TH EARTHY INFLUENCE NECKLACE

THE TORY HUGHES EARTHY INFLUENCE NECKLACE.

This is the necklace I've been working on since I took the Tory Hughes class two weeks ago.  I wasn't able to finish it right away because I had to finish the buttons for our clay guild's exchange this Saturday.

We took two classes from Tory.  One was called mixed media and the other one was hinges.  This necklace was made with mostly Premo clay.  I textured the front and back and then antiqued it with acrylic paint after it baked.  The necklace is made of deep brown chips and small pieces of turquoise.  The toggle is a beautiful antique copper piece that I found at a bead store.  The top hinge was made from 20 gauge copper wire that I bought from A Beaded Affair http://www.abeadedaffair.com/.  She sells beautiful copper wire and has an Etsy page also http://www.etsy.com/shop/abeadedaffair.  I love this wire and won't use any other copper wire.  I got spoiled.  The bottom pieces are 18 gauge copper wire (also from A Beaded Affair).

This is the back of necklace.  I guess I could wear it either way.

As you can see on the top, it leans down to an angle.  I wasn't sure how I was going to do this so it would hang straight so I used the 16 gauge copper wire and made eye pins and attached them to the piece and put the chips going between the eye pins.  The single turquoise piece on the bottoms swings freely which I really like.

I'm still working in my dining room because of the flood in my studio and the new window won't be in till the 24th of February so, I guess I'll be here at least another two weeks by the time everything is done.  I guess I should be thankful.  It could have been a lot worse, at least I can still do clay and my 18 year old cat Booboo is sleeping right here next to me.  He got a blanket in the mail from Humane Society of the United States and he loves it.  He sure snores loud though.

OH WHAT A MESS, NO MORE RAIN, PLEASE!!!!!!!

Well, I mentioned that it rained in my studio two weeks ago.  Little did I know that the little bucket full of water that I collected was going to cause such a big problem.  Over the weekend I took a Tory Hughes class which really inspired me to come home and go outside and get dirt and THINGS and put them in my polymer clay.  It also made me want to come home and HINGE everything in my studio.  When I got home Sunday night I had to start moving everything out of my studio and put it in the dining room and the hallway.  Some is in the garage and some is in places where I don't remember that I put it so it will be a surprise when I find it.  Anyway, I took a couple pictures of my dining room and hallway so you can see how bad it is.  Even the cat's confused.

As you can see, I have a lot of STUFF as my husband would say.

I decided I was going to do clay at my little table in the dining room anyway.  I wanted to do some Art from the Heart and make something different than I normally do.  I made some pieces that I can hinge or not.  I can also wire wrap them or leave them as separate pieces.  I haven't decided yet.  I've also been making buttons again for our guilds button exchange.  I made some yesterday and baked them at too high a temperature and they came out looking like little pieces of chocolate.  I forgot to check the temperature on the oven and got company while I was baking.  I may antique them with white paint.  That should work.

Here are a couple pieces that I did.  One I'm going to call "Here's looking at you"  I love this lady's face.

This is the entire set of pieces that I did today.  I don't have an area to take good pictures so these are the best I could do under the circumstances.

When we took the Tory class we had to put the holes in the pieces after they were baked and one of the girls had a teeny-tiny drill bit that worked great.  I found some in my Dremel stash today but didn't have the collette to fit them in the Dremel so I made my own little polymer clay handles.  They work great.  They look big in the picture but they are only about 1-1/2 inches long.

Prior to doing polymer clay I spent most of my time engraving glass (not etching).  I do hand engraving with an electric tool and diamond burrs.  I engraved vases, mirrors, wine glasses (even did pickle jars).  The vase below took me 3 nights of continuous work.  When engraving glass, I usually highlight the engraved area with Rub n Buff.  It's amazing how long that stays on the engraved area.  I haven't done much engraving since I started polymer clay but as soon as my studio gets back together I'm going to start again.  It's an art that is not very well known.  I did 40 vases with roses on them for a friend who's daughter was making her Quinceanera.  Her name was Rose.  I never wanted to see another rose but this is one of my favorites.

Now that one of my best friends name is Rose and she is a sweet heart, I'll get back into doing Roses again, nothing is more beautiful than a Rose in bloom.

Hinged Polymer Clay Pendant

This is going to be a short blog today.  I have to get everything out of my studio because the construction guys are coming tomorrow to take the walls down and repair the damage from the big storm we had two weeks ago.  I don't know how long I'm going to be working in the dining room but I'm getting claustrophobic already.  AND, I can't find anything.  I put things in the garage and the closets and drawers and boxes.

Anyway, the picture is of a hinged pendant that I made this weekend.  It's polymer clay and I made the hinges myself.  I took a Tory Hughes class on Saturday and Sunday and it was fabulous. She's the only woman I know that travels with a 40 pound belt sander and a drill press.   She is a great teacher and she went out of her way to show me that I needed to reach within myself to find my art.  I like using cutters and forms and texture sheets and doing things that are more classic instead of earthy.  Tory is a very earthy person and her work reflects that.  It's beautiful and complicated but soft and when you look at it, it says Tory Hughes on it.  She tried to make me feel that and at first I was afraid but then the inner me took over.  My piece is still not without some outside influence but it's better.

Tory makes you want to be one with the dirt and the earth which is hard for me because I'm not an earthy person.  I was raised to be classic and mop up the dirt not put it in my clay.  Maybe I can be one with the plaster for the next few weeks.

Thanks Tory, YOU ROCK and dirt and paint and hinge and sand and drill :0).