Resin bauble slider reveal

Welcome! Today is the day to see what a group of designers inspired by Lorelei Eurto’s Michael’s find could all come up with.  No surprise, she finds the coolest stuff. I knew I wanted in as soon as I saw her photo and thought “what the?”  Girl on a mission, I was happy to find both colours.

First a false start…



She wants to be a butterfly, but we had words over what her wings would look like and I stripped them back off.  So she will languish in the vicinity of the work table for the perfect inspiration another day.

I switched to working with the blue ones.  I made a joke about not showing you bugs on fire when I was talking about my initial inspiration – I guess I couldn’t get that idea out of my head since I bring you a bug made of bugs or, well, bug products.
 

I used brass wire to create  a bunch of teardrop shapes that I hammered. Two of these I turned into integral parts of polymer components.  The large blue circles you see are the ends of a silk worm cocoon that I created a polymer bezel for, so they are hollow.  The center portion of the cocoon I cut and twisted to become the “tail” of my bug focal.  The body is a polymer base with a natural gold silk overlay (this is a cocoon that has been eaten through).



This picture gives a better sense of the height of the silk and polymer element.  Below you can see the the silk I included on the bottom side and have a better idea the size of the holes.  Isn’t it amazing that that gold is natural?



This necklace clasps on the side and I created it by twisting one teardrop and covering the other in polymer.



Just a glimpse of the chain which I had hanging around the studio salvaged from a thrift store find once upon a time.  Literally the only goldy tone chain I had on hand but I like how the circle links echo the resin baubles.  I wasn’t going to include this last photo since it is so washed out but it lets you see where that clasp sits on the upper right.



Many thanks to Lorelei for tossing the challenge out there, I would have never found these on my own and they did present a very interesting design challenge.  Lorelei’s blog will have the full list of participants and I will update here too. Can’t wait to see what everyone came up with!


Lola

Denise McCabe

Mustard Bead

A Polymer Penchant

Pearl and Pebble

Peacock Fairy

Beads for Busy Gals

Dawn Williams

Shirley Moore

B Street Studios

Sally Russick

Pamela770

Erin Prais-Hintz

Heather Powers

MirandAck

Lily

Karen Firnberg

Tanya

Mary

Rosebud101

Ann

Toltec Jewels

Micha

Terri

Christmas and catching up

Hope everyone had a great Christmas or whatever you may celebrate this time of year.  We knew wrapping up presents we had bought too many for our one 2 year old girl.  I thinned it a bit by donating some, and holding others for her birthday.  Just like my own mum there are always several gifts stashed in the closet.   I wonder how old Averleigh will be when she figures that out?  I had an older brother to show me. 

No picture with Santa Claus this year as I was told repeatedly “I don’t like Santa Claus” each time I asked about it.  I was also told, repeatedly, “I don’t like presents”.  This last one didn’t stand up.   As I type this there are new toys everywhere and there is no sense in cleaning them up since she wants to play with all of them right now.



Christmas Eve is always at my in-laws and we started a tradition of new pyjamas from us so here she is Chrsitmas morning showing off said pyjamas.  We spent about two hours opening gifts since she likes to have everything out of the box to really check it out before moving on the the next.  She actually left four presents still wrapped under the tree telling me she would open them later.  Funny girl.  Then we were off to my parents house for Christmas with my family, there’s eighteen of us.  We spent the whole day relaxing with the family and all was how it should be.

As the end of the year is coming I know there are some things not yet done.  I still have bracelets to make for 7000 bracelets of hope and I will get them done, just maybe not before the 31st.  I have to finish my dad’s Christmas present first.  It was going to be ready for the 25th but I decided I wasn’t pleased with the final execution, it needs a take two.  I’m letting that breathe a bit.  I did make some necklaces for my mum though (and actually give them to her on time).



These are very similar, in the end I just couldn’t decide so opted to give her both.  I believe she prefers the one on the right as it is adjustable on the black silk cord.  The version on the left above features sterling chain and some of my all time favourite pearls, hard to see here but they are facetted
.


The silk goes through that spiral bead on opposite directions making the necklace easily adjustable and it holds very nicely if I do say so myself.

I’ve declared that 2013 will be the year I improve my wire skills.  It’s needed.  I have all sorts of great ideas for polymer with wire but I really need to bring up those wire skills to make some of those ideas reality.  So I signed up for Kerry Bogert’s Aspire to Wire course happening online this January.  I also was lucky enough to get her lasted book under the tree, (no surprise since I “added it to cart” myself practically) and then there was this in my stocking



Ain’t he a sweetie?!  My hubby remembered the conversation where I went on and on about trying to decide if I should invest is some quality wire tools now or keep going with what I have… He just couldn’t remember the actual names of anything I was talking about and the folks at the art store he tried to buy from just stared blankly.  He did remember me saying they were “the world’s most expensive” so that’s what I got.  I now have some Tronex tools on order, I will be very excited to put them to good use.

I have one last blog hop to close out the year on New Year’s Eve come on back to see what I made with one of these awesome labyrinth components from Jenny Davies-Reazor as part of the component of the month from Art Jewelry Elements

Peace

Peace.  So simple and yet so complicated all at the same time.  I don’t have many words to make sense of yesterday's events in Connecticut.  All I know is that since becoming a mother these inexplicable tragedies hit me a whole other way.   It seems my mind can take me to being in that scenario oh so quickly and rush back just as fast…

 

I was thinking of peace and the first polymer connection that came into my head was this

 

This is a beautiful crane fashioned from polymer by Judy Dunn.  She generously shared her conversion of the ancient origami method to the polymer arena – in video! -  here (since I can’t seem to get it to open here). wait it may actually appear, oh technology!

Judy was also using her skills to shed light on the losses of the war in Iraq, although I haven’t heard news of this in some time, it seems the blog is now by invitation only, so I don’t have current information to share.  Back in 2008, she shared a letter detailing her project to Yoko Ono in beautiful words and pictures.

Peaceful thoughts for all.

My doors are always open to free beads!

Aren’t yours?!

Well, a little ways back, Lesley Watt of the Gossiping Goddess decided to share the huge stash of lampwork she was gifted from  Kaz Baildon.  I really adore the concept here of just sweeping of the table, so to speak, and sending the work out into the world to make way for a fresh start.
Here is the picture Lesley shared to draw us all in



I know, such a hardship to receive some lovely beads and make something out of them.  Of course I jest, but the little beauties I got sure gave me a few fits, but I’ll spare you much of the drama.

Here they are hanging out at my workbench



I usually start with mixing up some polymer colours to coordinate and you know, they just weren’t coming up as transparent as I wanted to go with these.  Then I realized I really didn’t have to have them in the same piece either (how is it that I imagine rules?) The smaller aqua tube is still on my workbench with plans to wrap polymer around it’s center and make it into some form of wheel.  My first attempt just not working I’m still engineering….

Meanwhile though I changed tactics and took that beautiful Monet-ish bead down to the basement where all the finished beads live.  I figured there must be beads in my stash that needed a fresh look with a new partner. What I found was a whole bunch of beads, but dialed it down to just a few and some yummy silk that was the perfect shade.



I created the polymer focal and small coins when I did my first Bead Soup Blog Party this summer.


Many thanks to Lesley and Kaz for sharing these goodies and letting me look at my own pieces with new eyes.  I can’t wait to see what gorgeous creations everyone else came up with, since there was quite the bounty to share

Lesley Watt - http://thegossipinggodess.blogspot.co.uk/
Cory Tompkins - http://tealwaterdesigns.blogspot.co.uk/
Rebecca Anderson - http://songbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Marie Cramp - http://skyejewels.blogspot.co.uk/
Claire Braunbarth - http://smittenbeads.blogspot.co.uk/
Heidi Post - http://expostfactojewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Tiffany Smith - http://southerngalsdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Sharyl Macmillan-Nelson - http://sharylsjewelry.blogspot.co.uk/
Ailsa Cordner - http://www.bramalfiebeadsetc.co.uk/
Linda Landig - http://lindalandig.wordpress.com/
Caroline Dewison - http://blueberribeads.co.uk/
Renetha - http://wwww.lamplightcrafts.blogspot.co.uk
Kari Asbury - http://hippiechickdesign.blogspot.co.uk/
Niky Sayers - http://silverniknats.blogspot.com
Purple Cobwebs - http://www.purplecobwebs.co.uk/
Cilla Watkins - http://www.tellyourgirlfriends.com/
Therese Frank - www.theresestreasures59.blogspot.com
Claire Ennis - http://clairescrystalclassics.blogspot.co.uk/
Emma - http://apolymerpenchant.blogspot.co.uk/  <--- that’s me! Thanks so much for coming!
Kathy Lindemer - http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.co.uk/
Alicia - http://www.allprettythings.ca/
Sandy Huntress - http://keepsakecrafts.net/blog/
Lori Bowring Michaud - http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.co.uk/
Amy - http://copperdiem.blogspot.co.uk/
Katherine Gale - http://terrabeadworks.blogspot.co.uk/

Challenge of colour continued

I just finished hopping around the Challenge of Colour and it’s hard to say what is more impressive, the gorgeous art or all the creations, not that I need to choose.  I’m so thankful that I was introduced to these images by Erin since there is literally a lifetime of inspiration there. 

I didn’t show you everything I created so I thought I’d share now.  As I created the patterns I came up with a bunch of components with no real plan about what I was going to make.  I made a pair of earrings but wasn’t pleased that they looked enough like each other to be considered a pair.



At some point the working volume of clay got a little out of hand.  This time of year there is essentially no horizontal space in the vicinity of my workspace so no where to put down a giant sheet of polymer.  So I grabbed a vase – I’ve done this before – and played with the surface.  Looks like a mountain range to me, rather than a salt lake.



Pardon the blur, this is the pile of beads I was choosing from in creating the mermaid.



Lastly I had to try folding some polymer into Christmas trees.  I’m not sure I could convince myself to make them into earrings, I don’t really feel holiday jewelry much.  On the other hand I don’t think these are hit you over the head holiday.  Maybe they will be little ornaments or a way to pretty up a gift card.

I also didn’t show you the palette I didn’t choose for this challenge.  I would have been the easier of the two for me to work with so I decided to save it for another day. 

Challenge of Colour reveal

Welcome!  I’m a little late to the party today.  I’m actually waiting for the sun to come up enough for me to take some pictures to share what I created for the challenge.  This is the third challenge I’ve joined Erin for, and it’s very exciting that she had Brandi join in as a hostess this round.  What a team!  I knew I was going to love working from this challenge starting point, satellite photos from the United States Geological Service that Brandi palettified.  I can’t wait to hop around and see each of the palettes.  Here is my starting point



Normally I would do a little research about lake Amadeus, but I can tell you I didn’t know off the top of my head where it was and I decided to keep it that way.  With this challenge all about the colour I opted to look no further than the image in front of me. 

I work with polymer, so the starting point for me with something like this is to mix up a bunch of colours and see what comes of it.  The only real plan I had was to experiment with some techniques and create a sheet of polymer similar to the picture.   In progress the acid green was a lot brighter, but as I worked that intensity got a bit turned down as the stretching of the process thins the polymer and the darker shades beneath change the colour.  

I love exploring polymer like draping fabric.  I take a thin sheet in my hands and fold and ruffle until I’m happy.   I think I made a mermaid to swim in this lake!



When I was done with this long look on leather, all the parts knotted together I thought it might be fun for it to do double duty and be worn short too.



Now she looks a little bit more like she is swimming.  Of course if I had this plan all along I would have a neater connection for that little swirl of wire acting as a hook clasp.  I think I will go back with more polymer and beef it up a bit. 

I’ll update with some more details later, just posting on my lunch break now.
I can’t wait to see what everyone else has come up with! 

Erin Prais-Hintz
Brandi Hussey
Rebecca Anderson
Kris Auderer Chrizette Bayman Lori Bowring Michaud Courtney Breul Lynsey Brooks
Stephanie Buss Iveth Caruso
Shannon Chomanczuk
Lisa Cone
Cece Cormier Lori Dorrington
Dawn Doucette
Jeannie Dukic
Kim Dworak
Beth Emery
Janice Everett
Pam Farren
Donetta Farrington
Gloria Ferrer Cherrie Fick
Therese Frank
Patty Gasparino
Tanya Goodwin
Ambra Gostoli
Jess Green
Denielle Hagerman
Mary Harding
Karla Hartzog
Kim Hora
Emanda Johnson
Jennifer Justman
Sue Kennedy Ema Kilroy
Lee Koopman
Linda Landig
Kirsi Luostarinen
Cynthia Machata
Alicia Marinache
Beth McCord
Mary K McGraw
Karen Mitchell
Cheri Mitchell-Reed
Aimee Moisa
Karla Morgan
Penny Neville
Becky Pancake
Kashmira Patel
Alice Peterson
Kayla Potega
Debbie Price
Bobbie Rafferty
Caron Reid
Nicole Rennell
Cynthia Riggs
Andrea Ross
Sally Russick
Annie Scherz
Pam Sears
Renetha Stanziano
Sandra Stein
Kristen Stevens
Tracy Stillman
Sherri Stokey
Lola Survillo
Kay Thomerson
Jo Tinley
Emma Todd
Cory Tompkins
Pam Traub
Melissa Trudinger
Michelle Tucker
Shelley Graham Turner
Monique Urquhart
Rachel Van-Walsh
Patti Vanderbloemen
Lesley Watt
Lynn White
Joan Williams

Shows, treasures, buttons, and maybe a sale

See that’s just way too much to talk about.  Hang on tight – here we go!

This weekend I was back at the Navan Arts and Crafts show for the first time since 2009.  I love this show.  It’s smaller, full of wonderful vendors and is partnered with a bake sale each day.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to do any shows this year but when the organizer contacted me in the summer to say she had one spot left, well, how could I refuse?  There is a little “but” with being the newbie – you get the post.

This post  ---- right here----------------------------

Totally bossy and about 16 inches in from one side and oh 3 feet each way.  In a 7x10 foot booth space this eats a lot of real estate.  But this same kind friend came to my rescue with a spare 4 foot table (post panicky “just how big is this post? email).   I was happy with this.  This picture is from the Sunday morning as shoppers were just about to come in so I hadn’t yet fixed up those necklaces looking a little jumbled on the cream.



A closer view of the side and back tables.  The black background belongs to my neighbor, she was kind to offer that I could use this side to hang anything if I wanted.   I found the back table didn’t get too much attention from customers but the crowds were good and for a first show back,  I was happy enough.

Onto the treasures



This sock monkey was originally holding a cookie, and part of the Girl Guides bake sale.  I let Averleigh pick the one she wanted when she came to visit at the end of the sale.  He is sitting next to a ceramic mushroom I did a little trade for with artist Liz Fournier.  The gift cards on the right are hand stamped and have little sparkly bits I didn’t capture.  I’d tell you who made them, but there was no card, too bad.

Then I found Laura Sheppard’s booth and it looked familiar.  I had seen her products listed on the website for the Savoir Faire that, as it turns out, we are both doing next Sunday.  Sunday is the 25th and as soon as that dawned on me I thought of the 7000 bracelets project and the bracelet I’m supposed to be showing off on that day.  So I dived into the beautiful bowls of buttons, digging for blue beauties.  Looky!



As I chatted with Laura and let her know about the cause she made me a nice price and offered I take another in support.  Looking forward to creating with these.

Ok so that’s the shows, the treasures and the bracelet.

Maybe a sale.  I’ve yet to run a sale or giveaway since I don’t think of my shop as ready yet.  ‘Tis the season though isn’t it?  The Artisan Whimsy team is gathering up participants for what is stacking up to be quite the event.  If I can figure out all the details before 10 tonight I’ll jump in.

Are you bidding?

It’s getting close to fair warning time.  Get on over to the charm swap auctions.  The overall bidding is approaching $500!! I would love to see that number surpassed, how wonderful for Beads of Courage that would be. 

Monique Urquhart created some beautiful collages, by media, of all the charms for your shopping delight.  Our charms are hanging out here with the other polymer and ceramic ones.  Check out the other collages on her blog



I’m a little fried tonight after my first craft show in three years.  The crowds were great. I had great help from my family in the hauling department and such.  I had several long conversations with charming young kids (10ish, I can never guess) and brought home a few wee treasures.  I’ll share more after some later this week.

Art charm swap in aid of BOC

I had so much fun creating charms to swap and share with other artists all the while making a contribution to the Beads of Courage program.  This little swap was the brainchild of Jennifer Cameron who took on the monster task of receiving and swapping all the handmade charms, mailing each set back out to the participants. She has also photographed them all and will be running auctions here so you can join in on the fun and bid for your very own charm. 

The proceeds from the auctions are going to Beads of Courage, a very worthy cause.  From their website:
Our Mission: We are growing every day, providing innovative, arts-in-medicine supportive care programs for children coping with serious illness, their families and the health care providers who care for them. Beads of Courage, Inc. is an approved public charity under I.R.S. Code Section 501(c)(3), based in Tucson, Arizona.

Considering the cause and the theme of laughter I drew from my own experience with little kids and hospitals.  Bubbles.  Bubbles are the perfect distraction for small children and I saw at least three different bubble contraptions at our children’s hospital.  Competing for muse time was the thing that made my girl laugh the absolute hardest, in can’t-catch-your-breath giggles – our cats playing with shoelaces.



So here you have a bubble created from polymer, iridescent powder and resin with a shoelace trapped inside. One frustration was that I selected a violet iridescent powder for that rainbow effect bubbles have and the downside is that that shade when not iridising reads as yellow.  I thought my resin may have been off but no it’s crystal clear, the yellow cast comes from the powder.  I think the glow and shimmer they have makes up for it in person, but doesn’t come through that clearly in my photo.

The back got the texture of a plain old bubble wand.



There are many, many more charms to see.  I hope you will find a few that you need to make your own.

Auction Site: http://myworld.ebay.com/glassaddictions
Alenka Obid http://pepita-handmade.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-exchage-reveal.html
Alicia Marinache http://www.allprettythings.ca/2012/11/charm-swap-reveal-blog-hop-and-auction.html
Babette Cox http://babettecox.com/blog.htm
Carol Watson http://www.carolwatsonartglass.blogspot.com
Carolyn Chenault http://carolynchenault.wordpress.com/2012/11/12/beads-of-courage-auction/
Cassi Paslick http://cassisbeads.blogspot.com/2012/11/beads-of-courage-charm-swap-reveal.html
Charlene Jacka http://clay-space.com/2012/11/early-christmas/
Cheri Reed http://creativedesignsbycheri.blogspot.com/2012/11/to-participate-in-charm-swap-you-must.html
Cheryl McCloud http://cherylmccloud.blogspot.com/2012/11/charm-swap-reveal-blog-hop-and-beads-of.html
Deb Kauzlarich http://debkauzlarich.blogspot.com
Denielle Hagerman http://somebeadsandotherthings.com
Emma Todd http://apolymerpenchant.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-swap-in-aid-of-boc.html
Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-swap-laugh.html
Ginger Bishop http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-exchange-2012.html
Inge vonRoos http://ingetraud.wordpress.com
Jean Peter http://jeanpdesigns.blogspot.com/ http://jeanpdesigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-charm-swap.html
Jeannie K Dukic http://site.jkdjewelry.com/blog/2012/11/12/beads-of-courage/
Jennifer Cameron http://wp.me/p1xIa0-wn
Kia Dallons http://kiadallonsstudio.blogspot.jp/2012/11/laughter-is-best-medicine.html
Kimberly Roberts http://bahamadawn.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-swap.html
Kristi Bowman http://dreamsomedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/charm-swap-reveal-hop.html
Lea Avroch http://lajewelrydesign.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-beads-of-courage-art-charm-swap.html
Leslie Schenkel http://twistedchicken.wordpress.com/?p=171
Linda Florian http://www.lilysofthevalleyjewelry.blogspot.com/
Lori Greenberg http://lorigreenberg.com/blog
Lynnea Bennett http://designsbylynnea.blogspot.com
Mallory Hoffman http://rosebud101-fortheloveofbeads.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-time-has-come-art-charm-blog-reveal.html
Marcy Lamberson http://studiomarcy.blogspot.com/2012/11/charmed-by-minions-im-sure.html
Marsha Neal Studio http://marshanealstudio.blogspot.com/2012/11/charm-exchange-and-beads-of-courage.html
Maureen Connolly http://mrsbeadsley.blogspot.com/2012/11/charm-reveal.html
Melissa Meman http://melissameman.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-swap-blog-hop.html
Monique Urquhart http://ahalfbakednotion.blogspot.com/2012/11/charmed-im-sure.html
Natalie McKenna http://www.grubbi.co.uk/
Perri Jackson http://shaktipajdesigns.com/11/blog/reveal-the-laughter-art-charms/
Renetha Stanziano http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-exchange-auction-and-reveal.html
Robin Koza http://www.robinkoza.com
Shaiha Williams http://shaihasramblings.blogspot.com/2012/11/art-charm-hop.html
Shannon Hicks http://uptwnsh-fallingintothesky.blogspot.com/
Shelby Foxwell http://sundownbeaddesigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/charm-swap-reveal.html
Shelley Graham Turner http://shelleygrahamturner.blogspot.com/2012/11/reveal-2012-charm-swap.html
Shirley Moore http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com/2012/11/beads-of-courage-art-charm-reveal.html
Stephanie Haussler http://pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com/2012/11/laughter-art-bead-charm-swap-auction.html
Susan Kennedy http://suebeads.blogspot.com/2012/11/beads-of-courage-charm-swap-reveal-and.html
Toltec Jewels http://www.jewelschoolfriends.com/2012/11/BOCArtCharmRevealBlogHop.html
Vanessa Gilkes http://culturezine.com/blog/

Mother Earth Challenge reveal

Good Morning! A bright and sunny morning on my little corner of earth.  It’s that deceptive winter sun though.  I stepped outside barefoot to take pictures and I think that may be the last time this year for my concrete patio.

Enough about the weather though, it’s time to see what I made with this lovely lady who arrived oh so quickly from Sweden.  Sent so generously by another lovely lady, Birgitta Lejonklou.



Here she is now all dressed for the blog party



Like many ladies she tried on several outfits before this look came together.  She wanted to be a sea goddess of sorts so I made her a ruffled polymer blue/sand ombré dress and some coordinating little wave beads.  A few seed beeds, some commercial ceramic and two stacked polymer buttons bring it all together.


Many thanks Birgitta, it was definitely a challenge for me to find the right balance, since I do struggle with bracelet design, but in the end I’m very happy!

So there are many over lovely creations to see with all sorts of Mother Earth interpretations.  Don’t you love how the internet brings the world to your door? My first time getting a package from Sweden, but I don’t think it will be the last.

Travel the earth – this way!
The List of BLOGS :
Emma Todd apolymerpenchant.blogspot.se <-you are here, thanks for coming!
Inge Traud http://www.ingetraud.wordpress.com
Sandra Wollberg city-of-brass-stories.blogspot.se
Cece Courmier thebeadingyogini.com
Margareta Saari magsinhelmet.blogspot.se
Toltec Jewels www.JewelSchoolFriends.com
Susan http://libellulajewelry.com
Leena vikkityyli.blogspot.se Birgitta Lejonklou lejonklou.blogspot.se our Hostess

Michaels Toast of the Town Necklace hop

And a Finally Friday necklace, make that two - or really four since they’re both reversible.  Since the Toast of the Town necklace can also be worn a bazillion ways I’ve totally lost count.  Lets go straight to the pictures.



Now I did my level best to follow the directions so thoughtfully written by Erin Prais-Hintz, but I did adapt on the fly a bit.  I talked about my shopping trip and how my palette changed, but I ultimately steered back to more blues.  I started with the pale green shell beads and the few oval pyrite.  Then I grabbed the teal ring and the Crystazzi glass pearls I had already (both also from Michaels).  Next up I made two styles of polymer beads and the toggle bar (the bar is actually a bead gallery pendant hanger I transformed).  Once I had all that I was still needing something in the 4mm range to spread all over.  I was craving a little more texture, so in went the blue apatite chip beads and I love them here, I should have used more.


I can’t wait to see all the variety born of this design, this is a blog hop after all.  Please be sure to visit Erin’s blog to check out her next incarnation of this design and link on to all the other participants.  Many thanks to Erin for the design, and inspirational push to try it out myself.

…But before you run off, I did promise you two other necklaces.  The focal pendants for these I created a few years ago and once I saw the Design Seeds palette I thought of them right away.



The beads featured along with the pendants are all created from the same polymer canes, I think this particular cane design I learnt from a Donna Kato book.  These longer squiggle beads and large hole beads are both available in my etsy shop.



Here is the second design.  I’m pretty sure that the clasp below is a Vintaj one I think I will need more of, since I really like how this design came together – if I do say so myself!

Many thanks to Shannon also.  Her regular choosing of palettes helps me not get lost in the sea of gorgeousness that is Design Seeds.

Art Bead Scene October challenge reveal

This month’s challenge piece at the Art Bead Scene has a beautiful palette.  I had many an idea but I was still a bit stuck on September.  Here’s Revolving by Kirt Schwitters



I love the colour palette Brandi Hussey created for ABS, above.  [side note, I’m just started her ecourse Editing with Elements and I’m excited!]  Many ideas came to mind and this one ran out of time to really pass the prototype stage, but I’d like to share it with you all the same.  I’ve said it before, but one of the best parts of working with polymer is you are only really done when you add something that can’t handle the oven.  Add things, take them away, again and again, that piece isn’t really done until you say so.

I created a video, my first attempt, to give you the feel of what I was going for – for how it should work.  I could point out all the things I was trying to say, but I think you’ll be able to fill in the gaps.

I did carve and chip away the polymer, exposing the magnets. When I started out with this design, I knew the contact point would be in a more stressed position than a protected one.  I just had to try though and see how it fails. You can learn a lot more by actually going through the process.  It’s hard some times to go through the time and materials, but it’s an investment in future pieces of all kinds I tell myself.

If you are in the storm’s path tonight, please be safe and sound.  I finished two pieces for the upcoming Finally Friday, where the inspiration goes by the name “crashing blues” – that’s a little freaky.

So close and yet so far

I’ve had several projects getting close to a point to share, but for one reason or another not quite.  So consider today a bit of behind the scenes catch up. Yeah, that works, right?

First up, I finished my piece for the September Art Bead Scene challenge.  See the resemblance?  That’s Flora by Giuseppe Arcimboldo on the right and a ruffle adorned lady I created, in part, on the left.  I say in part since her face is a Gaea pendant which I backed and built into a polymer focal.  The swirl “body” is suspended below and moves freely and independently.


A few more of the details.  I’ve used some sari silk, larger seed beads, gifted budha beads alongside my polymer.  For this inspiration I wanted to see what floral references I could create without specific blooms.  More spirals, ruffles and folds of polymer round out the piece.



Next up I was hoping to finish up an entry for the Hooters Challenge over on Artisan Whimsy.  I wanted to complete a necklace and I tried it on too late last night to correct it and photograph it properly in time. Here’s the “checking it out in the powder room” shot.  Left side is how it should look, the tree trunk running north-south, but move around a bit and the heavier wood beads find the centre and uproot my tree sideways.  Damn.  A little pruning and it will hang straight.



Still with me? I think I will save my very first video to share with you tomorrow.  It’s very basic, and I wish I had collected my thoughts a bit before I hit record, but it gets the point across.

I’ll give you a hint

The Michael’s trap

It began innocently enough.  I saw Erin Prais-Hintz’s post offering up a challenge involving her stunning “Toast of the Town Necklace” she had created for Michael’s.  I’m borrowing her picture to show you – isn’t it beautiful!



Her latest challenge shows three different colourways, each up for grabs, and my first thought was “hey I have those blue ceramic coins!” See I just had to join in.  You can join in too, if you comment on the post – her post – today.

Then I saw Shannon Chomanczuk’s Finally Friday post featuring a primarily blue palette for reveal also on November 2nd.  It sure felt like a blue version would be the way to go.  This is “crashing blues” from Design Seeds



I set about collecting blues and decided that a quick trip to Michael’s was in order.  It was 50% off beads this week…



Bear with me on the iphone pics, I just had to share tonight. On the left are some polymer coins I made a few months ago and a couple of glass rings (from Michael’s too) that I’ve had for years and a die formed two-tone polymer shell starting point that I had in mind as a toggle bar. On the right are some of the blues I had on hand, destined to be part of the bracelets I have planned for 7000 bracelets.

So off to Michael’s I went, coupon in my pocket, and polymer coins in hand to pick out some more bits. Here’s what I came home with



Hmm, sorry if there was some natural light you would see that is a whole mass of green beads, not blue at all.  You know what’s better than 50% off beads?  Still great 80% clearance beads, it’s not like they go bad! Now dear American friends, you get a much better price on beads than we do, it depresses me to see the difference. But still, a good deal all the same. On the left we have the mass of pale green shell beads (they say “Aqua” but they lie) and one stand of Pyrite ovals.  In the center I’m auditioning some other glass rings I had.  Lastly, on the right I couldn’t say no to the jade and ceramic rondelles.

This is the point were I decide it’s time to hurry up and leave so I don’t spend more. Which I do.  While making stops at the thrift store and Homesense for show display type items I realize I left Michael’s without what I meant to buy with my coupon!  This is the trap. They always keep me coming back.

That’s my story. Oh wait, no that’s not it, I almost forgot.  When I got home and walked over to the mailbox to pick up the mail I had left Friday since it was raining,  I found this



I tried not to get my heart set on it since I was pretty sure my sweet hubby was not going to be keen on picking this up for me. (I would totally help but someone has to stay with Averleigh).  I showed him the picture, he claims there was a “guilt trip” and it’s now in my garage.  Thanks babe.  I’m also not allowed to ask him to carry anything heavy in such a scenario for the rest of the year.  Fair deal I say.