THE WELKER CANE IS ADDICTING AND FUN

It's been over a month since I've done clay and today I decided I was tired of beading so I got out my clay.

 Every where you go on the internet the Bettina Welker Pixelated Retro Cane is showing up. http://www.beadworx.de/2012/07/03/the-pixelated-retro-blend-cane/   I have three extruders and they were begging to get used.  So, I thought I would give it a try.

 

This is the first one I did.  I used white, brown, yellow, turquoise, light green and 14 karat gold with a the black discs in between.

 

Once I made the cane, I cut a slice off that was about 1/8th of an inch and I ran it through the pasta machine first on a number one and then turned it one quarter and went to number two and turned it a quarter and put it through on number 3.  I made a sheet of black and ran it through on the number four.  Laid my cane on the sheet and started cutting it by hand.  It was big and I wasn't sure where I was going.  I lost a little of the gold on the bottom but not bad.

 

 

There was an opening down the middle so I added a line of black and some squares and put smaller pieces on those.  I purchased a pack of hamburger patty papers from Smart and Final.  One side has wax on it.  These papers are great for polymer clay.  I laid the paper over the pendant and rubbed it to get rid of the finger prints, embed the smaller pieces and round the sides down.  I baked it for an hour at 265 degrees.  I sanded it but differently.  Instead of starting at 400 and working up, I started at 1000 and worked up.  1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, 3000, this worked really well and there were no gouges.

Now I want to make beads to go with it so I can make a necklace.

 

That cane is really fun and addicting.  I had all the clay out so I made another one but this time I cut it in half at the width and put it together again.

 

 

These canes are really beautiful when they are run through the pasta machine and each small section takes on it's own identity.

 

Last night my husband took me out for my birthday and then we went to a casino for mental therapy.  He parked in an area where there were no cars.  I opened my door when the car stopped and started to get out and a big SUV came flying up and hit the door.  I almost had a heart attack.  If it had been one minute later I would have been standing where this big SUV came flying in.  My door left a big scrape on his car and his car undid the bottom panel on the door on my side of the car.  He acted like he was crying when he saw the damage on his car and started yelling at me about looking before I get out of the car.  My husband told him we were parked and my door was open when he drove up and it was pretty obvious that it was his fault and that we should call the sheriff.  He really backed down and said he would take care of the damage himself if we would.  With insurance being what it is now, we decided to do that.  He ran away as fast as he could and that's when my sweet husband said "Don't worry, s--t happens".

 

BUT, the reason I'm telling you this is so you will be careful getting out of cars AND my husband said if something like this happens again and he's not around, don't get out of the car, lock the doors, keep the windows closed and call the police.  Ladies, if you are alone and in a parking lot and something like this happens, don't be stupid.  Stay in the car, lock the doors and windows and call the police.



DON'T TOUCH MY KUMI LOOM

After spending two weeks in Wisconsin and Chicago, I can't get myself back into clay.  I made the mistake of leaving my Kumihimo loom and beads out and the beading end of the work table has been busy.  I have to push myself over to the clay end of the work table.  Your asking WHAT????????????

Well, I have an 8 foot work table in my office and the right side is dedicated to clay and the left side to beading.

It really comes in handy when my friends and I have clay day here because two people can sit there very comfortably. 

Since I've been back, I've only been working on the left side of table.  The right side is covered with finished pendants.  One of the bead stores near us has been selling my pendants for the last three years.  I feel so bad, they went out of business last Tuesday and won't be reopening again.  The price of rent and repairs on the space they used got to be too much for them.  People ordering on the internet and from China have made a big dent in their business and all other small businesses around the country.  Anyway, I need to finish a few necklaces for the pendants because I'm going to donate them to a benefit for The Arizona Small Dog Rescue in November.  That right end of the table is calling my name though.

My Kumihimo disk looks like it's been through the mill but it serves me well.  I've been making bracelets with some of the millions of beads I have here.



I've put these on Artfire and Etsy and I noticed there are many Kumihimo bracelets on there but their prices are really high compared to what I priced mine at.

Now that I'm writing this, I think I'll finish what's on my left side and start making a mess on my right side.  Does that make me left brained or right brained?

Tomorrow is Buster's birthday.  They said he was born sometime around the last two weeks of August so I thought Buster and I should share a birthday.  This was one of my favorite pictures of him when he was a baby.  He loved getting in the garbage can.  We are going to have a 9 Lives Birthday cake and a couple glasses of wine.