Wednesday, January 29, 2014

WHAT DID I DO WITH MY LIFE BEFORE POLYMER CLAY?


I mentioned that I belong to an International Polymer Clay Swap group.  I received my swap pieces from Laurel Steven on Monday and they are awesome.
This is the wreath and the twinchie that I received from Laurel.  The color of these two pieces is so rich everyone is begging Laurel to know how she made them.  She doesn't keep track of recipes and I totally know how that is.  I just don't understand people who make something and then write down what color they used and how much clay they used and how long they baked it.  I would never get anything done.  I admire people who can do that but it's just not me.
Thank you Laurel, I'm going to have a hard time getting this back once my friend Evelyn sees it.  I'll probably have to frisk her before she leaves the house.


BE STILL MY HEART

 
This gorgeous necklace belongs to Lynda Moseley.  She has the tutorial that I told you about that brought my muse home after the holidays.  I was stunned when she asked me if she could have the pendant I made.  I did her tutorial the way she said but I had pieces left so I tore them and made the pendant.  Because of her tutorial, it sanded and buffed so beautiful that in real life it almost looks like it was cut from some rock area somewhere.  I was so shocked when I saw her blog about this necklace, my feet haven't hit the floor yet.  http://scdiva.blogspot.com/
Talk about an inspiration.  I have 6 more pendants and had no clue what to do with them.
Lynda, you truly have been an inspiration to me since I've been doing clay.  I hope we get a chance to meet someday.  I promise I'll bring Buster.
 
If I can ever get him out from under the afghans.


 
 
 

Monday, January 27, 2014

INTERNATIONAL POLYMER CLAY SWAPS

I belong to a facebook group called International Polymer Clay Swaps.  Every time we do a swap the administrator gives you the title of what the swap is and we also do a twinchie (same as an inchie only twice as big).  This time it was Valentines Day and it could be what ever you wanted.  I had already started doing a couple pieces so I'm lucky I got done and got them sent by the time the date came that we had to send them out.  My swap partner was Laurel Steven who lives in California, the last two swap partners live in Canada and it seemed like it took 3 weeks for the packages to get there.  Laurel took a great picture of what I sent her and put it on facebook and told me I could use the picture for my blog.  As you know I put my light box away when we had the flood and after cleaning the dining room I didn't feel like messing it up again so my pictures aren't as nice as this one.  She uses photo shop and I'm too cheap to buy that so I use Picasa.
The top left is my twinchie that I made from a lightning cane that I had.  The middle one is a heart with resin and rub on letters and more resin (Lupe Meter inspired that one).  I put it on a Kumihimo chain and made a keychain/purse bling out of it.  The one on the right is a pendant I made with the same cane (sanded and buffed) and put on a silver neck chain.


These are my pictures.  I'll post Laurel's items as soon as I get them.  Now I have to get working on the things I'm going to send to the Oklahoma Clay Guild for their retreat.  Soon as I get rid of this migraine.  Been two days.  Anyone else out there get them?  What do you do for them?

Saturday, January 25, 2014

LEARNING, LEARNING, LEARNING

In the post before last I told you I bought the Lynda Moseley tutorial "Masterful Faux Made Easy".
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DivaDesignsInc  you can buy it in her Etsy shop and it's wonderful.  I've done 3 batches now and it's been a learning experience for me.  All polymer clay artists put their own twist on things and I'm no different. 

As you can see, there aren't two alike but they are all beautiful, at least I think so.  They are not as pretty as Lynda's and if you go to the picture on the cover of her tutorial you will see the things she made using this tutorial.  I don't like to sand so I took some short cuts and it's obvious.  Lynda made me promise to do it again and do it right.  She sands with 8 different grits, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000.  I skipped a few so I have to go back and redo.
This was my first go at it but I decided to rip the clay and put it together (my twist).  These need re-sanding too.  Now I have 12 more pieces that I made out of these batches so I have a lot of sanding to do.  I would be happy to pay someone to do it for me.

This tutorial is so much fun and I know if I follow directions I will soon be able to make beautiful stuff like Lynda's.  I guess I kind of hurried though since I had to golf, bowl, walk the dogs, wash the sheets, iron the clothes, mop the floors, dust the furniture, change the cat liter.  I think it's time to let all that stuff go and just do clay.

By the way, Lynda has the one on the top right in the above picture and my friend Evelyn took the two round ones to make pendants for her and her sister, she loved them.  The picture doesn't really do them justice.  Some day I'm going to figure out how to take good pictures too, as soon as I clean the bathroom and empty the garbage and walk the dogs again.  So now I only have to re-sand one piece.

Have fun with this and Lynda is so wonderful and helpful.  It's 47 pages of awesome pictures and instructions.  Guess you can tell I'm a Lynda fan.  She's stuck in 11 degree weather right now and it's 80 here so I'm trying to be nice to her.  LOL

Thursday, January 16, 2014

ALL MY CHILDREN HAVE PAWS

You all know how much I love animals especially Buster who makes me laugh all day long.
This was his response to me opening the window by his box.  He loves watching birds and that tail goes 100 miles an hour if there is a bird sitting outside on one of the rocks.  He probably wouldn't know what to do with it even if he got a hold of it.

I've mentioned before that I have a friend who has three dogs and I walk the dogs every day because she has a bad knee and hip.  She moved to a new home 3 weeks ago so I ordered new tags for the dogs with their new address on them.  I didn't realize when I got home that I had Beau's old tag in my tool box.  I know a lot of people who have lost animals and they keep their tags and throw them in a drawer and never do anything with them.  I wasn't sure if it made any sense but I wanted to do something special for my friend since these dogs are her life now that her husband died.


I took Beau's old tag that he had since they rescued him and did a Kumihimo bling and attached it to a large key ring and put a swivel lobster claw clasp on it so she can put some door keys for the new house on it.

POLYMER CLAY SWAP

I'm a little nervous, I belong to a face book group that does polymer clay swaps.  It's in an international group which is really great.  This time my swap partner is Laurel Steven.  She does beautiful work so I hope she's not disappointed with what I'm sending her.  I'll post it after I send it to Laurel.

Now I have to go clean off my work table and get to work on the things I'm sending to the Oklahoma Clay Guild for their retreat.  Wish I was going to be there.  Christi Friesen is going to be there and she's my favorite.  She has such a great sense of humor and she loves my cheesecake.  LOL

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

AN INCREDIBLE TUTORIAL BY SC DIVA

Polymer Clay is not only an incredible craft and better for you than going to a psychiatrist but I found that getting into clay has opened up a whole world of new friends to me.  I joined the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild 9 years ago and met some incredibly talented people there.  They were very supportive and loved to share and to me that was an important part of my learning curve.  I have obsessed with polymer clay since I bought my first bar.  The amazing thing to me is the amount of polymer clay places there are on the internet.  I could spend the whole day on Youtube and Pinterest looking at polymer clay things.  The other thing I did 9 years ago was buy tutorials on the internet on Etsy and Artfire from many polymer clay artists.   But, I have a couple of favorite polymer clay artists that have rocked my world.  As soon as they put a tutorial up I usually buy it.  I figure I'm supporting the hard work that they put into these things and I always learn something.  Since I started doing that, I've made friends with people all over the world.  I think I have every polymer clay book ever written.  I belong to a couple facebook polymer groups that I really enjoy and this blog has helped me increase my clay friends and knowledge of something I really love. 

One of my favorite artists in the world of polymer clay is Lynda Moseley.  I believe I have all her tutorials and love everyone of them.  I love her Mica Shift tutorial https://www.etsy.com/listing/51151212/polymer-claydigital-pdf-tutorial-diva?ref=shop_home_active

I'm having picture problems or I would put it here.  Well, last week Lynda posted a new tutorial and it's amazing.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/DivaDesignsInc?ref=l2-shopheader-name  It's called Masterful Faux Made Easy.  I think I've read all 47 pages at least 3 times.  I'm infatuated with this and can't wait to try it.  If you are a beginner or a seasoned clayer you will love this.  If you have ever seen Lynda's jewelry on Etsy or on her blog, you know what beautiful work she does.  This tutorial gives you the opportunity to do the same thing.  She explains everything in wonderful detail and has pictures to go with it.  Trust me, it will be the best $15 you ever spent.

Lynda did not pay me to do this, I just wanted to support her and all the hard work she put into this and the fact that she shares so much for such a small price. 

Lynda has always been helpful when ever I've needed something done or information.  We have never met but we have something in common.  Lynda had a cat named Buster.  She also had a cat named Bobo and I had a cat named Booboo.  I'm sure it's fate but cat people are special.  LOL

Now my blogger spell check doesn't want to work.  Go get Lynda's tutorial.  You will LOVE it.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Hope everyone that reads this blog has a wonderful and healthy New Year.

I decided to spend the first two weeks of 2014 organizing and cleaning out closets and cupboards.  I have a friend who moved a couple weeks ago and it happened really fast so she didn't have a lot of time to pitch and throw the stuff away that she didn't want and didn't need.  I was stunned when I saw what got moved to the new house.  I told myself I can't let that happen to me.  Her husband died unexpectedly and she was made an offer on the house they lived in but she only had 3 weeks to move.  My 98 year old friend told me yesterday "if you don't love it, pitch it - if you haven't worn it in a year, pitch it - if you haven't used it in a year, pitch it".  Except for my polymer clay and beading stuff, everything is getting organized.  I already gave 6 bags to the animal shelter thrift store.  That's where I got Buster so I felt good about that.  Just wanted to give you something to think about.

The other thing I decided to do is re-open my Artfire store and I'm going to be more diligent about both Etsy and Artfire this year.
This is first new thing I put in my Artfire shop.  I think I have 10 million Megatama beads so I guess I better get busy.
 
Hope your 2014 Muse hits you big time and if you have some to spare, send it my way.  LOL