Would you like to win a Julie Picarello pendant?

This is an invitation to attend the "Discussions from the Claypen"chat at Polymer Clay Central. 

Date: Thursday Sept 29th.

Time: 11:30 AM Eastern Time (that's 4.30pm GMT)

All you have to do is show up for chat and your name will be  in the hat to win a Julie Picarello pendant! 

For a second chance to win, you can send a photo or link to a polymer clay piece that uses the Mokume Gane technique as taught by Julie either via her classes or her new book, "Patterns in Polymer Clay" to the wonderful Jackie at http://thepleasantpheasant.blogspot.com/. If you can't make the chat but have a photo to share, your name goes in the hat that way, too!  Please leave me a comment if you want me to email you more details of how to get your photo included.

If you get a chance to join in do, it's always fun to chat with other people about polymer clay and it will be wonderful to see everyone else's work. If you enjoy working with polymer clay and you aren't a member of the PCC forum you really should sign up - it's a wonderful place to share inspiration and knowledge.

Here's a sneak preview some of the photos I've sent - all work in progress, I will try and get them strung very soon

'Dark Red with a Yell' Jewellery

I should of mentioned that palette I showed you the other day was named 'Dark Red with a Yell'. I showed you the canes I made, here's some of the jewellery I made from them and the colours in this palette.

Another bracelet like my purple crinkle one, with matching earrings. The spacers were smaller beads so I needed a lot more discs, must remember that next time and find larger beads! I put some of the spacer beads on the jump rings for the earrings, not sure about them - what do you think?

 Changing the yellow for a darker one and adding a cream gave me this lovely flower! (Based on the tutorial from Ayelet but I have made a few changes as always) Pictures shown are the front and back of the same flower pendant, I like to add a different colour centre to the two different sides as it really changes the look.

I have another more complicated beaded necklace sat in bits on my workbench, I show you when it's finished.

And with the scraps I made

These will all be for sale at my next show which is Totterdown Arts Trail, don't forget to check my diary page to see what else I am up to. Maybe I will find time to set up an online shop before then too. Now I am off to make 40 inchies for a swap as part of The Polymer Clay Event I am very much looking forward to attending in Alfreton,Near Nottingham, UK in just 3 weeks! Hopefully I will see some of you there!

Black and white stripes

Last night whilst I was lying in bed I saw this pendant. So today I made it.

It's to go with this stripy top I wear all the time! 

I am thinking perhaps it should of been bigger, maybe I will make another one later.
Hope you are having a good week.
Cara

PS Please come like my page on facebook. You can click on the button up there on the left

New colour palette from Colour Lovers

I decided I wanted to try out some new colours so went to look at some online, on my way I found the Colour Lovers website . There you can make and share colour palettes and colour patterns. I found this palette  that I liked the look of

 

It's by DianaColours and it turns out she is a polymer clay artist too which is probably why here colours and patterns appeal to me.

Here's a couple of canes I made with the palette. I will show you what I made with them later.

More tutorial links

A while back I share some tutorial links with you http://www.carajane.co.uk/2010/05/tutorial-links.html

I have just come across another collection of tutorial links thanks to Marlene Brady on her It's All About Creating blog. What I really like about this collection is that it is photographs so you can see exactly what the tutorial is for. Thank you Iratirita for sharing them!

Iratirita tutorial list 1 - canes and miniatures
Iratirita tutorial list 2 - beads, pendants, bracelets, rings, surfaces, other

and don't forget my tutorials available here (use the tutorial link on the left to find them another time or use the links below)

Star cane with cookie cutters











Textured beads

Stripey beads (using extruder)

Diary, Demonstration and workshops

Please note the new diary link above, that should show you an online calendar with my sale, demonstration and workshop dates. Some dates you might want to know about if you live near Bristol (UK)...

I will be demonstrating making polymer clay jewellery in Hobby Crafts at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol  this Thursday 15th September between 10am and 4pm. Come along, say hello and watch me work if you are anywhere near!

I have also organised some more dates for polymer clay workshops in Bristol (UK). Both workshops are suitable for complete beginners or people fairly new to polymer clay work. Please contact me for more details or to book a place.

Rainbow jellyroll jewellery

 You will make a rainbow jellyroll cane and use slices of it to make a pendant, earrings or beads.

 Tuesday 4^th October 7.30-10.30pm.

Wednesday 5^th October 9.30am-12.30pm.

Flower pendant

You will be shown how to make a simple flower cane in colours of your choice and then use slices to make a cabochon or disc pendant.

Wednesday 2nd November  7.30-10.30pm

Thursday 3^rd November 9.30am-12.30pm.

Stall set up

Not a great photo but here's a peek at what my stall looked like on Saturday. I moved that mirror on the right as it was obsuring a lovely pendant. It didn't look like this at home time, there were lots of gaps! Should of taken a photo then too, maybe I will remember next time.

Test - should I quench for translucence?

When I was doing my curing experiments I wondered if the quenching, plunging into ice water straight from oven, really did help with translucence. I had a few things ready to cure made with translucent Kato clay so thought I would quickly test to see.

I made 2 samples from translucent Kato polymer clay on a mid thickness in the pasta machine, setting 5 on an Atlas. Not sure of my reason for the  thickness, just what seemed right at the time. On reflection I may have made them thinner as any difference may have been clearer .... next time!

I cured them at 150°C for 20 mins and then plunged one into ice water and left the other to cool at room temperature. There is a fair amount of plaquing in each, I think it is due to cleaning the pasta machine rollers with a baby wipe just before conditioning this clay. Here they are placed over some bold text.

The sample on the right, with the bit  missing (cut out on purpose so I could identify them!) was the one plunged into ice water. After much scrutiny I decided that perhaps it was slightly more translucent, the text was slightly clearer through the clay (it is actually clearer in the photos, I was going to write it didn't make a difference until I imported the photo, on checking again I can just about see it in real life too). It isn't a huge difference though and as the translucence wasn't critical,  I didn't quench my items.

I want to investigate this further, I need to try a slow cool sample to see if that effects the translucence for items that require extra strength. I'll keep you posted if I do but do let me know if you have any translucency tips.

Cara

How to put a facebook like button on your blog

sorry for those of you not interested in all this tech stuff, I am just off to play with my clay so there will be some more creative updates soon!

First of all you need to get the HTML code to link to your facebook page from here -http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
You change the options as you wish and then click on get code. Copy it.


In blogger go to design (where you set how your blog looks) and click on one of the 'add a gadget' links. Scroll down the list until you see the HTML/JavaScript gadget and select it. It opens up a Configure HTML/JavaScript box where you paste the code you copied into the content section. What you type in the title section will be the text that appears above the button, in my case I wrote 'Join me on facebook'.


Hopefully that makes sense, if not google it there are plenty of guides out there.
have fun blogging
Cara

latest news

I am really looking forward to Monday. The children are at school, and I am at home! I shall have time to play with my clay I hope!

I remembered the other day that I had set up a facebook Cara Jane business page but never done anything with it. I have put some photos there now (don't worry nothing you haven't seen already - they'll be posted here and flickr first) and will try and keep up to date with events too. Please come like it, it'll make my day! You don't even have to leave here - there's a like button up there on the left now.

I've set up a diary page (embedded my google calendar, not quite sure it will display in all browsers, please let me know if it doesn't) so people who want to come see my jewellery in person can find me. At the moment it's all very close to home, Bristol, UK but maybe it will travel further one day.

If you do live locally to me - come say hello next Saturday at Fishfest where I will have a stall displaying my jewellery. You also get to meet my mum and see her beautiful knitted and crocheted creations, along with lots of other fun and games for all the family.

Hope you all have a great weekend
Cara