BRACELET GIVEAWAY "IT WILL BE MINE" TEE HEE HEE

Cat at "In The Light of The Moon"  http://inthelightofthemoon.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway.  It's a gorgeous bracelet and I can feel it around my wrist now.  If you think you can win it (but you won't) go to her website and leave her a comment and post her giveaway on your blog.  You are wasting your time but go ahead.

You have to go to her website and see her new piece called "Let Art Light The Way".  It's a magnet and she uses things I would never have dreamed of.

JANIE'S JEWELS AND MY NEW FAVORITE MOKUME GANE

JANIE'S JEWELS ARE FINALLY DONE

Two weeks ago I made a black and white flower cane and radical zebra cane and combined the two to make Zebra flower cane beads.  Put some in the naughty tumbler and they came out yellow.  I worked on those little suckers for 3 days trying to get the yellow out.  Where's Mr. Clean when you need him?  I put them in bleach for 2 days, didn't work, I soaked them in Ivory soap didn't work, finally had to sand every little ugly bead.  Got tired of looking at them.  Today they are bracelets and earrings and will be going to Wisconsin to my friend Jane to give to her friends.  I can still see a little yellow but Jane is 95 and her friends are 85 so I'm letting them travel and I'll tell her it must have been the HEAT.

I had enough beads left to make myself a bracelet which is on the right.  The one on the left was made using the Cindy Lietz extruder tutorial at http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/.  If you don't belong to her weekly tutorials you are missing out big time.  The blog is wonderful.  People on the blog are so willing to share anything and everything which to me is what truly makes an "ARTIST".  One of the girls asked me to post pictures of my glass engraving that I do.  Polymer has taken over so much of my life I don't spend much time engraving anymore even though I have two closets full of glass.  In my previous life (before polymer clay) I taught glass engraving.  I guess I need to get back to that but I have about 200 pounds of clay and 400 boxes of beads that need to be made into something.  OH BOY.  Don't tell my husband.

ONE MORE BATCH OF SHIMMERING GOLD MOKUME GANE

I thought I would do one more batch of Barbara Mc Guire's Shimmering Gold Mokume Gane but I wanted to do a bigger batch.  WELL, little did I know that I would get 100 pieces out of what I made.  I got the main pieces, the little pieces for earrings, I used the end pieces for beads and even had enough left over to make spacer beads.  I tweaked the recipe a little, OK, a lot.  And now I have 80 pieces to sand and buff.  I used Magic-Glos on the bigger pieces and the ovals I sanded and buffed and the beads I put in the tumbler for two days.  I LOVE THEM.  But I don't want to BUFF NO MORE.

These are the ones with Magic-Glos.

These are the beads made with end and leftover pieces that were in the tumbler and then hand buffed.

These pieces were hand sanded and buffed.  The piece on the left with the Chinese lady frustrated me to no end.  I used a Lisa Pavelka water slide on that one before it was baked.  I coated the water slide with Fimo liquid clay.  I usually use Kato but in her DVD she uses Fimo.  I apparently missed a teeny tiny spot and when I sanded it, it turned white.  I'm going to try putting some permanent marker on it and then Magic-Glos and see what happens.

I'm still not happy with the camera.  It has a mind of it's own when it comes to changing background colors.  I'm sure it's operator error.  Might be time to get the book out again.

VIKING KNIT, MIGRAINE BALLS, THE GIRL'S PRETTY STUFF

Last Saturday at our clay guild meeting one of our ladies did a demo on Viking Knit.  Like I needed to learn something new and buy more toys.  OH YES I DO!!!!!  It didn't take.  I could not get it going Saturday and I was frustrated.  I think the dowel I was using was too little.  Went to Ace and bought two new dowels.  3/16th's and 5/8ths.  Today I pulled out the instructions and started over and by cracky (as Grandma Kettle used to say) I got it.  I used some crappy wire and it was 24 gauge instead of 28 which was much easier because it didn't kink so much.  When I got home my new Drawplate that I ordered from the Soft Flex company was there so I could pull the chain I made through it.  I'M SO HAPPY.  Doesn't take much to entertain me!!!

My new Drawplate, dowel and my first piece of Viking Knit.  Now I'm going to try with good wire.

MIGRAINE BALLS

I've had 3 migraines this week.  Monday's was a killer.  Couldn't move.  We still don't know what causes them but I am chemical sensitive.  Can't be around perfume or aftershave but Pinesol doesn't bother me.   Go Figure.

Anyway, when I have headaches I like to do clay because it relaxes me.  I like taking old canes and making beads, just plain round beads.  I do use a lot of them when I make golf stroke counters.  This is just a small amount of the MIGRAINE BALLS I made this week.  Some are buffed and all have been in the tumbler.  I'm having tumbler problems this week but I did get 90 beads done.

My girlfriend said her migraines stopped after she had a baby.  I told her I'm too old for that and would forget where I put it.

THE GIRL'S PRETTY STUFF

Some of my friends are doing beautiful polymer clay pieces.  I wanted to show case them since a couple of them don't blog or sell on Etsy.

The first one is Lupe of http://miramecreations.blogspot.com/.  She makes beautiful pendants,  please visit her Etsy shop she has a big sale going on now.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/miramecreations/.

These pictures don't do her pendants justice.  I think I need a new camera.

The second one I'm highlighting is Evelyn.  You've probably heard me talk about Evelyn. She's a sweetheart.  She has wet macular degeneration and has trouble seeing but she does awesome polymer clay work.  At the May guild meeting we made Christi Friesen pendants and Evelyn went bonkers.  I love these.  If you want to buy one, contact me.

Click on the picture if you want to see them up close.

The next is Rose, she's my bright, cheerful and any color goes girl.  Isn't this bracelet gorgeous?  Love those pendants too.  Rose does gorgeous bead work and loves to help and teach other people.  

OK, OK, OK

I did a couple things week besides make migraine balls.  I bought the Barbara McGuire tutorial DVD called Shimmering Gold Mokume Gane http://www.barbaramcguire.com/1video.html.  It's 30 minutes long and comes with pictures and written instructions.  I put some pictures on the blog the other day of pieces I did before baking, sanding and buffing.  I love this technique, it never turns out the same.  I wore this neck piece and earrings today and everyone loved them.  Guess I better get back to the buffer and get some more done.  Thanks Barbara.

I think a new camera is in order.  Please let me know which one I should get.  This one's ok for traveling because it's small but not good for this kind of picture taking.

I know there are a bunch of you who take beautiful pictures for Etsy and your blog.  Help me.

AWESOME GIVEAWAY - THE BEST BEAD GIVEAWAY EVER

The Best Bead Give-A-Way Ever!
 
I have never seen a giveaway like this.  You have to go to Denise Yezbak Moore's blog to see this, it's incredible.  It's http://deniseyezbakmoore.blogspot.com/.  I'm going to win this but you can try if you want.

Denise is a jewelry designer who owns Rusty Roxx Jewelry. She is frequently published in "Stringing" Magazine. Her design have also been seen in "Best of Stringing", "Best of Stringing - Stones", "Bead Star" 2009, Bead Unique, Bead Style, Bead Trends and Jewelry Affaire. Future publications include "Stringing" Summer & Fall 2010 and "Bead Trends" June, July, August, September, October & November 2010. Denise will also be published in an upcoming issue of Belle Armoire Jewelry. She Lives in Yorba Linda, CA with her husband Rusty and their two children Garrett and Britton.

Thanks Denise

Please check out her blog and see all the beautiful items on there and her gorgeous blog.

AMAZING KAY SMITH AND MOKUME GANE

Today the amazing Kay Smith (beading teacher at A2Z Beads in Glendale, AZ) came over for a polymer clay class and she brought all her beautiful beading items that she has made.  She's won many awards at the state fair for her bead work and I wish my pictures did them justice.  Check out her Etsy shop at
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SunofaBead/.  You can contact Kay there for special orders but here are some of the gorgeous items I got to touch today.

They needed touching, they are so awesome.  Rose, Evelyn and Judy came over today to meet Kay and see her beadwork.  There were a lot of ooh's and aah's.

POLYMER CLAY TODAY YEAH!!!!

We did a lot of polymer clay today and Kay had taken a class a few years ago from THEE JUDITH SKINNER, Inventor of the Skinner Blend.  Kay had a cane she had made in the class and she gave me a piece which I was thrilled about and we took a couple pieces off the ends and I taught Kay how to make a swirly lentil bead.

This is the cane she made in the Judith Skinner class.

This is the swirly lentil bead we made with the Judith Skinner cane.  It hasn't been baked, sanded or buffed yet but I'm guessing it will be beautiful.

MOKUME GANE

This is one of my favorite techniques.  It's a technique where you layer and manipulate the clay.  There are many different ways of doing it and I've taken a class from Julie Picarello and she does beautiful Mokume Gane and has a little twist of her own, I've got Donna Kato's DVD where she does it and Lisa Pavelka's DVD where she does it and they are all different.  Every polymer clay book I have shows how to do Mokume Gane and they are all different.  Well, today I got my Barbara Maguire DVD in the mail showing how to do Mokume Gane her way and I love it.  She was out here last year and taught a class but I wasn't here to take it so I was very happy to find out she had this DVD out.  Even after doing clay all day I decided to give it a try.

Can't wait to bake, sand and buff these.  Looks like a new pendant and earring set to me.

Still have some pieces left that I'll play with when I'm not so tired.

NAUGHTY TUMBLER

It's late and I'm tired and my tumbler let me down.  I made more black and white Zebra flower beads.  I put 3 in the tumbler and moved it to the guest bathroom where it was cooler.  The beads came out yellow again.  I have to sand them.  I'm glad I didn't put the whole bunch in there.  So now the question is "do I want to sand all these little beads by hand and buff them or do I want to put Diamond Varathane on them"?  Doesn't seem like a big decision does it.  Let me know what you think?


NEW FLOWER CANE

Had some left over clay that I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with.  Made another flower cane.

Had some ends left that I made a spiral bead from.  It isn't baked yet but I like the colors.

Maybe tomorrow night we will have some beads made from the cane or some more canes.  I have about 20 pounds of odds and ends pieces of clay and I'm trying to use them up before I open more packages.

I made a Miter Cane today from the Cindy Lietz Friday tutorial.  It turned out great but I didn't like the colors so it went in the scrap pile.  It was the orange and green that is the center of the flower.  It was yucky so now it's the middle of an odd colored flower cane.  Ha ha ha.

BLACK AND WHITE ZEBRA FLOWER BEADS REVIVED

The good news is the black and white Zebra flower beads that turned yellow from the tumbler are white again.  The bad news is that I don't have any fingers, finger nails or finger tips left.

I soaked them in bleach for a long time and that did nothing so I thought I would try sanding them.  I have some little 2 inch by 2 inch sanding pads that I just got that go from 1500 grit to 4000 grit.  I started with the 1500 grit and the yellow started coming off and the white came back so I sanded all of them by hand (even the teeny tiny ones).  Went through a couple different grits and they look normal again.

I buffed a few last night but they need a little more.  I made another batch today and I'm going to move the tumbler into the guest bathroom where it's cooler and see if that makes a difference.  I've never had this problem before, I'm sure it's the heat in the garage.  If I had rubber lining, I'm sure mine would melt too.

The only thing I noticed about my flower cane is that the translucent has taken on a little grey cast.  I believe the black Premo has leached into the translucent.  I got an email from Iris Mishly today and she says when she buys clay she lets it sit for 6 months before she uses it for a cane or she leaches it in paper.  She especially does this for the softer clays such as Premo and Fimo Soft.

Will be updating on the new batch of black and white beads and what happens in the tumbler in the bathroom.  Stay tuned.  Sorry, can't have company, the bathroom is being used.  LOL

ZEBRA FLOWER BEADS, BEADED CABOCHON CLASS

BEADS SOAKING IN BLEACH

A friend of mine asked if I would make two bracelets and two pair of earrings for her friends and she wanted them in black and white.  How convenient was that since I just made a black and white flower cane. Last night I sat and made beads from my black and white flower cane and the pieces of black and white clay that I made a modified Zebra cane from.  Baked  them as normal last night and they were very nice when they came out of the oven.  I HATE SANDING.  So, I thought I would put them in the tumbler.  Had the tumbler out in the garage where as you know it's probably 110 degrees.  When I took the beads out, they were yellowish and black.  I almost cried.  I think the rubber tumbler was getting too hot and the heat in the garage and the rubber caused the beads to change color.  I had a friend who had a new tumbler and her white beads turned green.  Another had a smelly tumbler and her beads smelled.  I am soaking my beads in bleach right now and hope they turn white again.

BEADING AROUND A CABOCHON

My friend Lupe from Mirame Creations (who by the way was mentioned on Tina Holdens Blog today) and I took a class together.  The beading place is A2Z Beads in Peoria, AZ on 60th and Bell Road.  The class we took was how to bead around a cabochon.  I've done it before but I knew there were shortcuts and someone out there could help me with that.  The lady that taught the class was Kay Smith and she was wonderful.  And yes, Kay had shortcuts like how to tie a knot without using up all your thread, how to put a backing on without it looking like old stretched out underpants (guess I gave that one away).  She was great.  The class provided the cabochon, the backing, the leather for the back, the beads, the thread and the needle.

That's a real turquoise cabochon.

Love the back of this.  No loose leather this time.  Thanks Kay.

Check out the A2Z Beads website to see when Kay is teaching classes.

This is my polymer clay cat cabochon that I made and beaded around it with larger glass beads using peyote stitch.  I lost my book about right angle weave that has my favorite bail directions in it.  As soon as I find it I'm going to make a bail and figure out what kind of necklace I want to put it on.

I'm sure the book is hiding somewhere just like my Prisma Color Pencils that disappeared a week ago.  I know as soon I replace both of those things they will show up. I think the cat hides them and laughs at me behind my back.  Tee hee hee.  Couldn't be that old timers disease could it?

WE CAN DO IT - SOME GOOD, SOME BAD BUT IT KEEPS ME OUT OF THE BAR

Was walking through Michael's the other day and saw some Lisa Pavelka water slide transfers.  They looked interesting so I bought a couple packs.  The first one I put on a bead and put translucent clay over it thinking I could do a porcelain bead like in the Debbie Anderson class I took.  Well, those transfers don't bend and I think my trnaslucent was too thick.  So I tried again and here they are:

Actually this picture is of me a couple years ago when my hair was still red.  LOL

I used Magic Glos on this one and I'm getting to the bottom of bottle.  I didn't see the bubbles until I took the picture.  I found that with the Magic Glos, if you run a flame over it, the bubbles will disappear just like when you do that to UV Resin.  The transfer is really pretty but it's made of a plastic and needs to be handled gently once the back comes off.  The bubbles are really tiny and you don't see them that well in person.  The camera really makes those things stand out.  The transfer has to be flattened because of the water on it, it tends to make it move around and get wrinkled.  I'm going to try to do a couple more on baked clay and see if that works better.

This one which I love because of the picture and the saying also has a small bubble on the left in the clay that I didn't see.  It doesn't show up as much when looking at it in person.  I used Perfect Pearls on the sides of the picture and poked a hole in the side and did a little wire wrapping.  It has flaws but so do I so we fit together well.  I believe this picture is from WWII and I was born right after that so I know "WE CAN DO IT".

 

This cute little guy is a new stamp I found.  You know I love cats.  He will probably end up being a pin for my friend who has a cat that looks like him.

This cat has Magic Glos on him also.  Right now it's 110 here in Arizona and running out in the sun might be what's causing the bubbles in my pieces.  I have to put sun screen on just to go get the mail.  I love getting in the car with leather seats after it's been sitting outside for awhile.  I try to do it a couple times a day with shorts on because I figure it burns the cellulite off my thighs. 

My friend always says "IT'S A 100 AND STUPID" anytime it goes over 100.  My glos dries before I get it to the table outside.  Had two quail looking in our patio door with a sign asking for cold beer.

Today I made a black and white flower cane.  It's actually very pretty.  My camera keeps turning things pink, might be time for a new camera.  This cane was made with white, pearl and black Premo and the outside is Fimo translucent.  I didn't wait for it to rest before I cut it.  Don't have patience to do that.  It's so hot in my studio when the lights are on, I'm surprised the canes don't cook while I'm making them.

A few weeks ago at our clay guild meeting we had a demo on doing the Christi Freisen Peppermint Twist pendant.  Since that time all my friends have done 8 or 9 and I only did one.  We were suppose to use Swarovski Rivolis but since I have 800 pices of that flat glass, I decided to use that for my test piece.  I thought it was too big but my friends didn't, so, I made a Herringbone necklace for it with Delica seed beads.  Since I made this I found out that BIG is in this year as far as jewelry.  Wish they meant butts.

Tomorrow my friend Lupe www.miramecreations.blogspot.com/ and I are going to take a cabachon beading class.  I have quite a few books and tried a little one so I'm self taught but I like taking classes and this lady we are taking the class from does beautiful work and I think she has some tricks for making it easier to start.  I'll blog with a picture when I finish it.  I'm still working on my second crocheted necklace and it's turning out good, but I'm still a little slow.  Great thing to do if you can't sleep at night or want to listen to an audio book.

Gotta go, the quail are at the door again because we are the only ones in our neighborhood that haven't left for somewhere cool.  Yesterday it was coyotes at the door asking for frozen Margharitas.

BEAUTIFUL BAGS FROM DESERT SUN DESIGNS

CAT BAG FROM DESERT SUN DESIGNS

A couple days ago I was looking on "Etsy for Animals".  There was a new website mentioned called Tranquility Trail Animal Sanctuary http://www.tranquilitytrail.org/ and they were selected as June's charity for the month. I was so happy to see that first of all it was here in Scottsdale, AZ and not only did they help dogs and cats but they also take care of rabbits, goats, horses and other animals.  While looking through the website I found a link to an Etsy shop called Desert Sunset Designs by Heather http://www.etsy.com/shop/DesertSunsetDesign .  Being the cat person that I am, I found the perfect bag and also found out that Heather donates 50% of the cost of her items to Tranquility Trail.  I thought this would be a great way to support a good organization and get myself a cute bag at the same time.  Got my bag in the mail today and I love it.

INSIDE OF CAT BAG - HOW CUTE!!!!!

Not only was I delighted with the cat bag, Heather sent me another one of her beautiful bags for being her first customer.  I know my sister is going to want this one.  It's a crocheted bag and fully lined and has a gorgeous button.

Please go to her website and check out her beautiful bags and help her support Tranquility Trails.

Thank you Heather for the beautiful bags.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING????

I haven't done any polymer clay in a week or so.  I've been making golf stroke counters to send to my sister and I've been bead crocheting and making Delica bead necklaces for my pendants.  Then I decided I wanted to do some beading.  I had made some bracelets using Swarovski Crystals in the "X -O" pattern and wanted to try it with pearls.  I did two and already gave one away to a very appreciative friend.  And here they are:

This one is mine.  It has yellow pearls and purplish Swarovski crystals and a great magnetic clasp.

 

The green one on the bottom is the one I gave to my friend.  I bought the pearls at a local bead store and I'm not happy with them.  They were a little mis-shapen and some had what looked like water marks on them that I didn't notice when I bought them.  I bought a string of copper ones that look like they were painted on the string and they had tips on the ends.  This bead place does not take returns so I'll have to make something that hides the flaws.  Will be more careful when buying pearls.

LET'S GET OUT THERE AND HELP THOSE ANIMALS.  I found another new site called "Piggy Poo".  It's about helping guinea pigs.  I asked my husband if we could be foster parents for about 5 guinea pigs.  Wish you could have seen the look on his face.

Tomorrow is "NATIONAL DONUT" Day.  He's so excited.  I guess this means we will be eating lunch at Krispy Kreme.  A few more donuts and I'll be wearing his shorts and then see how he likes it.  He's the same guy that says "Donuts Make You Smart".  I wonder if they have a Mensa Donut Club in Arizona??????