New Fiesta Shawl Pins

I had some orders to fill for shawl pins so made up some extras with a new design.  These ones we are calling our Fiesta series.  The swirl on the end of the sticks were made using my same technique as I use for my double-sided textured beads.

We added these shawl pins to the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts gift shop today with a few extras left over that we will list in our Etsy shop later in the week.

Spaced Out on Rondelles

I finished another tutorial which I started some time ago.  You might recognize the rondelle beads from a post I did on the blog here several years ago where I shared my original idea.  I found it to be too tedious and time consuming after a while and since learned how to streamline my production by tweaking a few things and eliminating several steps and I can now make them in half the time. (Click on the photo below to go to it.)

In this tutorial I will show you how to make special templates from clay to use in making your own rondelles so each bead is consistent in shape and size.  You can also make them in any color you want to match or coordinate with your other beads for that perfect jewelry design.

I have also included in this lesson how to make the cube shaped beads like the ones shown here in our Bargello Bead Necklaces.

As well as how to add the rich pearl and metallic colors with mica powders.

These can be made in the same matching colors to coordinate with the beads I show how to make in My Textured Tubes & More and Double-sided Textured Beads tutorials.

This lesson is very simple to follow with detailed instructions so even a clay beginner can follow them.  You do not need to invest in any fancy equipment or tools for this lesson as I have provided instructions for making your beads with or without a pasta machine and using objects that are easily available. 

Album tip for my Clay Color System Tutorial

I've been getting a lot of positive feedback on my latest tutorial, Carolyn's Clay Color System.

These are a few comments we've received so far (now for some shameless self-promotion):

"Quick delivery and a lot of fun.  My photo album is filling up nicely!"


"Excellent tutorial.  Great way to learn about color and organize your clay stash!"


"I'm so excited.  I have always been afraid of dealing with color.  I know what I like; I just don't know how to get there.  You just opened the door for me!  ...... I'm impressed with your system.  Worth every penny."


"Just received my new color tutorial.... I can't wait to get in and start mixing some clay together and fix myself up the recipe cards...."


"I finally had a chance to look at your Color System Tute that I bought.  It's SUPER!  I am actually going to follow all the steps. :)  Thanks for making it for us.  I recommend it HIGHLY!

I did receive an e-mail today, however from someone who was having difficulty finding a photo album that is 3 photos per page.  If that is a problem I have a solution.

You can always go with a photo album that is 2 photos per page and then use 2 pages instead of the one for every color.  This will give you room to hold 4 cards per color instead of the 3 and you will have room for more color recipes to add later.  You can print out the blank cards on page 47 to use as the 4th card for each of the colors.  If you go this way, you will still only need 12 pages total for your album.

The binder type albums are best so you can add more pages for other things like keeping some of your color mixing charts, etc.

If you have any questions or more comments regarding this or any other of my tutorials, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.  We are always happy to hear from you!

Follow up!

I did come up with another file system rather than a binder which I now really like.  You can see the post on this here:

http://2goodclaymates.blogspot.ca/2014/11/new-idea-for-clay-color-system-card.html

More Shawl/Scarf Pins

Made some more new shawl pins this week in some new colors and styles.  The last three I used a variation of my double-sided textured bead technique at the ends of the steel pins that have been covered in clay.

Some New Rings

I've been having fun playing around with some new adjustable ring blanks I purchased the other day.  By adapting my double-sided bead technique I can create some gorgeous rings that match my other jewelry pieces.  I created the matching post earrings in the same way.  I tested them out in our last show we did and they were quickly swooped up by several customers.  I guess that is telling us we need to make more!

New Beads - Double-sided Textured and Pearl Rondelles

I've created some new beads using my double-sided bead technique which are now listed in both our ArtFire Studio and Etsy Shop.  If you want to learn how to make these fun type of beads, we have a tutorial available that will teach you how.  They are a lot of fun to make and the designs are endless.

These are our Funky Swirl Beads in a choice of five yummy colors.   The fun stretch bracelet shown is in the Purple Orchid (Pantone fall 2010 color) beads and include some of our new larger-size 10 mm rondelle spacers in the same matching color.

  

Another new series listed are the Vintage Rose in both dark and light tones.

And here are some fun jewelry pieces created with them:

  

  

The rondelles on the bracelet and necklace are part of our new pearl collection.  I have been working on perfecting our rondelle spacers and these ones have mica powders applied that match the textured beads. The luster on them is extremely deep and rich looking and they come out super smooth.

These three colors were the first ones I created and now I'm on to experimenting with more. 

New Double-sided Textured Beads

I was having fun last week creating some new double-sided textured bead designs.  The beads are identical on both sides and there is no seam which is my own technique I developed.  The tutorial is available in our Etsy Shop and ArtFire Studio.

Which design and/or colors do you like best???