A Fun Swap

I just received a fun package in the mail today.  It arrived from Sandy who is a fellow Canadian clay friend I've connected with over the internet.  I am an avid follower on her blog,  Simple Inspirations by Sandy and she checks up on mine as well.  We decided some time ago to arrange a swap between us.  She requested a pair of earrings from myself and I asked for one of her gorgeous landscape canes.  I can't show you the earrings I sent her as she hasn't received them yet and I don't want to spoil the surprise.

My goody package arrived in the mail today and Dave and I were both in awe when we opened it.  She ended up sending several canes and they are more beautiful in real than seeing them in a photo.

One of the arrangements we made is that I will demonstrate on my blog how I can use her canes to turn them into finished jewelry pieces.  I am going to have a lot of fun with this and can't wait to get started!

So stay tuned and you will see these beauties transformed into wearable pieces of art.

Some New Tutorials Coming

We've been getting a lot of positive feedback from the tutorials I've provided here on this blog.  I am so glad that many of you have not only appreciated them but have even tried them out.  I plan to still provide some free tips and tutorials now and then but I've also been working on some new ones that I will be making available for sale.  I'm excited to announce that I have been approved as a Teacher for both Jewelry Lessons and Clay Lessons.  I've been busy writing some new tutorials that will be available soon through these two sites as well as our Etsy Shop.  I thought I would give you a sneak preview on what is to come:

I love to make watch bracelets that match my other jewelry and accessories and found a simple and fun way to make them interchangeable without using lobster claws.  The design looks elegant yet is very secure.  I have been wearing this type of watch bracelet for over a year now and have never had any problems but have received many compliments.  We presented them for sale at our last show at the World Masters and they were a real hit.

There are several styles of beads I like to create to use for these watch bracelets.  Tutorials on how to make these will also be available soon through Clay Lessons and our Etsy shop.  These beads also look  great in other jewelry designs such as bracelets, necklaces and earrings as well.

Another Color Variation of the Extruded Swirl Cane

Here is the other color combo I did with the Extruded Swirl Cane Tutorial I shared with you last week.  I did this one in the Pantone Spring 2010 colors of Tomato Puree, Fusion Coral and Pink Champagne and used the same three extruder dies as the last cane experiment.

This color combo is a little more subtle and makes a nice soft blend.  Here are some pieces I made with the above canes.  I only did a small cane for this one as an experiment but I still managed to make a few things with it.  I decided to put some cane slices on a black background to really make the colors pop a little more and added some bling with some rhinestones.

It was fun experimenting with this technique and I'm starting to see more possibilities with it that I might try out later.

Variation on the Extruded Swirl Cane Tutorial

I've been working on some color and extruder variations since I shared the last tutorial with you.  I used a three color combination this time -- A thin sheet of black (#4 setting on the pasta machine) and a layer each of Turquoise and my own color mix of copper (both #2 thickness on the past machine).    I also experimented with a couple more dies.  It was my first time using the large square die from a set I recently purchased and the pattern came out almost the same as the small square except it was actually easier to extrude.

Here are a few pieces I created with my new canes ready to bake.

Tutorial - Extruded Swirl Cane

A couple of weeks ago I was experimenting with my extruder and discovered a fun type cane that has a sort of yin yang pattern.  I then discovered that Sandy (Simple Inspirations) and Cara Hayman of Surfingcat were experimenting with something very similar around the same time.  I wonder if it was a full moon that week or what -- I like to think that it was just some great minds thinking a-like.

I redid my experiment and created this black and white pattern and put it in the form of a tutorial.

1.  Roll out 2 sheets of clay in contrasting colors on the #2 (second thickest) setting on your pasta machine.  Cut each sheet into a 3" x 3" square.

2.  Stack one sheet on top of the other and cut in half.

3. Stack the 2 pieces, cut in half and then stack again.  There should be 8 layers.

4. Form the stacked clay into a round log.

5. Roll the log and twist each end several times in opposite directions.

6.  If the log becomes too thin, manipulate and roll the log with your hands bringing them closer together so the log is about the same thickness that will fit into your extruder.  Trim each of the ends and cut your log in half.

7.  Insert one of the halves into your extruder with the small square die.

8.  Extrude the entire amount of clay.

9.  Trim each of the ends until you get a nice pattern inside.

10. Use these individually as a small cane or cut into sections and stack to create a larger cane.

11.  Here I sliced my stacked cane to create a veneer sheet.

12.  And here are some fun pieces ready to bake.

A New Tartan Plaid

I met a lady who was volunteering at the World Masters when we were there.  The tartan plaid jewelry we had on display had caught her eye and I explained to her how it was made.  She asked if I could make some pieces that would match her family's tartan and I was glad for the challenge.

She brought in a book with her family history and an old worn Scottish cap or tam.

This happened to be more of a challenge than I expected with the seven colors and larger pattern.  I explained how the lines tend to become a little crooked or wonky when reducing the tartan cane and she felt that would be okay as long as the colors were close and it was similar to the pattern.  I've been working on several methods of reducing the tartan canes without too much distortion and I found that packing it in extra clay (scrap) before reducing helped a fair bit.

I was quite pleased with the overall colors and decided to reduce the cane further so I could create more of a mirrored plaid pattern like in the cap.  By the time I was finished I still had a fair bit of cane to work with but I had a tone of "scrap clay" left over.  Of course when I say scrap clay that doesn't mean it gets thrown out but it can still be used in other ways.

Carol requested a bangle and a tartan "cloth" style pendant each for her and her sister and she was very pleased with how the finished products finally came out:

  

  

One of our neighbors popped in the other day while I was working on this set.  She was totally fascinated by it and asked if I could do something for her if she did some research to find out her family tartan.

New Designs in Tomato Puree

I've been busy catching up with some custom orders to fill from our last show as well as finishing off and  listing some new pieces on Etsy and Art Fire.  My favorite color is the yellow-greens and when I'm working with my clay I have to occasionally remind myself that there are other colors in the rainbow.

I noticed we didn't have very much in red and so created some new pieces in the Pantone Spring 2010 color of Tomato Puree.  I combined it with  Fusion Coral and Pink Champagne which really softened the red for a nice romantic spring and summer combination.

Both of the pendants are on the ruby red softglass cords with Czech Fire-polished crystals.

   

I like to make all our own sterling and gold-filled earwires as I can create the earwire to suit the actual earring for the overall design.  I have much more control in the finished product this way.

I really like the new Pantone Spring colors this year and have had a lot of fun in combining them in many ways and have been happy with the results.