LET'S GO GOLFING-------FORE

Many years ago a friend of mine bought me a very expensive golf stroke counter and it was made of plastic.  It was nice but my friend said "why don't you make some of these with your polymer clay beads?"  The first time I put them in my Etsy shop I sold 10 counters in a week and got orders for more.  For a while, I wasn't keeping up very well with my Etsy shop but I decided it was time to get back into it.  I sell the counters for $15 and shipping and I know with all the work I put into them I'm not making any money but if I raised the price, I wouldn't sell any either.

These are a few of the latest ones I put in my shop.  I make the beads, bake them, put three coats of glaze on them and bake them again.  Every counter has some glitzy beads on the bottom.  They can be used to keep track of how many times you walk around the block and how many times you let the dog out.  

Here's my Etsy Shop check it out.

I'm going golfing.

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

POLYMER CLAY AND FRIENDS

Was there a life before polymer clay?  I still have friends that I stay in touch with that I went to high school with and friends that I worked with but I realized this morning that most of my close friends are ones that I've met because of our shared passion for polymer clay.  When I joined the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild I made friends that I absolutely cherish.  When I started teaching polymer clay at our beading club I made friends who are part of my daily life and I cherish all of them.  If it weren't for polymer clay, I wonder what I would be doing and who I would be hanging out with.  So, I'll tell you where this is leading.  About 6 months ago a woman joined out guild and we hit it off right from the get-go.  She is one of the most talented clay artists I've ever met and I just love her colors and unique things that she makes.  The fact that she has an incredible sense of humor is also what brought us together.  We have been supporting each other through some tough times the last couple months and she decided she needed to cheer me up and let me know how much she really cares.

These are the presents I got from her Saturday.  The thing in the middle is a card with a picture of a cat in a bag.  I've been laughing non stop every time I look at it.  I'm sure that's Buster's twin.  Check out the gorgeous pendants and the bead she made.  The bead was made from pieces of cane that she got from me in our cane swap.  I'm trying to figure out how I can wear all three at the same time.

 

She also gave me this incredible texture sheet.  You know there are going to be a lot of cat things made with this.  LOL

 

Please check out Michele's Etsy shop if you want to see some beautiful pieces.

 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/MichelesArtJewelry

 

Thanks again my dear Michele.  That card is sitting on my desk and it makes me smile non-stop.