Giving Is More Fun Than Receiving - Sometimes

A couple years ago I got an email from a lady in Tucson who said she had seen my blog and she had decided not to do polymer clay any more and wanted me to have all her clay stuff.  I met her at a half way point and she loaded 8 bankers boxes of polymer clay, tools, pasta machines, powders, paints, books, stamps and two ovens in my car.  I had no idea at the time that she had that much stuff.  She refused to take any money but she liked the necklace I was wearing so I gave her that.

A couple weeks ago a friend called and decided she didn't want to do polymer clay any more and asked would I take her stuff.  She came over and brought me 4 big boxes full of clay stuff and a brand new clay oven and many items that were never used and still in the packages.  She had about 25 polymer clay books which I already had so I sold all but one.  She had two bags full of clay.  1 bag of unopened clay and 1 bag of balls of clay from when she took my classes.  She also gave me a cane that she had made when she took a class from Judith Skinner at the Bead Museum in downtown Glendale.  Unfortunately the museum has been closed for about 2 years now so we think this cane is about 5 or 6 years old.  I decided I wanted to make something for Connie since she gave me so much polymer clay stuff.

 

I worked on that cane for a long time to get it to move so I could put it in one of Penni Jo's molds.  I sanded it for a long time and then buffed it.  As I was buffing, the buffer started walking across the table and I grabbed it.  Now I'm wearing big band aids on my two pointer fingers where the buffer took chunks out of my fingers.  That will teach me to turn it off before I try to grab it.

 

  The white beads are Megatamas done on a Kumihimo loom.  It can be used as a key chain or purse bling.  Connie loved it.  I'm not crazy about the colors but I'll bet that cane was hard to make.

 

MY PRINCE DONE IN PENCIL

 

Another friend of mine who is just starting in clay is an incredible self-taught artist.  She came over to the house one day to clay with me and she fell in love Buster.  He puts on a show every time she comes over.  She asked me for some pictures of him and this is what she did.

Buster in pencil.  This is the picture she took it from.

But, we turned it upside down.  I think she did a terrific job.  He looks so calm and sweet in the pencil picture.  The day she brought it over he pushed the screen out on the window in my studio and then started doing flips all over the tables and the chairs.  I think he liked his picture.

 

 

RESIN ON FUTURE

 

I was doing a pendant and I put Future on it and re-baked it.  I always rebake my pieces for 30 minutes at 200 degrees after I put Future on them.  It solidifies the Future and hardens it.  I didn't the like the final finish and I had never used resin over Future before but I decided I had nothing to lose.  I put Magic Glos over the Future (Pledge) and the amazing thing is that it didn't pull in on itself like it normally does and I only had to use one coat because it leveled itself to a nice dome.

 

CLAY SWAP

 

I joined The Polymer Clay Swaps Group.

My swap partner is Tina Holden, I'm so excited.  I'm almost done.  I just have to box my stuff up and ship it to her.  We had to make a heart and a texture sheet.  This is my first polymer clay texture sheet.  If she doesn't like it as a texture sheet she can use it for a trivet.  I have to practice at that more.

Now I have to make 12 canes for a cane swap for our clay guild and some things to send to The Poly Clay Twister Retreat in Oklahoma.

I know, get off the computer and get to work.

 

 

CATS AND CLAY IT'S A WONDERFUL DAY

 

My friend is in Detroit for 4 days so I'm feeding her 3 new kittens.  This is King.  He finally sat still long enough for me to take his picture.  He was abused by a child and left at the shelter.  No one wanted him because he was very agitated.  He's doing great and I was so excited this morning he rubbed against my legs when I was fixing his food.  He's going to be a wonderful, loving cat.

 

 

These are all polymer pieces that have been sanded and buffed.  I can't tell you how much I don't like to sand but they sure are pretty when they hit the buffer and the shine comes up.

 

Am I the only one that has 5 boxes full of clay ends and pieces?  I must have 200 pounds of clay here.  THIS IS INSANE.  A friend came over yesterday and I showed her how to do different Skinner blends and plugs and how to do a spliced cane.  We had a lot of fun.  Then I realized I needed to do something with my clay.  I'm going to make plugs and blended plugs and make some canes and sell them.  I'm running out of clay storage.  I still have a box full of Studio by Sculpey.

 

DO YOU REMEMBER BOOBOO???

 

My good friend Anita Brandon did a blog a couple days ago about her angel cats.  She included some pictures and a story of Booboo in it.  It was so nice and it brought tears to my eyes. 

 

This is her webesite, check out her angel cats on Etsy. http://melobeau.blogspot.com/.  Booboo was such a good friend for almost 20 years.  I miss him dearly.  Buster can never take his place but Buster is making a place of his own.  He loves dates and donuts and Kraft American cheese.

 

A week ago Sunday night I got intestinal flu.  I was down and out for 9 days.  If you get a chance, get some Powerade, Pepto Bismal, soda crackers and Imodium in the house just in case.  I got a flu shot Wednesday and my arm is still sore.  Here in Arizona we have a big problem with the flu right now so I am washing my hands and face a lot and trying to stay out of public places.

 

Stay Healthy and Happy New Year