MY DEAR TALENTED FRIEND

I've mentioned my BFF's in many blogs.  You've heard me talk about Rose, Judy and Evelyn.  All three do polymer clay and all three are talented beyond belief.

Today I have to tell you about Evelyn.  She was an art teacher in her other life before she retired and came to Arizona.  She taught in some tough places.  The last couple years has taken a toll on her eyes.  She's fighting macular degeneration and she's still young and vivacious.  Even though she can't see, she is still doing clay and making gorgeous jewelry and fun things for her new granddaughter.

Last month at our clay guild we had a cane exchange and Evelyn wasn't sure what to do since I talked her into it.  She started to stress so I had her come over and we played around with doing Kaleidoscope canes.  She made a beautiful cane that she put into the swap and I was shocked when I opened the package and found the cane that I had fallen in love with.  The colors were vibrant and they were colors that I don't know I would have put together.  She has a way with colors.

This is the original cane she did.  I've been on a rip doing spiral, lentil beads, big ones.  Last night I was looking through my canes and thought what a great bead that cane would make and it would have to be big in order to fully see the detail in the cane.  I just finished sanding and buffing this bead.

I can't wait till Evelyn sees it.

Front

Back

I hope they come up with a cure for macular degeneration soon.  There are too many people out there with talent like her's that we need to cherish and appreciate.

Thanks Evelyn.

KALEIDOSCOPE DEMO

Our beading club is getting into polymer clay with a bang.  I've been teaching beginner classes for two years but because of a bad back, I haven't had a chance to do a class this year.  My friend Rose has been getting the girls that are interested in polymer together and doing demos and just playing with clay.  These girls are amazing.  Some of the things they have come up with are awesome.

Last week Rose did a demo with them on Skinner blends and spliced canes.  I saw some of the canes they did and I was awe struck.  Yesterday I did a Kaleidoscope cane demo.  I made some Skinner blend plugs the night before to use in the cane.  I'm really happy with the way the cane came out.

This is the original that I made into a square.



This is 4 squares together, cut in half and put back together.

This is another part of the cane that I made into a triangle, flipped 2 parts of the triangle over and cut into 3 pieces and then cut in half.  The girls loved this cane so much I gave them all pieces.  I have quite a bit left so I can do it again but I know it won't be exactly the same.  You can see the spots on the card behind the cane.  It happened so fast because some of my clay (black) was pretty fresh and it leached on the card before I had a chance to move it.

NOW, what do I make with this???????????????