Seasonal Colors along the journey

Remember the story, I think was an episode of Dick Van Dyke (boy is that aging me) where their son was only painting picture with black paint and the teacher brought the parents in because she was concerned that there was something wrong with a kid who would only paint with black, they discovered they he was so short that black was the only color he could reach. All that to say I feel like that kid, when I got my torch kit it came with a nice assortment of glass rods but I ordered another "special" selection of rods that ended up being yellows, oranges and browns. So, all of my beads are in that color set. Not my colors at all. Its not that I don't like them I just don't go for the warm colors. I love the turquoise, blues, purples and greens. I'm using the "fall" colored rods to learn lampworking. I guess maybe that way when I'm done I can make a bracelet with the beads that I make and they will all be color coordinated. Lucky me. Of course, I won't have anything to wear them with because I don't buy those color clothes either....LOL

More on the glass journey

I'm beginning to discover that glass is more than what we look through from a warm house out into the cold harsh world. I got myself a small lampwork kit to try making glass beads. I love to watch glass go from its solid or as I am now learning "super-cooled liquid state" to soft molten flowing state. There is just something so mesmerizing about it. I'm made a few "globs" as I call them and am finally starting to make something that almost resembles a bead. One of the pieces I was in the middle of making, all of a sudden, had a heart in the middle of it so I stopped what I was doing, let it cool and called it done. It looks like a little bear holding a heart and is my favorite piece so far.

With glass fusing there is always blood, you can't work with glass, cutting and breaking it without cutting yourself. With lampwork its a bit more serious, yes I've burned myself. My lip and thumb. The lip was an interesting thing, You heat two rods of glass and pull them apart slowly to make what they call "stringers" very thin rods of glass for decorating your beads with find dots. Well was I was pulling the two rods apart, my first try I must mention, one end popped off the rod, swung around and popped me in the lip. Boy, is that stuff hot. No blister but it sure smarted for the rest of the night. Now the thumb was another very interesting lesson, I had created a small bead and was heating another colored rod to add to it, you have to balance keeping the bead warm with one hand while heating the rod evenly with the other. Kind of like playing the piano, which I was never very good at, without the notes of course, anyway, I had the bead too far from the flame and it cooled too fast. When the outside of the molten blob cools faster then the inside it fractures, it popped in three pieces, one of which landed on the unprotected wooden surface of the table. I had to grab it with my thumb and forefinger to put it back on the protected surface. Hence the burn, again no blister but a learned lesson. Fusing glass is a lot easier than working in the flame with molten glass. But it sure is fun. I have no idea what I think I'm going to do with these beads, luckily the little kit wasn't too expensive so I don't have to justify to myself that I need to do anything with them.

Why is it that we always have to justify what we get. I know I can sell the fused glass pendants. Much like the polymer clay, which, by the way hasn't been touched since I got the kiln, but the lampwork beads are less likely to ever see the light of day. I think they are more of a therapy session for me, no thought just concentration on something completely foreign to my every day life. As for the polymer clay, I still love and and as soon as the new Jana RobertsBenzon DVD gets here I can guarantee that I will be back in there playing with it again.

Well, enough for now, the mapp gas tank has probably cooled enough for me to go back down there and give myself another therapy session.....(yeah, right!)

Tootles........

The new Journey

I finally got a kiln and have been fusing glass every chance I get. Glass has this alluring quality that I just can't explain. I have loved the look and feel of it for years and finally decided to give the fusing a try. The polymer clay has been put aside for awhile until I get the hang of the fusing but I haven't given it up completely. I am also interested in lamp work and hope to try that soon. These are some of the cool pieces I have fused so far. (I have put some of them on my Etsy site for sale).

Fractals for inspiration

I found these in a folder on my computer while cleaning up today. When I was into fiber arts I found these fractals online and downloaded them. I thought that someday I might try to recreate them in cloth. Now I'm wondering if I could recreate one of them in clay. They are so amazing I just had to share them with you. I don't remember where I got them, nor do I claim to own them in any way. Just wanted to share some amazing photos with you for inspiration.

Bracelet bonanza

I think I have finally gotten the hang of the bracelets and I have been going to crazy. They are fun to do and a great way to use up old canes. The outside is the fastest to do so I get a ton of those done and then have to do the inside and sides. Here are some that I just finished The little rocks in the lower right corner are some I was just playing with.

Carolyn, that is one there that you should recognize, it came from one of your "junk" cane ends. One of my favorites I might add.

Translucent journey

I'm slowly figuring out how to slice those really thin translucent slices from the really cool canes. Getting them to go completely clear is the trick. It doesn't work every time but this one really did get where I wanted it. Now, what to do with it next. A pendant most likely.

The base of this oval was stamped, then I mixed two Pearlex powders together to get a nice green base. I had planned on mixing up some green liquid polymer clay to paint in the stamped areas but when I started doing that it just didn't look right so I wiped it off and used sharpie pens to fill in all the stamped areas. They don't like being covered with liquid polymer clay, as I found out the hard way, they tend to run. You have to kind of dab it on and do no brushing, just let it self level and cure. I was unhappy with the painting part so I decided to use the piece to practice slicing the translucent canes I bought from Carolyn, the one with the nine squares is so cool. I need to get a few more of those from her before they are all gone. I need more practice. with the slicing.

Junk Clay Play

At our last guild meeting we had three demos on what to do with junk clay. This method was my favorite. Everything above was made with the one slab.

1)Chop up some junk clay.

2) Wad it up into a good size log and roll to ensure it is all packed well.

3)Twist the log and continue to roll until it look like vertical lines in the clay.

4) Flatten log to run through pasta machine on largest setting.

5)Run through pasta machine.

6)You should now have a slab that has lines running vertically down through the clay.

7)Lay out slab and make 1/8" cut horizontally through the lines

8)Turn each slice on its side. Each slice turning the opposite way.

9)Continue until you have a new slab of clay that looks like woven fabric.

By the way, I just found a cool site, SmartFlix.com How-To DVDs where you can rent How To DVDs. They have a huge Polymer Clay section to choose from. I rented one from Gwen Gibson and can't wait for it to get here.

Bracelet play

I've been making bracelets for my Etsy Shop and am having a ball. I get the cardboard blanks from Houston Arts and brass cuff blanks from The Clay Store and they work like a charm. I use the tutorial put up by Melanie and its so quick and easy. I have modified it a bit by doing each step and curing in between to keep each piece nice and smooth. Just a quick slather of Sobo glue to give the cardboard or brass some "tooth" for the clay to grab onto and your good to go. Any cane or veneer can be applied for a really cool look. Here are my newest pieces.

Now for the bad news. I had just posted a nice write up on my little AMACO oven and how constant the heat is with it. I use two ceramic tiles in the bottom of the oven and never have to use a thermometer in it. I also use Kato clay which is very forgiving and doesn't burn. So last night I had put the finishing touches on the brown kaleidoscope bracelet and put it in the oven for the last 15 minute cure, turned off the light and left the studio. I went back in an hour later to get something and realized that the oven was still baking away. The timer had gotten stuck on the 15 minute setting and had never turned off. The brown bracelet was ruined. It was a cane that I had gotten from someone else and had been made from other types of clay that are less forgiving of temperature. Many lessons learned here. 1)never use any other clay but Kato, 2)never trust the oven when you have anything but Kato in there, and 3)never leave the oven unattended. The third lesson being the most important for many reasons.

I was so distraught about the brown bracelet. It was so pretty as you can see in the photo. Now it is all brown and black. The yellows, reds and oranges are gone. Kato is the only clay that doesn't change colors when you bake it. All of the others shift when you bake them it the first place and when you over bake them they really go south. Sad, very sad. I am trying to decide now what I want to do with it. I can either trash it, put some white and translucent canes on it and try to make it look like it was suppose to be that way or try to chip off the stuff and start over. Stay tuned to see what I end up doing.

As for the black and white one, I have now added some red and translucent swirls to it and it really is looking nice. Today I will finish them up and try to get a photo posted so you can see how they all ended up. I do have quite a few for sale on my Etsy site if your interested.

Polymer Clay and alcohol inks

I've been playing with alcohol inks lately. Using them on cured polymer clay is addicting. They are so unpredictable and fun.

I had stamped some ovals that I wanted to use with tinted liquid clay and forgot a step so after they were cured they were useless for what I was planning, in comes the alcohol ink to the rescue. I started playing and just couldn't stop.

After I get the inks the way I wanted them and dry I plan on layering them with liquid clay to bring out the dimension of the inks and stamping. Try it, you'll love it.

Barbara McGuire's "Creative Canes" book

I just love Barbara's book, it freed me from trying so hard to do perfect Skinner blend right triangles. Just lay some slabs of clay down and do it. I had to literally put the book down, run in there, pull out the junk clay tub and play. I made two different blends and love them both. Am I going to be dangerous now. Ok back to the book......................

Rocks, Rocks, and more Rocks!

Remember the rocks I was commissioned to make for someone at work, see my July 23rd post. I got another commission, for 34 rocks this time. I had to head to the home improvement store for a big bag of pond rocks this time. I have been scrubbing, washing, painting with glue and covering the little darlings with clay for a week now. I still have 12 to go. Not to mention the fact that the saying they wanted across the top of the rock is so long that it almost doesn't fit on some of them. I had to be creative in the way I put the waterslide transfers on. I do love the inkjet waterslide paper though. It is so easy to use and you can print virtually anything out on it and transfer to clay that you want. Boy does that open up a lot of possibilities. Every day when I walk the dogs down around the back of the house I stoop down and pick out a few more rocks to bring up to the house to use.

In the mean time, its still hotter than it should be here in Hotlanta. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak, the heat wave should just about be over. I can start to see fall coming and am so glad it is finally here. I can heat the studio with the two little toaster ovens and make things in the process. Right now I'm having to plan when I use them since they really heat the room up. Create in the evenings, bake the next morning. And so it goes in the south, the dog days of summer are upon us.

Hotlanta and musings in the heat.

No photos today. Didn't get much claying done. Just too darn hot in the studio. We aren't use to these 100+ degree days down here in Hotlanta and when you add in the humidity, man. I start to think about the people that lived down here 100 years ago. How or better yet, why would anyone want to live in this heat and humidity without air.

Ten or so years ago, while living in Fresno, CA ,we had a state wide power failure in August. It was 114 outside, I had just had foot surgery so I couldn't even get in the pool, we laid on the ceramic tile entry way and just waited for the power to come back on. That night around 10pm it came back on, we were laying outside on the loungers to try and keep cool and all of a sudden we could hear air conditioners come on. We rushed in the house, stupidly expecting the house to immediately be cool. Ha, it took another three hours to cool down the house.

Luckily these days we have air conditioning or at least some place to go where there is air where we can get relief. The air conditioner put in with this house is undersized and can't keep up with anything over 95 so we have a standing room air conditioner in the den. We pretty much have to hang out in this room to keep cool and at that its still 80 in here. No energy to do anything.

I just got order for 28 more polymer clay covered rocks. See my July 23rd entry below for a photo of previous rocks. I'm planning on making these a different color combination just for fun. JanZrocks! Who knows, maybe it will be my claim to fame. I went to the local Home Depot and got two bags of pond rocks which will give me enough good size rocks for a very long time. Last time I bought the river rocks from Joann's and because they were polished they were three times as much AND only half of them were large enough. Lessons learned. Boy is that becoming my mantra in the journey down this path.

Stay cool where ever you are.........................

Weird happenings

So, I have this nice piece that I had painted three or four layers of liquid clay over the top of to create some depth, then I dipped it in Future and cured it at 200 for 15 minutes. When I was getting ready to make a necklace out of it I noticed that there were a few bubbles around the bottom edge of the front of the piece. Of course I had to pick at it a bit and the whole top peeled off. I can't imagine why or what happened. All of it is Kato clay, I painted the layers on one at a time and cured them like I have all the others. For it to peel off like that really worries me.

Extruder woes

I tried some of the smaller disks with my PCE extruder and made the mistake of putting in a smaller bead corer. I couldn't get even the thinner stretch cord through the hole. So, I had to cut the extruded clay up into beads so I could drill out the holes a bit. I was so frustrated.

I learned something else while making the extruded bracelets, I thought that you had to cut the curved extrusion in half when it came out of the oven and when I did this it was like rubber and cracked as I cut it. Later when I cut the backed cooled bracelet into pieces it cut so nicely. A bit hard to cut but such a smooth cut. So, I guess there are some things that are cut immediately after taken out of the oven but a curved piece, forget it.

AND the Kato clay that I cut looked very spongy inside. Those did plaque and moon quite a bit, obviously filled with air bubbles but really, I had to run the clay through the pasta machine so many times to mix that color that one would have thought that the clay was conditioned enough. Very strange. The second batch I mixed didn't do that and it was mixed at least that many times if not more.

I've put them both up at my Etsy shop for sale if anyone is interested.

Extrusions

I tried the Polymer Clay Express extruder today after watching one of their DVD's. I have been trying to figure out how to do the little bangle stretch bracelets and the DVD made it look so easy I ran in there to try it. They used Premo clay and I was using Kato, so when you take the circle out of the oven and have to slice it in half the problems begin. Kato is almost like rubber hose after it is cured. They made it look so easy to slice the cooled clay and I know better. When I sliced it the stuff almost crumbled. Not sure if that is a characteristic of translucent clay or something else but I will have to overcome it. Next time, (tomorrow) I will let it cool first. It can't be that bad to slice. Well, I hope not. Can't be worse that when it is warm. It didn't slice cleanly that's for sure.

Lots of Rocks

Unbaked above, names added below.

I got a commission to do some polymer clay rock paperweights for the folks that I work with recently. Ok, so I went to Joann's and got some nice smooth river rocks, painted them with white glue for grip and then covered them with five different colored tsunami canes (I fell in love with the ease of the tsunami cane and went a bit nuts, it has thin layers of silver mica clay for sparkle) . Then came the hard part. Trying to figure out how to get their names and a slogan transferred to the face of each rock. Luckily Jeanne Rhea came to my rescue and sent me all kinds of different transfer paper to try. I ended up using the waterslide method and loved it. The "decal" type transfers lay on any irregular surface and really look nice when they are done. I had a bit of a scare when I started painting them with Future. When I turned them over to paint the bottom one of the transfers came off, luckily it went right back on. I decided that they didn't need any more Future on the bottom after that little scare. I'm pretty sure none of my coworker look at my blog so I can post the photos here. Yep, now you know their names......

The Shaving Cream trip or should I say fall

My local guild is doing a shaving cream on poly clay beads today and I couldn't go due to scheduling problems so I thought I would try it myself yesterday. The tutorial was in the Summer 2005 issue of Polymer Cafe so I used that. I had the Ranger Inks but I also had Tsuneiko Inks that are heat set so I wanted to try them also. First of all, my husbands shaving cream has a nasty smell, guess I should have gone shaving cream shopping first. Ok, so the first beads I tried (they are all the same size and shape per the tutorial) where covered with a shade of pink, Tsuneiko ink, it came out looking kind of like the ones on the cover, spotty but more color than not. On the seconds ones I used a butterscotch Ranger ink, they came out looking like it had been painted on, no spots just solid color and not very bright. I decided at that point to stay with the Tsuneiko inks for their color, I did another set of yellow ones so that they would all at least be the same value, in case I decide to do something with them. What was so weird is that even the different Tsuneiko inks didn't bake/cure on the same. Not sure if I will use them for anything but, hey, I tried it and know that I'm not missing a whole lot at guild. Well, except for seeing everyone. I will miss that. I added a photo of the Tsuneiko inks just in case you have never heard of them or seen them. I got the cute little holder and the sticks are used to draw on fabric or whatever. There are two for each color, one sharp one blunt. They work well with fabric and all you have to do when your done is heat set with an iron.

Continuing the layerig journey

More trial and error with the layering. This first piece is probably my favorite so far. I used a lettered stamp and filled in the lettering with colored liquid clay, it looks like an old piece of stone. The second one is my least favorite. I was trying to replicate the look of dichroic glass encased in clear glass. I made a silicone mold and placed the pieces of foil covered clay face down in the mold, then I covered it in liquid clay. Way too many bubbles. Maybe next time I will try a layer or two of liquid clay first. I am a glutton for punishment, I just can't stop with these. I had to bring down the second toaster oven so I could have two going at the same time. Hitting them with the heat gun right out of the oven is the answer to getting the best clarity out of the Kato liquid clay. And its so fun to watch it magically clear up before your eyes.

Layering-the journey continues

I'm still playing with layering liquid clay with thin canes, pencil and micro pigma pens. I am really liking the results, they just take so long. Here are the most recent pieces. I think the glitter stick went a little crazy and didn't stay where I put it. Next time I will let it dry a bit more.

Journey through the layers

I wanted to play with layering different things on a base piece of clay. I did the following layers:

Translucent clay base

Pencil layer- squiggles and stuff

Five layers of liquid clay cured after every layer for 10 minutes, (then Donna tells me I need to hit each layer with a heat gun to make it really clear) this will certainly add to that time it takes to do these layers.

Thin strips or pieces of canes that are made up of a color and translucent clay and maybe draw around some of the under layers of pencil with a permanent marker.

Four more layers of liquid clay cured between each layer.

Turquoise strip of clay next to a strip of translucent clay that disappeared.

Three more layers of liquid clay.

I think the layer where I used the pieces of canes, they are too big. The scale is off. The little round stuff is ok but those strips of white were way too big. You slice off a piece of it and lay it on the acrylic work surface and roll it thin, this tends to make it get larger. Guess I should cut it through the center and only use half of it as the scale was way to big. Need to figure out why the tops are so rubbery. They shouldn't be.

Also, today when I use the pencils I am going to make that layer very dark. More color. And maybe a few canes or something on the bottom layer. I don't think I can use the pencils up on one of the translucent layers. The stuff is a bit rubbery. Maybe that's because I didn't hit them with the heat gun after curing. I'll try that today too.

I baked a couple of little pieces of pearl last night to play with today. I noticed upon looking up really closely at a few of them that you have to be really careful and wipe off all of the pencil dust as it floats up to the top of the liquid clay. I love looking down through the layers.

Green the new ???

I've been playing with foils lately. After a demo at my local guild I got hooked. After you apply even a small piece of foil to clay you end up with a good size piece that goes on forever. So, I now have a new series of jewelry, beads, bracelets, earrings and pendants. I had seen a list on one of the HGTV-Carol Duval shows where Donna Kato was demonstrating some beads, anyway, she gave a list of different shades of green and how to get them with little receipts. I had to give them a try and ended up with seven different beautiful shades of greens from blue greens to yellow greens. Thus the new Green/blue foil series. With all that I have done I still have some foiled clays left. I think I posted the earrings in my last post. Here are a couple of the pendants. I just love the colors.

The new series is no mas and foil, my new best friend.

Just a note about my new black and white series posted below on June 11. They were all damaged in a oven mishap. Sadly they were cooling and my husband turned on the oven on at 400 degrees to get ready to cook a roast. The rest, as they say, is history. Luckily I have photos of all of them so I can go back and try to make some. They won't be exact but with the same general feel. I did like them. However, there were things about them that I had wished I could have changed. So, now I get to change them.

Today I played with the foil again and made some earrings. I love the look of foil on the different colors of clay. I put the foil on both sides. I am working on a bracelet and pendant to go with them. Hopefully someone will love them at my Etsy shop. I made some beads also but those are still in the ice bath. Now, I feel a nap coming on. Claying is such hard work.......LOL

New Chrysanthemum cane

I made a new Chrysanthemum cane yesterday. I tried to plan this one out a bit more and really love how it came out. I used a skinner blend. The colors are really soothing and turned out just like I wanted them to. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this cane. The hardest part is making those groves. I had to have hubby come in and put some muscle behind this one. I was in there grunting and groaning and he came in to see what was wrong. Hee, hee, works every time.

The new series

I've been playing with some pendants that I call my White and Black series. They are little pieces that I just sit and natter with. I like how they are turning out and hope that someone else will like them enough to purchase one at my new Etsy shop. They are very calming to make. By the time I got to the tenth one I finally had a process going where I could do them without any finger prints or gouges. Sometimes my fingers just feel so large.......

Dipping my pieces

I finally got around to trying dipping my finished clay pieces in Future instead of painting it on. Wow, what a difference. I love the look and feel it gives. I have wire shelves in my studio closet so I just set up a little dipping station in there. that way I can close the doors while it dries and keep the dust off of the pieces. I used paper clips to attach the stuff to the shelves and put a pan underneath. I used a loop of wire around my cuff bracelets and that worked well too. When I got ready to bake them I just hooked them on the rack in the big oven. Check the photos of the bracelet and heart below, those were taken before I dipped them.

Pop can bracelet

So, after much talk on the clay-polymer Yahoo group about the pop can bracelet I had to try it. It was first done by Sydnee Holt in a segment on Carol Duval, I found it on the DIY site under Polymer Clay. It really is quick fun decorating it. The only work I need to do on it is to sand the edges, they are a bit sharp. After it's sanded I can dip it in Future acrylic floor finish and then it will be done.

Chrysanthemum cane

I finally got a link for the tutorial on how to make the chrysanthemum cane. I love the look of this cane and apparently there are many ways to make this one. Once you make it you start thinking about all kinds of different effects you can get with it. Here is the link to the cane instructions in case your interested. The translucent clay in the cane really enhances the affect and no cut of the cane is ever the same. Here I made a heart and a pin with the cane ends, I can never just wad them up and throw them in the junk pile. No wonder I have no junk clay to use for bead cores.

Stained glass cane

I used Lorrene Davis' "Stained Glass cane" technique featured in the Spring 2006 issue of PolymerCafe magazine today. I didn't get the cane to look exactly like Lorrene's but I still love it. I covered a bracelet blank with the cane. I love the way it came out. Also shown, another bracelet blank I covered with the "happy accident" mentioned earlier on my blog, I knew that cane would come in handy eventually.

Photo trials and tribulations

I am still having trouble getting good photos of my jewelry. Here is a necklace that I just finished. I had made the beads some time ago and wanted to get it photographed so I could put it up on Etsy. Just not happy with the shadows. I have a small photo box with lights but I am still getting the darn shadow. Guess it's back to the drawing board tomorrow.

Photography

My first try at using the little photo box I got. I have had it for quite awhile and have been in denial about how to set it up and actually use it. For instance, what the heck do I point the two little lights at? The object or behind the object. It was interesting for sure. I can see that I need to find a book and practice. How little I actually know about taking photographs. The necklace is also a first for me. I decided I better try making something out of all of the beads I have. This is the first try at actually making something. Good grief, there are so many findings out there. How does one ever decide what to use and what to put with what and what to string it on and then you have to decide what to use to finish the ends. I just wanted to play with clay and now here I am with the realization that I need to learn how to do something with the stuff and then photograph it. Where is retirement when you need it.

Clay day-what a trip

Finally got to play with the clay. I had some leftover canes that weren't used in the kaleidoscope class and wanted to try another cane. I got lucky and love what I ended up with. I call it my snowflake cane. The first photo is the finished cane, the second photo is the first set of triangles that I put together, something just didn't look finished so I decided to make it into a triangle again and reduce. The third photo were some end cuts that I played with. As usual, not sure what I will do with them. The fourth photo was the second thing I wanted to try. I made a rainbow skinner blend, when it was done I sliced off about 3/8" and added it to a sheet of pearl clay. The resulting cane is a really nice pastel rainbow blend. The trick is to continue to fold the clay just like you are making a skinner blend, this keeps the blend true across the sheet. I'll be trying this again. As for the kaleidoscope cane, it will be sliced up to make pendants at some point. Whew, I feel myself relaxing already. The fix is kicking in.