INTERNATIONAL POLYMER CLAY SWAP---BEAD SOUP

My partner got my package today with my pendant, beads and toggles.  I wanted to do more polymer clay beads but I have a tear in my rotator cuff and I have tendonitis there too so sitting and making beads has been a problem along with vacuuming, bowling, golfing, ironing and sleeping.  Anyway, I did the best I could and here's what I sent her.

 

I finished that pendant and decided on silver components.  We also had to send a twinchie.  I made a rainbow Skinner blend and put some of Christi Friesen's new powders on it.  Then I textured it and put Magic Glos on it.  Put the black and white picture on it and put another layer of Magic Glos.  I used a 2 x 2 inch cutter that I had.  The purple glass beads are fossil glass and the green are turquoise.  I gave her a choice of toggles.

 

Can't wait to see what she does with them.

COLOR ME CRAZY

A few weeks ago our clay guild had Maggie Maggio here for 2 days for classes.  Unfortunately for me, I couldn't go to either of them.  Lucky for me, the first day was a free class and there were handouts.
Most of you are familiar with Maggie Maggio and Lindly Haunani's book "Polymer Clay Color Inspirations".  Well, when I do clay, I mix what I'm familiar with and add a little white, translucent, pearl or ecru to pull all the colors together.  I learned about Julie Picarello's "Jecru" and love it too.  Normally when I'm confused about colors I call my friend Evelyn who taught art for 35 years and she brings me back to the reality of what happens when you mix some colors that you shouldn't.  MUDD, MUDD and more MUDD so I end up with a lot of clay that I can use for the inside of beads.  I was looking at the handouts from Maggie's class and something caught my attention.  BOINNNNG,,,,,, the light went on.  I took her book and some things in the packet, cut up some clay and made myself a little chart with my favorite colors.

 

With the left over pieces of the clay I made some Skinner Blends....

When I made my Skinner blends, I took a very thin sheet of pearl and put it on the back before I ran it through the pasta machine.  From these two sheets I made pendants using a tutorial by Randee Ketzel.

I have a different view of mixing clay colors now.  At first it was a little over whelming but boy I feel smarter just looking at her book again.  Based on her color mixing, I'm going to try different types and different colors to see what I can come up with instead of using clay out of the package.  Most of the clay now is very pretty and the colors are great.  I understand Premo is coming out with a new clay called "Souffle".  Sounds like it's going to be like the old Studio By Sculpey, I sure hope so, I really like that clay.  It's suppose to have s suede finish.  Let me know if you see it anywhere.

If you have a little time, open Maggie's book and try mixing some colors yourself.  It's an education to say the least about what you can do with a few colors.

 

 

 

I'm still making pens.  This one is for my friend Marie.  Her and her daughter both volunteer at a kitten and cat rescue place back in Wisconsin so I put the little cat on here.

 

 

 

Last Thursday I dog sat for my friend Beau.  He likes laying on my couch.  I guess he likes my pillow too.  LOL

How cute is he?

 

 

 

BRAIDED CANE DEMO

About a year ago I was looking through Desiree McCrory's website http://desiredcreations.com/howTo_CABraidRainbowCane.htm and I found her "How To's".  There was a braided cane in there that I thought I would try.  I'm kind of lazy though so instead of doing a 3 color Skinner blend 3 times, I did a 2 color Skinner blend 3 times and made my plugs from that.  I didn't like the colors once I got them all together.  So, I thought I would do it again but this time I covered each plug in black so I would get some division between the canes and colors.

 

 

The piece in the middle is the cane I used to make the hearts in the front.  If you click on the picture you can see the hearts better.  I also put some pearl and translucent in each of the plugs before I made the cane. Then I rolled the plugs out to about 18 inches each and started the braid.  You can make them longer which I did with the square in the middle which gave me more colors centralized together.

This past Saturday I did a demo on my take of Desiree's braided cane at our clay guild meeting.  I made the two blocks before the meeting and the 3 plugs on the left were used to demo how to do the braided part of the cane.

 

This is what it looked like after I braided it.  Then I flattened it with my acrylic roller.  Desiree runs hers through the pasta machine but I don't.

 

Once I had the braid done, I folded it back and forth like you will see in Desiree's pictures.  Then I cut it with a ripple blade.  You can run the pieces through the pasta machine once you cut them or you can cut them with a straight blade.  I also cut pieces off the block on the corners.  I usually back my pieces up with a piece of black clay before I cut my pieces out.  These make great pendants.

 

This is the piece again after I cut it with the ripple blade.  If you don't like the piece you cut, you can put it back together and turn it around and cut it again.

 

 

 

I made this shoe pendant from the cane piece above it.  You can see where the pearl in the clay really makes it pop.

 

I'll post the pictures of what I make with the three new blocks of cane as soon as I can find the top of my work table.  LOL

 

 

 

TRYING TO GET BACK TO CLAY------

But I can't quit making these pens.  Sold these already and I just finished them last night.

 

I have to put this stuff away and get my clay ready for my demo Saturday.

Somebody HELP me.  OK, maybe just one more.

CAN I HAVE SOME CAKE???????????

Friday I went out to lunch at Lake Pleasant with some friends.  I know, you didn't know Arizona had lakes.

We have a lake 30 minutes north of us and it's beautiful.  Some of the boats are incredible.  We went to Dillon's restaurant for our friend Robbie's birthday.  They specialize in BBQ ribs.  We sat outside and had a great time and a wonderful lunch.  One of the girls brought cake so we each had a little taste of cake after eating a pound of BBQ pork sandwiches and steak fries.

The views are beautiful.  Part desert, part mountain and part water.

 

As we were leaving the park, we got a big surprise.  In the middle of the road was the sweetest little burrow I've ever seen and he was really friendly and not scared of people or cars.

 

We opened the window and he came right up to the car.  We turned around and came back by him to make sure he didn't get hit.

 

 

A big guy came along and helped move him back to the side of the road.

 

 

He looked hungry and lonely.  I wish we could have given him some cake but they said that wasn't good for him.  They say there are many wild burrow's out by the lake and I was glad to see one but I wish I could have fed him and taken him some where safe.  Some of these guys with their big trucks and big boats were beeping the horn at him.  Like that was going to make him move!!!!!!!!!!

Next time we go out I'm going to take extra Burrow food if I ever figure out what Burrows eat.

 

ANOTHER OBSESSION

Did I ever tell you I have my PHD in crafts?  PHD actually means PILE it HIGHER and DEEPER.  I always did crochet and knit and sew.  Then I met a lady who taught me how to hand engrave glass, she got cancer and asked me to take over her teaching and classes so I did.  She was a wonderful lady and left me with a legacy and a lot of engraving tools and glass paint.  Prior to that I had a friend who owned a ceramic store so I had to help her in the store and started teaching ceramics.  When I retired and moved to this Del Webb community there were about 100 different clubs to join and I was overwhelmed.  I joined ceramics, sewing, knitting and crochet club, beading club, golf and bowling.  Then came the polymer clay.  No more ceramics, only knitting and crocheting when I'm watching TV, not much glass engraving, lots of beading but I had to quit most of the clubs because of my migraines, I'm allergic to perfume and some people wouldn't stop wearing it so I couldn't take a chance on getting a migraine more than I already do.  I still do a lot beading, golf and bowling and polymer clay has been my passion now for 10 years.  About 5 years ago I taught myself how to do Kumihimo.  I love doing it with beads.  It's also a passion now.  Well, a friend of mine from Texas started doing pens with Kumihimo so I thought I would try it.

I put my own twist on it by adding beads with a magnet so it can hang on the refrigerator.  I always put a little extra bling on them like the one with the little flip flop.  I think I've done about 200 pens with polymer clay on them but these are really great.  My husband likes them because they are bigger and more comfortable in the hand especially if you have arthritis.  I found some pens on Amazon that work great for this.
You can click on the picture to see them better.

NEW BABIES

We had a surprise the other morning.  There is a tiny nest in the window of our house.  It's a mother hummingbird sitting on eggs.  I went out to get a picture but didn't want to scare her.

If you click on the picture you can see her little nest better.  It's about the size of half of an egg shell.  We don't turn the lights on in the morning before the sun comes up so we don't scare here.  I can't wait to see the babies.  She's so patient it amazes me.

IT'S NOT POLYMER......IT'S PUPPIES

This is Honey, Beau and Champ.  They belong to my friend but I walk them everyday.  Their dad died unexpectedly a year ago.  He walked them everyday.  My friend has a bad hip and knee so I started walking them about 9 months ago.  Whenever we get to a corner they sit down because they know we have to look both ways before we cross.  I don't even have to tell them anymore.  If I stop and pull on the leashes a little they all sit down.  People stop in their cars to make comments or just smile and wave.  Sometimes when we stop I give them each a treat.  Beau likes to "Give Me Five" before he gets his treat.

It's hard to take a picture while holding 3 leashes, a camera and a poop bag.  LOL

Honey is a Havanese, Beau is a Silver Back Terrier and Champ is a Yorkie.  Champ always grabs a little biscuit before we go walking and carries it out to the driveway so we have to wait till he's done eating before we can start walking.  They are all rescue dogs.  I always thought I was a cat person but I guess I can be a dog person too.  Buster doesn't like them so I don't bring them home too often.

If you get a chance, rescue a dog and take them for a walk, your whole like will change for the better.