HERE'S MY HEARTS

I'm sure you all saw the articles about Dr. Ron Lehocky in the Polymer Cafe magazine this month.

He was also featured on Polymer Clay Daily.  Dr. Lehocky makes the most beautiful hearts that he sells to support the continuing education for the therapists that support "The Kids Center for Pediatric Therapies".

I contacted Ron about getting some of his hearts and to find out where I could send some polymer clay canes for him to use on his hearts.

I went through all my canes and filled a box full for him.  I also had a big container full of pin backs so I threw a bunch of those in too.  I had canes from a Jana Roberts Benson class I took and one from a Sarah Shriver class I took.  I love making flower canes so I sent him one that I made that I really liked.

When I got my hearts from him, he made one with this cane.  Hard to believe they are the same one.

If you click on the picture you see them up close.  The heart on the top right was made with the cane in the above picture.  He explains how to make that in his article in Polymer Cafe.  The blue one is also from the box of canes I sent him.  I was going to give them as gifts but I think I'm keeping them all for me.  LOL  Aren't they beautiful.  You can go to this website to get more information about kids and the organization http://kidscenterky.org/ .

POOR BUSTER

My baby kitten had to have surgery.  Last Friday they took 20 jagged stones out of his bladder and urethra.  He's not feeling good.  It breaks my heart to see him like this.  His bladder is very swollen and he's hurting.  Say a little prayer for him, he's my best buddy.

Hope you all have a very Happy New Year.

NEW STROPPEL CANE

In February, Alice Stroppel came up with another new way to use up old canes and it's really great.  If you want to see how she does it, watch this tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwSolMWyo3k

Of course I had to try it.  My first one came out really interesting.  I thought I took a picture but I can't find it.

The Orlando Clay Guild is having a big Clay Fandango and asked if I would donate something so I made a pendant using the new Stroppel cane and used one of Penni Jo Couch's molds.  It's my favorite one actually.  So this is going in the mail today.

Wish I was going to Florida to be with all those fun girls and do clay.

A REALLY FUN CLAY DAY

Yesterday at our beading club we had a clay day.  We have 140 members in our club and about 20 of us do clay.   Some of the ladies are new to clay and it amazes me the beautiful things they are making.  I like to show them different techniques when we get together like Mokume Gane, using the extruder, Natasha beads, etc.  They love making canes and I like putting my own twist on things I see in magazines and books. Yesterday we made a cane and wouldn't you know I screwed mine up when I was almost done so it was good for them to see what happens when you make a mistake.  They all put their own twist on everything especially the colors.  It always amazes me what we end up with.  I have a couple pieces in the oven from my screw up that I'll post tomorrow or Saturday but here are some things I made Tuesday night to show them and here are the ones they made.

These are the pendants I made and took some end pieces and made bobby pins with Swarovski crystals in them.

These are some of the canes the ladies made.  They all love bright colors, it will be interesting to see the things they make with these.  We did use Penni Jo's molds with this and made some great looking pendants.

Can't wait to see all the beautiful things they make with these pieces.  I turned my Skinner Blend the wrong way so I don't have pretty pieces like these.

PUFF, PUFF, PUFF AND HE LOVES TINA

Yesterday my BFF's (Evelyn, Judy and Rose) came over for a clay day.  Judy brought donuts so that started things out right.  We were trying to decide what we wanted to do.  Our friend Tish (President of the Arizona Polymer Clay Guild) was telling me about these Puff Pendants she was making and how much fun they were.  I showed Tish's pictures to the BFF's and we decided to try it.  IT WAS FUN.

These were right out of the oven.  I think we had donuts on the brain.  Hope to have a finished picture soon.

Couldn't eat just one, I mean couldn't make just one.  I made two more.  I used a Stroppel Cane and a cane that I got from our guild's cane swap.  I was too lazy to sand and buff so I used varathane on them and then buffed them.  They each had a little leafing in them so I didn't want to lose that look.

The top one on the right is not a puff pendant.  It's a swirly lentil on a texture sheet.  I'm still thinking about donuts.  This is so much fun.  You can use up scraps of clay to make these.  They are really light.  You can put a leather rope through the hole or glue a bail on the back.  I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all the possibilities and wondering if there were any donuts left.

HE LOVES TINA

Wednesday night I was looking for my Shimmering Batik Tutorial from Tina Holden.  I couldn't find it.  I just organized my office and now I can't find anything.  So, I decided to print it out again because that's what I was going to do yesterday before the donuts showed up.  LOL

Buster came flying in the office when I started printing the tutorial and he sat there watching the whole thing print.  He even tried to help some of the sheets out.  I sent this picture to Tina so she would have a good laugh too.

TINA, HE LOVES YOUR SHIMMERING BATIK, and so do I.  I probably have 4 copies somewhere.

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???????????????



JUST COULDN'T LEAVE IT ALONE

Our clay guild is having a cane swap at our February meeting so I've been playing around with canes.  I love making flower canes with weird Skinner blend combinations but I don't know if that's what I'm going to do.  Thank goodness not all the canes have to be the same.  I'm really excited about getting canes from 12 other people after seeing this necklace on CraftEdu.

OK, I made a cane,

JUST COULDN'T LEAVE IT ALONE

I think I liked it better before but this will make great beads for my golf stroke counters.

I need to get to work now and make some canes.

HINT HINT: Read Colt Pixy's blog today http://coltpixy.com/ she talks about using Super Sculpey to clean your pasta machine.

UPDATE ON BUSTER

He's still fascinated by the computer.  Yesterday morning I poured a cup of coffee and sat down on my desk.  He jumped up on my keyboard and when I tried to move him, I hit the coffee cup and dumped it on my shirt and in my lap.  Burned my stomach and leg but not bad.  John came in and pulled the shirt away from me.  I'm just thankful little Buster didn't get burned.

POLYMER CLAY CANES AND MISTER BUSTER

Last week at our beading club a bunch of us got together and did clay.  I was teaching beginner classes there but since my back has been so bad I haven't been able to commit to anything.  My friend Rose has been getting the ladies together and doing clay and they are having a ball.  Rose is a wonderful teacher and she's a lot wilder than I am with her colors so the ladies are really enjoying it.  I was amazed at some pieces that were made by some "first time clayers".  I wish I could get out of my boring box and find my wild side again.  Anyway, I put the instructions for a cane on my Pinterest board HERE.  It's called Rita's demo but we knew it as a Lynne Cane.  This is one of my favorite canes and I had some blue and white clay out so I made one.  I put the 4 pieces of square cane together and will work on getting it smoother at the seams and then maybe cut a piece for a pendant and put a Swarovski crystal in the middle.  It's a fun cane, you can't ruin it.

MISTER BUSTER

My friends on face book are laughing about all the stories and pictures I've posted about "Mister Buster" my new kitten.  He's grown about 2 inches since I got him on December 27th.

I'm exhausted, my house is a wreck, I'm constantly on guard for falling flowers, pictures and nick knacks.  I have no idea where the pens are that were on my desk, my Chap Stick is missing and so are two of my crochet hooks.  We had to put the butter up in a cupboard.  I do not allow any animals on tables or counter tops, never have, never will and this little likes to test my patience.  I think he has a higher IQ than I do, he's faster than I am and he can hide in places I can't get my hands in.

I yelled at him the other night and he hid under my desk.  See the beads all over the floor, we had words about that.

He was hiding behind my DVD's in the printer cabinet.  If I hadn't seen the little blue can moving, I wouldn't have known he was there.

He has a fascination for beads.  I need to watch him constantly when he is in my studio.

Last night we were going to bed and I called him.  No Answer.  We looked for 25 minutes and finally found him in the closet in the wrapping paper.  Don't know how he got in there, we don't leave those doors open.

This is Buster getting a bath.  It took two of us.  He was really good for a while and then he turned around and pushed the faucet off.  I believe that will probably be the last cat bath.  Took us two days to recover.

FAUX BONE TUTORIAL

I bought the Faux Bone Tutorial from my friend Lynda Moseley from her Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/SCDiva.  It's incredible.  She has done so much work and the information and pictures in the tutorial are very professional and comprehensive.  Whether you are a seasoned polymer clay person or a new one, this tutorial gives you everything.  I have almost all Lynda's tutorials and it boggles my mind how much information she shares and how much work she has put into them.  This one is no exception.  Lynda doesn't know I'm doing this but I wanted to give her a plug because she is one of most sharing and helpful and pay it forward people I've ever dealt with.  Please visit her shop and see her beautiful work.  I want to be like Lynda when I grow up :0).

SHE WILL SPARKLE PLENTY

My 96 year old friend Jane is the classiest woman I've ever met.  She's been in a nursing home now for about a year.  I've known her since I was 5.  Her nephew and I were sweethearts in first grade and I won't even tell you how long ago that was.

Jane worked in a shoe store and a high end gift store for almost 60 years.  I visited her in the gift store and she talked me into buying my first ever Gucci purse.  I wore that purse for 3 years.  I loved it.  I digress again.  Jane gets dressed to the nines everyday as I mentioned in a previous blog.  I talked to her this morning and she said it's really exciting in the nursing home now because the nurses and the aides come in to see what earrings she is wearing every day.  She was so excited with the last bunch I sent her.  She said "I SPARKLE PLENTY".  I asked if she needed any other color and she wouldn't tell me but as we finished our conversation she said she would love a pair of pearl and silver earrings.  She is so funny.  She said it was no hurry.  She forgets she's 96.  She really tickles me.  When I have a problem and don't know what to do, I call Jane.  She always leads me down the right path.

She was beautiful when she was young and is still very stately.  These pearl earrings went out in the mail to her today.

White Pearls

Black Pearls

Green Pearls

The polymer clay swirl bead in the picture with the earrings was made with:

this cane.  I sanded it starting at 320 grit and went up to 3000.  It was buffed on a high speed buffer and for those of you who don't know much about buffing, it's not hard but you have to remember to shut your buffer off every couple minutes to let the buffer pads cool down.  If you don't, the hot pads can distort your clay because of the heat.  Been there, done that.

NEW CANE

I love making canes, they don't always come out the way I expected them to.  I made this one yesterday.

Then I cut it in half and doubled it.

I made some cabochons with the cane.  They have been sanded with 320 and 400 grit.  I have a ways to go yet.

With the leftovers, I'm making beads to make a necklace and bracelet.

I taught this cane yesterday in a little polymer clay group that we have that meets at our beading club.  I forgot to take pictures of everyone's pendants when they were done.  They turned out beautiful.  I really like this cane, I want to try it in different colors.

Have a claying good time.  As Rose would say "When you're claying your Playing".

Goodnight my dear Booboo.  Is there Catnip in Heaven?