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.

 

Transfers, Cats and Buster Day

Everyone knows how much I love cats, especially the little black and white one that wakes me up at 5 every morning.  I love dogs but cats and kittens just seem to know I'm one of them.  The last 4 I've had trained me well.  Buster is 10 months old now and still makes me laugh all day long.

He thinks the laundry basket fits just perfect.

Today when I pulled the chair away from the table, he was hiding under there.  I keep towels on my kitchen chairs so he doesn't scratch the leather.  He plays tag.  He runs up real fast, stands up and smacks one of us on the arm and then runs away.

Anyway, I found a wonderful Ebay store that had some cat charms relatively cheap so I made some pendants but haven't decided how to finish them yet.  They might end up being key ring charms or purse blings.

This shows a cat with a halo and angel wings, not Buster.

I had a cabochon sitting on my desk for two years and finally decided what to do with it.

I started beading around it.  Started over 4 times because I didn't like the beads.  Now I have to decide how to hang it.

Last but not least.  I love doing transfers on to clay but they don't always turn out.  A couple years ago a friend made these laser copies for me and I forgot about them.  Found them the other day and thought I would give it a try.  Didn't know if two or three year old copies would work and these are pretty big.  It worked great.  It's on white clay and is covered with resin.  The thing that looks like a tiara is actually going to be the bail.

I'm getting a new laser printer today.  I'm really excited.  I want to try more transfer work and use family pictures.  I don't have good luck with printers and cameras so this will be interesting.  My friend suggested I keep the new printer covered since Buster loves printers.

WHAT YOU DO WITH A BAG

Next time you get a Trader Joe's bag, bite a hole in the side and keep sticking your head out.

This cat makes me laugh all day long.  He is still stealing things.  Pens are missing from every desk, his original collar that he had on when I got him from the shelter is no where to be found.  He probably put it in the cat liter so I wouldn't put it back on him. 

He's a climber, if we can't find him, we just go in the closet and look up.

I can't believe I got so lucky.

I'm doing a demo tomorrow on Kaleidoscope canes at our beading club and I don't have anything ready yet.  I have a migraine but I better get to work.  I want to make one something like this but with more Skinner blends and less pre-blended canes.

I've been making a lot of Stroppel canes from all the pieces I had left from our guild's cane exchange.  I usually do them in black but I did one yesterday with a coral layer to it.

I really like this.  It's more summery and lighter looking.

By the way, it was 80 here today and I played golf for the first time in 3 months.  It was gorgeous.

STEAMPUNK PENDANTS AND A CURIOUS CAT

I found a couple wonderful places on Etsy to buy bezels and watch parts.  It's really hard to photograph resin because it back flashes because of the shine. 

I went back to Picasa to edit my pictures.  Now I just have to find a place to take better pictures.

THE CURIOUS CAT

Buster now weighs 3.2 pounds.  He loves to eat.  Good thing he came to right house because we love to eat too :0).

Having a kitten is really interesting.  I forgot how much trouble they can get into and how lovable they can be.  First thing in the morning I check all the blogs that I follow.  He gets on my desk and watches all the pages change and loves to follow the mouse arrow.

I wonder if he can read?  He sleeps right next to my pillow at night.  He has since the first night I got him.  I'll be in trouble if he ever gets to be a big cat.

CANE SWAP

Our guild is having a cane swap in February so I need to get to work and make some canes.  I like making flower canes but I would like to do some Kaleidoscope canes.  If you know a good one, send it to me.

  It's hard to type when a little cat keeps stepping on the key board.

EARRINGS ARE GONE - BACK TO CLAY -YIPPEE

Mailed the earrings and coral necklace this morning so now I can get back to claying.  Yippeeeeeeeeeee

A WONDERFUL GIFT

My husband and I go to breakfast every Sunday morning at the same restaurant.  We see the same people in there every Sunday.  One of the ladies is a member of my golf league.  We usually chat for a couple minutes.  Last year on the 4th of July I was wearing my beaded flag bracelet and she raved about it so I gave it to her.  Last Sunday she handed me a little bag with two wrapped items in it.

She knew I love cats and she knew I lost Booboo.  These are refrigerator magnets.  The wood one on the right looks like it had been inlaid.  The metal one on the left has Boo's smile.

LIZARD TAIL PENDANT

Finished one of my pendants today.  I used black chain, large silver beads and black volcano beads.  Showed it to my husband and he said it was too long so I re-did it shorter and I like it better.  His suggestions don't always work but most of the time he's right.  (Who said that?)

Camera and I are having a fight again.  This should be brighter.  Click on the picture to see it better.  I really like it.

Hey Booboo, got two new cats but they don't like tuna and don't make noise.

MIGRAINE CAT - HERE MOUSY MOUSY - ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

My husband said I should make a mouse to go with the glow in dark cat earrings and I thought that was pretty silly.  Next thing I know I'm looking in a Christi Friesen book to see if there were any mice in there because I for one don't like mice and don't care what they look like.  Well, I made some glow in the dark clay and put some black embossing powder in it and the next thing I knew I had a mouse.  I showed it to Booboo and he pulled it out of my hand and started batting it around the floor.  I set the mouse on the chair and he kept moving trying to get the mouse.

I made 2 more and gave them to my friends Judy, Evelyn and Rose today just for a laugh.  I have to make more now because they wouldn't give them back.

I glued their leather tails in with liquid Sculpey before I baked them.  They do glow in the dark.  I hope the girls remember that before they put them on their night table.  Ha ha ha.  The one on the left got a bigger nose than the rest.  He must have a sinus infection.

MIGRAINE CAT

Yesterday I woke up with a migraine and spent a lot of time on the couch with an icepack on my head.  The one I have has long strings on it.  Every time I laid on the couch, Booboo would come up and lay on me.  I put the strings on him and he didn't care. He knew I didn't feel good.  He's a soother.  If anyone knows any good ways to relieve a migraine please let me know.  I have drugs but they don't help much.

ROSE'S BIRTHDAY

Today we celebrated Rose's birthday.  It was actually in September but this was the first time we could all get together.  We had a wonderful day.  We went to a big bead store in Tempe, AZ and then to a cute little restaurant for lunch and then to another shopping center and then to Joann's for some serious craft shopping.

I wanted to give her something hand made and I saw a flexible mold from Penny Couch that had roses in it.  Not sure what she's going to use this for but I guess she could put it on her beading bag or her tool bag.

BAD NEWS

My new camera that I've only had for 3 weeks is broke.  Tried to take some flash pictures and it didn't work.  Sent it back and hope to get a replacement soon so I'm back to using my little Sony.

By the way, I got a box of Good & Plenty from my husband for our anniversary yesterday.  He did take me out for a nice dinner though.



BIRTHDAY LUNCH - LUCKY ME AND POLYMER PIECES

BIRTHDAY LUNCH

Even though it was a 109 today my friends Rose, Evelyn and Judy took me out for lunch for my birthday. It isn't till Sunday but this was the only day we could all get together.  We went to a wonderful restaurant called "Vogue Bistro".  That was my first time there and I loved it.  They have the best sweet potato fries I've ever had.  We had a great lunch and the waiter brought us a beautiful birthday desert.  I should have taken a picture of it.  It was four compartments and had chocolate coated macaroons, white chocolate coated dried fruit with macadamia nuts, white chocolate coated passion fruit and chocolate coated French wafers.  I don't want to eat again for a while.

I got some wonderful gifts (this is all leading to polymer clay) Evelyn gave me shoes to go walking in the water ( I guess she wants me to go to the pool again), a shirt with 2 cats on it, a container for my polymer clay and beading stuff and beads, Judy gave some special chalks to use on the new Tina Holden Honeycomb Tutorial http://beadcomber.blogspot.com/ that you can get the information for at her blog, Judy also made me one of her special bracelets out of canes that she has made and I'll post a picture of it when I get it back.  It needed one more bead.  Rose gave me a kitty stamp and a beautiful necklace.  She got the pendant from our friend Lupe at http://miramecreations.blogspot.com/ .  Lupe will be telling you all about it on her blog but Rose made the necklace part and put it together:

They all know I love cats and this necklace is gorgeous.  I think Rose and Lupe should team up and make jewelry although both of them make gorgeous pieces.

POLYMER CLAY AT LAST

I was gone 3 weeks and didn't get to do any polymer clay.  It's like not eating ice cream for a year.  Phooey, won't do that again.

I spent 3 days beading around a cabochon that I had done using the Barbara Maguire Mokume Gane technique.  I think it gave me a headache but it's done and I love it.

I made a short Herringbone necklace for it.  My camera still isn't taking good pictures but I should probably be taking pictures in the daytime.  I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can get a good one.

Next pieces are some Mica Shift that I was playing around with.  I actually bought the mica shift tutorial from Lynda Moseley http://www.scdiva.blogspot.com/ who does some incredible mica shift pieces.  As you can see I like to support the artists.  Here are my pieces.

I added a little of my own technique to the bottom ones.  Lynda does her with sanding and buffing.  I did sand these but then I put Magic Glos on them.

I had some leftover purple clay and some inks and other texture sheets.  As you can see I love those oval cutters and my new heart cutters with the tipped tail.

FLEXIBLE MOLDS

I've had a box full of flexible molds that I didn't do a lot with.  Last night I saw someone doing clay with flexible molds but not the way I had done it in the past.  I thought I would get them out and try the new way.  Looked interesting.  I have a Celtic cross mold and I know Evelyn likes those.  I made one and decided to make two more.  Now I know I was going about it all wrong and last night I finally did it right.

These came out beautiful even if I have to say so myself.  I used Magic glos on the middle part of the cross.  I used two coats, which I normally do.  I did the bails using the Cindy Lietz method http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/ which you can find in her tutorials.  It worked wonderful.  Check out her website.  She sends tutorials every Friday and she is remarkable.  It's a really small fee to receive these tutorials but the learning experience from them is priceless.

These three crosses are now with Judy, Rose and Evelyn.  They got birthday presents from me.

Thanks girls for a wonderful lunch, great presents and a fun day.  I love you all.

EARRING SWAP - RIVOLI PENDANTS - FLOWER CANE

Let's start with the EARRING SWAP.  My clay guild had a swap and we wanted to do earrings but didn't want them finished so that people could decide if they wanted post or French wires or clip ons and everyone could finish them however they wanted.  Some of our members don't wear earrings so they could make bracelets or pendants or keep them in the bag and just look at them, tee hee hee.

I'm having a little camera trouble so I put both pictures up so you can see all the beautiful pieces.  I need to get my photo set up out and up soon so I can take some decent pictures.

RIVOLI PENDANTS

At our last clay guild meeting we had a demo on how to make pendants with Rivolis, I would have been better off making ravioli's.  I'm not even putting a picture of the one I made at guild on the blog.  I showed it to my husband and he said he thought it weighed 6 pounds so we won't put a picture of that on here.  BUT, I came home and decided to make a couple more but not with the rolled bail.  I used some old clay canes that I had and I love the results.

The pendant on the left has a black Rivoli in that's hard to see.  The one on the right has a peach colored Rivoli and two small, peach colored Swarovski flatbacks.  This clay combination was a mix left from last September from our retreat in Prescott.  I took scraps from people and combined them.

MORE GOLF STROKE COUNTERS

Had a request for more golf stroke counters and sold the ones I had that I was going to send to my sister.  Her golf league girls keep buying them for gifts for all their friends.  I made some canes out of leftover clay and did some extruder canes and put them together.  I also put some wood beads between the clay beads, the wood beads are really nice and quite a bit cheaper than the metal ones I was using.

I thought I had a lot of beads made for the counters but I think Rose took them to make necklaces. LOL.

FLOWER CANE

I've made many flower canes but they never looked like I wanted them to.  I was playing around with some left over clay tonight, had an idea I wanted to try and was very happy with the outcome.  I also used the Lynne Schwarzenberg method of reducing so I didn't loose much cane.  It didn't take long and it was really easy.  Going to try again this weekend with different colors and a couple different ideas.

Picture isn't very good but the flower is cute and kept it's shape.  YEAH!!!!!!!

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

This blog wouldn't be complete without a picture of one my favorite guys.  Booboo sleeping in his bed next to my work table in my studio.  If I'm there, he's there.  He will be 19 on Halloween this year.  Those are his rubber balls laying by him in the bed.  He carrys them around in his mouth and sings.  I picked them up and put them in his bed while he was sleeping and he never woke up.  He brings me a ball and I throw it and he goes and gets it.  My friends think he is part dog.  I wash those balls all the time but they never stay clean.  He still likes to eat toilet paper.  He did that when he was a baby and still does.

Goodnight Annie, you are a bright and shining star and we still miss you.