POLYMER CLAY EXPERIMENT, GIVEAWAY AND SCARF FOR SOLDIERS AND ANNIE NEEDS A PRAYER

I bought the tutorial called Batik and Shimmering from Tina Holden at http://beadcomber.blogspot.com/.  It's a wonderful technique but I screwed it up somehow.  My friend Lupe at http://miramecreations.blogspot.com/ did a beautiful job and made a pendant that she is giving away but don't bother commenting because I'm going to win it.

I did the same technique but I think I used too many inks.  Here are my beads that I did.

Each one of these pictures has a story.

These are the original sheets of clay I made.  I think too much ink.

After I baked them I tried doing the technique where you put liquid clay on them, let them level and then bake them for 12 minutes at 325.  The back of the clay burned, the large bead got too plastic looking.  I peeled the liquid off.

These have Magic-Glos on them.  As you can see, I couldn't leave well enough alone and I used my new stamp pads on them before I baked them.  I am a mad scientist at heart.

These also have been stamped.  Some of them have liquid polymer clay on them and the two bottom right ones have a resin coat on them that I just got in the mail.  One step UV resin.  No mixing.  I have to sand the sides and bottom and it's a little thinner consistancy than Magic-Glos.  Going to take some practice with that.

These also have the ink stamped on them and they have a layer of Magic-Glos around the outer edge.  Tina Holden suggests this as a way to stop the Magic-Glos from pulling in.  I'll finish them tomorrow now that the taxes are done.

SOFTENING OLD CLAY AND CANES

Found some old canes that didn't want to soften up and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do.  Had to buy a new coffee carafe today and saw this at the hardware store and remember reading that someone used this to soften their clay and canes.  It's a Mr. Coffee mug warmer.  I'll put a piece of cloth on it and put the clay on to warm it up. 

SCARVES FOR THE MEN IN IRAQ

 

I told you I was crocheting a scarf for my club that will be donated to the 282nd Battalion in Iraq.  Well, they gave me the yarn and I mentioned it was 100% wool.  I got the yarn Friday and not realizing it, every time I worked on the scarf, I got a severe headache.  Finally figured out what the cause was and had to put a mask on to finish the scarf.  Either I'm allergic to the wool, the oils in the wool or it sat on a shelf or in a warehouse where there was mold and mildew.  I finished the scarf and sprayed it with that new Febreze.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, ANNIE NEEDS SOME PRAYERS

I know you all remember Annie the little Yorkie that my friends adopted right before Christmas.  She is 6 years old and came from a drug home where they raised pit-bulls for fighting.  Annie held her own but needed lots of food and lots of love.

This is a picture I took of Annie this past Sunday.  She was very lethargic and wasn't eating.  I held her for almost an hour.  My friends took her to the vet yesterday morning and Annie has a severe uterine infection and sepsis.  She's been given some major antibiotics but she's so small, she's really fighting.  She had tremors and was crying because the pain was so bad.

PLEASE SAY A LITTLE PRAYER FOR ANNIE.

GOLF STROKE COUNTER INFORMATION FOR LINDA AND CAROLYN

These are the latest ones that I did.  One I did with all polymer clay beads and the rest I put in the beads that I bought at Michael's.  Sometimes the holes in those are too big and they don't stay up so I put a little glue in them or wrap wire around them.  The beads must not fall by themselves or the counter won't be any good.

Girls (ladies) if you click on the picture it will show you a close up.  The beads on the far right have wire wrapping on them to make sure they stay up when the bead under them is pulled down.  You can see the new swivel lobster claws I put on them from the url I mentioned in our conversation from El at Tantalizing Stitches at http://bagnsupplies.com/.  She ships fast and 5% of your purchase is donated to animal charity and you know how I feel about animals.  Thanks El for that.

This is the Amy 2mm Macrame cord that I told you about.  You could probably use others but I like this.  I usually cut about 16 to 18 inches sometimes less and use that for the counter.

These are the two drills I use for the beads.  On the left is 5/64ths and the right is 1/8th which is the perfect size for the Amy cord.  Don't start your hole with the 1/8th right away.  Work your way up or the bead will crack.  Save all the little shavings and roll them into some translucent clay for a wild effect.

Let me know if you need anything else.  Maybe you two should come to Arizona and we can have a clay weekend.

SCARVES FOR OUR FORCES IN IRAQ

I belong to a club here in Sun City West that does a lot of charity work.  A couple months ago the Cave Creek, Arizona American Legion adopted a batalion that is over in Iraq.  They asked if someone could make them scarves and hats because it does get cold in the desert over there.  Our club volunteered to do this.  So far, I've made 4 scarves and 3 hats.  They are only allowed to have pure wool and the scarves have to be 12 inches wide and 42 inches long so they can be tucked into their pants.  They have to be pure wool in case of fire.  Wool does not burn the skin.  I started this scarf this morning.  It's suppose to be single crochet which is very boring and takes forever but we found out we could do a double crochet every few rows.  Now I've finished almost a foot in the small amount of time that I've been working on this and I still only have 4 inches of the bead crochet I've been working on.  GO FIGURE.

It looks pretty boring but if it keeps one of our people in Iraq warm I'll make 100 more.  This yarn is pricey.  We have been able to use Joann and Michael's coupons to buy it which helps a lot.  I bought some at Hobby Lobby but could only use one coupon.  When we send this back, the paper work from the yarn has to be wrapped around the scarf.  That's how important it is to them to make sure it's wool.

WINNER WINNER WINNER WINNER WINNER

My friend Lupe from  http://miramecreations.blogspot.com/ won another giveaway.  I think this is number 4 or 5 just in the last month.  Please go to her blog and see the latest pieces that she has done, they are gorgeous.  Talk her into giving away some of her pieces but she needs to give them to me LOL./

If I don't blog again, have a Happy Easter and eat lots of jelly beans.