Favorite Pattern Yet!

I love the site Colour Lovers, where you can go and play with color. One of my favorite things to do there is color patterns, and this one is my favorite so far. I just made it this morning. I want to wallpaper my house in it! OK - maybe just one room. I'm thinking this might make a nice pallette for a new piece of jewelry...

Art Bead Scene April Challenge

It's been awhile, but I've entered a piece into Art Bead Scene's April Challenge. This month's inspiration painting was Finches and Bamboo by Emperor Huizong's (top image). Every month ABS picks a painting and challenges its readers to create an art bead design using the art as inspiration. The art bead(s) can be made by you or made by someone else and used by you.

In my case this is all me! The bird, branch, and leaves are all hand-made by moi using polymer clay. The clay on the branch and bird has been textured and accentuated with mica powders. The leaves are made from translucent and green clays that have been mixed with green and gold metallic leaf. Each leaf is actually a stack of 3 leaves - one big, one medium, and one small (see 3rd pic down) - stacked on top of each other and "glued" together with Translucent Liquid Sculpey. I textured the leaves with the back of my clay blade to make the lines. After they were baked, I rubbed black paint into the recesses and then rubbed the excess away so the texture really stood out. Accompanying the clay art beads are faceted glass beads and seed beads. Copper and brass findings were used throughout. Please click on any image for more detail, and wish me luck in the challenge!

More Pics of my ABS April Challenge Entry

Here are some alternate views of my ABS challenge piece for this month. Click for details.

Little Polymer Clay Bird's Nest

Here's a little nest with eggs that I made out of polymer clay. I'm going to make a few more and put them in the little bird cages we have hanging at work. In a few weeks they'll be replaced with birds. I haven't had the easiest winter and to me this nest symbolizes new beginnings, re-birth, and (of course) Spring! The nest is about 2" in diameter and 1" high at its tallest. It is made entirely of polymer clay.

Interestingly, when I baked the nest I used the toaster oven we have at work which is old and not gauged correctly. Because of this, the eggs browned a little on top. I actually really like that they did, because it looks more authentic now like the nest has actually been outside and had a bird sitting on it.

A Little Polymer Clay Book

Being that I'm a librarian and all, you know this was inevitable. I made a little polymer clay book. It's 1 & 1/2" x 1". I've been wanting to do this for awhile, and I think that for a first try it came out pretty good. I wanted to make it look like a really old book (those are the best kinds after all). For the cover I used brown clay which I textured. For the bands I applied some gold mica powder to give it a little color. The pages are a block of clay in layers of white and translucent clay. I was considering putting in actual paper but I wanted it to last for awhile.

I put a little hole in the top so I can eventually make it into a pendant if I want. It would be fun to hang it from a brass chain and wear it to work.

CraftEdu - Great New Craft Ed. Resource!

I was looking around on Flickr at pieces of polymer clay work and found a link to a site I'd never heard of called CraftEdu.com. It's an awesome resource where you can take online classes in a variety of subjects, inlcuding color theory, glass, photography, metal clay, polymer clay, etc. The site has lots of polymer clay tutorials presented by instructors such as Judy Belcher and Donna Kato. Most of the classes cost between $20-$60 but some are free, including one I just took called Textures Everywhere (top pic). Even though I'm a veteran polymer clayer, I learned a few things from this tutorial. Including using shoe soles to make patterns! (bottom pic)

If you are new to polymer clay or just need some inspiration, go check this site out. You'll be pretty impressed. Click on the above pictures for more detailed images.

Art Bead Scene January Challenge Pt. 1

It’s a new month and there’s a new challenge on the Art Bead Scene Blog. The inspiration for this month is the painting Brown River by Wayne Thiebaud (top image). Every month ABS picks a painting and challenges its readers to create an art bead piece using it as inspiration. The art bead can be made by you or someone else.

My challenge entry is the funky Maize Pod Necklace pictured above. My inspiration came from the bright colors and the patterned organic forms found on a farm. I tried to make my pod beads look like something that might be born of a plant. I used chartreuse seed beads to compliment the big beads and long green glass beads as spacers. I finished it off with dark brown beading wire to blend in with the pods and a copper toggle clasp. See part 2 (below) for additional info on how this necklace was made! Thanks for stopping by!

Art Bead Scene January Challenge Pt. 2

Here are some images showing how I made my challenge entry in steps. Sorry for the quality on some of these photos. I've been working on the piece at night and man made light is never quite right (that could be a poem!). And here's the accompanying info:

1. I started off by making and baking the pod shells. Sorry - no show & tell for this part - it's something I worked hard at to perfect and would rather keep to myself! ; )

2. Next, after mixing 15 parts translucent clay to 1 part colored, I mix in some copper leaf pieces and roll my clay into 2 elongated eggs, small enough to fit into the pods. I insert seed beads to form a textured pattern into the clay using a small ball stylus to really embed them in the clay.

3. After this I apply some Translucent Liquid Sculpey to the back of the beaded clay pieces.

4. I then insert the pieces into the pre-baked pod shells and bake them together.

5. After baking I "drill" in little holes into the tops of the pod shells for my beading wire to go through. This can be done before baking the pods too, but I like my holes tiny and I've found this works best.

I originally had 2 blue pods (as you can see from the above pictures). In the end however, I ended up taking them out. I just liked the yellow, pink and green pods on their own. Also, 2 extra pods added too much bulk to the necklace (in my opinion).

Art Bead Scene December Challenge

Art Bead Scene is just finishing up its December Art Bead Challenge. Here's the deal: They give you 2 paintings to choose from and you use one as the inspiration for a new art bead creation. The art bead(s) can be made by you, or made by someone else and used by you. You can then enter pictures of your finished piece(s) to their Flickr group to win prizes and recognition.

I had a lot of fun with this! The painting I chose for the challenge was The Storm by John Anster Fitzgerald. I really love the combination of icy cool and firy hot colors used in the painting - it just sends a tingle down your spine. I tried to play on that with my earrings, using warm reds and oranges for the filigree backing and hand-sculpted polymer twist and cool violets and blues with the lucite flowers and Swarovski centers.

I can just imagine the fairy in the painting (the one with the red cap) wearing these, can't you?

Thank you Art Bead Scene! Can't wait for the next challenge...

More New Stuff Pics...

Some more pics of new stuff... I've been experimenting with coating my pieces in resin. They look great, but it's much harder to get a good picture afterward - the resin reflects the light so dramatically you get a glare. Another issue is lack of decent light -the rainy weather and short days are making my camera wish it was summer again! From top: Green MG Stick Earrings, Lizard Spot MG Earrings, Maize Pendant