Back to Pardo Art Clay

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. 

More Canes and Things

I made a few more simple canes and then used them to make a couple pendants.  And of course a mirror image from scraps. I have tons of mirror image tiles, I bet you do to, right? 

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I love these!! I purchased red, blue and purple flower canes from my friend Jackie and used the red ones on these red striped tiles.  Jackie makes beautiful canes... I love her flowers and her kaleidoscope canes are amazing. Do yourself a favor and check out her Etsy shop, The Pleasant Pheasant

Her prices are reasonable and you can't ask for better customer service.  

Mostly Wire Jewelry with a Little Polymer Clay

Sorry to report the little bunny is no more. Early yesterday morning, coffee cup in hand, I headed out the door on my way to the gazebo and there blocking my way was the mangled remains of bunny. Ick, Ick, Ick..... Poor bunny, I had stopped worrying, I thought him big enough and smart enough to elude the evil killer cat.... alas, not so.

I slammed the door and waited for hubby to get home. He disposed of the body for me. I can clean up bird remains and an occasional mouse body but not bunny. Corny is a small cat and looks so innocent but she an accomplished hunter. I wish she didn't feel the need to share her kills with me. She has a young squirrel in her sights now. He seems to think he can outsmart her but I'm not so sure.

My arm is still sore, it hurts to crank the pasta machine. The YaYa's chipped in to buy me a motor. I ordered it from Mona along with a Monafied pasta machine and am now waiting for it to arrive. In the mean time I've been playing with wire.

I love this necklace, I love the colors and the design is just what I wanted. I hope you like it too.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I like to design asymmetrical jewelry. And by now you all know I love dyed freshwater pearls.
I used one of my polymer clay tiles as the center piece in this wire pendant.
I found a marvelous tutorial by Karla Kam on how to make a crocheted wire and bead necklace. This one is fall colors and was a perfect match for my wired maple leaf pendant.
I used red, white and black beads on red wire for this necklace and then added a polymer clay pendant wrapped in red wire.
And last but not least is a green crocheted wire necklace to which I added a green leaf pendant. I'll be making more of these. The necklace is easy peasy to make, doesn't take long at all.

Goodies from Moe, Quill Beading & Cabs

I got a surprise in the mail the other day, my friend Moe sent me some really cool treasures.

The first is this wonderful Quill Beaded Pendant. The cabochon is a mica shift cab that I sent her in a Moebox a few months ago. The cab began life as an earring with dangles which Moe promptly dismantled, she used the dangles on another pair of earrings and, as you can see, made this luscious pendant for me. I was unfamiliar with bead quilling but I absolutely love this look so I pestered her to share where she learned it. A book of course... so I hied right over to Amazon and ordered the book, along with a couple others... I can't resist books, and Amazon always sucks me in with that "Free Shipping" thing.....

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Moe also send me an array of colorful cabs that I can bead when my book arrives..... hey, you think she knew I couldn't resist and would have to have that book? Maybe she is a secret agent for authors and suppliers. She did get me started on Chinese knot tying, that cost me a bundle at the Satin Cord Store, wire work, yip... blew most of my Social Security check at Wigjig. She's the one who told me about Victoria James texture sheets and Boston Clay Works (or was that Jackie?) Gets a little scary when you think about it.
Truth is Moe is very cool and has a very entertaining blog... if you haven't discovered it yet hie yourself over to MoeArt I guarantee she will make you smile.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention tomorrow in the first day of the annual THING A DAY challenge on Polymer Clay Central. A group of very talented artists will be showing what they are working on everyday for the month of February. Please feel free to join in or stop by and see all the neat stuff.

Polymer Clay Red Moon Pendant

Progress is being made, I made it to the store for my cookie ingredients, that's a good thing, I'll start baking tomorrow... maybe. And the Christmas tree is in it's stand and sitting in front of the window in the living room, it's not decorated but it's up, that's progress, right? It's in a new spot this year which has me a little nervous, my oldest grandson, Nick, is a stickler for tradition and he like things to remain the same year after year.... maybe he won't notice. I also hung the Santa wreath on the door.

Anyway I only had time for one piece today... all that holiday stuff got in the way.. and here it is. I know it should be a blue moon but IMHO it looks better with red so red it is.

Click on the photo for a closer look.

Polymer Clay Mixed Media & Long Beads

Boy I tell ya all that cooking for turkey day took a lot out of me... all I want to do is sleep. I've tried to pass the chef duties to my daughters but the grandkids have a fit. I told hubby I will continue doing it until I reach 70 then I'm retiring. We'll see if I can last that long.

Today is the last day of the Holiday Challenge on Polymer Clay Central. I had fun and I hope all the folks who took part had a good time too. I was hoping for a big finish but this is the best I could do.

Experimenting with long tube beads.... and some chunky beads to match. Hopefully they will make a pretty necklace, if I can decide on how I want to put them together.

Click on Photos for a closer look.
I've been dying to do some wire work so I added wire dodads and beads to these. For the next few days I'm gonna just do wire work.... I can do it sitting in my recliner and watching t.v.

Mica Shift Beaded Pendant

I finished another beaded cabochon pendant. Looks kinda like a tadpole with that single "tail" hanging down. I'm making a beaded rope to hang it on.... that will take awhile, I'm not a very fast beader and I have clay things I want to work on.

Polymer Clay Mixed Media Necklace

This necklace has all of my favorite mediums. I made a striped snake in green and yellow polymer clay, slipped on a band of beads in complimentary colors, added tendrils of wire for a little pizzaz and finished it with satin cord adorned with coils of wire. I'm still experimenting with beading and polymer clay... I'm pleased with the way this one turned out. For a closer look click on the photo.

Scrap Clay Jewelry & Scrap Clay Sheets

I finished a couple more pieces of scrap clay jewelry, a leaf pendant and a leaf brooch.

I made a sheet using clay scraps in shades of brown, ran it through the pasta machine with a leaf texture sheet, highlighted with with PearlEx powders and then sealed with Kato liquid clay. Two of my very favorite things are PearlEx powders and Kato sauce..... and I have gobs of texture sheets.
Here is what my scraps look like... pretty yucky right? I have a whole tub full. I usually just grab a hand full, run it through the pasta machine to condition and end up with a dull brown or gray. This time I sorted a bit and came up with some interesting colors. Here is one of the sheets from the scrap clay. After I ran the scraps through the pasta machine a few times I rolled it into a log, twisted 5 or 6 times and sliced with my wavy blade.... hence the knot hole looking sheet. You get the best knot holes from the outer slices, the middle slices I used for the other sheet that I then ran through the PM with another texture sheet. Click on the photos for a closer look.
Sheets made with shades of brown.
And Shades of green with a little gold thrown in for good measure.
Dark brown and blues... I like these colors together.
Now I'm off to see what I can make with my new sheets of clay.