CELEBRATING 200 AND OH MY IT'S RESIN

Never thought I would see the day that I could say "Hey, this is my 200th blog".  Three years ago I had no idea what a blog was and here I am.  YIPPEE

A BON-RO NECKLACE

As you know I love making crosses with Mokume Gane polymer clay.  I've sold quite a few of them and given many away.  The last two crosses that I made I used the new Premo 18kt gold and it really gave them pizazz.  Rose asked me for one of the crosses and matching earrings and because I gave them to her, she made a Kumihimo necklace for the one I kept.  It's going to be displayed in the library here the month of August.

Rose does Kumihimo so fast she amazes me.

RESIN, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE OH #$%@^^!#@!

I have been experimenting with resin.  I've always used Magic Glos on some of my polymer clay.  About a year ago I ordered some UV resin  from epoxyjewelry.com.  It's a one part resin that cures in the sun.  I've been following a resin blog and love the work that she does so I decided to try some.

This is the Good.

This is a bangle done in a mold (too small for my hand).  It has coral and mixed chips and no hole beads.  It also has a few bubbles.  I had to sand the sides and re-resin the top and bottom.  Not bad for the first time. 

This is the Bad.

I thought I would try the resin in molds.  I made the mistake of mixing Pearlex powders in the resin first.  Because of the powders, the resin didn't cure.  I should have done it in layers.  I was able to get the uncured resin out of the molds with rubbing alcohol.

This is The $@#^%^#&(#%$

Just couldn't give up.  Decided to try the Magic Glos in the mold.  There was a bubble so I picked up a piece of wire to pop it, the resin got a black line through it and the wire turned nasty.  Normally when I do Magic Glos, I run a BBQ lighter over it to get the bubbles out.  The bear is cute but he needs more sun.

STAY TUNED - NEVER KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT 

Carmi, I have some ET Lite that I will try as soon as I can find a place to put things to dry.

CLAY ON HOLD - WHY DO THEY CALL THEM EARRINGS?

This was going to be my clay week.  I finished the mask and made beads for my golf stroke counters and used my bead rollers to make beads for earrings (why do they call them that?) and then Jane called from the nursing home.  In a previous blog I told you about my 96 year old friend who is selling earrings and jewelry and sometimes right out of her ears.  I had to put the clay away and get out the beads and wires and findings and tools.

Her clients all like long and chunky.  I have 26 pair that I'm sending her so far.  The blue and magenta are polymer clay.  I had sent her one of my crosses with earrings to match and she saw a lady wearing cross earrings and pulled her into her room and sold her the cross set :0).  She just tickles me.  Every time I talk to her the excitement in her voice is amazing compared to before she started doing this.  I think I owe her a big bottle of vodka.

One of the pairs of earrings that Jane requested was for large, chunky crystals.  I have a whole box full of antique crystals from old necklaces that I had and things I found at estate sales.

These are 3 inches long and really aren't heavy but they sure do sparkle.  Hope she likes them.



BIRTHDAY PRESENTS

We are taking my friend Bev out for her birthday tonight.  She requested purse blings as a gift.

The one on the left is her dog Honey.  The one on the right is an old ring that she had but the band was broken off.  I made a polymer clay backing for it.  You can click on the picture to see it closer.  I'm unhappy with the picture of Honey.  I put Mod Podge on both sides and let it dry.  I used Mod Podge to adhere it to the frame and let it dry.  Then I put Magic Glos on it, twice.  After 24 hours, the picture started doing things.  Maybe I should have left the Mod Podge dry a little longer.

I need to get back to clay and finish my pieces for our retreat.



READY FOR MARDI GRAS

At the July polymer clay guild meeting, Lupe Meter did a wonderful demo on how she makes masks out of polymer clay.  She is very meticulous and precise with the way she places pieces on her mask.  Me, not so much.

This is one of Lupe's masks and her demo on how she makes them round and beautiful.

Yesterday Evelyn and Rose came over and Evelyn wanted to make a mask so I decided I would too.  While Evelyn was cutting out fancy pieces and putting little things on her mask, I found a couple little triangle cutters and started cutting out pieces of a sheet of Mokume Gane that I had done.  I didn't figure to finish this thing, I'm not a mask person.  I think they are beautiful but I lost interest about 1/4 of the way through.  Anyway, I made the mask, put some little molds on it, didn't like the colors so I put Pearlex Powder on it.  Baked it, didn't like it so I sanded some of the powder off.  Didn't like it so I antiqued it.  It started looking better but I knew it needed some foofoo (spelling) stuff and I don't do a lot of phew phew (spelling).  

Here's my finished piece I wired feathers to it (there are little feathers flying all over my studio now).  Put a large gold jump ring on the side and put the lace ribbons in.  Added wire bail and a beaded hanger.  You can click on the picture to see it larger.  I showed it to my husband and he said "What's that for, is that suppose to be a work of art?"  I think I'll hang it in his office.  grrrrrrrrrrrrr

GREEN MAN

My friend Penni Jo Couch from http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/ sent me a Green Man mold so I made a little guy and put silver and green powders on him and used watch stems for the eyes.  I put a plastic neck cord on him.

I'm going to send him to my 6 year old nephew who likes monsters and tell him that Green Man is a good monster.  Do you think he'll believe me?


TUMBLER TEST

I don't hand sand small beads and I do make a lot of them for my golf stroke counters.  I was having a problem with my tumbler.  If a bead had any white clay in it, it would come out of the tumber yellow.  I know quite a few people were having that problem.  I think the rubber from the tumbler bucket starts breaking down after a while.  Yesterday I cut a piece of 600 grit sand paper a little bigger around than the bottom of the tumbler and put it in and placed a long piece of the same sand paper around the inside.  I put my river rocks back in and ran the beads for 7 hours.

This worked really great.

 These beads have translucent and white clay in them.  The yellow you see was actually yellow clay but the translucent stayed clean and so did the white.  I think the extra sand paper also helped to make them buff faster.  I heard some people cut up cottage cheese cartons and put them in their tumblers.  We don't do cottage cheese so I'm glad the sand paper worked.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY

The Artfire Smooshers are having a Christmas in July Sale.  I finally figured out how to put the sign up thanks to Tina Holden.  I need to put more stuff in my Artfire shop but I'm so busy making earrings for the nursing home, I haven't had much time.  Hopefully, next week I'll get it together.  Check out the other shops that are having a sale also.  They have some really neat things.

WHO NEEDS A UV LAMP???????

Living in Arizona has it's advantages and disadvantages.  For one thing, I never need a UV light to cure my Magic Glos.  I put it on, run a BBQ lighter over it to get the bubbles out, run through the house to the back patio and there's my UV light.  However, when it's 114 degrees, the Magic Glos is usually cured before I get it to the "Curing Wall" and then I'm sweating.

These are some crosses I made with a Mokume Gane that I did with the new Premo clays.  It was done with Premo White Glitter, Premo 18 kt Gold, Premo Magenta and Premo Black.  I also put a layer of silver leafing in between the stacks that was sandwiched between translucent.  The Premo 18 kt gold is so beautiful and gives a beautiful highlight.  The crosses were made with Penni Jo Couch's molds.  I can't say enough  good things about them.

Click on the pictures and you can see the colors better and the top one shows more of the gold.

These little ones are earrings.  One of these sets is for my friend Rose who just had throat surgery and we are celebrating that there was no cancer in her thyroid.  She saw the last set I made and raved about them.  When she does that, I know she's begging.  :0)

Arizona is hot in the summer but during the winter I play golf 3 times a week and go bike riding and walking and I'm not shoveling snow.  YIPPEE  Drove to work in that stuff for 30 years.  I'll take the heat.

A VERY LUCKY WEEK

This has been a very, very lucky week for me.  Last week I got an email from Beaducation saying I won a $100 gift certificate on their blog giveaway.  I didn't waste any time.  I ordered new tools.  I got a German, short, round nose pliers with ergonomic handles, a German chain nose pliers with ergonomic handles, a coiling pliers and a large wrap and tap pliers.  They are all so comfortable to hold and handle.  I've been making earrings by the bunch for my 96 year old friend in Wisconsin and I've been making my own ear pin wires and jump rings and these pliers have helped tremendously.  I love Lisa Nivens Kelly and all the free tutorials that she does on Beaducation http://www.beaducation.com/.   Thanks again Lisa.

These are a two part earring set.  The short end is attached to the post and the long one is attached the earring back.  Those new tools sure are nice when doing so many loops.

My friend Jane has ordered 60 pair of earrings so far.  She is having a great time being a 96 year old sales lady but I've been so busy making earrings, my polymer clay is being ignored.  That's not a nice thing.

RESIN CRAFTS BLOG GIVEAWAY

Another one of my favorite blogs is Resin Crafts by Carmi Cimicata http://resincrafts.blogspot.com/.  She teaches and shares a ton of information about using resin.  She shows the good and bad and tells you how to fix the bad.  They had a blog contest and I won a resin tray.  Now I have to bite the bullet and do something besides coating polymer clay.  Her latest blog shows some beautiful things that she put into resin in the resin trays.  Check it out.

WHAT A NICE SURPRISE

The mail just came and there was a really nice surprise in it.  Linda Kropp from Linda's Artbarn

http://www.lindasartbarn.com/ sent me this beautiful eyelglass case that she hand painted.

Linda is a tole artist, a One Stroke Paint teacher and a jewelry designer.  I have 11 pair of glasses and I can't tell you how much I love this case.  11 PAIR OF GLASSES???????   Yes, I have bifocals for watching TV and crocheting, bifocals for regular wear, computer glasses, beading glasses, bifocal sun glasses, bifocal sun glasses for reading, distance glasses for bowling, distance sun glasses for golf, etc.  My husband always jokes about how many pairs of glasses I have.  Sometimes he asks if I'm wearing my vacuuming glasses or my doing the dishes glasses or my walking to the mailbox glasses.  HMMMMMMMMM

Thank you Linda, this will be put to great use.

THANK YOU BEADUCATION

I mentioned the other day that I got an email from Beaducation http://www.beaducation.com/ saying I had won a $100 gift certificate.  I was thrilled.  I go to their website all the time because they have wonderful little tutorial videos about all kinds of jewelry making tips.  Today I was making earrings and my round nose pliers went goofy.  Instead of the tips being together they started crossing.  I've made 130 pairs of earrings in the past month.  $8.00 pliers don't cut it.  I went to Beaducation http://www.beaducation.com/ and ordered new German made tools.  I'm so excited.  Check them out.

POLYMER CLAY CROSS AND EARRINGS

I don't know how many times I've mentioned how much I love Penni Jo Couch's molds from http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/.  One of her molds is a Renaissance Cross and it has little crosses in the same mold.  I use many of my polymer clay canes to use in this mold.  I also use Magic Glos on them.  Some of them I drill a hole in the bottom and put beads in them. 

I just finished this one using the Mokume Gane that I showed in a previous blog.  This is going out to someone special for her special friend.  You can click on it and see it larger.  The good thing about her molds is, you can put them in soapy water and wash them to get out some of the old polymer clay.  I also spray a little Armour All in them when I use them and the pieces pop out and the Armour All doesn't hurt the clay.

MORE EARRINGS FOR JANE

This is three of the 14 pairs I made in the last two days.  I like the bottom ones, I think I'll have to make a pair for myself.

Today is my husband's birthday.  I bought him two pieces of cheese cake from the Cheescake Factory.  I've never seen such a happy guy.  White chocolate, macadamia, carmel and Dutch Apple Carmel.  I'm going to have to get him some elastic waist pants..  Why should I be the only one wearing those things????



HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays.  Not because of the picnics and the fireworks but because everyone starts thinking about the men and women who have fought and given their lives for us and how important being an American is.  Not that I don't love hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and potatoe salad, I sure do.  It also meant I usually had the day off work and had a three day weekend.

As you get older, holidays start changing.  When we were young we would pack up a big cooler and a grill and head out to the park or Lake Michigan and spend the day just having fun.  Now most of my holidays are spent doing what I do on non holidays.  Polymer Clay, making jewelry, cleaning toilets.  OH BOY.

Last night we went with some friends to Lake Pleasant Park in Arizona.  It's about a half hour north of us and has a beautiful lake that needs some rain.  They had fire works and food vendors and music.  We left at 6 o'clock and got caught in a dust storm on the way there.  It came up again while we were there, boy was it  dirty.  It took a half hour to get a corn dog and a drink because the lines were so long but it was a good corn dog.

 All of a sudden the wind stopped and it was very quiet. The music stopped and the Honor Guard from Luke Airforce Base came out, you could have heard a pin drop.

 Every one got to their feet and sang the National Anthem.

No sooner did the honor guard leave and it started lightening.  I was sitting in a metal based chair and got a little nervous.  My husband said it was cloud to cloud so I shouldn't worry???  Like that meant something to me.  They started the fire works and they were beautiful.

Then it started raining.  So now I'm really dirty from the dust storm, it's lightening and I'm getting wet and the dirt is running down my face and legs and neck.  All of a sudden there are 5,000 people trying to get to their cars. I'm carrying the dog and a folding chair, can't see out of my glasses, John has 3 folding chairs, my friend is dragging her 9 year old granddaughter and we can't find her car.  The cars were going every which every way so we couldn't tell where the aisle was that the car was in. 

Ok, now we're in the car, no one will let us out.  It's a one lane exit out of the park.  I'm the only one that went to the bathroom at the park because they had port-a-potties and it was 110 yesterday before the FESTIVITIES began.  Are you getting this picture?  It took us an hour to go 1/2 mile.  There was an accident on Carefree Highway.  The police were stopping cars to check for DUI's and everyone in our car but me and the dog had to go to the bathroom.  We got home 2 hours later and had to take a shower to get the mud off of us.  If I was 9, I bet I would have thought that was a good time.  The only thing I have left to say now is:

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES WHO PROTECT US SO THAT WE CAN ENJOY FIREWORKS AND CORN DOGS.

HOW HOT IS IS?

This is the thermometer on our back patio.  It doesn't go farther than 120.  Some of this is from the reflection of the patio cement but most of it is HEAT.  I did some Magic Glos today and ran it outside to put on the wall.  It was hard before I got to the wall.  I took out salmon and put it in a pan and set it on the wall.  Why heat up the house?  This heat is the reason women in Arizona have to keep buying so much underwear, the elastic drys out.  I moved here because I lived in snow for 55 years and swore I would never drive in it again but this is nuts.

The bugs are coming in and asking for margaritas.

HOW NICE IS THAT?

I just got an email from "Beaducation" http://www.beaducation.com/ saying I won a $100.00 gift certificate.  I'm so excited.  I love their stuff and I love watching their tutorials.  I can buy some new tools.  My round nose pliers are all twisted and I need new wire straighteners.  This is so exciting.  Go to their website and check them out.  Lisa Niven Kelly does some awesome videos.  Thank you Beaducation and Lisa.

LIZARD TAILS

As I mentioned before, I took a class from Julie Picarello and she showed us how to do lizard tails with left over clay.  Wednesday at our beading club I did a class on Stamped Mokume Gane and lizard tails.  The girls loved it and they had some beautiful stuff come out of it.  I forgot to take pictures.  I chose 6 colors to use for my Skinner Blends.   I was trying to use up some old clay.  This is how my piece turned out:

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this yet but I see some pendants and earrings and beads in there.  Not sure I like the orange but it's there now.

I had some pieces of this clay left over and made a big lizard tail.  I cut out a couple pendants.  Not done with those yet and had some more left and made another lizard tail.  Had enough to cover a light switch plate.  Husband said the colors "were interesting and the room would have to be white".  He's funny.

I textured this with 100 grit sandpaper and put light green Perfect Pearls on it to change the whole pink thing going on with it.  It's been sanded and buffed.  Click for close up.

Beadwork Magazine had a neat pattern for a covered pearl in it.  I made a pair for Jane.  Told her it was her June bonus for selling so many earrings.  I ordered some 2mm round Swarovskis.  That's what the magazine calls for.  I didn't have any so I used Delicas, 11 seed beads and size 15 Myuki's.  She'll sparkle plenty.

Back to sanding. Phooey.