Salute to the Sockeye 2010

Every year in October, thousands of spawning salmon swim up from the Pacific Ocean and make their way inland to Adams River where they lay their eggs.  The Adams River Salmon Society organizes a Salute to the Sockeye at Roderick Haig Brown Park attracting more than 100,000 visitors over a three week period.  There is a gift shop set up in a log cabin in the park where many of the local artists sell their work.  I had the pleasure of being juried in for this year which will be most exciting.

Here is a salmon brooch pin and earrings I made as samples to sell along with my other nature themed pieces.

Back from Creative Chaos

Well I'm back from our weekend at Creative Chaos in Vernon, B.C.  It was extremely exhausting but had a fun time.

I joined up with another clay artist and friend, Joan Tayler, which seemed to help make the time go by much quicker and this way we could cover for each other for breaks.

Our next show to get ready for is the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts which runs from July 10-18 in Sorrento, B.C.

Pantone Fall 2010 Colors

After a long winter, I hate to think of fall already, but I'm getting a jump on things and mixing up my Pantone colors for Fall 2010.  Some of the colors are very close or a shade or two darker than the spring colors of this year like Lagoon (Turquoise), Living Coral (Fusion Coral) and Woodbine (Dried Herb).  I love how the spring colors can mix and match with the fall ones making them more versatile.

We've had many requests for custom order earrings in solid colors so we created an earring collection in five different styles and a variety of colors that coordinate with our other pieces.  Of course we also do custom color matching for weddings, etc. which can be a lot of fun.

  

  

I'm almost all packed and ready for the Creative Chaos show in Vernon, B.C.   I'm joining up with my clay artist friend, Joan Tayler so I'm sure it will be a full but fun weekend.

60 Years Married

My family celebrated my parents' 60th wedding anniversary this past weekend.  It was nice to get together for such a special occasion.

One of my sisters made a yummy carrot and pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting (our parent's favorite) and I created a picture frame that held their wedding photo to go on it.

Something fishy

I've been extremely busy this last week getting ready for our two big shows for the summer.  With father's day around the corner we've been working on some new items for men.  With so many lakes in our area, fishing is a huge sport and so I've been creating pieces with a fish theme.  I found an interesting bead and created a mould from it to make my own pins and pendants.

We've also created a series of textured tube beads to make beaded necklaces and bracelets.  Of course a lot of these beads are great for women as well.  They are a lot of fun to make and I'm working on a tutorial for these that will be published shortly.

Necklace for the 2010 Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts

I'm looking forward to taking part in the Shuswap Lake Festival of the Arts again this year.  I'm working on a few pieces for the juried show and a lot of our jewelry will be for sale in the gift shop.

I was asked to submit a necklace and earring set as one of the Raffle prizes for this years show.  I feel it a real honor to be asked and so I created the necklace and earring set shown below.  You can see it along with the other raffle prizes on their website.

CaBezel Tips

I've been experimenting a little more with the CaBezels.  I've had to improvise with a few of the tools to find what works best for me.  The instructions suggest using the end of your acrylic roller to rub the back of the template to form the bezel or cabachon.  My clay roller is hollow so I found something else that works just as well.  (See note at bottom of this post)   It is a stainless steel piece you use to remove garlic and other odors from your hands when you wash with it.  I'm not sure if it really works since I've never tried it but use it with my clay instead.  I mainly use it as a "slump" mold for larger curved round pendants like the one below.  Because it is stainless steel, I can bake right on it.  This works well for me as I generally bake my piece, finish the back and then bake it again.

  

I discovered that this metal piece works great with the CaBezels.  I can apply a lot of pressure and because it is  smooth, it almost glides back and forth on the back of the template and creates a bezel or cabochon within seconds.

The other tool required is "patty paper" to go under your clay when creating your bezel or cabochon.  I don't have this kind of paper and not sure what it really is.  I discovered, however,  that using a wrapper from my Kato clay underneath works great!  I've used this same small wrapper over a dozen times and my exacto knife doesn't cut the wrapper (Premo wrappers tear) when I trim the bezel or cabochon and I can slide it around while cutting very easily.

The CaBezels have their limitations as you can only create your pieces in the sizes and shapes provided but I heard they are working on more designs that will be available soon.  I thought they were a little pricey but since I took the plunge and bought the whole set, I found them to be well worth it.  They are a lot of fun to play with (almost addicting) and the end results are a real professional finish.

Note:  I have since tried using my hollow acrylic roller and discovered it works just fine after all and you do not need a solid roller with a flat end.