Mixed Media Odds and Ends

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The last photo is of  the "peacock" pattern that I originally made to back the first pendant.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!!

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

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

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

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

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

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.