Polymer Clay Cactus Pendant and Glass Jar

This is a jar that I covered in an old cane that I had left. The top picture is the bottom of the jar and you can see the yellow and the colors inside. The top of the jar is the same cane but I also used Lisa Pavelka Magic Glos on it. These little jars are great for holding corn starch, jump rings, etc. I didn't have to cover it with Sobo before I covered the glass but I did Sobo the metal cover before I put the clay on it. It's been sanded and buffed and will be used for paper clips. I'm thinking I might cover the white rim also. I've done that on other jars like these and they turned out great.

This pendant was made from a spliced cane using turquoise, ecru, fuschia and brown. I love making splice canes and I showed the people at camp this weekend how to do it and everyone tried with different kinds of clay and all different colors. There were some beautiful canes laying around when the day was over. I have a cactus cutter that I love and I love to make cactus beads. I like the colors on this one but I used up all the cane making beads and pens. I guess I'll have to make another one.

Southwest Polymer Clay Focal Bead with Magic Glos

Just spent 4 days at a camp in Prescott, Arizona with The Arizona Polymer Clay Guild. We had a wonderful time except for the food, wasn't good but we survived on donuts and snacks and a few meals out at restaurants. Anyway, we had a lot of wonderful demos and we all tried new things. We had a gift exchange which was fun because we played take away.

I made the above focal bead with clay from some canes that I had made over the weekend and with some cane pieces that were given to me by a couple of the people at camp. I made a spiral bead, flatened it out and cut the opening in it. When I got it home I sanded it, buffed it and this morning I put the Lisa Pavelka Magic Gloss on it and put it out in the sun. The magic gloss shrinks after it's on even though I spent quite a bit of time pulling it to the edges with a toothpick. I was going to do another layer but I didn't want it to high, I was afraid the heart indent wouldn't be seen. I put it on a black leather cord and it's about 16 inches long and it looks very Southwestern.

This is an orchid that my friend Brenda gave me for my birthday. It's got a new bloom and I won't be here to see it open. I'm surprised the plant itself is still alive, I don't have a green thumb, I have a polymer clay thumb.

Isn't this incredible? Today my polymer clay guild is meeting in Prescott, Arizona for 4 days of claying. There will be 22 of us up there at a place called Camp Pinerock. It's a Christian retreat out in the woods and it's very campy. We will have a big room and each person gets a 6 foot table to work on.

What you see in this picture is 22 bags from Lowes that are what we call "Goody Bags". I have been collecting items and buying things for 6 months to fill these bags. Each person at the retreat will receive a bag. Most of the items in the bag are geared toward polymer clay but there are a few surprises in the bags (candy, chex mix) straws, poly rollers, beads, flashlights, lanyards, metal boxes, pens, clay, this year I made each person a hanger covered with eyelash yarn and put a little polymer clay shoe and polymer clay heart on a key ring for them. It sounded simple when I started it but by the 12th hanger I was asking myself "What were you thinking?" I started packing on Monday which was a mistake because I kept adding things to the bags and now I have 5 bags with claying stuff in it. It's going to take me a month to unpack and figure out where I had these things before I packed them.

My friend Marlene at "It's All About Creating" was suppose to go up with me this year but instead she decided to have cancer surgery on her face. She sent me a picture of her and she looks like a Halloween character with the bandages all over her face and head. Marlene, we are going to miss you and I hope you get better soon.

Yesterday at our beading club my friends Evelyn and Rose brought all their clay stuff with and we did a pattern for a bead that was in Step by Step beading. We taught our friend Toni how to do clay and she was great. Even though we had the same pattern, we ended up with 6 different beads. I'll take pictures and post them when they finish them.

This bracelet was made with Studio By Sculpey clay. I call it the Funky Chunky Olive Bracelet. I had it listed on Etsy and one day I got an email from a lady in New York saying she was putting a 2010 Calendar together with Polymer Clay artists on it and wanted to know if I would like to have my Olive bracelet on it. I was so excited and still am. The calendar is going to be out sometime in October and I'm really proud to be in such great company with other polymer clay artists. It looks like I will be Miss August. I'll post the website where you can order the calendar when it's done being printed.

I had the bracelet listed on Etsy for $20.00 but changed it to $200.00 because now I don't really want to sell it.

Next week is the big polymer clay weekend at Camp Pinerock in Prescott, AZ. 22 women from our guild will be spending 4 days together doing clay all day long. It's quite a learning experience and a lot of fun and it will be cooler up there. My job was to make goody bags for outing and it took me all day to put them together. We had a lot of people donate some wonderful items for our bags.

We will be spending time making beads for Beads of Courage for the children with cancer in the Phoenix area. I received some beautiful beads from Linda Riopel of The Polymer Clay Artists Guild of Etsy for our Beads of Courage container. If you get a chance, please check out her websites, her items are beautiful:

http://www.nkdesignslindariopel.blogspot.com/
http://www.nkdesigns.etsy.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikkiken/

Thank you for visiting my blog, would love to have some feedback.

It's been a long time since I've had a chance to get to my blog, it's good to be back.

These pictures are of beads that I made with polymer clay using the "Torn Clay Tutorial" from Cindy Lietz. If you have never seen her videos or looked at her website and you a clayer, do it now. She gives some wonderful tips and shortcuts that will have you thinking about things you can do with clay, all the time, like I do. When I saw her video about the torn clay, all I thought about were the things I could do with that. Then, she had to come out with a tutorial about making flowers and callalilies and she changed the way you do a Skinner blend and the list just goes on and on and on.
Do yourself a favor and check out her website at http://www.polymerclaytutor.com/ it's an eye opener and she's a wonderful teacher. I thought I knew everything there was to know about polymer clay but I think because I can watch her do things on a new video every week, it inspires me.

That's the end of my commercial for now. I don't like writing serious things, I am really a comedian by heart.

I've talked about my good friend Rose many times before. This week Rose had her toe amputated. She's been in serious pain for 10 years because of damaged nerves in this toe. Well, she's doing great, I'm so happy for her. I told her when she gets better we would go have a pedicure and I'll only have 9 toes done so she won't feel bad. I asked her if shoes would less expensive since she only has 9 toes but she wasn't sure. I'm so happy she isn't having pain now. Hope it stays that way.

The end of September I am going to Prescott, AZ for 4 days with 22 other women and we are going to be doing polymer clay from 8 in the morning until 9 at night. This will be my 3rd year. We each get a 6 foot table and we are all in the same room together. It's sort of like that Broadway show "Menopause". The talent at this retreat has been incredible, food is fair. Everyone shares a technique or two and we make beads for the Beads of Courage project for the children in Arizona who either have cancer or some serious illness. Each child gets a bead every time they go through a procedure whether it's giving blood or going for chemo. We try to fill a 5 gallon pretzel jar with beads by the time the retreat is over. I never thought spending 4 days in the woods with a bunch of women playing with clay would be something I would do (especially since we can't have alcohol there) but I'm doing it for the 3rd time and looking forward to it.

Just want to wish my friend Judy good luck. She's starting radiation now and she's a little worn out but she'll be fine. She's got a good attitude.

Thanks again Cindy, you are awesome.