shopping, I love the internet!! We had our first snow last night, woke up to a glistening snow covered world, very pretty but also very cold so I was happy to do my shopping in front of the computer.

My tree is up, not decorated but it is sitting in the living room waiting to be adorned with twinkling lights and pretty ornaments. I am trying something new this year, I'm doing the tree in blues and browns to match my living room. I'm little nervous, my eldest grandson is big on tradition, I'm not sure how he will react to the change, he likes things to be the same at Grandma's house.

Here are some of the wire and polymer clay things I've been working one.

Wire hearts before I added the clay

Click on the photos for a closer look.

and here they are after I backed them with polymer clay

Here is another of my wire critters before the clay

and now with the clay backing

and I also made some wire "cage" pendants. I will add clay accents later.

This one is my favorite

and this was just for fun... a wire "zentangle" inspired by the amazing zentangles by Ruth and Dora on their Flickr pages.

I am going to go decorate the tree. See ya later!