From Art Deco to Art Nouveau

I have been sorting and cleaning up more of my "scrap clay" piles and creating new designs from them.  All of our clay "left-overs" go into containers that are either sorted by color or color combinations.  I had picked out enough combinations that I thought would make some good Art Deco patterns using my new technique that I now have published in a fun and easy tutorial.

When I mixed up one of the combinations, I was quite pleased with the results and how the overall pattern was much softer and had more of an art nouveau look rather than the brighter art deco.

Teal and lime green are two of my favorite colors and when I saw the results from this batch, I had to make a set of snaps for myself to wear!  The cool thing about this technique is that you can make up lots of beads, snaps and even buttons to create a coordinating theme, yet each pattern is completely unique and one of a kind.

If you look closely, you will see there is some mirror imaging involved.  If you are one of those who can not slice your clay perfectly even or have one of those expensive or fancy slicers, you do not have to worry about that.  We do not have a cane slicer of any kind and slice all our canes by hand.  In my lesson I have some tips on how to create perfect mirror images, even if your slices are not all evenly sliced!

You can now purchase some of our best selling findings like the gorgeous rhinestone ring with the snap base (above) and snap base pendants and bracelets (below) in our snap supply section of our online store. But hurry if you want some as we only have a limited supply and will be several months before we can get another shipment in!

And don't forget to use the coupon code to receive a discount on your total purchase from our online store. 

Extruded Square Spiral Beads and Memory Wire Bracelets

When I first saw this free tutorial published by Marie Segal a while ago, I knew I wanted to give it a try.  It was even one of the first things I pinned to my Polymer clay pinterest board but it kept getting pushed down to the bottom of our "things to play with" list.  Then one day while working on our memory wire bracelets, I remembered those beads and immediately pulled out our extruder and dies and had to give it a whirl.  You need to make the extruded tubes first with the special clay core adapter to create a hole in the tubes for the beads.

Extruded strands with mica powders applied before twisting

I love how they turned out but for a memory wire type bracelet, we decided they should have a curve for a better fit and easier threading.  We had a bunch of these cool tins for covering with clay which are the same size as the wire so decided to use some as a baking form.  After applying the mica powders and twisting the long ropes, we gently arranged them inside the tins.  We placed the lids on each tin so they could be stacked on the baking tray in the oven.

Here are the long bead tubes after baking.  To seal the mica powders we like to spray them first with the PYM11 (Preserve Your Memories 11).  It was much easier to spray them first before cutting into bead lengths.  This way the mica powders wouldn't rub off during the cutting process.  To make cutting easier, we warmed the tubes first in the oven and then used a sharp, rigid tissue blade for cutting.

We then applied several coats of Pledge (Future) and then baked again at 200 F to harden the finish.

Here they are a few strung on the memory wire as bracelets.  We like adding our own clay rondelle spacer beads in with the twisted tubes.

To see our tutorial on how to make your own memory wire bracelets you can click here.  Making the beads and the bracelets are a lot of fun and so we have been making them in a wide assortment of colors.

Hurry Hard to Essentials & Beyond for the Tim Horton's Brier Kamloops 2014!

The Tim Horton's Brier Kamloops 2014 starts this Saturday, March 1st.  This means there will be a lot of curling fans visiting the city of Kamloops.  Essentials & Beyond (on Victoria Street downtown) has caught the spirit with their fun window display.  They welcome these fans to look at their new line of ladies wear, jewelry, giftware and souvenirs.

We are pleased to be a part of their ladies accessory and jewelry collection featuring our scarf necklaces, bracelets and interchangeable earrings.

While there yesterday to "freshen up" our items at the store, we noticed a lot of beautiful new items they received in time for spring.  Since I am always interested in color, that is usually what first grabs my attention and Essentials has some gorgeous new items in this year's spring colors!

Here is a cute dress with a matching cardigan in the Pantone Spring 2014 fashion color of Dazzling Blue!

And I love the colors in this dress with splashes of Radiant Orchid, Celosia Orange, Violet Tulip, Dazzling Blue and lime green.

They have some wonderful things in this adorable boutique.  It is always a treat to shop there and find something new every time!

Follow-up on the Jewelry Party

Dave and I had a nice time at The Sewing Basket with the Jewelry Party last Saturday.  It was a different sort of class where we provided a selection of beads and some patterns and each participant made their own bracelet.

It was a lot more relaxed type of class where each person could work at their own pace.  Some enjoyed making their first one so much they decided to make another.  I remembered to take a photo this time (with a few bracelets missing but could at least show off a few of the finished pieces.

 It was a little snowy that day but we had a nice drive home after where the highway follows along the Shuswap Lake.  Even though it was cloudy, the water looked like glass.

Follow Up on the Lake Country Art Walk and Our New Bracelet Display Stands

We had the most wonderful time at the Lake Country Art Walk last weekend.  It was our first time in this great art show and the experience was wonderful.  It was a little overwhelming at times with so many people but everyone was so patient and extremely kind and pleasant.  With all the crowds we were very fortunate to have our sister-in-law, Pat Good give us a hand and our good friend, (I wish I got a picture as she looked so gorgeous in her artsy dress) Denyse Pyke, help out as well.  We would have been totally exhausted and perhaps not survived the two days as well without them --- thank-you!

Pat and Dave taking a break...

My voice was getting hoarse by the second day from talking so much with demoing the clay and explaining how we create our pieces as polymer clay is a new art form for many that were there.

Just a follow up on my last blog post where I showed how we made our new bracelet display stands. Not only did the bracelets show off nicely and we could arrange them in different spots.  They must have worked well for us as we sold more bracelets than in any other past show.

Here are a few snapshots of our set-up.

bracelet display stands on table and above on grid.