New work schedule, school has started and a birthday party.... oh my...

I know it's been a few weeks since I've been here but I'm trying to adjust to work overnights and settle into the kid's school schedule plus... my baby turned 6 this weekend. I feel very overwhelmed and exhausted and I still have to make 20+ cup cakes tonight for school tomorrow. I needed to remind myself that this to will pass.... so here a few of the things I've worked on these last couple weeks and I will endeavor to work more soon....

These are some experiments...made out of polymer clay with just a touch of mold making compound 

To make them flexible and VERY comfortable...

A sea of turtles

Just some experiments...

Asymmetrical Designs

When I started making beads, making jewelry was never in the plan.... I was very sure I would only make beads and other people could make the jewelry. I didn't wear a lot of jewelry, I still don't.  My ears aren't pierced, mostly because my body is completely against any thing entering it and throws a complete fit if something does.... it hates earrings or any sort of piercing... I've had my ears pierced and after years of struggling with my internal security system, I finally let them grow closed and closed they will stay.... Anyways, I didn't have any desire to make jewelry, just beads... just beads.... well and maybe some dragons. Stringing beads on a string didn't sound very exciting or artistic at all and I wanted to be able to express my artist nature, but as I have been drawn into this world I've realized that jewelry design is so much more that stringing beads and I so wanted to be a part of it!

Lately I have been more concerned in making jewelry with my beads then making more beads and I've been inspired by the fabulous jewelry artist out there to lean towards asymmetrical designs. These pieces have really renewed my love of this work and it gives the chance to think outside the box. I've used things together I've never thought of using before and it has been liberating!!!

 

I was experimenting with mica powers and leaves. It didn't turn out as I planned but with some fiddling and embellishments..... I made it asymmetrical to go along with the steampunk look.  

This pendant has been living in a box for months. I found it yesterday and it sang to me.

The colors and the handmade glass beads I found as a local bead just started putting themselves into this amazing asymmetrical piece that I just love.

Here's my pretty little bracelet. I love the colors and and the textures. This one is mine!

My husband is not exactly sure about this asymmetrical design kick I'm on but I'm loving it! What do you think?

Steampunky....

I have gone on a little journey lately... I tried some steampunk... It's kind of liberating and ridiculous and I loved it.... things didn't really have to make sense and I could feel free to put flowers where ever I wanted which is good... I like flowers and anything I can make to represent a flower.... A couple months ago I bought a book by Christi Friesen call Steampunkery which served as fabulous inspiration as well as all the steampunk art that you can so readily view on Google! I also used several techniques from Cindy Lietz tutorials: I used spoons as bails for the flowers; she taught the heart shapes I used; and she is instrumental in introducing me to copper and its possiblities as findings and clasps.

The two large flowers are molded using silver spoons and I they lay nicely using a satin cord.... just enough weight but not heavey!

The blue-green flower is beautifully textured.... and the leaves are blends of soft metallic colors. Glass beads, copper and brass complement the whole composition all nestled on the bowl of a spoon with the handle bent and snipped into a discrete bail.                                           


The next flower I made using a variegated flower pedal I learned from Cindy Lietz. It's also nestled into a spoon.... this spoon someone already bent it into a pleasant leaf form before it came to my hands... how lucky was I?!?! I then colored it with alcohol inks....


And my hearts.... they were experimental and I'm afraid I must have lost one because I swear I made 4!!!

This one is my favorite... I call it Pocket Full of Poseys.... of course the song is creepy and full of death and destruction about The Black Plague, I couldn't think of a better name so now I have something beautiful to think about when I hear.... "ashes, ashes, we all fall down"

PC Testimony

The first time I discovered polymer clay was when I was a child and my mother bought me a sampler set of Fimo and a book. I was enamored with this stuff and the beautiful pictures in the book (always did lean towards the creative). Then I became frustrated and fearful.... I only had a small amount of each color. I baked a few things but mostly I horded the clay and dreamed of a day in which I could made the beautiful things in the book. Over the years the clay became hard and crumbly and it gathered bits of lint and dust. I threw it out when I went to college.
I discovered polymer clay for the second time about 2 years ago. Again it was my mother's fault! She was visiting us and we went out shopping. She doesn't have the craft stores that I have here so she wanted to go and look at beads. As she was looking at the fabulous strings of beads and drawing me into the magic of beads, I looked over and saw a display for polymer clay (huh, it's still around) and I started flipping through a book. "Mom, why don't you just make beads instead of spending so much time and money looking for and buying them." It sounded easy to me,  it sounded logical and look all Fimo products 50%. My mom laughs at me... that's not my thing... that's more your thing. And she bought me my first collection of polymer clay and tools for the second time!
Polymer clay has become my creative outlet. Sometimes I'm still fearful and horde but I have to remind myself what happened when I did that as a child and that art isn't about safety, it's about leaping....

Of course I give my mom the pick of the beads often. Sometimes I just sent her a package with all my new beads. It is the least I can do for the woman who introduced me to this media twice and gave me a lifetime to explore it.
This necklace is what I made my mother for Christmas. I loved the way the pinks blended with the coppery color!

A pile of beads

Well it's been a couple of days since I've written. I've been working.... rearranging the kitchen, cleaning the dining room/studio, setting up a lighting system for the turtle and their 55 gallon home and making beads...

These beads are beads I made awhile ago and have since been sold to a local bead store and I'm trying to inspire myself again. She wants bright colors and a set of beads much like the first set she bought so I'm going over the pictures that I have of them and evaluating...


It would help if I could give more feed back from others out there. What you like, what you don't like. How the colors work for you..... That would be fabulous....

Beads made from a spliced flower cane.... Love the colors

A few string of beads using a number of techniques...
The first string and fifth string are from kaleidoscope canes
The square beads are all pillow beads

These are made from a variety of flower canes.

Pretty in Pink - disc and lentil beads made from my own rose cane

More lentil beads .... some using scraps from a crackled leaf technique 

All the links are lead you to the wonderful tutorials I learned from at Cindy Lietz site... please check them out if your interested in creating your own or just knowing how!
Thanks for checking out my beads. I'll have more later... please leave your feed back!

So Busy, So Tired...

I don't know how I always let this happen.... I'm so tired and frustrated and maybe even a little crispy around the edges. It's one of those weeks that my "real job" is really getting to me and I just don't want to go back....

BUT at least I have polymer clay and I get create and cut some of the stress!

.... here's a pretty little bangle I made using Jupiter beads, 12 ga wire and and a variety of other beads. Even the beaded S-hook clasp is specially made for this bracelet. Thanks Cindy for the generous sharing of your knowledge! This bracelet is also on sale at Etsy. Please check it out!

Slow start....

Here's a bangle I made using some tiny polymer clay poppy beads. They are so cute and fun to make. I learned how to make these from a Cindy Lietz tutorial: Poppy Flower Beads

Polymer clay has become my favorite pastime in the last couple years. I used to oil paint but my youngest drank my turpentine a couple years ago and the heart pounding fright and the day in the ER killed that for me.... :( So now I work with the fairly harmless PC and having a blast! My goal is to blog a couple times a week and maybe connect with other PCers out there!