Easton Arts Trail this weekend

I am exhibiting my jewellery at the Easton Arts Trail this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, from 11am -6pm in the Community Centre on Kilburn Street. There are lots of other lovely things on display there too - I got a great preview whilst setting up last night. I'll try and share some of them with you when I have more time.

 

 Here's one of my newer pendants - Electric Zebra Flower in Green and Blue. It's for sale at the arts trail today of course!

Have a great weekend!
Cara

Image transfer onto polymer clay - experiments

It was the Bristol Polymer Clay Day today and although only 2 other people came along we had a great day playing with lots of different things including image transfers! We tried out lots of different things and found some things that worked and some that didn't work so well!

Rosalind showed us how to do an image transfer using a toner based copy by rubbing off the paper. I hadn't tried this method before and was impressed how well it worked. The top picture is the original that Rosalind had kindly had copied for us to try. The bottom is my copy transferred onto white polymer clay.

 We learnt that it is better to go slowy and gently when rubbing the paper off, adding a little water often and that you need to trim your image close to save rubbing off extra blank paper. We also noticed the colours dull a little on curing and that the colours seem to come out a little brighter on Kato clay rather than Fimo soft. This method transfers onto raw clay. We also discovered that if you bake the transfered image and then put it in water and rub the image will smear!

We also tried the image transfer from photo paper using liquid Kato clay. I got this to work perfectly using white Kato clay but the others tried it with Kato liquid but on Fimo and the images didn't take at all. Using this method the image transfers during baking which limits what you can do with it slightly. I also found my pieces curved a little during baking so if I wanted a flat piece I would try baking between 2 tiles.

Both these techniques are detailed in Donna Kato's excellent 'The art of polymer clay, creative surface effects' book.

We then played about with the gold leaf crackle effect. We all used the same sheet of gold leaf but on different clays - amazing the difference. The one on the left is a custom mix of Kato clay in a green, the middle one is on blue fimo and the one on the right is on black fimo. The fimo produced a much greater degree of crackling even though the sheets were put through the pasta machine the same number of times.

Then we combined the two and I showed the others how I finish off my badges neatly  by covering the pin back. I think I shall make mine (the one on the right) into a fridge magnet.

Rosalind brought some of her latest jewellery  to show us, I love her bold colours and her use of a little gold leaf on the rings works well to really add a bit of sparkle and interest. Sorry I don't have a better picture, especially of all her fabulous rings. You can see more of her work on her Flickr pages.

Sandra didn't bring any of her things to show us today - and she didn't bring us any of her delicious cakes (which we have complained about ;) but you can see some on her facebook page

It was so nice to have time to sit down and try some new things. I hadn't really played with image transfers much and now I have an idea of the possibilities. If you have any tips or suggestions about image transfer please do let me know!

Earrings Challenge and Easton Arts Trail

The Easton Arts Trail is fast approaching so I have finally got round to finishing some of the things on my half finished pile including some earrings for the earrings a week challenge!

Next weekend I will be in Easton Community Centre with my jewellery from 11am -6pm on Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July. I have plenty of new jewellery including quite a lot I haven't posted here - I can't share everything with you or I would have no time to make anything and you would  get fed up of seeing it!

This has also meant that I am starting to get back up to date with the earrings a week challenge. I know you are supposed to actually make a pair of earrings each week - the beads were all made but I just didn't find time to make them up into earrings and photograph them.

Here are some of my latest earrings

Jubilee flower earrings in patriotic red, white and blue

Black and white kaleidoscope cane earrings

Curled petal earrings from the Dark red with a yell palette - made with a some left over cane bits

I'll also have leaflets with some details of my latest polymer clay workshops in Bristol. I have plenty suitable for complete beginners and some for more experienced clayers too. You can also find details on my diary page (link up the top under heading) or on my latest newsletter (link on top left)

It's still raining here - it's supposed to be summer :( Oh well it doesn't matter much when you are making jewellery I guess. Hope the weather is good where ever you are!

Cara

My lovely new bag!

I've got a new personalised Canvas Shopper Bag from  Bags of Love.

I must say I was delighted when it arrived, very quickly! It has leather handles which look very sturdy. The sides and the base are made from patent vinyl, I chose cream but there is a range of colours available. I have a picture of one of my favourite pendants printed on canvas on either side - it looks very smart indeed! Inside there is a white waterproof lining and 2 internal pockets perfect for putting your purse or phone so you can find it in the roomy bag. What a useful bag!

Although this is the only product I've seen  (so far!) I would recommend considering original gifts from bags of love  for their super quick delivery and quality products.

Bags of Love sent me this bag free of charge in order for me to review it, the opinion of the bag is entirely my own.

Latest newsletter

I send out a newsletter several times a year, when I have enough news, to people on my mailing list. They are mainly people local to Bristol, UK as that is where I tend to exhibit and run workshops. If you are interested to know what I am doing do feel free to get in touch to be added to have it sent to your inbox. You can also now look at it here - Latest Newsletter - you will find a link up there on the left in the Pages Menu. I'll try and remember to let you know when it changes, September is my next predicted newsletter date.

I have a whole heap of jewellery waiting to be finished so hopefully I will manage to find some time to show you some soon ! Kids are home so we are busy playing and experimenting - kitchen chemistry is the new craze in this house!