Orange Love Affair

I’ve been so busy, but thought I should make time for a small update.
I’ve never been much of an orange fan, orange the colour that is…until it just struck me! It’s such a happy and sunny colour. Our summer has been extremely lacking in sunshine and we haven’t had a day over 19 degrees. All of August so far has been cast over and cool and this is perhaps why I’m suddenly drawn to orange, along with yellow and red (I miss those summer sunsets!)
Here are a few of my latest creations…all orange…orange u glad? (sorry, couldn’t help that one)



Ok…I snuck a green flower in there, but was too lazy to crop.

The Racoon ate my Homework…

…or maybe he stole it, not sure which. Do Racoons like shiny things??
I know racoons look cute and here is an adorable photo. Looks like he either is saying “I do, I do” to the question of “Who wants a piece of sausage” or… he’s just waving at you. Little Rascal.

Racoons are curious creatures. Last week I was sitting in my studio, close to the door which I had open about two feet to allow in more light. I’ve been having this reoccurring dream of a black bear sauntering slowly past and this certainly is a worry out here as we’ve had our share of run-ins with them. If I really had to I’d climb up into the loft and throw things at him…ok…ok…I digress.
Racoons are more daring, so much so that they aren’t really afraid to explore the insides of our living spaces. So, I was sitting near the door when a racoon sauntered by in what looked like slow motion and just as he was by the door where I was sitting very still and motionless, I  thought I’d surprise him as he still didn’t see me, even as he peeked inside the door. I guess their eyesight isn’t too good. Then I piped up “Hey You!” and he gave me the funniest, obvious look of “Oh crap! I’ve been caught!” and hightailed it which isn’t very fast…toward the bushes beside my shop.
Well…he got back at me yesterday. While I went in the house to get myself a cup of tea, my husband heard noises out back and asked if I was watching a show or something. “no…?'” Didn’t take long to discover that a couple of minutes did the damage. Rascal paw prints on my desk…the waste basket stuff strewn all over the place. A broken work tile, nibbled packages of polymer clay, jewellery bins tossed open (I guess they are very adept at opening lids!). So I put everything back together and get back to work and realize I have some stuff missing!! I can’t find my Rhinestone spacers and I had them right ‘there’.
Anyway…this is a collar I’m working on since the last one (photo below) sold to someone in the US. The Gallery asked me for 2 more, but of course they take weeks to make and this being the busy season, I won’t be able to ‘pop’ those out, lol. Now I have to think about what to use instead of the rhinestones…but I’m so glad he didn’t decide to eat my necklace or take the whole thing!

Something new...

Well, new for 'me' anyway.
I'm now officially an Instructor on CraftEdu. If you're not familiar with the site, it offers an array of classes, not only polymer clay but for all kinds of other media as well.
My class is up for a 2-day Bazinga!


Textured Flower and Wire Pendants - by Tina Holden

Here is the URL to take you to the Preview (and Class, if you choose) http://bit.ly/r1ROf3

Create a textured Polymer Clay Flower Pendant using Tina's Origami colour gradient blend and a Wire Basket Weaving technique to assemble the petals. Watch her free preview at link below. Tina is an adept teacher and has several unique ways with polymer clay and wire work. Enjoy this fun class at BAZINGA price  19$   for two days ....   class will return to regular price of 28$ on Friday 7/8/11  at noon mountain time. Buy at a savings and watch when convenient.

New polymer clay and fresh start

I love these new colours for Premo and Premo Accents. I don’t have all of them, but really like the Wasabi, and Bright Green Pearl, Magenta, Purple, Peacock and 18KT Gold. The new packaging for Premo looks pretty spiffy too.

So I have a few new colours and my workspace was too cluttered and if my workspace gets too cluttered, I can't concentrate. If it is too clean, I loose my muse, so where is the balance?
.
Looks like I already started work again, lol…doesn’t take long for my desk to get messy .  I need a better place for magazines. Right now I keep them in drawers underneath the bed. A lot of stuff in a little place.

Now I can get back to work…
How do you deal with a small space??

Springing into Polymer Clay Colour

Here are a few things I've been up to...Polymer Clay Flowers, Hearts, Beach Pebbles and my Batik and Shimmer Jewellery. I'm really enjoying some of the new Premo colours, particularly the Pearls, like Bright Green, Peacock and Violet, although Wasabi is an interesting colour as well.

Just for fun Polymer Clay

Flower amd Whaletail Pendant Necklaces
These flowers are handsculpted by me from the newest colours of polymer clay, both pearlescents (mica based) and opaques. I mix many of my own shades of colours or partially mix complimentary colours together.

Whaletail Necklaces with semiprecious stones

These colours make me think of Spring!

Polymer clay and pearls

It is so very nice to have one of my more substantial pieces 'Chrysocolla and Pearl Necklace'  included in a Collection on ArtFire. This one is all about

Contemporary Pearl and Silver Jewelry

Contemporary Pearl and Silver Jewelry

Curated By: PrairieWillow

ArtFire.com

Polymer clay, stones and pearls can be fired together. Today while visiting the local Gallery, someone had just commented that my Jewelry reminded them of something out of 'Lord of the Rings'. I'm flattered and yes, some of my work does get influenced by certain movies, legends, mythical as well as the historic and mysterious...

Geared for Polymer clay Cuff Bracelets

The last couple of days were spent making tiles for cuff bracelets from my Batik and Shimmer technique for polymer clay as well a sort of crackle that I thought would suit some polymer clay cogs and gears for a bit of an industrial look. I can't really call this steampunk as it doesn't have enough of that element to it. Having made these I'm inspired to try something else and am making sketches.
I should have done my nails....but here you can get the point of the size...
I was asked if the gears are polymer clay. Yes they are. I have a tutorials on how to make bracelet tiles as well as the gears...

Button Button who's got the Button?

Julie Witt does! I was pleasantly surprised when Julie of Sewknitful sent me a photo of her wonderful Flower pin that she knit up. Julie then used one of my buttons for the flowers' center and I think it turned out just perfect. The contrast between the blue of the jacket and red of the flower just pops. Julie has posted a link for the pattern on her blog. I think I'll want one of these! Thanks Julie!

I've done various types of mokume gane and have a tutorial on a variation that I call Dichroic Pendants, but learned this style with the 'River channel' from Julie Picarello when she came to Vancouver in November of 2009. I didn't make very many and am honoured this button found a prominent place.

Polymer Clay Colour Play Tutorial

With so many fashion colours this season I decided to play a bit with colour and made some recipes for the popular Pantone Spring 2011 Fashion Colours. Here is a chart of these 10 popular colours and my interpretation.

While these colours vary from monitor to monitor they are probably not quite accurate because when you tilt your computer screen the colour changes as well. Also my photography lighting makes a difference also as my silver in the photo looks slightly more blue than it really is.
Here is a link for a cool Pantone Color Table Matching System
and the link for the Pantone Spring Fashion Report for Spring 2011. It's a pdf file.
Paint chips would have been much better and easier to translate, but they don't come cheap. Perhaps a visit to the nearest Home Depot is in order. If you like my colours tho, I posted the recipes (using Premo) below.

Honeysuckle:
Violet 1 part
Fuschia 3
White 5
Translucent 3
Pearl 4

Coral Rose:
Orange 3
Raw Sienna 1/4
Ecru 1/4
Alazarin 1/8

Peapod:
Seagreen 3
Turquoise 3
Cobalt 1
Pearl 3
Translucent 1
White 1

Beeswax:
Ecru 2
Orange 1
Pearl 1
White 1
Translucent 1

Silver Peony:
Honeysuckle Pink mix from above, 1
Pearl 7
White 3
Translucent 1
Violet 1/4
Cobalt 1/8

Russet:
Raw Umber 1
Raw Sienna 1
Ecru 2
Alazarin 1
White 1
Ultramarine 2

Regatta:
Cobalt Hue 4
Turquoise 4
Pearl 6
Translucent 2
Ultramarine 1
White 1

Blue Curacao:
Cobalt 2
Turquoise 4
Pearl 6
Translucent 1
White 1

Lavender:
Violet 2
Cobalt 2
Pearl 7
White 2
Translucent 3

Silver Cloud:
Silver 3
Pearl 17
Lavender (from above) 1/4
Translucent 2
cobalt 2
Fuschia 1-1/4
White 4

If you find an improvement on the colours, leave a comment as many of us are curious! :) Enjoy!