Summer all year long

Earlier in the year I made a flip flop type bead for our "Fun in the Sun" themed necklace (see posting in February). We thought they would make cute earrings so I then made a pair (the pink ones shown on the left) to test them out. Well they turned out to be a hit and even though summer has come to an end, I have been getting orders for more of these.

I also decided to experiment a little further and make some matching pendants. I mentioned earlier how I like doing custom orders for people like the ones shown in the photos below. It can seem a little intimidating at first -- worrying whether the color combination will come out all right and meet the expectations of the customer -- but it can also be fun and exciting.

Anyhow, this summer seemed to be shorter and colder than usual and now it is over for another year but when I'm making these flip flops it puts me in a summery mood and I can imagine sitting at the beach hearing the ocean waves and soaking up the sun.

   

   

Seeing in Black and White

My finger seems to be healing quite nicely and since I am claying a little less right now, I have a little more time for blogging. A lot of my clay artist friends have been experimenting lately with various kaleidescope canes. These are made by combining various canes to form another cane and then arranging them as a kaleidescope type pattern. Since I love experimenting and trying new things I followed a tutorial from Judy Belcher who is one of my favorite polymer clay artists.

I decided that black and white was the best colors to start with this type of cane although they would not be my own personal color choices but I have since discovered why they are so popular. They make great accents to wear with other colors making them more practical and functional.

I consider myself a very practical type person (so Dave keeps reminding me) and I'm drawn to art that is more functional with some flare and is maybe a little exotic but not too extreme or wild. Anyhow, here are a few things I created from this technique. The photo above shows a brooch with a jet black crystal rhinestone embedded. Below are some bracelets and a pendant which we're still undecided on finishing but most likely hang from a suede leather cord.

Another year to be thankful for...

It was Dave's birthday last week and now with his new kidney we had a lot to celebrate. He has been doing very well since his transplant -- as a matter of fact better than average so the future seems much brighter these days.

I wanted to make a special gift for him so I made a bracelet for his watch. I wanted it to look more masculine without any beads and so experimented for the first time with curved tiles. I have to say it was a little trickier to make but I was really pleased with the results. I think I will have to experiment more with these for a different look.

I had an incident today where I sliced the back of my index finger --- I know I'll heal but unfortunately will make working with my clay a little challenging in the next while -- Fortunately I managed to finish most of my orders I've been trying to fill which is a relief! I don't know how I will suffer more in the next while -- pain from the cut finger or withdrawl from claying!!

When life gives you lemons ... make lemonade!

It is funny how circumstances in life sometimes forces you to try something new. We had a change in dress code policy where I work that if your hair is longer than shoulder length, you have to tie it back. Since my hair happens to be fairly long, I had the option of cutting it or wearing a ponytail to work so I thought, why not make some nice holders or barrettes? I’ve always liked the “skewer” style barrette and so made several prototypes until I finally got the size down just right. I now have several styles and have found that I like wearing them all the time and having them match my other accessories.

I am now making some to sell and will post those on the flickr site but here are some photos of a few that I made for myself.

Our New Home Decor Art

We just returned (and now recovering) from a wonderful trip to southern Alberta. It was really great to finally visit some old and dear friends and spend time with family. We got to hold our first great granddaughter -- and we celebrated my dad's 80th birthday.

We also took the opportunity to launch a new side to our now full time venture -- Decorative Art for the Home. It mainly consists of decorative tiles which can be used in backsplashes, etc. along with glass and ceramic tiles as well as coordinating outlet covers. I have a new link added to the right of our flickr site showing the designs so far and we will keep adding to them as we go.

Our main idea is to customize our designs so that each person will have an original work of art in their home. Let us know what you think and feel free to comment!

Wild Things

I've been feeling a little on the wild side these last few weeks since I had a real desire for making animal prints. I don't know exactly what it is that attracts most women to this style --maybe it is the little piece of our untamed nature or just a rebellion against our expected place in society. For me, however, I think of soft furry animals to snuggle up with. In any case, I enjoy creating these designs and the feeling I get touching and looking at them.

We've also added some new styles to our collection such as the "collier" with matching earrings and bracelets.  Let me know how you feel about these new styles.

A New Look

Now that Dave is on the mend and doing quite well, our computer was a little under the weather so had to take it to the hospital for a few days. It still hasn't recovered yet but hopefully it will limp along for a little while - although after all the headaches lately, we are seriously considering a Mac!

We had some suggestions that some people preferred the photos taken on the bodice displays as they could better visualize how the necklaces hung so we decided to upgrade the beanery and repost new photos on our flickr site since some of them needed a little updating anyhow. We tried keeping as many of the numbers the same as before but you will notice a lot of new designs that have taken the place of some of the ones that were sold. A few others have been or in the process of being redone with a little tweaking here and there for a different look. For a more complete viewing, we decided to include a photo of the back which in most cases features the type of clasp used.

We still have quite a few more photos to post yet with some great new designs along with some matching accessories so keep checking back and we will have more posted over the next week.