Southbank Bristol Arts Trail coming soon

I am busy making some new jewellery for the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail on the 18/19th May. I will be in the Southville Centre along with plenty of other talented artists including Emily Ketteringham who designed the brilliant posters. If you are local to Bristol do come along and say 'Hi!' I am going to be doing a little market research over the weekend and will draw one of the participants at random to win a Cara Jane prize to say thank you!

I have recently finished a couple of the pieces I started in pre/post Synergy workshops whilst in Atlanta.

Here's a five star bead I made in an amazing 2 day workshop with Dan Cormier (if ever you get the chance to work with Dan do I learnt so much from him!). Dan has taught me to slow down and to pay more attention to what I am doing - it has changed my whole polymer experience for the better!

 

 

Here's one of the 11 Bauhaus style lentil beads from Angela Garrod's 'Secession' necklace workshop. They are quite involved beads but an amazing result! Thank you Angela for showing us how to create such neat looking work.

 I will have some new workshop dates to share with you soon and hopefully plenty of new work too!

Latest workshop dates and Thing a Day starts!

I have several introduction to polymer clay workshops in Bristol throughout Feb- April. You will find details on my diary page and also in my facebook page events. There will also be a few intermediate level workshops - if you are interested in those please get in touch!  I also have couple of instore demonstrations at Hobbycraft Bristol, there you can see me make some polymer clay canes and I will have a small selection of my work available to buy. It's a great chance to come and ask me any questions you have about polymer clay work too! If you want to keep up to date with what I'm doing and you haven't already you can sign up to my mailing list here. I promise I won't burden you with hundreds of emails - just one every couple of months or so and you can easily unsubscribe anytime you want.

Today being the first of February marks the start of the Thing a Day challenge on Polymer Clay Central Forum (an excellent place for polymer clay support!). I really enjoyed this last year - you can see all my makes here in this flickr set or on my pinterest board. I shall share my makes this year with you of course - perhaps not every day as I will be busy making ;) It's likely they will be posted on my facebook page more frequently - hopefully every day. It'll be interesting to compare them with what I made last year.

Here's my thing(s) for today! Love creatures - with valentine's day coming up! They are heading off to the lovely Tenderfoot gift shop in Bristol and are hoping that someone lovely will brighten someone's day by giving them as a gift ;)

Lovely Owls

Lovely Pigs

Lots of lovely creatures - each one is different of course!

I haven't done much clay work this month as I have been busy learning to take amazing photos of my work with Brit Hammer. It's been hard work but an extremely valuable experience - I have learnt so  much! Hopefully you will notice a difference (perhaps not with these quickly grabbed shots)!

Pop Up Shop, Workshops and a Ring bowl

If you are in the Bristol area I am taking part in the Making Things Club Pop Up Shop and Making Emporium in the city centre so do pop in and say Hi! I will be in the shop 10-4pm on Thursday 13th, Saturday 15th and Friday 21st December. Some of my jewellery and little creatures including my Christmas ornaments will be available in the shop all the time until Christmas Eve.

I am also running a Christmas Presents Workshop in the Making Emporium side of the shop on Sunday 16th.  I will show you how to make a polymer clay retro cane and then how to use that to cover objects to make unique and useful gifts. Please get in touch if you would like more details or to book a place.

Here's one of my latest creations - a birthday present of a ring bowl for my sister. It matches her wedding jewellery which you may remember if you've been following my blog for a while. If you are new here or need a reminder you can find the blog post about it here.

I hope all your preparations for the festive season are going well

Cara

St Werburghs Arts Trail this weekend (discount for readers!)

I will be exhibiting at the St Werburghs Arts trail this weekend. You will find me in the Jack Brimble Centre on the corner of Lynmouth Road and St Werburghs Road from 11am - 5pm on Saturday and Sunday.

It's a lovely little hall and there are a couple of other artists exhibiting there too but there is still plenty of space so hopefully I will be able to do some demonstrations of how I make some of my polymer clay jewellery.

Do come and say hello and if you mention my 'blog reader discount' you can have a 10% discount on sales over £10 as a thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

Workshops in September and October 2012

I am pleased to announce my workshop dates for September and October 2012. All these workshops will take place in Bristol, UK. If you want more information please do get in touch - carajaneuk(at)gmail.com

There will be more workshops in November and December which will have a festive theme - we will be making Christmas decorations and presents. More details will follow. If you want to be one of the first to know you can sign up to my email list here

Workshops Dates September/October 2012

Workshops take place in a small group in a comfortable home environment in Fishponds, Bristol unless stated otherwise. All  materials, use of tools and workshop handouts are included. To book your place please contact Cara - carajaneuk(at)gmail.com. A £10 deposit is required to reserve your place. Payment may be made by cheque, bank transfer or PayPal.

An introduction to polymer clay.

You will learn how to work with polymer clay and to make some simple canes. You will be shown how to use your canes to decorate items such as pendants and how to make beads from them. £30 per person, ideal for beginners

• Thursday  20^th September  7.30pm-10.30pm
• Friday 5^th October  10am-1pm

Cute Creatures

I will show you how to make a tortoise, cat and owl from polymer clay. There will be some of my flower canes available for you to decorate your little creatures. They can be little ornaments or we can turn them into charms or beads. Cost £20 per person, suitable for all.

• Tuesday 25^th September 8pm-10pm
• Saturday 6^th October 10am-12pm at Hobbycraft, Cribbs Causeway,  Bristol

Charming Starflower bracelet

Learn how to make my starflower cane and then turn it into these beautiful 3 dimensional beads. We will assemble the bracelet in the workshop. Cost £55 per person, beads and findings included. Some polymer clay experience required, if you have made simple canes already yourself or been on one of my previous workshops you should get on ok.

• Friday 19th October - 10am - 3 pm

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

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!

Fun with friends

I was lucky enough last Wednesday to have a clay day at my house with some other polymer clay addicts!
There were six of us in total and we had a great day. We talked about, and tried out so many different things I think we all went home happy but exhausted!

 Here's all the lovely ladies (I was taking the photo of course) from left to right it's - Chrissie, Rosalind, Sarah, Caroline and Anita.


Here is some of what we got up to! Huge thanks to Caroline for sharing with us how she makes her cool rings and funky hearts!

We all have such different styles and experiences it's great fun getting together. I would highly recommend finding some like minded people to meet up with! If you can get to Bristol (UK) on a weekday do feel free to get in touch to find out more about future clay days.

Where you can find me...diary up to date

I have updated my calendar and the Diary tab (up there just under the title) is now up to date. At the moment I have 2 local sales, one this Friday at a Pamper night in Rangeworthy Memorial Hall from 7.15pm.

The following weekend, the 17th March my jewellery will be at the Arts Market at Dr Bells and St Matthias school in Fishponds. Unfortunately I won't be with it, I will be off having fun at Polymer Pamper Play but it will be in the safe and friendly hands of Rachael Symons who will also have some of her own artwork for sale.

There will be new workshop dates coming soon, and Bristol Clay Day dates so keep an eye on it - or better still get in touch ( carajaneuk(at)gmail.com ) if you are interested in attend polymer clay workshops or clay days in Bristol and I can email you to let you know as soon as the dates are set.

I have plenty of new jewellery available for sale thanks to my Thing a Day challenge (which remind me I haven't shared the last lot with you - I will do that later in the week) . Here's a new pair of earrings in the meantime.
 

Pin It

Red maids Christmas Craft Market

I will be at the Christmas Craft Market at Red Maids School,Westbury Road, Westbury-On-Trym, Bristol, BS9 3AW this Saturday from 11am - 3pm. Plenty of jewellery and little creatures for sale including these

Christmas owl, tree ornaments

Christmas owl earrings

Bright green and purple pendant

I also now have some jewellery and owls and birds - oh haven't shown you those yet - here they are

at Tenderfoot, 100 Wick Road, Brislington. It's a wonderful little shop packed full of gorgeous handmade treasures so do go check it out if you are in the Bristol area!

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.

Polymer Clay Day at my house

I was lucky enough to have a polymer clay day today with friends old and new today!

I invited all the people I knew who lived in the South West corner of the UK to get together at my home (being as it's fairly central and easy to get to) and was lucky enough to be joined by 4 of them.

It was great to spend some time with like minded people, who know what you are talking about and to share tips and ideas.We all brought some things to show each other and it was amazing how different all our polymer clay work is. Sorry this isn't a great photo but here's our collection of polymer clay treasures.

If you happen to live within reasonable travelling distance of Bristol (UK) then please get in touch and I can let you know if we arrange to get together again.
Thank you ladies for a lovely day!
Cara