2 Good Claymates

Pantone Cockatoo

2012-02-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

A lot of the Pantone colors tend to build on each other when they change from one season to another. The Pantone shade of Cockatoo, for instance, is actually a lighter shade of the turquoise color Lagoon from fall, 2010. If you have my Clay Color System, you already have the base recipe to mix up the lighter shade of Cockatoo.

Cockatoo

1 part mix # 8-3 (Lagoon)

2 parts white mix # 1-2

Here are some Cockatoo color samples to inspire you ...

Cockatoo with Cabaret ... Gorgeous!

Cockatoo and Solar Power

Cockatoo with Tangerine Tango

Cockatoo with Cabaret & Tangerine Tango

Jewelry Making Classes

2012-01-31T11:01:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching basic jewelry making at The Sewing Basket in Salmon Arm. My first class was yesterday filled with 10 excited ladies learning how to hard wire their first necklace.

These are some of the many beads and pendants I created for the class.

At the end of the class, everyone went home with their own finished Necklace in the colors of their choice.

Part 2 of the class is in two weeks where my students will learn how to make earrings and a bracelet to match their necklace.

Sodalite Blue

2012-01-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

I love how Pantone describes this blue shade as a classic and dependable maritime hue that brings order and calmness.

These are more buttons I created using the Sutton slice technique combining this gorgeous blue with Tangerine Tango and Solar Power.

It is also the main color in these Bargello pieces we created combined with shades of purple (Bell Flower) and turquoise (Cockatoo).

This shade of blue combines well with almost any color and here are few examples to hopefully inspire you:

Sodalite Blue with ...

... Cockatoo

... Solar Power & Sweet Lilac

... Margarita

... Tangerine Tango

... Bellflower & Cockatoo

If you already have my Clay Color System, you already have this color on file. It is the same as recipe # 9-4 Royal Blue. You can create this color using Premo clay by combining the Ultramarine Blue with a bit of white or pearl.

Brighten Your Day with Solar Power

2012-01-26T22:31:00.000-08:00

I love the shade of yellow in the Pantone Spring 2012 Fashion color palette that is described as a hue that radiates warmth and cheer providing a jolt of energy.

This sunshine shade of yellow is so pretty and makes a great compliment to the other Pantone Spring colors. Here are some combinations for inspiration:

Solar Power & Sodalite Blue

... with Tangerine Tango & Cabaret

with Bellflower & Tangerine Tango

.... Cockatoo & Sodalite Blue

And here is the clay recipe using Kato polyclay:

Solar Power

4 parts Kato yellow

1 part pearl

Adding the pearl to the Kato yellow not only makes a perfect yellow that matches Patone's spring color Solar Power but it also adds a beautiful shimmer.

For more fun Pantone color inspiration and combination ideas you can check out my Pinterest Board here.

Pretty In Pink Awesomer in Orange

2012-01-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

I never considered myself an "orange" type person until we decided to paint a feature wall in our dining/living area in "Spiced Pumpkin".

But the Pantone Spring color, Tangerine Tango is a cheery shade of orange with a hint of pink.

While mixing up this yummy color my brain was conjuring up all sorts of combinations and uses for this shade. I kept imagining floral bouquets of gerbera daisies, tulips and poppies.

I created several clay blends combining both the Tangerine Tango and Cabaret with a yellow (Solar Power).

I then used these blends to create this floral shawl pin which is now listed in our Etsy shop.

I was also experimenting with a new texture sheet I bought using the sutton slice technique to create some fun new buttons with left over pieces of my blends.

So I have two recipes to share with you for the Tangerine Tango using Kato polyclay. My original recipe has a lot of pearl so makes a great mica shift.

Tangerine Tango

(Mica Shift)

8 parts orange

1 part magenta

8 parts pearl

If you do not want to use so much pearl, you can substitute it with a smaller amount of white mixed with transluscent. Here is a 2nd recipe I created using some of my white mix along with the pearl so it still has a nice shimmer to it.

Tangerine Tango

8 parts orange

1 part magenta

5 parts pearl

3 parts white mix #1-2*

(*see my Clay Color System)

Tomorrow I will share with you the clay recipe for the bright yellow, Solar Power.

Cabaret - Pretty in Pink

2012-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

With Valentines Day around the corner, I decided to start off my Pantone Spring 2012 color recipes with the gorgeous color of Cabaret.

Pantone describes it as a sensual and intense rosy red and to expect to see a lot of this shade in summer clothing and cosmetics this year.

I find the color is a somewhat softer shade of last year's Honeysuckle yet still an intense shade of pink.

To mix up some Cabaret here is the recipe using Kato clay:

4 parts magenta

1 part yellow

2 parts pearl

Pantone Spring 2012 Colors

2012-01-20T22:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a few days as I've been busy in the studio working on a variety of projects.

I am happy to say that I am finally getting caught up and managed to find some time to mix up the new Pantone Spring 2012 colors.

There is a brochure you can download for free that explains all of the new colors (click on the above photos for the link). I noticed at the end they list the men's fashion colors as well. They are pretty much the same with just a few shade differences such as Hawaiian Ocean instead of the Cockatoo and Granita in place of Cabaret.

My baked color chips are waiting on my work table and I will mix up some fun new color combinations and share those with the new recipes (using Kato clay) starting Monday. Hopefully these new colors will add a bit of cheer to the cold winter days.

To Antarctica and Back

2012-01-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about being at the Sun Peaks Christmas market was meeting Justine who was raising money for her trip to Antarctica with the "Students on Ice" program. She arrived back from her trip and sent us this photo of her holding up one of our pendants while on the expedition. We were following her adventure on the website (you can see some video footage here) and we feel like a part of us was with her!

It looks like rocks in the background but if you look real close you will see they are penguins. Here is a photo she also sent of the cute little guys!

Just on an egotistic note, our jewelry has been worn on every continent on earth! (Now if I can only get to know an astronaut.) lol!

Pinterest Board

2012-01-14T22:07:00.000-08:00

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? I've been on it for some time now and it is a great way to mark those favorite things you come across on the internet. It is like having a gigantic message board on your computer that you can pin your favorite links and then find them easily again later.

Like facebook, you can also follow each other or just certain boards with topics of interest, as well as leave comments. I added a link to my Pinterest boards to the sidebar on the right of this blog if you want to check it out and follow me.

Have fun pinning!

Polymer Clay Tips - Recycle & Reuse

2012-01-10T21:37:00.000-08:00

I have this basket above my clay table that holds something I find very handy.

They are used fabric softener sheets from the clothes dryer.
Quite some time ago, a member of our Canadian Clayamies group shared a tip on using these to remove clay stuck to the pasta machine rollers. (I'm sorry I cannot remember who that was). I since discovered they work amazingly well for cleaning the removable blades from the pasta machines such as the modified machines by Mona or the D.R.E.A.M. machine as well. The clay adheres to the pellon-type material making a quick and easy clean-up.

I also like to reuse the wrappers from the kato clay packages (I buy the large 12.5 oz size) and I will use some pieces of the dryer sheet (after cleaning my pasta machine blades), to wipe the packaging clean so I can use it to store my clay color mixes in afterwards. I find the clay stores much better than using a regular plastic wrap as they will not interact with the clay over time.

You can see how clean the wrapper is after wiping it with the sheet.

I seem to keep making more clay recipes and running out of space to put them so we bought this drawer storage unit to keep it all in.

I have the clay organized by color according to my Clay Color System so it is much easier to find a color I'm looking for.

I always say you can never be too organized! lol!

Clay Day Workshop

2012-01-03T11:46:00.000-08:00

I had a great day yesterday with Myrna who had requested some private lessons in polymer clay. The day went by so quickly as I found her to be quite enjoyable to talk to and clay with. She had her brand new pasta machine with her plus a few tools but for someone who had never even cracked opened a package of clay yet, was very knowledgeable. She had done a lot of reading and studying up on the medium beforehand so already had some basic understanding of what we talked about.

It was a full day as I wanted her to leave with enough polymer clay basics to give her the confidence to experiment more freely afterwards at home. We covered most of the basics including making a few skinner blends...

and even some jelly roll canes with those blends.

We also played with some of the CaBezel moulds ...

and I like how Myrna wanted to experiment a little further to texture and manipulate them so they would be more of a free form shape that was unique.... Here is another jelly roll she created almost entirely on her own and some focal bead pendants made from it...

Myrna is a textile artist and she was looking for a way to combine her love for fibre, threads and fabric with a new medium such as polymer clay. We played around mainly with Premo as that is a much easier type of clay to start with but we also used some Kato so she could get a feel for it as well.

You can read more about our clay day together on her blog here as well as follow her new adventures in clay ...

A New Start for the New Year

2012-01-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

January seems to be the month to get organized. I got a head start by tidying up and reorganizing our studio these past few days. It always feels so good to work in a space where everything is back into place and you can actually find stuff! I took a few pictures of my work space as it might not look that clean again for a long time!

We had these trays we bought from a bead store some time ago to store beads in a drawer and decided to use them for my canes instead. They fit perfectly in my Ikea table with the glass top and I love how I can see my canes clearly at a glance. I have even more canes which are stored in these containers here ....

This old book shelf fits nicely on my clay table. My clay supply is getting a little low as the shelf is usually crammed full so I will need to order more real soon!

New Stick Shawl Pins

2011-12-30T08:54:00.000-08:00

We hope you had a nice Christmas. Dave wanted to create some long lasting memories for our anniversary this year and took a hard fall on our icy front steps and landed on his hand. He ended up with a dislocated finger and his hand broken in two places. We spent the day at the Salmon Arm emergency where they managed to put his finger back into place and then over to the Kelowna hospital (another city) to have surgery on his hand later that evening. We had to stay at a hotel as it was too late to drive the distance home that night.

Dave is doing much better now and trying to get use to the added weight of the cast. He won't be able to help me as much until he has the use of his hand again, however.

I have been rather busy and so I haven't had time to list many new items in our ArtFire Studio or Etsy shop but hoping to get around to that over the next week or so.

I finally listed a few of our Abstract Floral Stick Shawl Pins. We have been selling them at our Christmas shows and in several local yarn stores. It is my own original design that I dreamed up over the summer with plenty of flowers in our garden for inspiration. These pins go nicely through tighter weave fabrics where our typical shawl pins do not fit. Click on the photo below to see more of our pins listed in our shop.

Merry Christmas! Celebrating 25 years together!

2011-12-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

We just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. This is an extra special time for my claymate, Dave and I as we are celebrating our 25 years of marriage.

Sandscape Collars

2011-12-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more new necklace collars combining Julie Picarello's technique with Wendy's CaBezel moulds. The green one is sold but I have listed the one in cranberry in our ArtFire Studio. I show how to make the little cube spacer beads in my tutorial, Make Your Own Rondelle Spacer Beads.

Desert Reflection

2011-12-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

I created one more of the Lizard CaBezel Collars which we have now named "Desert Reflection". This one is in Olive green and gold and the lizard tail pieces almost have a tortoise shell look. This one is a favorite, but maybe because I love the color green.

We are all finished with selling in any markets now for awhile so just need to focus on filling orders for stores. When I have time I will be slowly adding some of our latest pieces to our ArtFire Studio to sell.

Home Again

2011-12-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

It was a fun weekend but is so nice to be home again. We ended our weekend by spending the Sunday afternoon at Heather's Fabric Shelf in North Shore, Kamloops. She had a Sip & Shop Tea Party with Kevie from Specifically Tea giving out samples of delicious teas. We were asked to join in and set up a jewelry display to sell as well.

We had an enjoyable time getting to meet many of Heather's customers. Dave had fun there too! (I think he was trying to make me a little jealous -- ha!... lol!)

There was a good selection of fabric on sale which was really hard for me to resist this stack with the hot chili peppers. We will be painting our living/dining/Kitchen area in our home over the holidays and this fabric will fit in with the Southwest colors we have chosen.

Day 2 at the Sun Peaks Christmas Market

2011-12-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Our second day here at Sun Peaks started with a hearty breakfast and then a nice leisure morning stroll through the village before we opened up for the Christmas market.

This is Justine who was one of the vendors that shared our space with us at the Nancy Greene's Cahilty Lodge.

She is a grade 9 student and has been raising money for a trip of a lifetime to Antarctica! This will be such an adventure and we are so excited for her! You can read more about it on the site Students On Ice Antarctic Expedition 2011. Justine also has a blog that you can read here.

Debbie was the other vendor set up in our hotel. She makes really fun reindeer and other ornaments using a chain and skill saw.

We had more Christmas Carolers come by to entertain us and this group was really great!

The highlight for the whole weekend, however, was meeting one of my childhood heroes, Nancy Greene (Raine) When I was growing up I remember her from the winter olympics when she won a gold and silver medal in downhill skiing for Canada. I have always followed her life and career from afar and currently she is one of the Senators for our province. We are staying in the ski lodge bearing her name.

We are off in the morning to Kamloops for an afternoon at Heather's Fabric Shelf where they are having a Sip & Shop Tea Party.

Christmas Market Greetings from the Mountain Tops of Sun Peaks

2011-12-16T17:53:00.000-08:00

We are set up at the Christmas market at Sun Peaks this weekend and are fortunate to have internet access so I can blog from here. This market is very different from your typical Christmas show as the various crafters and artists are set up throughout the ski village in the various hotels. We are situated in the Nancy Greene Cahilty Lodge and are with two other vendors. I will share with you who they are tomorrow.

After set-up we went for a walk through the snowy paths avoiding skiiers going to and fro, to check out the local eateries to have our lunch before the market started. We settled on a quaint little place called the Black Garlic Bistro where we had a scrumptious and tasty meal.

We were also entertained with a few Christmas songs from some local school children.

We are selling until 7:00 and then we will have a nice romantic dinner out and then maybe hit the hot tub and sauna before retiring...

New Color Inspiration

2011-12-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

A new book I ordered arrived in the mail yesterday titled the Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color

I was pleasantly surprised with this treasure as it is packed full of color inspiration. This is not only a guide to using color but also contains more than 60 pages of color combinations based on different themes like "Luscious & Sweet, Spicy & Tangy, Playful, Festive and so on.

The author of this book is Leatrice Eiseman who is a color specialist and prime consultant to Pantone. She has been labeled as the "international color guru" and after seeing this book I totally understand why and I would like to own more of her other works.

I can see I'm going to get a lot of inspiration from this book and I have it handy on our coffee table for instant viewing.

And speaking of Pantone colors..., Pantone annouced their color of the year for 2012 ... which is Tangerine Tango ...

I love this spicy and hot new color that is described as a "spirited reddish orange ... to provide the energy boost we need to recharge and move forward".

I will be mixing up the new pantone colors soon and will have some new shades of inspiration to share with you in the new year....

How to Attach Our Dremel Buffing Pads

2011-12-07T19:29:00.000-08:00

We have been asked on several occasions how to attach our hand made buffing pads to the dremel or rotary tool so I've put together a mini-tutorial for you here.

These are all the parts you really need. The mandrel #402 piece has a screw in the end with small washer between. Remove the screw (keeping the washer on the screw) and attach like so:

Note: The little washer is between the screw

head and the buffing pad (it is hard to see).

That's all there is to it.... Happy buffing....

Another Lizard Collar and Ebbtide Shell in New Colors

2011-12-07T10:29:00.000-08:00

We are now busy preparing for our last market for the Christmas season which will be the 16th and 17th at Sun Peaks. We have our hotel room booked and plan to take a little time out for enjoyment and combine it with an anniversary get-a-way. This is a fairly large Christmas market and our booth will be in the Nancy Green Cahility Lodge. We have been working on some new designs to sell there and I have been experimenting with new color combinations.

This is another "Lizard tail collar" I created this time in a cranberry red, green and gold.

This is another design of ours combining our Ebbtide Snail Shell with matching Tie Dye beads in the same color combo.

I really love this color combination as it reminds me of a vintage Christmas style tapestry fabric.

My Dream Machine Has Arrived!

2011-12-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

I finally received my Dream machine and said I would share with you what I thought. I was hoping for something that would be much stronger and larger than my Atlas but also affordable. Even though the machine is still quite expensive, with the amount of work we do we decided it was time for something to help increase production.

There is a little wrench included with the machine (for removing the blades for cleaning) and since I am always misplacing things I used a magnet to attach it to the one end so it is handy when needed.

I'm also still going to use my "modified" Atlas machine and have moved it over to my side counter. I plan to use it only for my transluscent clay when I'm in the middle of a project and do not want to stop to clean the blades on my Dream machine.

I made a list of things that are unique about the machine and have put them here in point form:

- The machine is very heavy and solid and because I purchased the motor as well, it does not need to be clamped down.

- The motor has two settings -- regular and reverse -- this I really like!

- The thickness settings are different than my Atlas where the #1 or thickest setting is a little thicker and the #2 is somewhat equal to the #1 on the Atlas. The first thing I did was to run my clay through at the various settings to familiarize myself with them.

- The dial to adjust the sheet thickness is quite unique as you can turn it in either direction or keep going all the way around in the same direction. In other words, when you are at the # 1 setting no matter which way you turn the dial, it is switching to #2, #3 and so on. I'm assuming that would mean less parts to worry about that can break down.

- I tested out all the settings and have found the #8 setting to be very thin. There are still two thinner settings going up to #10 which caused my clay to ripple quite a bit. I don't see a need to use those two settings, however, as I found that the eighth setting was about as thin as I would want it.

- Cleaning the scraper blades is not as easy as they make it out to be. I found removing and cleaning the blades on my modified Atlas machine much easier and quicker to do.

To remove the scraper blades, there are two bolts to unscrew on each side which are very awkward to get at. They provide a wrench (the one that I showed earlier) but the space is so narrow you can hardly use it. After I managed to get the two bolts off I unscrewed the three other bolts and then pried the scraper blade off for cleaning. Then to put it all back again and replacing the two side bolts again was the most difficult. Then you go through it all again to clean the scraper blade on the other side. This is definitely not an easy process and I do not want to do this very often.

*** Update: ***

Thanks so much to Sue who left a comment here, I discovered you do not have to take out the side bolts like they show in the instructions. As a matter of fact I couldn't believe how easy it really is. I removed both blades to clean in a matter of seconds. I also found it was best to not tip your machine over but leave it standing upright when you do this. Hope this helps.

So all in all, I am really happy with my purchase and since I have the motor, I should notice some relief in my shoulder pain and hopefully make working with my clay more productive.

Recovering from a fun weekend

2011-12-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

We are still recovering from our fun yet totally exhausting weekend. It started Friday evening with our Chase Country Christmas parade which was pretty impressive for a little village. I have to apologize for the quality of the photos but night photos are very hard to take with moving objects but I wanted to give you a little glimpse of some of the impressive floats, all with the candy cane theme.

The grinch riding the candy cane was one of my favorites and the person dressed up was even more impressive!

There was lots of food there too and our friends were there with their delicious fresh and hot mini doughnuts which we could not resist! yumm!

We were busy at the Christmas market the next day. We always book a double space each year so we can display a wide range of our work as well as a large section of end of year clearance sale items.

We have one more Christmas market to go which is in two weeks at the Sun Peaks Resort. We will fill you in on it more later....

Chase Country Christmas

2011-11-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe it has been three years since we moved from the Vancouver coast to the little Village of Chase in the mountains and right next to the Shuswap lake. The first weekend of every December is the Chase Country Christmas which is becoming a real tradition for us along with all the other people who live here and in the area.

Candy Canes are the theme for this year which is what inspired me to make the candy cane beads to create our candy cane jewelry. (To make your own, see the "free tutorials" at the top of this blog.)

We had some of our candy cane sets for sale at our first two Christmas markets we were in and sold out both times so had to make more for this coming market.

Besides the usual market, there are other activities throughout the weekend. Small local businesses such as the grocery store, hardware store and drugstore sponsor different events which are a great way to get to know our neighbors.

Here is a schedule of events to give you an idea of all the fun:

We are hoping the weather cooperates for the parade Friday evening. It has snowed on and off but fortunately none of it has stayed on the ground.

Peppermint Swirl Buttons

2011-11-28T08:53:00.000-08:00

I had a request to make little peppermint swirl buttons in red and white so this is how they turned out...

Carla posted a photo of the finished sweater with the buttons. She has a wonderful blog about her quilting and other beautiful projects which you will find here....

We are busy this week getting ready for our last two Christmas shows. Hope you all have a good day!

Our New Button Packaging

2011-11-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

Our new button packaging that was on backorder for some time finally arrived so we have been busy repackaging our inventory. They are the crystal clear packages and show off the buttons better. This packaging sure beats attaching hundreds of buttons to cards that end up coming off or tearing. They also keep the buttons clean from all the handling.

We've been making our rounds to all the stores that carry our buttons and have been changing their inventory over to the new packaging as well which they are very appreciative. They all like the new look as well and feel sales should increase even more.

My Polymer Clay Addiction

2011-11-23T14:07:00.000-08:00

Even though I do not smoke or drink alcohol or coffee, I must confess I do have one addiction and that is to my polymer clay. I do not eat it, of course, but I love to play with it sooo much I cannot help myself. My friend, a fellow clay artist, Wendy, asked me if I ever sleep. Well to answer that I do sleep -- actually I think I sleep a lot. I get at least 9 hours each night and sometimes I even sleep in the day. So other than sleeping and eating, let's just say a good amount of my time is taken up with my clay.

This past week we have been busy with other things such as catching up on bookwork (ugh!), making more Dremel buffing pads, and packaging buttons.

Speaking of Dremel buffing pads, I was having a hard time finding more of the material we like to use when we make them but I was looking for the same cloth in the dark yellow color. I finally found some but it was in pink this time. My claymate Dave must be a liberated man as he said he doesn't mind working with the pink ones as long as they still do the job. (Grin)

Anyhow, all this extra stuff has taken me away from my clay habit and I was telling Dave I had these strong urges and was almost feeling symptoms of withdrawl. He told me that there must be some sort of intervention for such a thing but then maybe my habit isn't so bad since it is at least productive!

Polishing Your Polymer Clay Pieces With a Dremel

2011-11-20T16:20:00.000-08:00

For some time we had been searching for the perfect finish for our polymer clay. We prefer a more natural sheen when a piece has been sanded smooth and then buffed with a soft cloth. But after some time we found the pieces would go dull and look lifeless. We started experimenting with various varathanes and glazes but were not totally satisfied. We found if you didn't put it on just right it would leave streaks and if the glaze was too thick it looked too much like shiny plastic".

I then came across an article posted by Lindly Huanani titled "Stop the Glop". As soon as I read it, I knew we were finally on to something. The article was regarding how so many people try to add all sorts of glazes on their polymer clay pieces when you really do not need anything at all. She went on to mention about using an archival type wax such as Renaissance.

We decided to give it a try and were amazed at the beautiful finish it gave! This is what we discovered and how we prefer to use it.

1. Sand your pieces first until you have a nice smooth finish. You will find instructions on sanding your pieces in the "Polymer Clay Tips" section at the top of this blog.

2. Apply the wax to your clay pieces and allow to "dry or soak in" for a minimum of 10 minutes. The longer you leave it, the better the finish.

3. To remove the wax we use two different cloths. One is a piece of a cotton rag for wiping off the excess wax . The second cloth is used for buffing such as an old rag t-shirt or piece of denim.

4. For a high shine, after (or instead of) the second buffing by hand with the cloth, you can buff your piece with a buffing wheel.

We use a simple dremel set-up in a drill press for easier handling (as shown).

We did not like the buffing pads that you buy for the dremel as they were too harsh so we followed Desiree McCrorey's instructions for making your own. The most difficult part was finding the right material. We tried various types of fabrics and discovered they are all not the same. Some of them were so harsh they would actually damage the clay piece. When we found the right material we could not believe the difference it made. Our pieces buffed up to a high shine in a matter of seconds when using just the "lightest touch".

You can make your own buffing pads like we did, or if you would prefer to purchase them already made we now have more available in our ArtFire studio. We sell them in a pack of three so they will last you a while. (Just click on the photo below to order.)

Introducing Katja's Quilt Shoppe

2011-11-19T19:06:00.000-08:00

Our work has been slowly expanding into more stores and as of this week, our beads, buttons and shawl pins are now sold in 7 quilting, yarn and craft shops.

Katja's Quilt Shoppe in Kamloops is now selling some of our handcrafted buttons and we will be making some specialty items just for her store which I am quite excited about. I will show you a hint of what I will be doing. Katja has a quilt pattern logo that she uses throughout her store. She had asked if it was possible for me to put her logo into clay so I wanted to give it a try. Here is the cane I created before the final reduction:

And here is the store logo (I took a photo of the one on the store window):

And now here is a pendant I made with the cane for Katja.

I didn't like how the cane became slightly distorted when I reduced it so I am working on some ideas on how to get around that. I would like to get into creating other quilt patterned items and this was a good jumpstart for me and I can hardly wait to do more.

New Home Decor Pieces

2011-11-17T08:31:00.000-08:00

I made my first soap/trinket dish for a housewarming gift for some friends. Their home decor is in silver, grey and black so decided to go with a leaf pattern in those shades. This was actually my first prototype and I love how the design worked out and plan to make more in different styles.

I hadn't made any candle collars in a while but finally got around to finishing a new set in the chandelier style for a wedding gift. Their home decor colors were similar to our friends so went with the same leaf pattern.

Christmas Dreamin

2011-11-16T08:50:00.000-08:00

I finally did it! I ordered the Dream Machine for an early Christmas present to myself.

I had a lot of pain in my shoulder for some time now and after checking with my doctor he told me I had tendinitis in my shoulder rotator cuff. He said the only way to help it was to stop cranking my machine.

I have a wonderful Atlas 180 with modified blades for easy cleaning but I have not found a motor powerful enough for the amount of clay that I use. I am looking forward to this new machine with it's heavy duty motor. My claymate hopes it can crank out my clay without making me so cranky! lol!

I will let you know when it arrives and how it turns out....

Tiger Print Buttons

2011-11-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

We love to see what others have created using our tutorials, beads or buttons. This is a photo someone sent us of a beautiful neck warmer scarf they made using our round tiger print buttons.

We have more tiger print as well as other animal print buttons in our Etsy Shop and ArtFire Studio.

Christmas Show in Westwold

2011-11-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Our second Christmas show for the year was yesterday in the little town of Westwold. We thoroughly enjoyed the country setting with home baked pies, Christmas decorations and music and even a short flurry of snow outside for a festive atmosphere.

We have been going with a more festive theme in our displays this year adding touches of metallic red and silver. Our set-up here at this show was similar to our last one but more compact since we had less space. The main idea is to utilize the area in the best way possible without it looking too cluttered. The other most important thing we have found is to have good lighting which really brightens up everything and shows off all the true colors.

We set up a separate display for our shawl/scarf/hair pins as we feel they deserve their own space. I happened to have this white sweater that doesn't look so good on me to wear but makes an excellent backdrop and prop to attach and show off the shawl pins.

How to Make Quick & Easy Earring Stands for Christmas

2011-11-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

We wanted some cool stands to show off our earrings on cards at our Christmas shows and had an idea as to what we wanted. I planned to make some from clay but our time was limited with more pressing orders to fill instead so I came up with a quick and easy way that was also inexpensive. It involved a trip to a dollar/discount store where I found some photo/name card holders.

Unfortunately they only had ones in a wedding theme which did not fit in with our jewelry display so I improvised and covered them up like this:

I found some gorgeous metallic laser gift wrap in red which happened to be silver on the opposite side to wrap the card holders in.

The name card holder was attached to a card with a metallic silver twist tie. If yours has the same, you can save them and use them like I did or use ribbon of your choice.

Cut circle shapes from your gift wrap using pinking shears or fancy scrap booking cutters. I used a bowl to draw the circles out that was just the right size.

I didn't want the top of the card holder to show so I used a scrap piece of the same paper to wrap the upper part. I kept in mind as to what side of the gift wrap I was going to use. If the silver was showing on the outside for instance, I would cover the top part of the holder in red to match with the inside of the gift wrap which would be red.

Now center the card holder in the gift wrap circle you cut out and bring it up to create a nice "package".

Your place card holder might be a different shape than what I have here so you may have to play around a bit to see what works best but these ones had an indent towards the bottom so I used the metallic silver twist tie to hold the gift wrap in place. A pretty ribbon would have worked nicely as well.

As you can see we made a few of them with some silver showing on the outside and others with red.

Here we used them in our last show and they worked very well for us as we could display our earrings next to any other jewelry pieces that matched.

Our next show is this Saturday in Westwold which we are looking forward to. Our display will be a little different again as we try to customize it to each show and the type of space we have. We will share on that after with more pics.

Finished Our First Show for the Christmas Season

2011-11-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas show was yesterday at the Kamloops Craft-a-fair. It was a very busy and successful show and great start for the season. Our booth set-up was a little different again this year with some new display props added. We used all of our new "hand" displays as well as some framed photos of our niece modeling our jewelry. Seeing the pieces on an actual person must have helped as we sold more of these "modeled" pieces than any other.

We also made these little stands to show off our earrings. I planned to make some from clay but had too many things to do and too little time so I improvised with these. I will show you in our next blog post how you can make your own.

When Wendy Meets Julie

2011-11-04T21:20:00.000-07:00

Ever since I took Julie Picarello's workshop 2 years ago, I cannot stop playing with her mokume technique and creating all sorts of lizard tails. The same goes with Wendy Orlowski's CaBezels. So what happens when you combine the two? You can come up with something like this -- my new Lizard CaBezel Collar Necklace.

I used Wendy's latest CaBezel (3 Fab Focals "Two"), to create the Bezel and cabochon with some mokume using Julie's technique. I now feel some more new designs coming on and can't wait to put them into clay!

Candy Cane Tube Bead Tutorial

2011-10-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

I made some candy cane beads a few years ago and finally got around to making some more. These are fun to do and go great with the rondelle spacers.

Here is how you can make your own:

1. Make a "log" of white clay about the size of a large marshmallow and pierce it through the centre with a steel mandrel or thin knitting needle.

2. Roll out some white, red and green clay (see color recipes below) on the 2nd or 3rd thickest setting of your pasta machine. Cut a length of each color slightly wider than the clay plug.

3. Cut strips from each of the colors and arrange them around your clay plug. I like to start with the red. I cut 4 strips at about 1/4" wide and arranged them equidistantly around the plug.

4. Fill in the gaps with narrower strips of green.

5. Fill in the final gaps with white. Roll a bit to smooth it out so there are no spaces between the colors.

6. Now roll out your clay plug by rolling it on the table and then lightly stretching it. Keep repeating this process until you have a nice long tube.

When it becomes too long for the mandrel, cut it in half and set one half aside.

At this point I like to trim each end off where you can see it is distorted but this is optional.

Keep the other half on the mandrel and continue rolling and stretching until it is the thickness you are happy with. At this point I like to twist it to give that nice candy cane swirl look.

Now cut your tube into pieces. I like to smooth the edges and roll each piece a little more so they are shaped nicely before baking so they will require less sanding after.

Your beads are ready to bake, sand and finish. Make sure you "tent" your beads with some aluminum foil when baking to keep the clay as white as possible. You can also bake them in a pan filled with baking soda (be sure to cover the pan with foil during baking).

Tip: With some clays like Premo, the red tends to bleed into the white. I have found the white comes out much cleaner when working with Kato clay which is another plus. If it does "bleed" a bit, the white will generally come clean again after sanding.

Color Recipes: (Here are the ones I used but you can mix up your own)

Plug: Kato white

White: White Mix, Recipe # 1-2

Red: Tomato Puree, Recipe # 4-6 (increase the red to 5 parts)

Green: Christmas Green, Recipe # 7-5

** Above recipes found in my Clay Color System

Chase Mountain Sheep

2011-10-26T16:55:00.000-07:00

We went out for lunch today and when we arrived home there was a herd of mountain sheep near our house. We thought our car would scare them off but they stuck around while I had time to run in the house and grab the camera.

I snuck around our neighbor's house so I wouldn't spook them so I could take some pictures when this little guy spotted me and was a little curious.

These mountain sheep live up in the mountain across the street but are known to come down and hang around our little village at times. We generally see them more often in the winter as they are looking for some grass to feed on. We hadn't seen this herd since last year and they have all grown quite a bit since then.

This last photo I took from the front doorstep of our house to show how close they were.

A Helping Hand

2011-10-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Our first Christmas show is coming up in less than two weeks and we are busy preparing a new look for our displays this season. We purchased these cool hands to add some character and they came in a set of 5 different colors.

I love how they can show off several rings or a matching bracelet and ring together. They also make a great prop for photographing our jewelry pieces.

Wild About Animal Print Beads

2011-10-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Like our animal print buttons, our beads are one of our best sellers as well. We have them available in our ArtFire Studio as well as our Etsy shop. They are listed as "made to order" and there are nine different shapes and four styles to choose from.

We generally have a supply of them in our studio ready to ship, however, we are also prepared to make more up if our supply is a little depleted.

We can do this by saving our information such as color recipes used to create the various canes and measuring the amount of clay required so each bead is consistent in size no matter which style or shape is needed.

Wild Animal Print Buttons

2011-10-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

Our animal print beads and buttons are our best sellers and even though we try to have a large supply on hand it seems we are always running out. We finally got around to making some new buttons in various shapes and sizes and listed them in our Etsy shop as well as in our ArtFire studio.

Starburst Buttons

2011-10-17T19:56:00.000-07:00

We finished off some new large buttons in our usual jewel tone colors. They have a metal shank and a large crystal embedded for added bling. You will find these and a few more listed in our ArtFire studio and Etsy shop as well as a more complete selection of our buttons on our website.

Kamloops Craft-a-Fair 2011

2011-10-13T22:18:00.000-07:00

We are gearing up and getting ready for our Christmas shows again. The first one to kick off the season is the Craft-a-Fair at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops which is a fundraiser for the Royal Inland Hospital. We will be in the same spot as last year which is upstairs on the concourse -- (turn left when you go in the main entrance and you will find us).

We especially look forward to this event because of all the good that comes from money raised for our local hospital.

Clash City or Matchy Matchy?

2011-10-12T08:55:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making some new buttons for a navy colored sweater I purchased some time ago. I used my "Mini Mokume" technique that I share in my Clay Color System tutorial. Each cane slice fits perfectly to create each individual button.

The color combination I used here was Navy (recipe # 9-7), Olive (recipe # 7-8, GoldenYellow (recipe # 6-2) and the avocado recipe I shared with you in a previous blog post (click here).

We are off to see a wholesale customer so I thought I would whip up some new jewelry pieces to wear in the same color combination.

And here are my matching pieces: Bracelet, Earrings, Pendant Necklace and Buttons.

Which brings me to a question. Do you prefer matching sets of jewelry pieces or do you prefer pieces that don't match but sort of go together? I've always preferred having my clothes and jewelry matching or coordinating as much as possible. What do you think?

New Goodies to Play With!

2011-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Our clay supply was getting low and had to order more. It is so nice to have an excellent supplier of Kato clay available right here in Canada. Shades of Clay not only has fair prices but great service as well. Whenever we order clay I like to order a few extra "goodies" to play with and use to create new pieces.

I had to order several of Helen Breil's latest texture plates as they all have such unique patterns. I saw "button" designs in them immediately and here are some new ones we created:

And have you seen some of Wendy Orlowski's latest textures and CaBezels? I've been having fun playing with these and have a few fun tips to share with you later on in the week.

New Scrap Art

2011-10-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Alice Stroppel of Polymer Clay Etc., shared a fun way to use up scrap clay pieces by arranging it into what she calls the Stroppel cane. As soon as I saw it I couldn't wait to give it a try and I just happened to have a pile of cane scraps (lol!) on my table ready to use. It was tempting to use them all but I wanted to see what would happen if I used pieces only from a selected color pile and was happy with the results.

And here is a shawl pin I made from the cane. I really love this new technique and this shows that when working with polymer clay, there really is no such thing as "scrap clay".

Buttons in Turquoise and Copper

2011-10-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a sampling of a few different button styles all in the same turquoise and copper combination.

The hole placement for sewing is determined as to the style of the button and how it will be used such as providing balance and stability. Some button designs are best suited with two large holes where others are better with four. At times I find the button holes would detract from the overall look so I prefer to add a shank to the back instead. My experience with sewing helps me in designing my buttons for various types of projects.

My pdf e-tutorial "Making Beautiful Buttons", contains 20 pages of clear photos and instructions on how to create buttons that are more professionally finished. I have provide instructions on how to make your own wire shanks and attach them to the back without the need for any glue. Also included are templates you can copy and use as hole placement guides so your holes are properly spaced and centered every time.

Click on the above photo to read more about our tutorial that is for sale in our ArtFire studio.

Buttons in Gold

2011-09-30T18:39:00.000-07:00

The wholesale part of our clay has been keeping us busier these days with two more stores added that are now selling our beads, buttons and shawl pins. One thing we enjoy the most is the freedom we have to create new designs all the time so we do not get bored with making the same piece over and over again. We are also "tailoring" our work to each store so they all have certain items that are unique only to them and the same items are not repeated everywhere.

Here are some samples of textured buttons in gold. We like to use a variety of textures or stamps that lend themselves well to using mica powders, inks, pigments or acrylic paints. You might recognize a few of the patterns from Helen Breil's texture sheets which I love working with.

Bargello in Autumn Colors

2011-09-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

This is one of our latest Bargello sets in some warm autumn colors. I show how to make the cube shaped beads in one of my latest tutorials, "Make Your Own Rondelle Spacer Beads".

Lovely Leanne is modeling this set. I love how it seems to come alive on her. Can you see yourself in it?

A Birthday Gift Set and Color Recipe

2011-09-26T13:04:00.000-07:00

Every year we make some jewelry pieces for Dave's mom's birthday and she always looks forward to it. This year we decided to make her a matching necklace and earrings from our Tie Dye beads.

Here is a closer view of the actual beads:

The colors in these beads are not the Pantone Fall 2011 colors but they are a favorite of ours. The main colors I used to make the beads are Purple Orchid (recipe #10-8), Olive Green (Recipe #7-8 -- same as this fall's Pantone Cedar) and a yellow green mix I call Avocado (10 parts yellow, 1/2 part green, and 1 part gold). I of course combined it with the beige mix. (recipe #2-8).

The earrings are a clip on style. We generally makes these as a custom order for anyone who requests them.

Coffee Liqueur, Nougat and Deep Teal

2011-09-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

This is another color combination using the Pantone fall 2011 colors, Coffee Liqueur, Nougat and Deep Teal. I've been busy working on some orders to fill so I quickly made some beads from my mini mokume technique. Personally, this color combination wouldn't be my first choice as I much prefer brighter colors but it does have a nice earthy tone that is very calming.

When mixing up my Pantone colors, I also like to add color chips to an index card recording my cross referenced recipe numbers. I can refer back at any of the past seasons if I'm looking for a particular color or for a comparison.

Pantone Fall 2011 Color Combo

2011-09-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some beads I created using a mix of the Pantone fall 2011 colors Phlox, Cedar, Bamboo and Orchid Hush. I made these "Tie Dye" beads using a technique I call my "mini-mokume". It really isn't a mokume gane at all but sort of starts out that way and then ends up in a nice compact-size cane for slicing. It is a really super quick method to see how various colors will work together (or not) without wasting a lot of clay or time. I share this technique and how to make the beads as a bonus feature in my Clay Color System tutorial.

When we strung these beads, we combined them with olive green cat's eyes and some hand crafted rondelles in lemon curry which we had on hand. Since the Pantone Fall color Bamboo is simply a lighter shade to the lemon curry, they worked very well with this combo.

Whenever I mix up my new blend, I like to save it on index cards with the color recipe numbers and add them to the back of my Color System album so I remember what I did in case I need to mix up some more.

I also like to make up extra color chips of the latest Pantone and a few other favorite colors so I can play around with them to see what color combinations I might like. I throw them into my purse when I go shopping and like to look for matching colors so I will have something new to wear with my latest jewelry pieces at any upcoming shows.

Jewelry Photo Shoot

2011-09-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

I am currently finishing off some pieces to share with you in various combinations of the Pantone Fall 2011 colors. In the meantime I wanted to share with you a few photos of our first jewelry photo-shoot. We had a nice time visiting our niece, Leanne, and her family last week and she so graciously modeled some of our jewelry pieces for us. Our plan is to have some of the better photos framed to hang in our upcoming shows this season.

The jewelry seems to come alive more when shown a real model as opposed to a mannequin. In this collage, our "Fiesta Spiral" Necklace and Earrings are versatile enough to be worn formal with a dress or casual with jeans. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Quarry - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

2011-09-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Quarry is a very soft muted shade of blue that is similar to a faded denim.

To mix up this soft denim-like color, combine one part of Navy (recipe Mix # 9-7 in my Clay Color System) and 4 parts of Ecru Base Mix # 2-8 (see my Clay Color System).

So there you have the recipes for the top ten Pantone Fall 2011 colors. I will share next with you some of the combinations I created with these colors. If anyone has been following our blog and experimenting with their new colors and would like to share, please feel free to leave a comment with a link.

I've had several requests for where I purchased our Pantone color cards. Pantone has all types of color cards -- from plastic to cloth swatches. You can even purchase them as an app for your ipod or iphone.

Pantone even has a cool gadget called a "Capsure" where you can hold it over almost any type of surface and it will match it to a Pantone Color.

At more than $600, I will have to pass on buying one for now, however.

We just have the "paper" set which are nice and compact and look like the paint chips you get in a paint store but in a sort of book style. A much more practical tool for us.

We purchased our set over 5 years ago at a much better price so I am glad we invested in a set when we did.

Orchid Hush - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

2011-09-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Orchid Hush is very similar to last seasons' Pantone color, Lavender (see recipe # 10-6 in my Clay Color System), except much paler and with a touch of silver.

Here is the clay color recipe for the Orchid Hush:

   12 parts of White Base Mix #1-2 (from my Clay Color System)
   1/2 part of Mix # 10-2 (= to Premo Purple)
   1 part Silver

This will make an excellent compliment to the Pantone color Phlox when working with a mokume gane, creating canes or other favorite techniques. Try using it in place of white when combining your colors.

Coffee Liqueur and Nougat - Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

2011-09-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

The Pantone fall color Coffee Liqueur is a rich brown that is very similar to Chocolate Truffle, another one of the Pantone fall 2010 colors. Follow the same recipe for Chocolate Truffle (see recipe # 3-5 in my Clay Color System) except increase the amount of gold to 4 parts and that is all there is to it.

Nougat is a lighter shade of Coffee Liqueur and makes a great compliment when combining colors. When mixing up this color I seemed to be missing some sort of ingredient and just couldn't put my finger on it. I then noticed that other colors on the same Pantone color card palette were a peach tone so when I added a bit of the Emberglow (another Pantone fall 2011 color), it came out a perfect mix.

So the recipe for Nougat is as follows:

8 parts Ecru base mix # 2-8 (see Carolyn's Clay Color System)
1/2 part Emberglow (click here to see the recipe)
1/2 part Coffee Liqueur (see recipe above)

TIP: When measuring clay for recipes I have discovered I prefer to use a square shaped cutter rather than round. This makes it much easier for measuring 1/4 or 1/2 parts as you can cut your square from corner to corner and get a much more accurate amount.

Deep Teal - Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

2011-09-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

This color is a richer and darker shade of my Teal recipe # 8-4 in my Clay Color System. To achieve this new teal color, follow recipe # 8-4 but increase the turquoise from 4 parts to 6 parts and add 5 parts of black.

Tomorrow I will share with you the next two Pantone color recipes, Coffee Liqueur and Nougat....

Cedar - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

2011-09-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Cedar is a sort of olive green which is an excellent fall color. It is pretty much exactly the same as the Woodbine recipe # 7-4 in my Clay Color System tutorial. Woodbine was one of the Pantone colors for fall of last year and it combines very nicely with some of the new colors for this season.

You will notice how the color appears to be more muted and lighter on the Pantone site (above photo) than what is actually shown on my Pantone color chip (shown below). This is why I do not rely on color matching using a computer screen but rather a set of Pantone color cards I purchased a few years ago that gives me a more accurate color sample.

Some bling for our new designs

2011-09-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

We have been in Spokane, Washington the last few days enjoying some time with family. One of the things Canadians enjoy the most while visiting the U.S. is shopping. Since Rings & Things have their main showroom in Spokane, we had to pay them a visit and pick up some goodies! They have such a huge selection of everything needed for jewelry making but we had to restrain ourselves and mainly pick up items that were needed or difficult to find in Canada. The gorgeous crystals in some unique colors were too hard to pass up and I think will add more bling to our jewelry designs.

I love these Rivoli crystals which will be used in our new pieces for Christmas. We bought a wide range of colors so should be lots of fun to play with!

Heading back home to Canada today and will have more Pantone Fall Color Recipes and ideas for you tomorrow....

Phlox - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

2011-09-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

I love this deep rich shade of purple. To mix up this color, I started with a purple base that was equal to the Premo purple (recipe # 10-2). This recipe originally came from the list of recipes provided by Donna Kato on the Shades of Clay site. It is basically Kato violet with a bit of red added. When you mix up this clay color you will discover that it does darken a bit after baking. It is the small amount of red added that causes this. While Kato clay colors do not generally darken after baking like other clay brands do, I have found the red and magenta will both darken so I have learned to adjust my measurements to allow for this.

So here is my recipe for the Pantone color Phlox.

2 parts of recipe mixture # 10-2 (= to Premo Purple)

1 part Kato magenta

If you add 1/2 part pearl to the above recipe, you will end up with just a touch lighter shade but with a bit of shimmer.

Emberglow - Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

2011-09-12T16:13:00.000-07:00

Emberglow is very similar to the spring 2011 Coral Rose which was a slight variation of the fall 2010 Living coral and previous to that, Fusion Coral. Are you seeing the trend here?

Emberglow has a bit more yellow and orange than last season's Coral Rose so is a little more of an autumn shade than summer.

Because Emberglow is so similar to the Pantone Spring 2011 Coral Rose, I just had to tweak the recipe slightly to achieve the new fall shade. To do this, start with the basic Coral Rose color recipe (# 5-6) provided in my Clay Color System Tutorial. Keep the amount of magenta the same but increase the yellow to 6 parts, orange to 2 parts and pearl to 4. You can make a new color chip and saved it as a new color on your cards. That is all there is to it.

Tomorrow I will share with you my recipe for the color Phlox ... yummm!

Bamboo - Pantone Fall 2011 Color

2011-09-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

Bamboo is a soft golden yellow and similar to last season's yellow, Beeswax. Before that, Golden Glow was the fall 2010 color and very similar except a richer shade of gold. If you have my Clay Color System tutorial, you already have the recipes for these shades of yellow plus the new Pantone color, Bamboo. It is almost identical to recipe # 6-4 titled "Lemon Curry".

Lemon Curry was a Pantone fall color from several years back but just a shade darker than this years color, Bamboo. Adding more pearl or white mix (recipe #1-2) can lighten it up or use it straight for a richer tone. If you prefer a lighter shade, I would suggest to create a six step color blend with the #6-4 Lemon Curry and White Mix #1-2 to create several lighter shades to choose from.

When matching with my Pantone color chart cards, I found that the 5 to 1 mix was a perfect match.

I like using this shade of yellow when working with Mokume Gane as well as cane work. It combines beautifully with autumn colors such as rusty type reds, browns and especially greens. Here is a sample of some bangles I made a few years ago using the Lemon Curry with a Moss green which is very similar to the Cedar green for this fall.

I will continue on in order and tomorrow I will share with you my recipe for the color Emberglow....

NOTE:

Now I do have a confession to make. If you have my Clay Color System I discovered a slight error when mixing up the Lemon Curry (recipe # 6-4). I discovered that it should read 1/4 instead of 1/2 of mix 7-8. It is surprising what a difference of that extra 1/4 can make in the final color turnout even though it is still a nice shade but perhaps a bit greener than intended. Please accept my apology for this error and make a note of it in your album. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Pantone Fall 2011 Color Recipes - Honeysuckle

2011-09-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

I mentioned yesterday that I would be sharing with you the new Pantone Color recipes for this fall and winter. I have been following the Pantone fashion guide for some time now and mixing up my clay color recipes to match for making my beads (and now buttons) so our jewelry would coordinate for that season. I found the colors to be very inspiring when it came to creating various blends and combinations. One thing I have noticed over the years is how the colors do not change from season to season or even year to year all that drastically. The changes are more subtle and there are several common threads that run between them. In fact, if you have most of the color recipes for the past year or so, all they need is a little tweaking here and there to create the new color for another season. I will show you how this works with the new recipes I will be sharing with you.

I should explain of course that all my recipes are using Kato polyclay. I prefer this clay over the other brands since it is a much harder type of clay and I like how the colors are more true for mixing.

Another thing is that these new Pantone color recipes are based on my Clay Color System Tutorial. If you already purchased my Clay Color System tutorial, you will be able to add these new recipes to your album. If you do not have my tutorial or use another brand of clay, you can mix up your own recipe just by following the guidelines I will be providing.

My Clay Color System tutorial already provides more than 60 Kato color recipes. Some of those color recipes I've included are listed on the Shades of Clay site but 54 colors are entirely my own. Most of the recipes I have provided are perfect for using as is, but many of them are considered "base-type" recipes and intended for creating blends and using as a "base starting point" for creating more new colors by following the Color Wheel and six-step color blend worksheets provided.

Another question I get asked often is if I use any of the Kato color concentrates in my recipes. I want to tell you here that I do not use any of the concentrates at all and for several reasons. I have experimented with them a bit and found them to be extremely dry and crumbly so therefore difficult to work with. I also found them to not be that concentrated and you still need a fair bit to create a rich color so therefore making them rather costly. They seem to work best for the mica shift technique and there are some great recipes for this as well on the Shades of Clay site.

Honeysuckle

Pantone Color of the Year

I decided to start you off with Honeysuckle (recipe # 11-6 in my clay color system) as the first color. Honeysuckle was chosen by Pantone as the Fashion color of the year so it is still a part of the Fall 2011 color palette. I already shared this color recipe with you on a previous blog post along with a fun tutorial on how to make your own Disc style Earrings. You can click on the photo below and it will take you there.

You will notice that the honeysuckle shown here might be a darker shade than what is on the Pantone website. If you prefer a much lighter shade, this can be easily created by adding more pearl or white mix (recipe # 1-2) until you achieve the shade you want.

Pantone Colors and New Books Arrived

2011-09-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy these last few months filling bead, button and shawl pin orders for stores I hadn't even had time to think about mixing up some of the new Pantone colors for this fall and winter. I finally had some time today to sit down and study the most popular shades and mix up some new recipes. I plan to share those with you over the next week or so. My clay recipes of course are all with Kato polyclay and if you have already purchased my Clay Color System Tutorial, you will be able to utilize and appreciate the new recipes I will be sharing.

In the meantime, some fun new books arrived in the mail today. I ordered them some time ago with a 1-2 months wait before shipping so I thought it would be a nice surprise when they finally showed up.

The one book is Zentangle 2. I've seen some really cool work from various artists who have used the Zentangle method for their designs so I was rather curious as to what it was all about and maybe something I could have fun with. There are several books out to this series but I only wanted one book for now to start. After reading a book review by Angela Mabray on her blog, I decided to take her advice and skip Zentangle 1 and go right to the second book.

The other book is "Adapting Quilt Patterns to Polymer Clay" by Judith Skinner and Sarajane Helm. I was quite excited when I accidentally came across this one on Amazon. I had no idea it even existed and it has been out for several years already. For the past year I have been fascinated with quilting patterns and have been studying the various types in using them in my future clay designs so this book should be a lot of fun to experiment with.

A Special Story About a Special Lady

2011-09-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

I have a cool story about someone we recently met that I had to share with you all.

One of the stores (Donna's Yarn and Craft Centre) that sells our beads, buttons and shawl pins was giving us requests for several custom shawl pin orders. This customer especially loved the ones with the rich textures and fiesta spiral bead at the end of the stick. We were wondering who this was until we finally met her in person.

This is Dianne. She is not only an avid knitter but she is blind! She is an amazing lady and she shared her story with us and how she can do something without her sight that we take so much for granted. She explained how her husband helps her by sorting all her wool in piles by color. The wool is placed into bags and she tags it with that color in braille.

So how does she read a pattern? Her friend Donna will help her find the right patterns she is looking for. They are then mailed to Marjorie Arnott who is also blind. Marjorie converts the pattern, using a special embosser into braille and sends it back to Dianne.

We were extremely interested in how she chose her shawl pins to go with the sweaters and wraps she knits. Because she cannot actually see them, she would go by touch and how they feel to her instead. She is especially drawn to the ones we make with deep rich textures. You might recognize Helen Breil's texture sheets that were used in the ones shown here.

This is one of the shawl pins I made special for Dianne -- She asked for one with roses that she could "feel". The end of the stick has a "vintage rose" double-sided bead on the end to match.

Dianne is a real inspiration to both Dave and I and we feel we can learn so much from her. I hope you found her story just as inspiring.

New Store In Town

2011-09-03T18:52:00.000-07:00

We are excited about a new store, Electrictree Yarns, opening up in downtown Kamloops this Tuesday. Caroline is the owner who started out selling her own hand died yarns and knitting accessories on Etsy. She decided to take the plunge and open her own brick and mortar store. As you can see, the decor is very elegant with a cozy atmosphere.

The store has a wide range of products for weaving, knitting, crocheting and fibre arts. They have some really cool yarns that I never even knew existed. Yarns made from materials like bamboo or pineapple skins for instance. Or a sock yarn called Tofutsies consisting of wool, cotton, soysilk (a byproduct of manufacturing tofu) and Chitin (made from shrimp and crabshells).

There are soft hemp yarns and a cool paper linen yarn which actually feels like paper until it is softened when washed.

Besides all the yarns, there is a wide range of accessories, books and of course our very own handcrafted buttons and shawl pins.

We wish them all the best on their grand opening this Tuesday and if you are in the area, be sure to stop in and check them out.

New Flowers from Spliced Floral Canes

2011-09-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some flowers I made from the spliced floral canes I showed you yesterday. All of these flowers are not finished off yet but they are baked and ready to be used for various projects.

Here are some shawl pins I made from the same canes as well.

These shawl pins (and more) were delivered to several Kamloops stores today. One of the stores, Electrictree Yarns, is new and will be opening next week Tuesday.

Spliced Flower Canes

2011-09-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

I made up a bunch of skinner blends to make some spliced flower canes yesterday. I am generally a stickler for mixing up colors and saving the recipe so I can make it exactly the same again. My pile of "scrap" clay colors, however were starting to pile up and I decided to live dangerously and use some of it up. Other than using my favorite white mix (see recipe #1-2 in my Clay Color System Tutorial) for some of the skinner blends, all the clay were colors I already had premixed in my scrap clay box. I found some gorgeous colors to use -- even a bright yellow and several oranges which came in handy.

I'm just finishing up some pieces from these canes and will show them to you tomorrow....

Wholesale vs. Retail

2011-08-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

I received the first edition of a new clay magazine, The Polymer Arts, in my e-mail inbox the other day. When I discovered you could purchase a digital version, as opposed to a hard copy by snail mail, I decided to give it a try.

I found the Controlled Crackling technique to be quite interesting and something I might want to play around with some day. The article "Transitioning into Wholesale" was very timely for us since that is basically the stage where we are at.

We started out last March with our first quilting store purchasing our buttons. That has grown to several more stores selling our shawl pins and now beads as well. Our wholesale end seems to be taking over and we are at a crossroads as how to divide our time.

We are still booked in for several shows over the next six months and by the end of that time we should be closer to making a more informed decision.

Abstract Floral and Hardly Working

2011-08-24T18:49:00.000-07:00

I finally finished some new beads and buttons from the spliced cane I made the other day. You can see the original cane here.

These pieces are to fill a wholesale order for a yarn and craft store. The wholesale part of our business has been picking up and we have now expanded into beads and shawl pins. Selling beads and buttons as wholesale is quite different from selling our jewelry on line or in shows. It takes more discipline and organization along with working in a more production line-like process. Consistency is another important factor so that each batch of beads or buttons come out the same size and color. On the other hand, selling wholesale also forces us to be more creative to come up with more styles and designs.

All in all, it is maintaining a balance between having fun or working. As long as we enjoy what we do it does not feel like work. Whenever I go to my studio I always say that I'm off to "play" today. It gives a whole new meaning to "working hard" or "hardly working". lol!

Bargello in Autumn Colors

2011-08-22T18:25:00.000-07:00

So here are a few Bargello style pieces I created in autumn colors inspired by my shawl/wrap.

Follow up on your comments

2011-08-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much for your comments on the pendant I posted. Some of you recognized Julie Picarello's technique. I took her workshop almost 2 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It is the only workshop I've ever taken and glad I did for the experience and fun get together with other fellow clayers. Some of you mentioned how her style and technique is now popping up all over the place since her book came out and may be a little over used for a while but that is okay. I still love to play with stacked, layered and textured clay and experimenting with a way to create more of an abstract look.

This brings me to the bet Dave and I made with each other. I was playing with my clay layered stack and decided to formulate some type of scene. When I showed Dave my pendant, I asked him what he saw and at first he didn't see anything -- go figure! I then gave him some suggestions as to what I saw (which I had some liberty as I did make the piece - ha). I showed him the sky, the hill, the possible water at the bottom --- He did see the sun! yippee! On the other hand he did decide it was a sunset over a moonscape --- he felt calling it a landscape was stretching it a bit.

We then made a bet. I said I would post a photo of it on our blog and ask our followers what they see and compare who is right ---

To settle the bet ... any of the comments that mentioned desert, sun, etc. were a point for Dave.

Any of the comments that referred to scenes or landscapes were a point for me.

We eliminated the faces, fish, birds and whatever -- except for the FraggleRock comment. Dave insisted on a point for that one! (In his opinion FraggleRock was the best TV show ever made)

As for the comments on Facebook? Well -- let's just say they are just wierd! Ninja turtles??? lol!

All in all we settled on a tie -- (for now...) It was fun though to see how so many people can look at the same thing and all get a totally different impression!

So now the inspiration behind this piece....

I bought this gorgeous wrap style poncho shawl from a local artist friend, Jan Seedhouse. Her work is fabulous and all made by her on her loom. You can see the shawl in our blog post here.

So, I've been wanting to make some new jewelry pieces to go with my shawl. I created some new bargello (which I will show you later) and decided to play around with some of the same colors. Here are some photos of the pendant piece with my shawl to see how the colors coordinate.

Thanks again for all your comments! We had a lot of fun reading them!

Need Your Input

2011-08-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

We've been experimenting with some mokume gane techniques as well as new color combinations and pendant shapes. Perhaps you could help settle a bet between Dave and myself. Can you tell us what you see here? Give us your best description and you can comment here or on our facebook page.

Double Take with our Fiesta Spiral Beads

2011-08-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Fiesta Spiral in

Sapphire Blue & Peridot Green...

Necklace...

Earrings ...

Bracelet ...

Ring...

Shawl Pin...

Beads...

Tutorial...

Feathers in Denim Blue

2011-08-13T20:25:00.000-07:00

These feather jewelry pieces are in a soft denim blue.

The colors came from a special order request for feather zipper pulls. She was designing and sewing a dress and wanted something unique as an accent. Here they are on her beautiful summer dress:

Candy Swirl Buttons in Five Colors

2011-08-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Candy Swirl Buttons...

How to Make a Banner Using Picasa Collage

2011-08-10T19:58:00.000-07:00

ArtFire is the main site we sell from and they recently made some improvements to make the shops look more professional and the shopping cart more user friendly. Due to these improvements we had to update and change our banner and avatar to fit with the new layout which left us scrambling on what to do. I am no computer expert but manage to figure out the necessary basics and good at improvising. I googled "how to make a banner with picasa" and came up with a few helps but there seemed to be some steps missing, etc. I struggled through and finally came up with a quick and simple method how to create a new banner for our studio that is exactly 1000 x 200 pixels. You can also use this same method for a blog or website banner by changing the size measurements. You can click on the photos below to see a larger view.

Step 1 - I first chose a couple of photos in Picasa I wanted to use for the banner and then entered them into a collage. You can use several photos or just one. Choose the picture setting for your collage.

Step 2 - You can choose any color you wish for your background. Instead of a solid color, I chose one of my photos as the background.

Step 3 - Now straighten and move your photo(s) around on the background. Since the ArtFire banner needs to be 1000 x 200 which is really long and narrow, I shrunk my photo a fair bit so it will fit. (You will see why later).

Step 4 - When your photo is in position how you like, select "Create Collage". It is then saved and you switch to editing mode.

Step 5 - Now crop your photo so it will be long and narrow like your banner. This is where I clicked on the "Add Custom Aspect Ratio". I entered in the boxes 1000 x 200 and named it ArtFire Banner.

Step 6 - Now crop the banner so it will come out in the ratio of 1000 x 200.

Step 7 - Export your photo to another file and resize it to "1000" pixels.

Step 8 - Find your photo again in Picasa to edit and add any writing. If you click on the properties (right click menu), you will see that the photo has been resized to 1000 x 200.

Step 9 - Add any writing and arrange how you like. Keep in mind that the avatar will be covering part of it on the right hand side.

Step 10 - Now load your banner and voila! You are finished!

I hope this helps make loading your new banner a little easier for you.

Follow Up:

Okay -- I didn't realize that there is a blank spot on my Banner for the Facebook Kiosk. If you have a facebook Kiosk you can fill in a photo such as your avatar in that empty space. If you already created your banner and don't want to do it all over again you can add it later like I will show you how here....

Step 11 - Go back to Picasa and find your finished banner (where we left off at step 9). Load it and the photo you want to use to fill the empty space. In this case I am using a different avatar.

Step 12 - Enlarge your banner so it almost fills the whole width of the workspace.

Step 13 - Shrink your other photo and place it in front of the banner in the postition you would like.

Step 14 - Now save your collage. It will take you to the editing window. Recrop your banner to the 1000 x 200 size again.

Step 15 - Now export your photo to a new file setting it to 1000 pixels. When you find your photo in Picasa, it should show that it is 1000 x 200. (Note: one time it did not come out exact -- for instance 1000 x 201. If this happens, delete the photo, go back to the original and export again. It should work next time.)

Now reload your banner and the new one will look much better on facebook, etc.

Another Update:

I finally had time to go back and create another banner. This time I loaded several photos and allowed space for writing at the bottom. There are all sorts of possibilities.

And here is how it looks on the facebook kiosk:

Fiesta Spiral Rings

2011-08-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

These rings match the Fiesta Spiral double-sided textured beads in some new jewel tone colors. I used the polished pigments by Lumin Arte in powder form here and find the colors more intense than the typical mica powders. I'm still experimenting with ways to use this medium and discovering some fun new colors.

The bands on all of our rings are made from textured clay and available in two sizes: Small - Medium and Medium - Large. There is a slit at the back that expands slightly to fit the finger.

I experimented with some Premo clay and made some bands but found they were too soft and flexible to hold their shape. The Kato clay is much stronger with just enough flex for a comfortable fit without stretching too far.

Ready for the Summer Games with some New Art Jewelry Pieces

2011-08-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

We delivered our jewelry last Thursday for the Nightly Arts Festival and sale at the Kamloops Western Canada Summer Games. There are 29 local artists represented with several demonstrations each evening. I demoed my millefiori and bead making last night and had a fun time.

This is a spliced cane I made during my demo in a favorite color combination of grape (#10-4) and lagoon (#8-3). I plan to use this cane to make some sculpted floral buttons, shawl pins and rings...

Our jewelry inventory was a little depleted after selling at the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts so we made some new pieces just for this show. These are an amalgamation of several Mokume Gane techniques in some bright summer colors.

Summer Heat

2011-08-04T20:33:00.000-07:00

Summer has finally arrived here after a late start with plenty of rain. Things have been so busy we were glad to take some time out to visit with family. Some of them are so beautiful we couldn't miss the opportunity to photograph them modeling our jewelry.

Leanne ...

"Yours Forever"

Jody ...

"Bargello"

Juanita ...

"Fly Away"

Kamloops North Shore Art Walk

2011-07-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

As a member of the Kamloops Art Council, I am excited to be in the Kamloops North Shore Art Walk this year. Each participating artist is teamed up with a local business on the north shore where their work is on display (and for sale) from July 29 to September 5. Our jewelry will be at Heather's Fabric Shelf which is a perfect match for us as they already sell our buttons.

Here is a photo of our display featuring our bargello style pieces which we felt fit in with all the gorgeous and colorful quilting fabric.

This is one of the new sets on display in a Pantone summer color combination of Coral Rose, Beeswax and Peapod.

Tooled Leather Look Cabinet Knobs

2011-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

We received a unique custom order request the other day. This customer had purchased some gorgeous knobs for their kitchen cabinets that were made from a resin-like material but had a tooled leather look. Unfortunately these knobs kept breaking and they could not purchase any more as they were discontinued. They really loved the design and if you saw their house, you would understand why as everything was decorated with a real country western flair. A friend of theirs had seen our work at the Cowboy Festival last March and told them about us. They sent us a broken knob and asked if we could possibly match them to replace the broken missing ones.

This was a big challenge with several details to work out such as making a good moulded impression of the original piece, mixing the right clay base color as well as the paint for staining. After several attempts, I finally ended up with a replica that looked almost exactly like the original. (Can you tell which one it is?)

Here you can see them on their cabinet drawers in their gorgeous country style kitchen --

They said I could share some photos of their beautiful home with you. Every light fixture is totally unique.

Everything was so tastefully decorated with a country western style right down to the saddle barstools...

One of the most gorgeous pieces in their home was the bathtub! It is made from copper and was imported from Mexico. Dave says it is the kind of tub you need a life jacket if you don't know how to swim!

We are happy we had the opportunity to work on such a project for this beautiful home and meet some very beautiful people who live there as well!

Blog Debris - Finding a Name

2011-07-26T22:25:00.000-07:00

We were looking for a name for our colorful stacking type buttons for children's clothing and decided on Rainbow Garden.

I wanted each of the colors to be of items you would find in a garden so I discovered if you google the name of a color and type in the words "color _____" and fill in the color (example: color yellow) you will find all sorts of information about that color along with several links to a wide range of possible names. It was a lot of fun and I discovered some cool colors and inspiration in the process.

Where do you find names for your work?

2011 Western Canada Summer Games - Nightly Arts Festival

2011-07-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

This August, Kamloops will be hosting the 2011 Western Canada Summer Games and we are excited to be a part of this great event! The Kamloops Art Council is heading up a Nightly Arts Festival which will take place at the Heritage House at Riverside Park each evening (August 6-13) from 4:00 to 8:00 pm.

As a member of the Kamloops Art Council, a selection of our jewelry will be for sale at the Heritage House. Both Dave and I will be there helping out on the Sunday (7th) evening so if you are in the area, please stop in to say hi. I will be demoing (weather permitting) my millefiori canes and bead making that same evening from 6:00-8:00 pm.