More Inchies & Other Beads

Saturday was the Highland Street Art Fest 2013. Local artist spend the day drawing wonderful art on the streets surrounding the town square. Here are the winners

First Place.

Second Place

Best in Show

First Place Amateur (This one was done by my next door neighbor)

The rest are some of my favorites

I always like the big flowers

This one is fun

Love this bear

Lot of work went into this one

Another beautiful flower

Cute puppy

We live very close to the square  and can watch all the activities from our front porch.  The Street Art is   one of my favorite events.

Several of the local artists sell there wares.  Each year I look forward to adding to my collection of gourd art from Buffalo Tracts artist Lynne Slack. This year was no exception, I purchased several pieces. I will take photos and show them to you next time I blog.

Okay.... here are my latest "Inchies"

Peachie colored flowers on a purple background... and matching designer beads.

Close up of the beads.

I made hexagon beads to go with these. I call this design "Stormy Sea"

Close up of the layered and textured  Inchies.

More layers and textures in shades of purple and green.

Satin folds adorn these Inchies.

This is just a doodad pendant I made with a thin sheet of folded clay. I added half a  swirlie bead at the top.

Another colorful doodad pendant.

I also finished three necklaces.  Added chain to my "young love" pendant.

 and also put a chain on one of my mixed media Pod pendants

I spend 10 or 15 minutes looking for the third necklace.  I was wandering around the house muttering under my breath completely baffled as to how I could lose something I just had in my hands when I happened to glance in the hall mirror..... yep, there it was.... on my neck.  I put it on to check the length.

Have you ever tried to take a photo of yourself  with the "Photo Booth" on your computer..... reminds me of the old fashioned photo booth photos at fairs when I was a girl.  I took several, they were all bad.    This one peeking over my reading glasses was the best ....  looks like I have a stiff neck.

Some time ago I bought many spools of colored beading wire from a company that was going out of business.... I decided to try one of the colors on a simple bead necklace, it is the one I'm wearing.... here is a closer look.

And I also made a few beads from my cane stash.

I like to use square canes to make round beads, These beads are pictured with the cane I used....

 and so are these...

And I finished a pendant that I've been working on for some time.  I continued the swirl in the top bead on the background of the bottom piece as well as the touches of amber wire.

That's it for now.  I'm off to play with beads and wire.  See you soon!

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Mini Art Tiles ......

..... better known as Inchies.

We have been having such pleasant weather I couldn't decide if I should work in the yard or stay inside and play with clay.... the mosquitos helped me solve that problem.  I did do a little weeding and I have to water my flowers but I don't stay out for long, my arms are covered in bites,  the mosquitos seem to be particularly vicious this year.  You should have seen my poor black cats ears, they are covered in bites and he has scratched them bloody. I got medicine from the vet, kept him inside for several days and they are better now..... although he doesn't appreciate the salve on his ears (I bribe him with treats) and he doesn't like staying inside all the time.

I am taking part in an Inchie swap and once I finished the ones for the swap I was having so much fun I just kept going.  Here are the ones I've made so far.  I have plans to use them in many different projects which I will share with you when they are done.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Set of 3 in purple and green.

I used PearlEx to give the gathers and folds a satin shimmer.

Shades of purple and orange with layers and textures.

Mostly purple, I used some of my canes to make these.

Closer look at the top 3 above. These have a modern art theme.

I used one of my extruded border cane on these. The top two also include stained glass window canes.

I textured the background with sandpaper and then decorated with a border cane and stripes of metallic green clay. I highlighted the strips with PearlEx.

Layered and textured little houses with a PearlEx shine.

Layers and textures mostly in shades of blue.

Layers and textures in reds and greens.  Highlighted with PearlEx metallic powders.

I like the darker colors on these.

I think these are my favorites, I like the design and colors on the background and the whimsy of the textured strips.

I ordered some bezel blanks so I can make pendants with some of the little tiles. I have one of Lisa Pavelka's bezel settings so I popped one of the tiles in to see how it looks.

I also got out my stash of Texture samples to see how the tiles would look on them.  This  texture was made with a Jacquard ribbon.

Same texture sample with a different tile.

More texture samples with complimentary tiles.

I can also use the tiles on journal covers, boxes, and all sorts of things. Or I can use them with beads to make jewelry.  I can use them with wire too.... or maybe I will sell sets in my Etsy shop.  I just like making them.

That's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Beads

So far it has been a busy summer, I've had difficulty finding time to clay. I have made a few beads in between gardening and other chores.

These beads are all from my scrap bin. I was attempting to make "bead guts" and instead kept coming up with colors I like, to good for guts.  First I made the  sage green I used on these half and half beads then I grabbed a handful of scraps and after kneading and twisting I ran it thought the pasta machine to finish the conditioning and it started producing these pretty stripes..... so they became the other half of the half and half beads instead of the guts.  I did finally manage a muddy brown suitable for guts but it wasn't easy..... a lot of the time I even like the browns.

I used canes to make these.

This was a square kaleidoscope cane in purple, white and sage green.

I had a tiny piece of a purple striped cane that I used to made these.

Mokume Gane Polymer Clay Pendants and beads made in silver and green.

Close up of MG Heart with coin beads

Back of heart pendant and beads.

The other pendant and round beads.

Assorted beads in blue and green

The larger oval bead has a textured design from a vintage button and I added little turtles on the side of the long beads.

The striped beads are from a striped cane

and the textured heart coin beads  have the same designs on both sides, one side has more silver

and the other side has more blue.

A couple flower pendants that have been sitting on my work table for months.... I finally stuck them in the oven. The top one is made from a flower petal cane and the other I cut ovals and textured the veins with my stylus.  I also added a touch of PearlEx to give them more shine. 

This is just an assortment of doodads. a stamped butterfly, a couple bug critters and a steampunk heart.

And here is a couple chunky twisted beads, I will add wire to these and make pendants.

And last is a couple pair of charms for earrings that I made with yet more scraps.

I signed up for another swap, I now have to get busy making 24 inchies. Took me  time to decide what I wanted to do. I think I will make zentangle inchies. 

That's it for this week.  I always look forward to your questions and comments. 

Thanks for stopping by.