The Cutting Edge GIVEAWAY ends tonight!

Ok folks, I normally have some blogging time late at night, but today that simply wouldn’t do. You know when they say ACT FAST – well, today you really need to!

Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes of the The Cutting Edge are running a giveaway on their facebook page that ends tonight at midnight. Get on over there to take a look at the tools and enter to win the tool of your choice.

Need some ideas on what to choose? I’ve done a quick little picture here showing some of what I like to use, the long pebble die set, my ShARK, frond die set, peeler (I have both sizes!) and lastly the bud die set (all sets).  I’ll be back later to link them all, but meanwhile you can find them all through the facebook page if you don’t already know them well!



Editting to add - I really enjoy using The Cutting Edge tools.  All of the examples above show them used differently than intended. I like that. Don't get me wrong they work just as intended but I enjoy making them bend to my will too. I think that's good design. I think Dan's work is stunning and it was some of the first very high quality Polymer work I came across that renewed my interest in Polymer in 2007.  I had tried to meet Dan and Tracy and take their week long retreat in BC, but alas the retreat had to be cancelled and Tracy let me down so gently (I had gushed, of course, about how excited I was that it was coming up).  But I did get to meet them in the end, another time and place. I'll share that story for another day.

Finally Friday, sorta

I work this odd work week of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at the day job so most of the time my Wednesday does feel a bit like a Friday.  Basically, I never know what day of the week it is!
I finished up some pendants that were in progress, but then took a left turn last week when I saw Shannon’s pick for her Finally Friday series – beaded bright from design seeds.  I thought I had missed a chance to join in the fun but Shannon kindly let me know that I could share up until Friday. Yay!



These pendants also happen to be the first beads I’ve completed using my The Cutting Edge tools from Dan Cormier and Tracy Holmes.  They feature a crackle tone-on-tone surface, done with ink, that is surprisingly smooth.



This shot shows the crackle best.  I love how the size varied so much, but I wish I had a bit more contrast between the ink bronze and the clay bronze shade. I don’t know, maybe the subtlety will
grow on me.



All four together.  I found I had in my stash the perfect shade of recycled sari silk for a couple to hang from.  Of course I dug through the whole bag and had only one strand, isn’t that always the way? So since it was so wide I ripped it down the middle.  I’m not sure I’ll find anything else in my stash to go from there so maybe they’ll just hang around the studio waiting for more.  We’ll see.



So Friday, the real Friday, is coming back around really quickly, not sure I’ll think of something for all those greens…maybe just that big ‘ole mess.