MY NEW FAVORITE MOLD BY PENNI JO COUCH

When I saw the turtle on Penni Jo Couch's blog, I got really excited.  I know, it's not a cat but she's working on that for me.  LOL  Normally I share my molds when I'm teaching a class or playing but this turtle mold shall never touch the hands of anyone but me.  Anyway, I was surprised this morning when I saw my turtles on Penni Jo's blog http://claylady43.blogspot.com/ that was really nice of her.

Yesterday at our beading club one of the other ladies taught the braided rope technique from Desiree McCrorey's blog http://desiredcreations.com/ howTo_CABraidRainbowCane.htm.  We all did different colors and had a lot of fun.  This was my block when it was done and cut into.

I made a pendant with this but it needs sanding and buffing and then I'll post it.  I love these colors.  I wrapped my Skinner blends in black before I braided them and I think that's why the definition in the colors is so vibrant.  

This was Evelyn's.  She also covered her's in black.  Her colors are really southwest.  Love the turquoise and the amber and brown.

This was Debbie's braid after she started twisting it.

WEDDING PENS

I'm making pens for a wedding shower and the brides colors are gold and navy.  I don't know if she went to Notre Dame or not.  I used Premo and did a Mokume Gane with navy, 18 kt gold, Jecru (Julie Picarello recipe of ecru, translucent and pearl)  I also made a sandwich with translucent with gold leafing in between.  I covered the pens and made small hearts to attach to them with the wedding date stamped on the back.  I have to put them together.  This heart is bigger than the rest because this is going to be the brides pen.

  I had some end pieces of the Mokume Gane so I did some pendants that I'm going to sand and buff again and made something for the door prizes.

I'll post pictures of the finished pieces when and if I get them done.  WHEW

Black and White Cane

This is going to be short.  I made a black and white flower cane that was on you tube and I didn't like the way it turned out.  So, I cut it with the wavy cutter and made a cabochon for a black turtle and then took part of it and twisted it to make a Natasha pendant.  On the pendant, I used corn starch to smooth it and then I sanded and buffed both pieces.  I don't like the way the pendant top turned out.  I think it sucked in the corn starch and gave it a funny coating.  I sanded it a lot too.  Then I put Maquires wax on it and let it sit, wiped it with a soft cloth and buffed it again.  That wax did a good job but I think I'm going to sand it again.

The turtle is from Penni Jo Couch's new turtle mold.  I think I'm going to a herringbone necklace for this pendant.

TURTLE FUN

I just couldn't wait to try the new turtle mold from Penni Jo.  I was suppose to be cleaning the house but that mold just kept drawing me to it.  I had some scrap clay and pieces from the cane I taught at our polymer clay beading class last week, so..............................................................................

You can click on the picture to see them bigger.  The baby was done with scrap clay and different colors of Pearlex powder.  Her eyes are Swarovski crystals.  The cabochon on the back was made separately.  I used a small Kemper cutter to make little indentations on the top and then put more small Swarovski crystals all over the top.  The mama turtle base was done with turquoise clay and Pearlex powders.  She also has Swarovski crystal eyes.  The cabochon was done with a piece of cane.  First I made the cabochon with scrap clay and then rolled out a thin piece of cane and put it on the cabochon and put it back in the mold.  I used Genesis to keep the eyes in and cabochons on the top.  I couldn't sand and buff them because of the crystals and the Pearlex so I sprayed them with PYMII.  PYMII doesn't distort the crystals.  Don't you love the paper that I photographed them on?  I found this at Big Lots.  It has really beautiful pictures on papers that are normally used for scrap booking.  Back to cleaning house. PHOOEY.

TURTLES, I LOVE TURTLES AND THERE WERE TURTLES IN MY MAILBOX TODAY

A few weeks ago Penni Jo Couch put a picture on her blog of her new turtle mold and then she had it on her facebook page.  I was so excited.  As you all know I love Penni Jo's molds.  I have them all.  When I'm in the nursing home, I'm going to take them with me so I can take my food and make cabochons and turtles out of it.  Any way, I got my turtle mold in the mail today and I'm going to make 100 turtles tonight.  LOL

You can get this mold and many more wonderful molds at http://www.bestflexiblemolds.com/.


LEFTOVERS

I can't figure out why I always have so much left over JUNK clay after every project that I do.  I love doing Natasha beads and pendants.  After the class I did last Wednesday, I had a pile of clay here.  You guessed it, I made Natasha pendants and used some of Penni Jo's molds.  I use to sand in cold water and soap and a friend of mine told me to use warm water and soap and these are really shiny but I also took out some new sand paper.

This is a pendant I did with one of Penni Jo's molds and some Sarah Shriver cane that I had left from a class that I took from her in November.

This is what was left of the Sarah Shriver cane and I did that Natasha thing which I love to do.

This is my favorite.  It was from the ends of the cane that I taught at class last week.  I was very careful about sanding and buffing.  It really looks like glass and it has a lot of pearl and translucent in it.

Here is another Natasha that got slightly off kilter but I like it.

I'm really excited.  My friend is coming over and we are going to do the Barbara Fajardo Mimbres Flora beads and pendants.  We both bought the tutorial from Craft Art Edu.  Our clay guild had Barb here a couple weeks ago for a two day class but I couldn't go because I was told I had a fractured hip and I couldn't sit for two days.  It wasn't a fracture, I've got bursitis.  Got a cortisone shot and am exercising a lot and it's much better.  If  you are hurting, push yourself to exercise and stretch.  I am walking my friend's 3 dogs every morning.  It's good for them and great for me.