Monday, June 22, 2015

LET'S WATCH KLEW MAKE BEADS

Last year I joined (click here) or here -> POLYMER CLAY ADVENTURE and joined the PCA Virtual Retreat Experience.  It's really great.  There are 24 lessons that you can watch on your computer from some really well known polymer clay artists.

Yesterday, I was watching Karen Lewis AKA Klew making beads with polymer clay.  She is so smooth and her shapes and techniques are really interesting and beautiful.  Well, right in the middle of the video, Buster jumped up on my desk and pushed my papers aside and laid down and watched the video with me.  I should have taken a video of him because his head would move from side to side and up and down as she was talking.  I could swear he knew what she was talking about.


 He was really interested, I was cracking up.  He hardly gets on my desk anymore.  He use to when he was a baby, he always watched the computer.

This is Buster when he was a baby reading my blog.  I can't believe how big he's gotten.  I didn't think he was going to be a big cat but I didn't think I was going to be a big cat either.  It might be that I feed the two of us too much.



If you have an opportunity to join the Polymer Clay Adventure, it really is worth it and you will never be able to get 24 classes with those incredible artists for that price.

Check it out.

Friday, June 19, 2015

PEBEO PAINTS AND SOMETHING NEW FOR ME


I belong to 2 groups on facebook that are only for the Pebeo paints.  I've seen some of the canvases that people do on there and they are beautiful.  One day at Michael's they had these canvases on sale that are already stretched around a wood frame.  I've been using the Prisme colors on jewelry and polymer clay but have never done a canvas so I thought I would try one.  This is the second one I did and I really like but not sure what to do with it.  In 24 hours this changed so much for the better.


This is the first one I did.  I added some of those tiny no hole beads to see what would happen.  This is a mix of Moon and Prisme paints and I swirled this one.  The other one I just added the paints next to each other.  Some people pour the paints on their canvases, I used a large wooden stir stick to drop the paint on.  Now I need to figure out what to do with them.  I don't like a lot of knick knacks and decorating stuff because it's so dusty here in Arizona and I don't like to dust.  I have a couple bigger canvases that I want to try with this paint and some inclusions.


This is the thermometer on our back patio and today it's suppose to be 115.  My muse is hiding in the refrigerator and she won't come out.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

SOMEONE WAS WATCHING OVER ME

Every morning at 6:30 I go to my friends house to walk Beau and Champ.  Beau is the big one on the left.  We walk for 30 minutes and then we go for a ride in my golf cart.  Dogs love riding in golf carts, it's like being in a convertible.  They get lots of air.  I go very slow when I have them in the cart.  Champ snuggles next to me and Beau lays on his belly on the floor.  He's too heavy for me to lift to the seat and can't jump any more because of arthritis.  After our ride yesterday, I took them to their house and then headed home to my house.  Here is Sun City West it's a little dangerous driving because we have a lot of 80 and 90 year olds who still drive but can't hear or see.   My friend calls it
"The Over 55 Demolition Resort Town".

As I was going towards my house I saw a really old car out of the corner of my right eye and two older gentlemen were talking and looking at each other and I didn't think they saw the stop sign.  I guess I hit the brake too hard and my cart turned and flipped over on it's side.  Thank God I had my seat belt on and it landed on the passenger side and most of all I thank God that the dogs weren't with me.  That was the first thing that went through my mind.  I was pinned in the seat by the seat belt and couldn't get it off and I was surrounded by golf cart with no way to get out.  The entire front window is made of Plexiglass and it flips down to use when golfing.  A couple guys pulled the window down to see if I could get out and when they did the whole right side of the window cracked.  It took me a couple tries but I finally made it out.  We were worried that the gas tank may have been damaged when the cart flipped.  By then, the ambulance, 4 Sheriff cars, the fire truck and 6 posse cars were there.  My husband pulled up and hugged me.  They put me in the ambulance, took my vitals and asked a million questions.  Told me my blood pressure was good considering what I had just been through.


5 guys tipped the cart up and moved it to the curb.  Police officers were chasing my golf balls down the street and picking up golf tees off the ground.  They were all so nice.  If only I was 30 younger and in my right mind from the accident and the sun and heat,,,,, those firemen were gorgeous, now all I can do is adopt a couple.  LOL  The two old guys took off before I had a chance to say anything so I think they knew I was right but it didn't matter at that point.  Today I have a sore right rib, a big bump on my right leg shin and a bruise on my right knee which isn't much.

I wanted to post this because I wanted to say in writing how lucky I was and who ever was watching over me I want to thank them and the guy that put the seat belt in my golf cart.  I was told that if I didn't have that seat belt on I would have hit the hot pavement under the cart or would have been thrown to who knows where and no one knows how long I would have been in the hospital if I lived to go to the hospital.  

I know this isn't one of my happy and funny blog posts but if it helps remind just one person to put a seat belt on, that makes me very happy.

Buckle up your children, don't leave children or animals in hot cars and keep them away from water.

I hope they make it mandatory for people in retirement cities to have seat belts on their golf carts while they are riding in the street. 

I want to thank all my friends for their support and well wishes.  I really appreciate it. 

Now I need some courage to go drive the cart again and am so happy those dogs weren't with me.


Tuesday, June 2, 2015

THE MAGIC PAINT SAGA AND POLYMER CLAY GOES ON AND ON

Last week I showed my dentist some pendants I did with polymer clay and I gave him the crosses I made him with Pebeo paints.  He asked me to make a pendant for his wife.  So, I decided I wanted to try a few things with polymer clay and Pebeo that I didn't do before but I only had a week to finish his request.  I had 7 days to get something done and I got a headache the size of Texas.  It was either work or nap so most of the time I napped.  In between I made some pendants and I tried something new.  Instead of having a flat side and a textured side I decided to do pendants with two textured sides.  To one of the textured sides I added Pebeo Prisme paint.

I used this texture sheet to make the pendants.  I ran the clay through the machine with this sheet, folded it over and cut out pendants so there was texture on both sides.  Some of the pendants were done with black clay that I mixed with the new silver glitter clay.  I put the paint directly on the clay without putting PYMII on them.  I also made some silver and gold ones that I did put PYMII on before I put the paint on.  I baked all of them and then put the paint on.  The black ones without the PYMII curled a little when the paint started drying.  The other ones didn't.  The textures started showing through the paint which really surprised me.  If you click on the picture below you will see the texture coming through on the two large football shaped pieces.


This paint has a mind of it's own and you never know what the end product is going to be.  Once the paint dries, I put one layer of Magic Glos UV resin on them and then sand and buff the sides and back.  Then I put one or two more coats of Magic Glos on.


This is the back side of the finished pendants.


The doctor loved the little hearts so he took two of them and is giving one to his daughter.

I have about 10 more to finish but it's going to have to wait till the monster headache goes back to Texas.