All packed and ready to go

I'm taking off to the coast early tomorrow and I'm quite excited.  I will be attending a workshop by Julie Picarello this weekend.  I'm looking forward to seeing some of my clay friends I hadn't seen in a while and making some new ones.  Will also be fun learning some new techniques from Julie.

I have some other new designs I've been working on lately.  Some new buttons and new pendants and earrings.  Here is a little sample of what is to come:

In the meantime, have a great weekend!

Eagles

One reason we love the area we live in is all the wildlife we see.  This is the time of year when large amounts of salmon swim up our river towards their spawning grounds.  The fish attract many animals of prey one of which are bears.  We happened to see one last week fishing in the river.

The salmon also attract bald eagles and we saw several of them yesterday sitting in the trees.  These birds are so huge and we were awestruck to see them up so close.  We've seen many ospreys with their huge nests during the summer but they don't compare in size and stature to the eagles.

This reminds me of the eagle pendant I was asked to make.  I really enjoy doing unusual custom orders like this.

Our blog followers

We had an exhausting yet great time selling at the Christmas show yesterday.  We made some new friends and contacts in our area and our jaws ached from so much talking and sharing.

Speaking of contacts -- I see we now have more than 100 followers on our blog and I'm so grateful for each and every one of you.  I have to say that even though you are 1 in 100 -- in my heart you are one in a million!

It is so cool how we can be connected from all around the globe and feel so close.  I've been keeping track of where our followers are from and this is a list of the countries that I could find:

Austria, Canada, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom  and of course many from all over the United States.

Of course there may be more of you from other countries, but these are the ones that I know of so far.

Thanks again for following and I will try my best to continue blogging with more things that will hopefully keep your interest.

Ready for Christmas...

We've been busy getting ready for our first (and largest) Christmas show of the year coming up this weekend.  Just thought I'd share with you a few new pieces I've been working on.

   

Poinsettia Flower Brooch                      Tartan Plaid Earrings

   

Shiny Christmas present Earrings

   

Some flirty ribbon necklaces

A variety of accessories

Hair barrettes, pill boxes, mirror compacts and pens

   

And some new pill boxes and pens for the men ...

So, will post again next week... in the meantime, have a great weekend.

More Creations from a Mould

I thought I would share a few more items that were created by making a mould (see my earlier post on Making a Mould and Creating from a Mould ).

I was looking for something to decorate a gift card box for men and found this scrapbooking motorcycle charm in my stash.  I made a mould and then recreated the piece, and highlighted it with silver mica powder.

Since sewing has been my passion for many years I've accumulated a large button collection over that time.  I decided to create a mould from the one in the photo shown above.  It is made out of silver metal with rhinestones.  When I created the mould, I discovered a lacy snowflake pattern which resulted in the earrings shown below.

Going "green" with my scrap clay - part 3

Similar to making moulds, I also like to make my own texture plates and here are a few that I have made.

For easy identification, I prefer to make my texture plates in different colors.  Polymer Clay Central had a Texture Sheet Swap some time ago and there are a lot of great ideas there.  If you're not sure how to do this, Helen Breil has a great tutorial available.

Similar to texture sheets, you can also use the scrap clay for making reverse textures or moulds from your rubber stamps:

Here are some other ways I like to use my scrap clay:

• Use as a filler for beads
• Use as a backing when making a clay sheet 

• Colors can be mixed into Natasha Beads (This bead was made from left over cane scraps).

• Build some canes . . .

I like to combine my scrap clay into colors that can compliment or work together -- here is an example:

I separated the colors that might make nice skinner blends or for more mixing.  Here I have three piles of greens that I separated.  I liked the combination of the light and dark greens in the two piles on the left and made some fun leaf and jelly roll canes from them.

There are so many ways to use up your scrap clay, there is never any reason to throw any out.  Of course once it is baked, that is a different case but if it didn't turn out quite like you expected -- then cover it up with a veneer and create a new look!

Because I don't like to waste, I have a rule of thumb to spend a little extra time examining my piece closely before firing making sure it is smooth and nicely finished.  If I have any doubts about my pieces not turning out, I prefer to smoosh it and start over again rather than bake and deal with it later.

Creating from a Mould

Since I showed how I make a mould from my scrap clay I thought it was only fitting to follow up with how I create a new piece from my new mould.  This is pretty basic for some but I've picked up a few quick and easy tips from books and mainly by trial and error of experience.  I prefer to use water as a release agent and I find the more water you use, the easier and better the impression.  (*see note below.)

I actually fill the cavity with water and then lay my rolled clay sheet over top.  I then spray the top of the clay so my roller will not stick to the clay. 

Using a lot of pressure (I have to stand up for this), I roll all the way across the clay sheet and mould.

I then cut around my piece and do any other necessary adjusting.

I used some green colored clay and filled in the areas with mica powders to give it a shimmering effect.

My new Christmas package earrings are ready to bake.

* Note:  I should mention that with my experimenting I prefer using water as a release agent with Kato and Premo clays the most.  I found that when I used water with Fimo, the clay tended to "gum up" after and so cornstarch seemed to be a better choice.