Hello Walls ...

Well, it's been a bit since our last post.  Been really busy blog-hopping and checking out other participants in the OWOH give-away.  There are a lot of talented people out there and is really nice to connect with other artists in some way.  I know I said I would share how to make a signature stamp but you will have to wait a bit since I'm still putting that together.  Been busy trying to get more items together to sell on Etsy as well as making some stuff for our new home. 

This is our first brand new home and is so nice to move into a place that no one else has lived before you with new floors, new cabinets, new plumbing, etc.  When we decorate (or redecorate) a place, we pick our floor covering, wall colors, trim etc. but overlook one little thing.  We still end up with the same generic outlet and receptacle covers.

One house we lived in had light switch covers that glowed in the dark which I thought was pretty cool as you could always find it!  Hmmm, I think I will have to make some of those -- will keep you posted on that!

    

So...., I'm on a mission to banish the humdrum outlet covers and add some artwork to our walls.  We're also making some to sell on Etsy -- and will post a few at a time as they are completed.   We also do custom or specialty orders so if there is a design or something you are looking for, give us a shout and we'd be happy to see what we can do.  In the meantime, check out some of the outlet covers we've done for other people on our flickr site as well as the matching decorative accent tiles that can be mounted just like any other ceramic or clay tile.

One World One Heart Give

We are participating in something really cool this year.  Seems like a lot of fun and a great way to meet fellow bloggers and make some new friends.  Click on the picture link above to find out more about it.

For this event we will be giving away one of our Tapestry Heart pendants.  Each one has a Swarovski crystal embedded and a glossy polymer-resin finish for protection. The centre heart is in magenta and gold and the other two are in magenta, green and gold.  We made 3 hearts and so the winner will get to choose which heart they would like.  If we have more than 100 participants, we will give away 2 hearts with the runner-up getting 2nd choice.

So how do you win one of these heart pendants?  If you are an active blogger, please leave a comment on this post only.  Tell us which heart you would prefer and why and make sure there is way of e-mailing you in case you win.  This event ends on February 12th and that is when we will make a draw and announce the winner.  The cut off for the draw will be at 10:00 pm pacific time February 11th.

Looking forward to meeting you all and have fun!

Our Signature Cane

For some time now we've been experimenting with a way of "signing" our work.  We now have several methods of doing so, depending on the individual piece.  For instance, some of our necklaces fasten with a lobster claw and a chain extender to add a little extra length if desired. The beads shown above are a few of the ones that were custom designed to match the individual necklace.  When you flip the bead over, you will see our signature:

This was made by creating a "signature" cane.  I tried capturing a few photos to give you an idea of how it was made.  I started by forming the letters.

I then filled all around and in between the letters with clay, packing it as tight as possible.

Then the more difficult part is reducing the cane to a smaller size.  Some of the outside design was lost in the reducing stage.  I discovered that if I wanted to maintain that detail I should've wrapped more clay around the outside before reducing.  Anyhow, this one didn't turn out too bad for our first try -- I'm sure the next one will come out much better.

Now we have a lot of cane slices to put onto our signature beads as well as other pieces like this brooch shown below:

I'll show in a later post another technique on how we made our "signature stamp".

Old Love - Renew Love

I Y hearts . . .   As a matter of fact, that is the theme this blog started on and next month on Valentines day will be it's first anniversary.

This year we've come up with some new styles of hearts to sell on Etsy.  These new designs are a variation on vintage by applying mica powders, paint, inks and metal leaf to give a tapestry or brocade effect.  We adapted the technique in Donna Kato's book, "The Art of Polymer Clay - Creative Surface Effects".

This new spiral heart pendant design came about in a different manner. Sometimes the design I start out with evolves into something else.  For instance I was originally designing a heart toggle but discovered this heart made a great pendant instead.  I find my inspiration comes in many different ways. Quite often I will wake up at 3:00 am with an idea in my head.  I just can't seem to sleep so I will head to my studio for an hour or so to develop my thoughts.  I can then go back to sleep and have sweet dreams about what I'm going to do later that day!

We've "Gone Wild" on Etsy

We are finally up and running on Etsy and our shop is now set-up and open (just click on the Etsy Gallery to the right).

We decided to start out with some of our Animal Prints and will be adding a variety of other pieces each week.

Because each item is individually handcrafted, they are all one of a kind and so once a piece is sold, it will be replaced with something different.

So hope you enjoy and keep coming back to see what's new.