More things....

Here's some more of the things I've made for my thing a day challenge. I am really enjoying the challenge and so far have made something everyday without having to cheat. Sometimes it's a cane, sometimes it's finishing something already started and some days it's a something from start to finish.

 

If you want to see all of my Things for February so far, and another one added daily (I hope!) you can find them in this Flickr set

Lovingly Handmade Hearts

Along with the heart earrings I also made some brooches. These took a bit longer to finish as I discovered I didn't have any badge backs the right size, didn't think about that when I started making them! I forgot to take a picture of the back which is a shame as they are very neatly finished. I will try and show you another brooch back when I have made some more. They were lovingly hand polished to a glass like shine with wet and dry sand paper and then micromesh polishing cloths.

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They have gone off to Tenderfoot, a wonderful local gift shop that sells handmade treasures made in Bristol.

Are you thinking about Valentines day yet? Are you a fan of Valentines day? I like the sentiment of it and will always make a card for my husband and write a note to remind him how special he is to me but I am not big on the commercial side of it. We don't do flowers or gifts (unless it's a special little handmade something) or going out for over priced meals!

Birthday heart

We went out last night to celebrate one of my friends birthdays to an 80's club. I wanted to make her a funky piece of retro jewellery, which was why I started the whole rainbow thing but I couldn't show you this before in case she happened to read my blog.

So I have been meaning to try making hollow lentil beads but for some reason decided I was going to make a hollow heart. Probably not the most sensible idea as I have never tried the technique with the much more simple lentil shape but I like a challenge!

So I sculpted a heart shape from scrap clay to use as a mould.I then made some shells of scrap clay on the mould and joined them together incorporating a wire hanging loop - this is a hollow heart, curved on both sides

I made a sheet of patterned clay by cutting fairly thin slices from my funky rainbow striped jellyroll cane and laying them on a thin sheet of clay, you can just about see where I marked out roughly the size/shape I would need to cover the heart so I didn't waste to much cane.

I used another patterned sheet on the other side so it would be reversible. This photo was taken before I had smoothed the edge joins.

Here's the finished necklace! 

I was going to put it on a long black cord but just tried it on a choker and thought it looked cool so left it. It is rather large! It's 7cm wide by 8cm long! Being hollow it's not too heavy and when I tried it out found it comfortable to wear. I made the mould the size I wanted the heart but then made the shell from a thick sheet of clay and then covered it so it ended up a lot bigger (mental note to self remember a mould needs to be smaller next time!).

Happy Birthday Aly!

Some more things I made in the past

Black, white and red heart. I made this with some cane ends and I love it. It just sits in a box of baked fimo bits. I ought to find something better to do with it!
Made May 2008














Heart shaped keyring. Made May 2008

















A panda I made for a friend. Made March 2008