Lake Country Art Walk Come and Gone

I hadn't blogged in a while as the last few weeks had been so busy with hardly any extra time to spare.  Dave and I had both been putting in long hours working on fall orders for the local stores that sell our work as well as preparing for the Lake Country Art Walk.

The Art Walk was last weekend and is hard to believe it has now come and gone.  We weren't as exhausted afterwards this year thanks to the extra help we had this time.  The show was so busy I didn't get a chance to take any pictures during, but did manage to get a few pics of our set-up the Friday evening before.

This is Dave and our sister-in-law Pat resting after doing our set-up the Friday evening before the show.  Pat and her friend Brenda were a great help all weekend.  We also hired an art student to help as well so there was as many as 5 of us to help take care of customers.

This was our earring display along with our flip flop pieces.  The theme this year was "Shoes, A step forward" so we had to have our flip flop jewelry to go along.

This was one of our jewelry displays.  Also included were some special scarf jewelry pieces on some gorgeous silk scarves.

This was our new sweater guard clip display.  The sweater guards were a really big hit and we had nearly sold out of them.

Some of the sweater guards here were in our new faux turquoise colors (the green and red) using the Cabezel moulds.  I will share the new color recipes I used to make these with you in my next post.

Sweater guard in new faux green turquoise

Sweater guard in new faux red turquoise

More Flip Flop Sandal Jewelry

Here is another style of flip flop sandal jewelry pieces using the extruded retro square pattern.   They are a different look for those who are not into the flowers as much.

We will have a selection of our popular flip flop jewelry available at the Lake Country Art Walk coming up in September.  Each year there is a theme and this year's is "Shoes: A Step Forward".

Finishing off Softglass Necklace Cords

There are so many different types of necklace cord options to hang your finished art beads from.  Rather than purchase ready made ones, we prefer to make our own.  It not only helps to keep our costs down but also gives us more control over length, quality and over-all look.

One of our favorite cords we like to use is the Softglass cord from Shades of Clay as it is very soft and drapes beautifully.  Here are some more of our flip flop sandal necklaces all strung on the Softglass cord.

There are several ways to finish off the ends of this cord and so I thought I would share a few ideas here.  These are some spring coils that fit the softglass cord very nicely.   To make them a little more secure, you can put a drop of glue on first and then pinch the last coil to tighten it around the cord.  The loops at the end are for attaching your clasp and chain with jump rings.  (Click here to see them at Shades of Clay -- scroll almost all the way down)

These cord ends are my favorite to use. 

They are a fold-over type and if you can see in the photo, there is a sharp "v" prong that grabs onto the cord so it won't slip out.  (Click here to see them at Shades of Clay -- scroll almost all the way down)

These cord ends are more secure so you don't need to mess around with glue.  To attach them, simply place the cord into the end finding as shown.

With chain or flat nose pliers, bend one of the sides first folding it over the cord.

With your pliers, bend the other side down, overlapping the first fold.

Finish off the other end of your cord in the exact same way and you are done!  These cord ends are quick and easy peasy so you can see why we like to use them.

Now add your clasp with some jump rings.  Here we have a lobster claw with a chain so the length can be adjustable.  You can add a fancy bead or charm to the end of the chain or here we have added our signature bead.

We are working on another option (a surprise) so will share that with you a little later after we work out the details.

Single Flower Style Flip Flop Jewelry

We've been working on some more flip flop jewelry pieces.  With so many lakes and beaches in our area they are a popular summer item.  The pendants are all hung on the gorgeous Softglass cords that we get from Shades of Clay.  Both the Softglass and the buna cords are beautiful and drape so softly making them perfect for these lighter weight beads.  I found a simple way to finish off these cords which I will share with you in my next post.

Flip Flop Sandal Necklaces

Flip Flop Sandal Earring Beads

I had fun creating these in a variety of colors some of which were in the latest Pantone shades.  All the ones shown here are now availabe at Chum N' Luba's Unique Boutique in our town of Chase.  Here is the one in a Pantone color combination of Celosia Orange and Cayenne (top photo far left) with one of the gorgeous maxi dresses at Chum N' Luba's.

 

Flip Flop with Summer Maxi Dress at Chum N' Luba's Unique Boutique

Just a Happy Customer

Here in Canada we don't have too many places we can purchase our jewelry or polymer clay supplies.  It is difficult at times to order south of the border and even though there are companies that offer huge discounts, the cost in shipping and U.S. currency exchange can end up being more in the end.  We are very fortunate to have Shades of Clay as our major supplier of Kato clay as well as so many other tools and items at a very reasonable cost right here in our own country. Even though they are more than 5000 kilometers (3000 miles) away from us, they are still a Canadian company and we don't have customs and high shipping costs to deal with.

Shades of Clay has been around for quite a few years and last year Wendy Orlowski took over the company from Margaret, the previous owner.  Wendy continues to give the same excellent service and is working even harder to build up a wider selection of cool items for us.  The latest news is that they will be bringing in some of the Pebeo Fantasy Prisme paints and zentagle markers which I am very excited about.

So why am I telling you all this?  I am not being paid to promote Shades, but just a happy customer and wanted to share that with you.  We are also both Canadians and therefore we like to support one another.  It is wonderful to find a supplier that you can work with directly and can supply so many items that we need.

Anyhow, I cannot write a blog post without showing you at least one picture.  Here are some new flip flop sandals we are working on for this year.  The flowers are from the new canes I showed you earlier (you can see them here).  Since we live at a beach (lake) and there are many lakes with beaches surrounding us, our flip flop jewelry is generally a big hit at the summer shows.  We decided that this year was time to come out with a new look and this is just a sample.  The cords on these pendants are a type of "buna" called "softglass" which is available here.

It is already warm here and is nice to be wearing summer clothes and flip flops again!

Making a Splash with our New Barefoot Sandals

Some friends of ours went on a trip of a lifetime to the Fijian Islands to get married.  We were viewing their wedding photos and their wedding was like a dream.  Imagine getting married in a setting like this....

I was asked to make some barefoot sandals for their event and this is what spring-boarded us into creating a new line of jewelry for the feet.   We will be unveiling more new designs and listing them in our on-line shop very soon.

Summer at the Beach

Summer is already here -- at least in our area and our summer markets are already starting and gearing up for the coming tourist season.  Since our town is on a beautiful lake with a nice relaxing beach I've been busy working on items that go along with that theme, like the flip flop sandal pendants and earrings.  Here are some new colors with more in the making.

These are fun to do as you can really get carried away with all the designs and colors but they are even more fun to wear!