Bright Idea...

Well....bright in colour anyway. As per suggestion by a friend I thought I'd give VanAken Matte Magenta Tempera a try...on Blue! I used Blue Metallic clay by Fimo...well the one with the sparkles. Have had it for a while so can't remember the name on the package. For these beads I've also used bits of clay that I used my mixture of crackle on (april 2008 issue of polymercafe). Anyway...the whole thing does look a lot more like purple than blue, probably due to the visual effect of magenta and blue together....

New Clay to play with

...but no pictures to show...yet!
Received a wonderful sample pack of Kato Polyclay from VanAken. I was a little skeptical when I opened one of the packs. Some other clay product I had been working with as off late was too gooey and some of my older Kato clay was too hard and a bit crumbly, although I prefer this feature as I can always mix in a bit of softener instead of wasting perfectly good paper to leach it with.
I took a sniff as I was warned the odour might be a bit strong. Maybe right out of the pack it is strongest, but not so noticeable once it has a chance to 'breathe' a bit. I'm quite sensitive to certain odours and fragrances, but usually the perfumed kind. Wipe the floor with Swiffer and watch me complain of headaches and sore throat or Febreeze the air and watch me get dizzy and disoriented. I can't hack 'perfumes' and suffer the consequences thereof for days. I haven't reacted to this new formula by VanAken (and hadn't to the old either). The new reformulated 'greener' clay is a BREEZE to work with. I love the thought of Phthalate FREE! Right out of the pack, I take of a couple of slices and am able to crank it through the pastamachine without any crumbling or rough cracking edges.....Awesome! Taking a bit of clay and rolling it into a snake....wow...smooth and very even. Rolling one end to a tip, no breakage and the finest pointed tip reminding me of the days back when I first started working with Fimo. Fimo used to give me that nice 'tipped end', but no longer. Instead Kato clay has given me some hope that a formula can be 'purrfect' cause I'm purring, lol. Next I'll have to make a project and see how it turns out. I promise...I'll post some pics soon.

Polymer clay and wire

Since having my tutorial published in this months PolymerCAFE, I have not gotten queries about my project, but about my wire items in the Gallery....(click on the image to take you to the table of contents (pdf. format) that shows the bracelets I'm talking about)


Well....here they are too. The reason I sent them to the Gallery wasn't for the wire, but for the imitative or Faux beach pebbles. A lot of people swear up and down that they are real, until I tell them that I made them. And then they still protest, until they agree that they are too light for the real thing. I'm waiting to hear back from Step by Step wire to see if they are interested in publishing my tutorial that I'm working on. I have never seen anyone do wire macrame before. I also do this for necklaces and earrings. It came naturally since my husband makes gorgeous macrame hemp jewelry with, I swear, the most perfect kind of knots....so even and smooth. I've already been doing 'viking knit and braiding' and wire crochet too, so I had to try macrame. I started making these a couple of years ago and instead of just the single row have started to make two row ones as well. The Editor of Step by Step is away for a few days, so I'll have to see what she says when she comes back. If not accepted...well, there is always Etsy. I sell a few tutorials there, including polymer clay projects and beadwork and will be adding more in near future, so why not Wire. Wanna know how to do this?...or the rocks?...??
Back to work....see ya!

COMING soon...or NOW....to this blog near you...A TUTORIAL ala Tina's imitative Ceramics

lol...funny and awfully longwinded title, eh? (as the Canuck in me likes to say). Don't know how *near* your blog I am, but people are asking HOW I make make *ceramic* starfish. Don't you LOVE mysteries?? No? You don't?! awww....lol
I better get my act together and give you a better tutorial than just a description. As those of you who have written tutorials know....I need my camera and my project for this show and tell.
Back later!.....
OK Folks! Ba-ack! (like a puppet show...only in internet time this is lightning fast)

Alrighty then!...the following is very VERY IMPORTANT:
get out your pancake batter mix! If you don't have any, use flour, baking powder, salt. Put some in a bowl, about 2 large tablespoons. Mix a bit of water into it and stir. Make sure it isn't too thin. Then get out the griddle. Put on medium and spray a bit of PAM into it, to prevent sticking. While this heats up, get out a plate and put into the oven to warm......
Oh bleeep....wrong recipe! (snicker) Sorry about that! (blame Jim Carrey who instead of pancakes wants a grilled cheese) ...(sigh)
Ok...SERIOUSLY

For the sake of ease, I'm not making a starfish here (saved for another time), but will use a molded piece here. Find a nice big mold, stamp or texture with deep impression....

Mix a marble sized Pearlescent clay ball with a pea-sized ball (I used seagreen premo) to make a minty mix.Make a positive from the mold. The mold is on the left, the positive that you will work with is on the right.
Here is, or WAS, my biggest secret that I use for a lot of things....CHALK! Surprise, surprise. Well not really, if you've seen my previous tutorial here. Use your finger to apply chalk to the clay. The chalk will colour everything but the recesses.
If you want add a little metal powder to the recessed part (optional)

Apply Liquid Kato Polyclay to which a few drops of Pinata Alcohol Inks have been added. You can use your finger or a brush. Fingers are easier to clean on baby wipes and then washed than brushes. Personal choice.
That's it...Baked and glazed with Varnish. If you like a matte look better, don't varnish. There is no chance for the colours to rub off since they are locked in with the liquid polyclay. Both ways look better in person, really! ...these were quicky pictures, lol.

Polymer clay transfer pendants...

and altered images. Some of these transfers are made from altered sculptures. The mermaid for instance is a little sculpture of which a photo was taken. I then colour the image....blue tail, pink tail, change the sky, add water etc.... I've added details that weren't there before. Some of them I solarized. Also, I'm fortunate that my friend Wayne who is a professional photographer gives me images to play with. He's flattered what I can do with them.

Tumblescope

Learning to make a Tumblescope at Sojourn was a lot of fun! Georgia Ferrell perfected the construction of these scopes to a fine art. They are made with solid polymer clay as the card board tube is only a temporary armature. The mirrors inside are especially clear as they have fine silver one one side. Called a tumblescope rather than a kaleidoscope probably as one has to rotate the tube manually, the colours inside are definitely a kaleidoscope of mosaic glass. I plan to make a few more of these. I think I'm hooked! My camera didn't do these images justice, but one gets the idea.

Polymer Clay Tiles anyone?

I'm leaning toward listing polymer clay tiles as a theme. These tiles are either stamped or done with transfers. I prefer the picture transfer method I've developed using Flecto Varathane because it gives a matte finish. Personally, I don't like the 'rubbery' transfers resulting from the liquid clays. Its not a totally perfect method mind you because if one doesn't burnish the image onto the clay completely, some parts could be missing. This is most noticeable in the cartouche transfer which has some of the edging missing. Very minute though and can easily be covered up with a frame as in the picture below. What do YOU think?

Gift or Prezzie? Batteries included....

Well, while my work doesn't require batteries, I spent some energy the last couple of days finishing some beadwork for my polymer clay focal pieces. I took some pictures including of some caps I'm making to match the pendants. There is also a picture of some faux bone pieces I had done. I find I make all these beads, pendants and cabs and then don't use them because I always make more, lol. Then they end up in a big box. I've started to sort through and put them up on Etsy, individually and in bulk. Lots to go, but a few up now. Maybe some other beaders would enjoy incorporating these into their work? What do you think? Single or bulk...? Please vote in the poll on the upper left.
Anyway, I'm putting them up pretty cheap, considering the time spent to make these, but I'm tired of looking at them and not getting time to use them! Well, I might as well keep going with my 'Commercial' plug here, lol. I've got a sale happening as well as offer LOW shipping (2 Bucks!) and over $50 includes free shipping. Pretty good, huh? Not done!! lol...I also always include a FREEBIE or PREZZIE!! ok...enough screaming. The prezzies depend on the purchase. The bigger the purchase, the bigger the present. You know what....I don't really like saying 'gift'. It translates as 'poison' in German. I assure you, my presents are NOT poisonous! I guess I like to treat my customers like *I* would like to be treated.Another pendant where I incorporated a hammered swirl.

Waterlily pendant and covered brass clasp.

Our vision - our eyes

I've got a box full of pendants I'm planning on working into earrings and necklaces today. I guess I'm looking forward to it, but the teeny little beads I plan to use for some of them give me a headache already.
My eyesight was never very good, at least for distance. Seems that between 40 and 50 a switch is flipped off and suddenly our vision is altered. Seems the difference is made between night and day. For the longest time I could take my glasses off and have extreme macro vision and still was able to see clearly 3 feet from my face. Even with Contacts. Glasses were for TV and driving only. The macro vision was an awesome ability to have, but over the years, unfortunately I'm having difficulty both for distance AND near, so my glasses have turned into progressive trifocals. I hate them with a passion! They're costly, but worse, after only one year they are already out of focus! Now I have a second pair...mono vision, that is they are only good for reading and beading. They are kind of like the reading glasses you can buy, only they cost 10 times more and are the opposite, have a 'minus #' whereas reading glasses have a 'plus #'. My husband who now needs reading glasses, was a funny sight when he put mine on and exclaimed: "what is wrong with THESE?! I can't see!" Well, honey, you need the $10 drugstore pair.

Surgery.....mmm....I was talking to a Specialist friend who lives in Arkansas and he recommends NOT getting Lasik. Why? Because then I would have to wear the drugstore glasses, lol.
Contacts....don't work well, one would have to wear one contact for 'close vision' and the other for 'distance'. Confusing for the brain.
Some people ask why fine beadwork is so costly. Actually mine has always been what I consider exceptionally reasonable, but over the years some of my prices have slowly crept up a bit. Not only because of my vision, but because quality has gone up too and long-time experience should count for something also....and then I have to pay for eye glasses. Perhaps my jewelry cards should have a little note: "Please donate $1 toward my much needed glasses so I can continue making beautiful things for you." Yeah, right! lol
I'm hoping that when others read this they will understand how important our eyes are.

Cameras, lights and action!....nothing ever easy!

Got lucky today! well, a little late for 'this' project (am doing some tutorials), but will make it easier for future ones. Seems that DSLR (digital single light reflex) cameras are becoming the thing for professional digital pictures and more and more publishers are asking for them. Not a thrilling thought just when we thought that we finally could do away with 'slide' requests. We all know there is a lot of talk about megapixels. Then comes jpeg, tiff and raw and if that doesn't sound confusing add a 300 dpi request. I always thought that my 3.3 megapixel Sony Cybershot DSC-S70 did just fine....the white balance is actually better than for my daughters 6 megapixel Kodak.
Now size isn't supposed to be everything, but the Canon D30, it weighs a whopping 1.72 lbs without the battery! My Sony weighs a scant 14.5 oz. with the battery. Newer cameras weigh probably HALF that. Cameras are supposed to be light.

So what else is different between this 3.1 megapixel camera and my Sony?! The lens in the Canon is twice as large and can adapt other lenses.
I always thought megapixels mean the same things for different cameras but apparently there is a lot more to pixels than the numbers imply. The 3.1 megapixel DSLR Canon can take greater pixel sizes and at greater resolution BLABLABLA...
I still don't understand this technical stuff, nor should I have to understand all this stuff, should I? I'm an artist not a professional photographer, but seems the two are becoming more and more interwoven as we post pics of our work on blogs, on Flickr, on Etsy and Ebay. Critical eyes looking at our work and judgment based on the visual effect. If the picture sucks so does our work. Being ever critical of my work, my pictures SUCK! lol How do others do art and photography so well!...?? I need some lessons!

I'll give the camera a try. My friend Wayne is loaning me his DSLR since he uses it about as often as we take Polaroids. There is a 150 page manual to read through (big groan here) so I'll have to do some experimenting to see how different it actually is from my Sony. These DSLR's aren't cheap, this one goes for about$1300. My Sony when I bought it 2000 cost me $1500, so am not so anxious going out and buying another. Will see if 'quality' makes a difference.
Most importantly....I might still take crappy pictures with the better camera, lol! Nothing ever EASY, but always more complicated. Don't you agree?