She likes it!!

Did you ever get one of those emails from a customer that starts out

"I bought this from you awhile ago..." and then there is a link to the item she bought...

Now first of all this has not been a good day. Jeff the contractor/neighbor stopped by last evening to tell us that the roofers would arrive "early in the morning and by the end of the day the roof will be done."

Now I am not an early morning person, in fact I am not any kind of a morning person, but I rose at the crack of dawn so I would be bright eyed and bushy tailed when the roofers arrive. By 10:00 I was no longer bright eyed or bushy tailed and there were no roofers in sight. By noon I was worn to a frazzle and not happy... no roofers.... so I ate a banana and potato chips and took a nap on the futon.

Heather and Brandon stopped by around 3:30 and woke me up.

Heather packed up some buttons we sold on Etsy and took them to the post office. When she returned we went to the clay room, I wanted to show her some canes I was making from old canes. She decided to stay awhile and make one too. We were working away having a good time.... I'll show you the canes later.... when the florescent ceiling light died. It's been threatening to die for a long time, only half working most of the time. It's an old fixture and I knew the ballast's were bad but I always put off things... and now I have no light in my clay room. This is not good.

Not to worry,I had a plan. Later in the evening my new best friend Jeff stopped by to explain why the roofers didn't show. I knew he would. Turns out they had difficulties at the job before ours and have to complete that roof before they can start ours......

To hell with the roof I have more pressing problems .... I need my craft light fixed. I innocently say to Jeff "Do you know anyone who does electric work?" and he says "I do"...... so I say " oh you do know someone?" and he says "No, I meant I do electric work, I just rewired my whole house," He lives in an antique house too. Warm tingles run down my spine and I say "follow me". I then lead him down to the clay room where he says "Sure I can fix that".... big sigh of relief... can you imagine not having a light in your clay room? I'd rigged up a table lamp but that wasn't worth a toot.

So bright and early tomorrow morning (I've about had it with this bright and early crap!) hubby and I will head over to the hardware store and buy a couple new florescent fixtures. I'm going to have Jeff replace the one in my office too. With a little luck sometime tomorrow I will be basking in new florescent light.

But I digress, back to the customer letter. I was sure she was going to tell me it fell apart, it turned her neck green, the clasp snagged her favorite sweater...

but it was a very nice email that says " just wanted to tell you, I wore it at a bead show recently and it was very much admired & ooh'd and ah'd over"

How nice is that? This very nice person brightened my day considerably. Amazing what a few kind words can do.

This is the necklace she was talking about. My blue flying snake necklace.

The roofers will be here bright and early monday.

Skinner Blend Work in Progress

I'm still working on this necklace. I like this arrangement, just have to decided how to put it together.

For a closer look click on the photos.

I started out making 1" square tiles for an "Inchie Swap" I signed up for but once I saw the skinner blend my muse said "necklace" so necklace it is. That happens to me a lot.

I had leftover hunks of tinted translucent clay with inclusions of Martha Stewart glitter in brown, green, peach, and mustard. First I rolled the pieces into cones.
Arranged the cones with the point alternating like so...
I wanted more of the yellow and peach in the center so the cones were a little bigger. After arranging them the way I wanted I flattened them with my brayer.
I then ran it though the pasta machine on the #1 setting and then the #2 setting.

Folding the sheet with the colors lined up I ran it through the pasta machine always putting the folded side in first. After putting it through the pasta machine 20 to 25 time I ended up with the skinner blend sheet below. I ran the sheet through the pasta machine on the #3 setting. I divided it in half and cut half into 1" squares.
I had a sheet of Kato copper clay to which I added a little red and brown. I cut circles for the base of the round tiles. I then ran the remaining half of the translucent skinner sheet through the pasta machine on the #4, #5 and the #6 setting. I let it rest for a bit and cut circles the same size as the copper circles. I used my largest round Kemper cutter to cut out the smaller circles. I then gently used my blade to lift the circles with the cutout and placed them on the copper circles. I used my brayer to adhere the circles together. I then used my little sandpiper stamp for the images inside the cutout circles. I put all the tiles in the oven and cured at 275 for 40 minutes. After removing from the oven I immediately dropped the tiles in ice water for 15 minutes.

I used a paint brush to apply a thin layer of Kato liquid clay in the center circles and put them back in the oven for 20 minutes. After removing from the oven I used my heat gun to clear the liquid clay to a glass like finish.

I then sanded and buffed all the tiles. So far so good, I think it will be an attractive necklace.

Now I need to go make more inchies.

Polymer Clay & Colored Wire

We are having a Holiday Challenge on Polymer Clay Central forum, the goal is to post a photo/comment each day in November of something you are working on for the holidays... gifts, decorations, items to sell etc. We would love to have you join us or just stop by and see all the cool stuff folks are working on.

This is my offering for Day 3. I dug the triangles out of my "to do" box sanded and buffed them and got out my wire and beads. I know most wire artists prefer silver or gold filled wire... I have some of that too... but my favorite wire is the colored wire, so many luscious colors to choose from and of course it's less expensive so if I mess something up I can toss it without feeling guilty. This is the front

And this is the back. I almost like the back better than the front. Now all I have to do is decide how I want to finish it. I'm thinking either satin or rubber cord. Another thing for my muse to decide.

More Mixed Media Necklaces

I used another of my canes to make the beads... and made the holes with my pinwheel skewer (still tickled I found them). The pendant is a combination of polymer clay, peyote beaded band, colored wire and Swarovski crystals in variegated colors.

The polymer clay beads and two sizes of stardust beads are stung on green waxed cotton cord. I haven't put a clasp on yet, I'm trying to decide if I should take it apart and make two necklaces, one with the beads and a second with just the pendant. Then they could be worn separately or together. What do you think?

Click on the photos for a closer look.
I finished the blue cane necklace. I strung it on waxed cotton cord tied in Chinese button knots.