Had a great birthday...

I've been spending most of my time in my bat cave (studio), having a blast with a ton of polymer clay supplies that Peri sent me for my birthday.  I was so excited to tear into the box, that I didn't take any pictures.  There will be pictures coming of projects already completed, but in the mean time here is a picture of what my hubby got me.

I collect Barbies. Lots of them are headless and naked, but most of them are actually collectible like these. They look vintage, but are not. It's a current series made with the original Barbie face.

So that's it for now.  If you have any ideas for jewelry or items that you want to see made from polymer clay, let me know and I'll give it a go.  I have already made a crazy steampunk bird using the instructions from one of Christi Friesen books that Peri sent me, and it is a sight to behold. Who know what else might arise from the depths of my studio?... we'll see.

Ok, I'm really leaving now.  It's getting ready to rain here, so we are going to try to beat the store to run a few errands.  Have fun and stay safe and creative.

Some new art

After cleaning up the studio and doing a massive reorganization of my beads, I was reminded of what a nice collection of art beads I have.  This in turn leads me to thinking that I want to make some new beads for said collection and maybe to even be used in jewelry.  Those of you who are long time readers of this little missive already know that I like to use scrap clay in my art beads.  I found several "scrap" beads that I made last year who were screaming to become important elements in some kind of funky design so I put this little baby together. It's a good thing as all that screaming was becoming annoying.

(click on me)

I have always liked that antiqued look of dark metal, so I combined a pre-made chain (from Michael's) with some of my favorite beads.  The dangles are simply threaded onto eye pins and connected to the chain.  Simple procedure, but the time involved is mostly taken up by playing with the beads. I use a bead board to arrange my designs and after a while this one came together easily.

This week I played around with some tried and true polymer clay techniques.  I made faux jade beads and then carved into them a bit. On another, I used a dark blend of clay and impressed a plastic tube into it for design, then antiqued it with off white acrylic paint.

And of course, there is the ever popular steampunk look.  While this is not my favorite steampunk piece, it does illustrate how easy it is to achieve that belted look that often accompanies the gears and mechanics in the steampunk genre.

The beads on the right were to be accent pieces for the belted bead. but looking at this photo now, I'm thinking that they just might look good with the faux turquoise bead that is on the right of the ceramic tile.  The little blue and white bead is an elongated heart shaped bead that will easily fit as a focal piece with some blue beads from my super-stash.

While these pendants are yummy, to be sure...man does not live on beads alone, so I decided to try something I have been ruminating on for literally years.  Miniature foodstuffs.

Since I am usually thinking personal adornment, these pieces were made to be used as earring dangles and I am quite happy with this first attempt.

These next pieces were even more fun to make, and since I am used to working with small amounts of clay from making beads, and it didn't feel tedious at all.

(due to the lighting it's hard to see that I'm using a U.S. dime for size comparison. but as always you can click for more detail)

I am expecting to do more of the minis.  I have even done a little set of dinnerware.  Fun times.

My sweet sister is sending me polymer clay supplies for my birthday next week.  Books, tools, clay...the works.  Thanks sister of mine.  You are the best.  This is what I sent her. It was a purchased gift.

(the size of the sculpture is about 12" across)

I think she liked it. I usually make her something, but time and inspiration were not that friendly this year, but I know she understood.

Well, I hope everyone is staying healthy and happy.  I have lost another pound, which makes 18-20 pounds since Christmas.  I'm planning on 35 more by next Christmas.  I figure giving myself one year to lose about fifty pounds was an achievable goal.  I'm hitting the gym 5-6 times a week, and while I was never one to go to the gym before, it's really working well for me.  Hubby goes to and has lost even more than me. If you are interested in seeing what I have done at the gym, feel free to click in on my other blog.

That's it for today.  Have a great weekend and stay creative. Love ya!

Finally, a new post

I know that all my friends out there are tsk, tsk, tsking about me not posting for two weeks.  I love blogging and once I sit down to the keyboard the words just seem to flow.  It's just that I have been such a procrastinator this spring.  First off we have had the craziest weather and when it's overcast and chilly I just don't want to do anything except kivver up and read. 

I had great plans to take pictures of all the pear trees that blossom in our area.  I mean they are everywhere and usually look so billowy and white that I just knew it would make for a great photo.  For some reason this year, they looked a bit defeated so I changed my mind on that.  I did have time to grab the camera when I saw a horizontal rainbow above the school nearby.  The colors were much more vivid in person but I didn't want to manipulate the photo to prove it. 

I have been in an artist slump this spring, not even wanting to paint anything.  Recently I got the jewelry making bug and decided to make some jewelry.  At my house, I have a stash of everything, so to make jewelery I needed to get out my stash and go through colors, etc. to find just what I needed.  I don't know if this would ever happen to you, but for me it went like this... "I think I could find exactly what I needed if all my beads were reorganized according to color, certainly that shouldn't take long".

Basically, this is what I ended up with.  I've often heard that sometimes you need to make a mess to get things organized and that is what I did.  I have now organized my beads into like colors, then separated plastics, metal and handmade beads into separate categories.  The only problem is I kept coming across clear plastic shoeboxes that were marked "stuff from table". Hmmm, then I had to go through all of those types of boxes and pull out needles, threads, seed beads, findings, and even tools and play  a memory game to find out were to put them.  You know the drill, I'm sure.  At some point, actually quite early on I gave in and started filling jars with bead soup.  Jars that look something like this...

Ok, I've realized that I can't keep doing that, so I regrouped and started putting little bits of left over projects in smallish zip lock bags.  In any event, it is seemingly a never ending project.  I will probably finish today and then I'm going to make a couple of pieces of art jewelry and get out my polymer clay supplies.  There is something about working with polymer clay that is very therapeutic.  It's just fun to mash clay around in you hands and make stuff with it.  I guess that why kids love working with clay. Any hoo, that's what I have been doing for the last two weeks. When it's all done and spruced up, I'll take an after shot and post it.

Speaking of polymer clay jewelry, I found Donna Greenberg's site.This artsy chick makes some jammin jewelry.  Might be a bit too big for some tastes, but I think I'd like to implement some of her techniques into my next series of art jewelry. Go ahead and check out her website, it's very nice.

And last, but most certainly not least, please check out my friend Nezzy's blog, called Cow Patty Surprise.  She is one funny gal and hard working to boot.  She can make anything sound like fun.  Her current post on the men in her life is one of my favorites, so stop by and catch up with Nez.  She is something else, to be sure.

Well, the skies are dark and ominous and it's not even noon yet.  We had 80 plus degrees here yesterday and already it is so muggy you can't breathe.  Over the weekend, about two hours from us they experienced multiple tornadoes and are trying to recover from that.  It's been a wild and woolly Spring and it's not over yet.  Keeping all that in mind, enjoy your week and stay safe whilst you do something fun.

And by the way, I ordered my sissy's birthday present this week, so as soon as she gets it I'll show it to you. Something different for her this year, but I think she'll like it.

Take care and let us hear!