Buzzzz....

More beads from Lynda Moseley's tutorial.

 Purple, purple, do I love purple....yes!!

 The next pictures are my interpretation of a project from the book Polymer Clay Color Inspirations. 

When I was a teacher my classroom was The Beehive.  I had a shelf full of bees in various forms, mostly huggable. So now my studio is the beehive, notice no caps. My most creative time is between 4pm and 9 pm. It took me about five years and two counselors to understand that I'll never have my former energy and there is nothing I can do about it. Most days I have some level of pain, and in order to keep on going, my body uses my energy to cope with the pain. It's very frustrating, because my brain has so many ideas it wants to explore, but my body can't keep up. Lots of nights at about 9, I feel like I've just gotten started, but the old body has to roll into bed. Aaarrrgh!

A New Pendant

 Busy weekend.....lots of ideas and not enough time to execute them all. I keep drawing in my sketchbooks, hoping that my notes and sketches will remind me of the essence of the plan when I get to it. Anyway, above is a bracelet in happy shiny colors. 

This is my new pendant idea. The clay ( Pardo) is extremely clear, more so than shows in this picture. I used shiny brass wire and lots of wrapping to add a little mystery to the piece. It's not finished....wait til you see how it ends up!

Aren't these luscious looking beads? This is a necklace with an under the sea flavor. Some of the beads look like coral and others like some living creatures.
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I love your comments!

Just Claying Around

I know I started this blog as a colored pencil artist. Then I was a painter, then a collager, a printer, etc. Now I'm a clayer. I think it's addictive.

This is what I've been doing with all my leisure time. It's fun!

The only problem is that each bead has to be hand sanded and polished, unless you want a matte finish. Some beads look great like that, but I think most need a little shine.

I want to suggest some blogs for you to look at where the work far exceeds what I'm doing here. Go to Gris Bleu to see some fantastic jewelry. Most of it is in French, but the pictures tell the story. Then, go to Jibby and Juna to see some really organic work. A Flickr site that could take days to explore is http://www.flickr.com/photos/8989180@N02/. And don't forget the best site of all, Polymer Clay Daily.

But...back to painting. My friend and I took a trip to Williamsburg in the spring so we could get photos to work from. We have challenged each other to start on one painting and get together next week to encourage each other. So tomorrow I'm going to begin that painting, a carriage driver and his horses. Please come back tomorrow to check on my progress.( I still have more beads in the oven.....)

New Items and Some News

Yesterday the weather promised to be so bad that I didn't get to my art class, so nothing to show. But....I have been kind of playing around with some jewelry ideas and of course, the polymer clay. Above you can see some little hearts I've made to use for keychains. They are about 1 1/2 inches and very comfortable to hold. I'm using heavy sterling silver wire to make the loops.

This is a necklace I just finished. It's made of brass and some beautiful German glass beads I've had for a few years. The fairy charm is a little more than an inch long and there is a dangle with a gorgeous Swarovski crystal. The clasp is a heart. What fun to do this again. I haven't made jewelry for about two years. A friend of mine suggested I used the jewelry as an excuse not to make art. Well, I think she was right at that time. But now, well, you know I make art all the time. I guess jewelry can count as art, too, but painting is more important to me. 

As promised in the title of this post, I have some news. I've planned to open my Etsy shop again. I should have it open in about two weeks. At first I only plan to sell jewelry and as I get better at it, I'll sell my polymer clay beads and jewelry. My art will still be at the gallery and I'm planning on finding at least one other gallery, possibly in Richmond. When my Etsy shop opens, you will be the first to know.