Helen's Breil Book is Out

I have been eagerly waiting with anticipation for Helen Breil's new e-book, "Shapes: 25 Inspirational Jewelry Designs in Polymer Clay".   I am excited to announce that it is finished and now available to purchase.  This book is fabulous and packed with so many new ideas and techniques that make you want to just dive in and play right away.  Just click on the photo to see more info and photographs as well as to purchase.  At only $20, it is a real bargain!

I am also thrilled to have some pieces I created included in her gallery of artists.  We were asked to create one of her pendant shapes from the book in our own unique style.  This is my necklace that is in the gallery that I titled "Water Lily".  Both the necklace and matching earrings are based on Helen's Cotter Pin Series, Design #4.

I am sure this book will be a huge success and we will see a lot of new jewelry designs popping out from this exciting and inspirational book.  Thank you Helen for sharing your ideas and wonderful work with us!

Clay Color Recipes for the Pantone Colors Monaco and Dusk Blue

I thought I would share with you two Pantone Spring 2013 Fashion Colors this time so you can have a little more colors to mix up and play with over the weekend.  Monaco Blue is a rich deep blue that combines beautifully with most other colors.  Dusk Blue is a lighter and slightly muted shade of the Monaco Blue and the two make a great color combination.

 

If you have my Clay Color System, you already have the clay color recipe for Monaco Blue.  It is a pretty close match to my Royal Blue, recipe # 9-4.  Here is the color recipe for Dusk Blue using Kato clay:

Dusk Blue
2 parts Kato Blue
1 part Kato Violet
2 parts Kato Silver
4 parts White Mix # 1-2 *

* See my Clay Color System for this clay base recipe.

Polymer Clay Color Recipe for Grayed Jade

The Pantone fashion spring 2013 color, Grayed Jade is a soft pastel shade of green and combines well with the jewel-tone Emerald.  Think of combining this soft pastel with Emerald when creating a cane, skinner blend or Mokume Gane technique rather than using it on it's own.

Here is the polymer clay color recipe for Grayed Jade using Kato clay:

1 part Mix # 7-3 - Cilantro *

1 part Silver

6 parts Mix # 1-2 - White Mix *

* See my Clay Color System for these clay base recipes.

Tip for Mixing Up Color Recipes and Such:

When I am mixing up my color recipes, I like to write the "ingredients" down so I can keep track and don't forget what colors and amounts I just used.  I found this inexpensive "white board" for writing on and when I have the  recipe just right I can record it onto my recipe card with my clay color chip.  My white board can then be easily erased, ready to use again.

Emerald is the Pantone Color of the Year for 2013

Emerald is a beautiful jewel-tone green and Pantone has announced it to be the color of the year for 2013.  Pantone describes this color as:

"Lively. Radiant. Lush… 
A color of elegance and beauty that enhances
our sense of well-being, balance and harmony."



Since we will be seeing a lot of this color over the next year I thought it would be the first clay color recipe to share with you.

5 parts Kato Green

1 part Kato Turquoise

1 part Kato Pearl

Pantone Fashion Colors for Spring 2013

Here are the new Pantone Fashion colors for Spring 2013.

I know Christmas isn't even here yet but for some of you who want to think on warmer things in this cold winter season, I will share with you some new color recipes using Kato clay over the next few weeks.  It will be part of our Christmas gift to all of our followers. (The other part is a surprise.)

Many of these clay color recipes I share use "base mixes" that are included in my Clay Color System.  For those of you who are not familiar with my Color System, it is more than just clay color recipes but a tutorial using my own method of mixing and combining color.  You can read more about it here.

So I will be mixing up some new colors this week and will share them with you starting tomorrow.

Vintage Inspired Flower Necklace

Here is another necklace I created using my vintage inspired flowers in the jewel tone colors.  The copper and teal combination is one of my favorites.  I've been slowly experimenting with and introducing gilder's paste with my clay and like the effects of the copper paste I used here.

Selling Out

We finally finished our last show for the season here in our little village of Chase.  Each year our town has a Chase Country Christmas weekend celebration with plenty of fun activities starting with a parade Friday evening.  We had our usual large set-up at the craft fair featuring our scarf jewelry and interchangeable earring system.

Since Chum N' Luba's Unique Boutique is new and sells a selection of our handcrafted jewelry, we helped to promote this fabulous shop.  The photo above shows one of their vintage dresses with our scarf jewelry and below with one of our vintage floral necklaces.

Dave and I both found the Christmas shows this year to be quite exhausting and stressful since our work load with selling wholesale has more than doubled.  A new experience for us was selling out on several items  on several occasions.  It is a good thing really but a little overwhelming when you think you need to make more inventory in such a short time.  Oh well, if this is as bad as it can get, I think we will survive!