Autumn Wall Art & Beads

I've had a busy week. We went to Mountain View Arkansas for a few days with my cousins Neal and Carol. It is a delightful little town with a variety of shops and wonderful folk and blue grass music. We stay at the Wild Flower Bed & Breakfast, it's under new management and the new owner is a terrific cook, her breakfasts are to die for. It's perfectly located within walking distance of the downtown shops and the park.  In the afternoons and evening you will find local and visiting musicians playing together in the park so take your lawn chairs and enjoy.

Yesterdays and today I made a few beads but first I made this wall art piece and added one of my wire and polymer clay owls and pumpkin. It's a little dark but I like it.

And I made beads.

I used an old cane that I've had for many years to make swirl beads. Swirl beads and jewelry made with swirl beads always sell well.... I like these, they have a wonderful organic look.

First I made round beads

And gave them a swirl...

I also made some Swirly coin beads with end of day scraps. After I cured the beads I painted the edges gold to give them a little bling.

I also made another mirror image...... trying to decide if I should use it this side up...

or this side up.  What do you think?

Time for a quick lunch and then I may go outside for while.

Thanks for stopping by.

Scrap Beads & Pendants

It is raining today, a perfect day to stay inside and play with clay.

I sat down at my work table fully intending to make cane work beads. First I needed to clear the scraps off my work area, as I was putting them away I spotted my scrap bins and decided to play with scraps instead.  I have a hard time resisting scraps.

I took out several bags of cane scraps

Selected a hand full from the bag of cobblestone cane scraps and added a few from the black and white scraps.....I am running low on black and white scraps, guess I better make more black and white canes.

This isn't a very good photo, the lighting is poor in here. I take most of my photos on the porch but like I said it is raining and breezy out there.

I squished them into a ball, rolled them into a long log, folded the log in half, twisted it and rolled  it into a log again, flattened it with my brayer and cut it in half lengthwise.... next time I will take photos of each step.

This mirror image piece is the result. Lots of cool images in this one, it is fairly large, 2" x 4 1/2".  I will add wire and use it on a journal cover or wall art.

Here are more pieces made from scraps.  Most will be used as pendants and beads.

More scrap pieces. Not sure what I will do with these, I'll think of something.

Now I really am going to get out my canes and make cane work beads..... or I might make canes. What ever I do I will post photos.

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Clunky Bangle Bracelet & Mixed Media Pendant

I don't wear bracelets, as a result I rarely make them.  This is my second attempt at a bangle.

I also made a complimentary pendant with scrap clay, wire and beads. I don't think I could live without scraps!!

In order in reinforce the bracelet I started with 3 rings of 18 gauge wire.

Then I condition scrap clay and wrapped it around the wire. I wasn't trying to be neat as I wanted the bracelet clunky.  I did make sure the wire was covered and there was no air pockets.

Next I made a red Skinner blend cane and used slices to completely cover the clay.

After smoothing the cane slices with an acrylic rod I used a cherry tomato mesh bag to texture the clay.

I save all the mesh bags veggies come in, they create interesting designs.  I think this one looks like reptile skin. I blogged about using mesh bags a few years ago, here is the link Mesh Bags Textures

Here's how it looks after curing.

I had the end scraps from the Skinner blend cane and some odds and ends from another project so I made a couple beads.

I added wire and beads to the one on the left and made a pendant to wear with the bracelet.

Here is the back side.

I will add wire and beads to the other scrap bead this evening and will post photos next time.

Thats it for today. If you have questions or comments, I will do my best to answer.

Thanks for stopping by.

The Heart Swap that wasn't

It's chilly this morning, the days are getting shorter,  autumn is on the way.  Makes me smile, fall is my favorite season. Takes me back to my high school days, football games,  camp fires and hay rides.

 My creative juices start to flow when the fall colors begin their dance across the hills and valleys that surround this little town.

I am working on another bangle bracelet, while it is in the oven I decided to do a little house cleaning on my computer ..... I was attempting to downsize the number of photos in IPhoto when I ran across the hearts I made for a Heart Swap on Facebook.  I signed up 2 years ago.... Yip, almost 2 years to the day,  Sept 28, 2013.

The rules were simple, 10 hearts in each group and you could sign up for as many groups as you wanted.  I had a lot of time on my hands and  my Muse whispered in my ear "Sounds like fun, lets do 5 groups." Okay, why not, 50 hearts, I could do that. We had ample time to make the hearts, they had to reach the swap host by Feb 28, 2014.  It was an international swap so I was excited. Yipee! hearts from artist around the world.

I planned to get mine done by the end of January.so I could take part in the annual "Thing A Day Challenge" on Polymer Clay Central.  So I started making hearts. Got them done in plenty of time and mailed them off, I think it was the first week of February.

If you have ever taken part in a group swap you know not everyone gets their items mailed by the deadline plus this was a large swap so I knew it would take time for the host to get the groups organized.  I figured it would be mid April at the earliest before they would be ready to mail.

Then things started to go wrong big time, folks weren't mailing their hearts, some were dropping out, some hearts were damaged when they arrived, the Host was trying to repair the damaged ones and make extras sets to fill in for the ones that didn't show up. Other folks in the swap offered to make extras, all  that was going to take time. Okay, we'll just have to wait. Then the Host began to have health & family problems that complicated things.

Over the next several months some of the swappers got a little testy and to be honest I was getting a little impatient myself but I held my tongue..... just twiddled my thumbs and waited.  Finally in Nov 2014 I did email the host telling her I assumed, because of all the problems,  she would be unable to complete the swap, I expressed sympathy for her health and family problems and asked to have my hearts returned.  She said "No" she could not return my hearts, they were already placed in groups and it would "mess up all the hard work" if she pulled them out. The swap would be done by the end of the month and the "auction"  would take place in Dec. Her final words were "The nonsense with delays were out of my control. I would never steal anything from anyone."  Please know I did not accuse her of stealing, really, that thought never crossed my mind.

That is the last I heard from her. I did see a post of Facebook, I think in April or May 2015 she stated she once again would be working on the swap in June & July.....

I am curious if anyone received their hearts? She did mention at one time she was combining the hearts with orders from her ArtFire shop to save on postage so maybe some of the swappers received theirs.

I know I am not suppose to post photos until everyone receives their heart..... After 2 years I have given up .... and I want to show you my hearts so here they are.

                                           Group 1: Theme is the Pink & Silver colors.

                                            Group 2: Theme Textured and Layered Hearts. 

Group 3: Hearts on Hearts

Group 4: the theme "Scrap Hearts, Colorful & Fun" 

Group 5: Mixed Media Hearts Wire & Polymer Clay

My bracelet is done, I will show you how I made it tomorrow.... or the next day. 

That's it for today. 

Thanks for stopping by. 

Mixed Media Necklace & Earrings

We had weekend visitors so I haven't had time to blog.  If you want lots of company move to a resort area.... folks love it here and we enjoy showing them around.

My daughter, Heather, and her best friend, Ginny, (actually she is a family friend, we all love her) stopped by on their way to Texas for their annual YaYa retreat & stayed  here for a couple days. They arrived on friday and left this morning. Some old guy was following them around ..... I told him we were full up but he wouldn't go away so I finally gave in and let him stay .... Yes Roger, I am talking about you!!

I did get in a little clay time, this is what I am working on now. I've had this pendant for quite some time, couldn't decide on a chain or cord finally settled for a simple faux suede cord that compliments the colors in the pendant. Still working on the earrings,  I have to finish the wire work, so far they look pretty good.

Here is how I finished the back of the pendant. I like for my pieces to be finished on both sides.

And I completed another Memory Wire Bracelet with matching earrings. I like these beads.

It is pass my bedtime, I keep nodding off so I better call it a day. The girls texted me,  they made it to Texas, I can now go to bed.

That's it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

Polymer Clay Earrings & Bracelets

Ok I lost a day, don't know what happened, it came and went without my even knowing it.

I think it rained most of the day yesterday and I was upstairs unpacking  boxes of antiques I had stashed in the closets. It was like a surprise birthday party, I swear some of that stuff I have never seen before, I was having a good time!!  Going to unpack some more tomorrow.

Here are photos of some of the earring I made to put in Fantasy and Stone Gallery in Eureka Springs Arkansas.  I hope to take photos of the Gallery to show you one day soon, it's a really nice shop filled to the brim with wonderful handmade items. The owner, Theresa, does an outstanding job displaying all the marvelous pieces.

1. Brown & Yellow Cane Work Bead Earrings with 2 dangles

2. Green Cane Work Earrings with 3 dangles

 3. Red & Green Cane Work Earrings, round beads with asymmetrical drop wrapped with copper wire.

4. Red Cane Work Earrings with 3 round bead drops.

5. Brick Red & Ecru Stripe Cane Work Earrings, round beads accented with copper coils.

6. Red and Copper Swirl Earrings accented with red glass beads.

7 Pink Flower Cane Work Earrings, round beads with matching tube bead dangles.

And here are the Memory Wire Bracelets. Nice thing about memory wire bracelets is one size fits all. I have a fairly big wrist ands my daughter is a skinny little thing, we can both wear these.

1. End of Day Beads separated by red, pink and white coral beads.

2. Green Pillow Beads separated by yellow glass bead. Includes matching earrings.

3. End of Day Beads imbedded  with copper micro beads separated by red glass and copper beads.

4. Flower Cane Work Beads accented with red glass beads.  Includes matching earrings.

I hope to get more pieces done tomorrow.

Thats it for today.

Thanks for stopping by.

I'm back with a Bangle Bracelet and Beads

I know it has been a long time. I've had problems with my computer, my camera and my back.... all are better now... knock on wood!!

I am so out of practice I thought I'd start out with a short post and ease my way back in to blogging.

I used my extruder to make simple canes:

I used the cane in the center to make a bangle bracelet and matching beads. I will use the beads to make earrings to go with the bracelet.

This is my first bangle bracelet. It is reinforced with 3 rings of 18 gauge copper wire so I don't think there is any danger of it breaking. 

I am working on earrings and memory wire bracelets to take to the gallery,  if all goes well I will post photos tomorrow. 

That is it for now, thanks for stopping by.