Signature Cane

The main demonstration at the London Polymer Clay Group was by on making signature canes Susan Rimmer, thanks Susan it was an interesting demonstration.

 I have been thinking about signing my work and did play about with a stamp made from bent bits of coke can back in the autumn but I wasn't happy with the results, it wasn't obviously a signature and I mainly sanded it out the few times I tried it. Off course the first one I made was back to front because I forgot it was going to be a stamp image and didn't reverse the letters.

So here's the cane I made after Susan showed us how she made a 2011 date cane (wonder if she'll use it?)

Before reduction 4.5 cm across (See that green smear at top - must remember to  clean my blade!)

The smallest is 5mm across (I see I didn't trim the second smallest back to the neat part and they could be more square!)

I thought I would like to incorporate the flower I use on my logo (shown below in case you haven't seen it already)

I was thinking about adding a flower on to the outside of the cane I already had when I was struck by inspiration - why not put it in the loop of the J?  I had kept part of the original cane large (4.5cm across, I got carried away!) so I did some surgery. I didn't want to cut the letters because I was worried about not rejoining accurately so it was a little tricky. I had to make the flower smaller than I would of done as I couldn't get in to trim out the clay easily.

The flower is in pearl but I decided that would help it stand out a little. I quite liked it this size. 

I had noticed that my J lost some of it's curve on the bottom loop on reduction with the previous cane so I thought I might try and encourage it to stay round with a little extra clay - 2 little sausages on the bottom as shown below.

Here it is reduced, my cunning little snakes didn't work, seems obvious now on hindsight what would happen but you've got to make these mistakes - it's learning you know! The little snakes compressed the black line of the J making it look broken. The flower is also quite tiny and the pearl when squished down looks darker.

I want to add a border but am not quite sure what. I wondered about using a zebra cane....

..but I think it's probably too fussy. Might work better thinner maybe? I will have to play about with it a bit. Am I going to use it? Well really I would like to remake another one with a bigger, white flower in the J as I construct it but I have lots of other things on my to do list that are more important. I am preparing for a small sale in just under 2 weeks time so perhaps I will put some on my new stock just to see how they look. I'll let you know.

Name badge

I was lucky enough to be able to go to the London Polymer Clay Group meeting today (thanks to my parents for looking after the children as hubby was busy shock horror!). I decided to make myself a name badge yesterday evening so it was made in a bit of a rush (one day I will learn not to be so chaotic but until then last minute it is....). The photo too was taken in a rush and the lighting is terrible. It is on my list of things to do in Feb to try and sort out some better lighting for both taking photos of my work and for my sale table -hoping it can be the same lights I use for both.

I had a lovely day out in London, 2 hours of peace on the train would be a treat enough but to go and talk polymer clay with nice people who understand, to see so many lovely pieces of work by the talented members of the group and to be shown some new techniques is fantastic. Unfortunately I can't make the next meeting as it is on my youngest daughters 5th birthday but I do have Polymer, Pamper, Play to look forward too in March! A whole weekend of polymer clay!!

I hope you all get time to be creative with friends too.

Ann's necklace

Here is Ann showing off the necklace she made in my workshop this morning. These are bumpy beads, with spots made out of bullseye cane slices. Love the colours she chose, so different from my usual blue.

First Cara Jane workshop

Some sample bead I made to give people some ideas

A lovely necklace made by a workshop participant!

Another lovely necklace made by a workshop participant!

You too could make your own unique necklace or bracelet in a polymer clay workshop. Contact me for more details - carajaneuk'at'gmail.com (replace the 'at' with @ to email - can't add it direct to the page or I will be overloaded with spam!)

Beginners workshop

I have just been trialling a beginners polymer clay workshop with some of my friends. I was aiming for them to make a bracelet like this from simple cane slices, threaded on elastic.

We have had great fun and they are all really pleased with their creations but we haven't quite managed to get to the bracelet stage so I either need to find a way to speed it up or make the class longer. I am doing them from home which seems to work out well as we have the space and it's comfortable and I can't forget to bring anything!!! Hopefully I can get some pictures of their bracelets when they have had a chance to string them.

One of the things I love most about polymer clay is that you can learn so much from working with others, even beginners who have never touched polymer clay before can show you a different way of doing things!

New Polymer clay books

I've recently acquired some new polymer clay books and am looking forward to trying out some new things. I haven't read any of them properly yet but I have had a quick look through and am very excited! Here's the new ones.

   

I already have several books my favourites being
 

and there are loads more I want to read! Let me know what your favourites are.

My latest spliced flower set

I made these beads ages ago but hasn't quite found time to string them. Finally now the kids are back at school I got a chance. They are sold already to a friend who came over looking for a present, I hastily grabbed a photo. I am pleased with the bright colours. I am looking forward to having time to play with clay and to sharing it with you. thanks for reading
Cara

Charming

A friend of mine was admiring my charm bracelet but doesn't wear bracelets so asked me to make a necklace for her. The original idea was to just add a bit of chain to either end of a bracelet but I made the charm section quite a bit longer in the end so it didn't look 'mean'. There are 6 different types of pearl and crystal beads in turquoise and green to pick out the colours on the petals. I am pleased with how it turned out (although I think I may have found a possible improvement, yes it could be even better lol - I'll try it out and let you know)

The charm necklace

Here's a closer view

Charm bracelet in same colours

I must thank Zuleykha for the inspiration and tutorials on her blog for this style of bracelet, I am a great admirer of her charm bracelets.

Happy New Year!

I would like to wish all my friends amd fellow polymer clay addicts a very Happy New Year!

May 2011 be filled with health, creativity and happiness.

We have had a lovely family Christmas and fun with friends for the New Years celebrations. I am looking forward to finally having some time to play with all the jewellery ideas that are roaming loose in my head in the coming weeks. I will off course share what I am up to with you.

Here's one of my custom orders that were keeping me busy before Christmas