Window Ornament Swap

This was our first International Polymer Clay Swap on Facebook. I was excited that 20 Artisans decided to participate, from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, and the USA.
I thought Window Ornaments would be fun and a bit of a challenge and it was! I think we’re more used to creating Wall or Tree Ornaments, but challenges can be good for the creative mind and the results were pretty amazing!
I paired up people randomly as best as I could as most were willing to ship internationally. My partner was Kimberly Idalski. Kimberly is a multi talented jewelry designer. You can see her post about this swap here.
She did a lot of research about the Province where I live. British Columbia’s provincial flower is the Dogwood and the bird is the Stellar Jay, a cocky Bird that loves to hang out at Beach Parks and wait for the bread crumbs to fall. Actually feeding these birds in Provincial and National Parks is prohibited, but this doesn’t stop them from coming to your backyard!

I love these birds and I think Kim did a pretty fine job representing them. Beautiful, isn’t it! I’ve got it hanging in my studio against a back drop of Cedar which happens to be my view from my little window.

Look at the fine detail! Kimberly double sided the flowers so when they turn on the chain, front and back look the same and the encapsulated crystals can sparkle.

Love it! Thanks so much Kimberly.
I sent Kimberly something she likes which are Butterflies. As I mentioned…go visit her blog if you want to see what I made for her.
Here are some of the other participants’ blogs…

Alenka Obid http://pepita-handmade.blogspot.com/2012/08/window-ornament-swap.html
Kimberly Idalski http://kimisjewelryandgifts.blogspot.ca/2012/08/artisan-polymer-clay-swap-window.html
Vanessa Betcher http://vanessasclayadventures.blogspot.ca/2012/08/window-ornament-swap.html
Leila Bidler http://www.lbidler.com/apps/blog/show/18400894-facebook-swap-organized-by-tina-holden-
Anne Roncalli http://leboudoirdanne.canalblog.com/archives/2012/08/27/24975703.html
Nadia Gennari http://easywom.blogspot.it/2012/08/international-polymer-clay-swap-la-mia.html
Manon van Kempen: http://www.manonvankempen.com/1/post/2012/09/window-ornament-swap.html
Ilenia Moreni: http://leggendesegrete.blogspot.it/2012/09/international-swap.html

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

...I made you out of wire!
I could have used a small tree to display some polymer clay ornaments, but one can only see them from one side and on a limited size display table, a tree would take up quite a bit of space. I was looking for something simple and my friend sent me this link for Julie Keehners necklace display stand. Julie had used 16 ga wire. I used 14 ga rebar wire, but don't think it is much stronger. Still, for light-weight objects this is not a problem. I formed my wires in a sort of 'seaweed' fashion much like I have made for some of my ornamental boxes  and this in turn inspired me for a future idea of a display stand. Not much time this week as I'll be participating in our annual Winter celebration, so this stand will have to suffice.

Here is a close up of the candy cane

and if you want to make stars, bells or trees...I have Tutorial for Christmas Ornaments with Glass Bauble windows.

Christmas Star Ornament Tutorial

And about studio mess...there is no argument that it desperately needs tidying up. The top shelf in as much disarray and so is the rest of the room. I had a look at Vanessa's desk and it looks quite organized to me :) and looks much like my cleaned up version. I'm going to spend part of today tidying up my mess so I can create a new one, lol.