Polydays 2012 - can we do it all again?

Wow what a weekend! I had the best time! I learnt some new skills, I bought some new tools, I met some new friends,I had a great time with some of my favourite polymer people. I really didn't want to come home!

I was a bit worried before I went as I have been having pain in my arm and wrist. Amazingly it got better whilst I was away so I need to do more clay at home too! It turns out it's tennis elbow and using the computer makes it worse, as does writing and driving. Thankfully most polymer clay things are ok! So if I am a bit quiet online for a while please excuse me.

Anyway you will want to see what I made I am sure! We had three workshops - each one lasting a day.

One with Bettina Welker where we made her clever hinged bangles. They take a while to make but are worth the effort - giving a snug fit around the wrist. I went for a purple and teal bangle. I was also able to buy a copy of her new bracelet book - oh I can't wait to try some more bracelets and bangles - thank you Bettina!!

Hinged Bangle from Bettina's workshop

Then we had a metallic mokume gane workshop with Carol Simmons. Her work is amazing, it has so much depth to it. I am pleased to say she taught us the secret of that! We also got to use her amazing slicing machine. We made imprinted blocks of mokume gane using Carols handmade texture sheets then sliced lovely even thin layers using the slicing machine. If you want to see the machine go check out Carols blog. The colours of clay and the wonderful patterns turned into some beautiful lentil beads. Carol also had a clever mould for making these.

One side of the metallic mokume gane lentils

The other side of the lentils.

On the last day we did an overlapping lentil workshop with Alison Gallant. She showed us many other techniques including silk screening. The necklaces are reversible which is pretty cool. One side is black with silk screen printed white dots. The other is made by cutting a bullseye cane with a ripple blade (thanks to Irene for the inspiration on that one). Notice I made a co-ordinating little dangle as well.

I also made a new pendant in between doing other bits - to match my new hinged bangle.

It was a truly blissful weekend. Thank you to Alison for organising it, to the wonderful tutors for sharing their amazing skills with us and all the other participants for making it so much fun! Oh and a big thank you to Penny - www.clayaround.com and Valerie and Craig - www.polymerclay.co.uk for bringing all your wonderful supplies for us to buy! Can't wait til the next one!!!

Green Mokume Gane Set

I made this set of jewellery in Mokume Gane from several custom mixed green shades of Kato clay for a friend's birthday. I was delighted with the result and was dying to show you but couldn't post them just in case!! She's had them now so I can show you too. Couldn't resist a little owl with the mokume gane shavings! As you can see I am making good use of what I learnt from Melanie Muir in her workshops.

Melanie Muir's Rock Cuff class - the results!

I recently stayed up half the night to watch a CraftCast Webinar with the Marvelous Melanie Muir - it's an online workshop and it was fabulous and the best thing is I have a download of the workshop so I can go back and watch it again when I can't quite remember. You can purchase a download yourself here - www.craftcast.com.


It has taken me a while as I seem to be too busy to fit much polymer clay time in at the moment :( Am trying to rectify that as soon as I can as I am  happier when playing with my clay!! But finally it is finished! Here's my first rock cuff

 

I made an extra 'Rock' so I also have a matching pendant - it's very shiny so hard to get a great photo. Will try again another time when I am less rushed!

When I took the workshop in March with Melanie Muir and she taught us how to make what she calls a 'Simple Cuff'; it was a brilliant class and I felt like we had been given so much really useful information I couldn't remember it all. I also was really admiring Melanie's bracelets she had for sale so when she mentioned she was doing the CraftCast class I knew it would be good and as I hoped I now have a video record of all that information so I can really digest it! You can see Melanie's beautiful collection of Rocks Cuffs on her website.  As you can tell I am a big fan, she's a lovely person, a talented and generous teacher and her work is to die for - amazingly beautiful and perfectly finished!

Super shiny, super happy!

So having done a workshop with the fabulous Melanie Muir (if ever you get a chance to take a class with her do!!) and seen the amazing finish on her jewellery, and watched her use her Foredom Bench Lathe to polish her cuff bracelets I just had to get one! I have been considering upgrading from my home made polishing mop on a dremel for some time but was thinking of getting a bench grinder and buying a spindle. Having seen the Foredom in action, it struck me it was very quiet and the speed is variable which I think is useful and I decided it was the tool for me and probably worth the extra money.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I polished my first thing - WOW! It changes the whole look of the material. I used to be pleased with the finish I got before but this is a whole new league of beauty! Boy was I happy! I went to bed dreaming of making the whole world shiny!

Let me illustrate

The cuff I made in Mel's workshop - finished with micromesh polishing cloths and buffed on my muslin buffing wheel on the Dremel - now it's not perfect because it as made in a workshop and it's the first one I made but I was fairly pleased with the finish. this also isn't a great photo but it had a sheen to it but not a proper shine.

Here it is after a little polishing on the Foredom, yes this is a better photo but the difference in real life is as noticeable!

I was intrigued to find out the the sanding/buffing balance Melanie used was so different to what I had been doing. I was heavy on the sanding and light on the buffing and she is the opposite. Needless to say that has raised a whole heap of experiments I want to do to find out the optimum process for maximum shine vs effort. I also have several different polishing mops so want to find out how they differ. Is there a shininess scale? I will of course let you know what I find out. I have a huge, huge long list of things I want to do/should do so it may not be anytime soon.

Hope you all have a Happy Easter! I gave up on covering eggs with polymer clay as I couldn't make them perfect - more practise ready for next year (something else on that list!)

London Polymer Clay Group Demonstration

I will be giving a demonstration at the next London Polymer Clay Group meeting which is on Sunday 29th January on how I make this background less star flower cane and then form them into cupped flower beads. I must credit Zuleykha for showing me how to make the flower beads but the cane is my own, from a fabric pattern (to match a top, which I might even wear to the meeting if I remember) and I will demonstrate how I make a small flower cane with no background, without playdough!

Here are some of my creations using this technique, my own favourite bracelet that matches the top with these flowers as part of the print.

You may remember these blue and brown ones as being my sisters wedding jewellery if you have been following this blog since the summer.

I am also running a trial with some friends to see how long it takes to make these in a workshop so I can offer it as a workshop locally (Bristol UK) later in the year.

Only 7 more followers til I hit 100 and share that cat tutorial! Thank you!

Something new I can show you...

I have been very busy making things, most of which I can't share here as  I don't want to ruin any Christmas surprises. Thank you to all the lovely people who have placed orders with me, it's been a pleasure dealing with you all.

I did find a photo of a new bracelet I can share with you, it is sat in my stock box til my next sale... or until I open my online shop! It's based on the technique I learnt from Natalia Garcia de Leaniz last year, she now has it available  - Fold It on  Craft Edu I see.

I have finished my teaching for the year and my children finish at school tomorrow so we are all looking forward to a well needed break. My children have lots of Christmas presents they have made or want to make from polymer clay and I am constantly amazed at how their skill is developing! I'll post some pictures after Christmas, don't want people to get a sneak preview as I know some of the people they are going to read this blog.

I have also been stocking up on polymer clay ready for after the holidays, I also ordered myself a few new tools to play with. I will try and review them for you after Christmas. 

I am starting to think about 2012 and so far have come up with 5 things I want to do; go for walks in the woods with friends, set up an online shop, play more games with my children, experiment with some resin jewellery and make some cake pops! How about you, what have you planned for next year?

'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!

Chokers oven friendly!

Whilst I was ordering some more chokers I saw bracelets the same, nylon coated wire with a screw closure. I am often asked to make matching bracelets for my floating wire necklaces which is a problem as I don't think floating wire bracelets work so I normally add more beads as shown below. I realise as I write this I haven't actually tried a floating bead wire bracelet - hmm perhaps I should. Any other suggestions welcome.

Wire floating bead necklace

Bracelet to match necklace (had to get creative to make the pattern repeat neatly to the size required) on elastic

I wondered if the choker bracelets might be the answer. When they arrived I realised they had a different screw fitting, a textured one rather than the plain smooth barrel and I didn't like the look. My first thought of course was - I'll cover it with clay. But would the nylon coating on the wire be OK? I tested it and the answer is yes! I wanted to try it out so made a quick bracelet - not very happy with it as a bracelet but it's something to work from.

Nylon coated wire bracelet with screw closure (the one on the right on it's own is the covered screw barrel)

I had to make the hole in the beads reasonably large to fit over the screw fixing. They are larger than the covered screw barrel, I was in a rush and not thinking about it too much. It would probably be easiest to make the barrel covering a feature rather than trying to blend it in to the beads. I am not sure how you would secure them? Might try baking some right onto the wire next. You would need to secure at least one at the end or every time you took it off they would go flying everywhere! So something else on my list of things to try....

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!

Flower charm bracelet

I started this bracelet sometime ago but felt it needed something more, something to brighten it up. I had lots of great suggestions from arty friends and in the end I decided to add the yellow beads you can see to match the yellow of the flower centres. I would have put some little crystals inside the flowers but I had already wire wrapped them onto the bracelet by then and didn't fancy doing it all again!

I will show you my new matching pendant up close tomorrow and I've got some custom orders to show you too.
Till then...
Cara

Made a bracelet with the pearl spliced flower beads

Finished bracelet
Originally uploaded by surfingcat clay

So they have been growing on me and now I love this little bracelet! I hope my friend does too.

I started making spliced flower canes when I watched Cindy Leitz's tutorial

Zebra cane and bracelet

I had a go at the zebra cane from Cindy Leitz video newsletter because I didn't have much time but wanted to make a cane for the PCC forum June Cane Challenge (a good excuse to do lots of cane making). I didn't think I liked animal prints really but thought this zebra one would be a variation on black and white stripes.  I made this cane and decided that I loved it!

I then made myself some beads. I sanded and buffed them today - without the Dremel cause the battery charger is not working :( 

I then spent about an hour trying out different ways to string them (they didn't quite look the same on the stringing as they did in my head). I would do them differently if I did them again. I would make the beads more similar in size. I wanted them to be an eclectic mix just strung together without spacers but wasn't sure that looked right when I tried it. Here is what I ended up with (mark 1 I feel, I feel a charm style bracelet coming on with beads like these and also perhaps another go at one like this but with more similar sized beads). I used up all my cane so I will be making more!

I  must also either select some beads to use with my polymer clay ones before I start making mine or go and buy some beads once I have made them, I never have anything that is just right it seems. I also must spend more money on fastenings. i bought some silver plate toggles which are pretty but the plating is coming of my favourite bracelet already (I have worn it a lot but....). I must invest in some solid silver ones even though they are expensive.

Scrap MG bracelet attempt 2

 I decided to have another go with the Scrap MG tutorial I bought from Tonja Lenderman, you can get yours here. I would recommend it Tonjas bracelets are beautiful and her instructions are clear, a great way to turn a pile of scrap into something beautiful.

I made one before which was beautiful but far too big and then I was careless and broke it. I can't tell you too much about what I did as obviously that wouldn't be fair to Tonja but this time I measured the widest point of my hand and measured the bangle to be the same size.

Starting pile of scrap

The finished Scrap MG Bracelet - the one on top, subtle colours

 I was pretty pleased with how it looked. The colours came out a bit subtle compared to my normal colours but I thought it would go brilliantly with my new grey T- shirt with lots of coloured patterns - very similar to the bracelet. I went to try it on - wouldn't ft! But I measured! I tried again ...

OK so it really wouldn't fit over my hand :(

It was too small and I pulled it apart along the join which I had smoothed over but clearly not well enough. So back to the drawing board with bracelet measurements. I will see if I can super glue this one to give to someone with smaller hands!

I feel a bit like Goldilocks, the first one was too big, the second one was 2 small, lets hope the 3rd one will be just right!

Finally finished that bracelet

Thanks to those of you who commented on my bracelet either here or over at Polymer Clay Central (which you should check out if you haven't already. I only recently discovered it thanks to Anita (again check out here blog if you haven't already seen it http://melobeau.blogspot.com/)).

I tried a zillion things this afternoon, different sized beads, different colours, different combinations. Annoyingly I had been to the bead shop this morning but forgot to take my chip beads with me to try out. I bought some lime green and brilliant blue beads but none were quite right. i tried some copper spacer beads but the chips are fairly translucent and the copper seemed very heavy next to them. I decided that the chip beads needed to be in clusters, they looked a bit weird separated I think.

Nothing said " this is right " to me so I went for quick power nap. Whilst I was napping I had a dream of a snake of seed beads wrapping round my chip beads so took that as suggestion and went with it. Here it is.

Finished turquoise chip bracelet

Close up of finished bracelet

 I added a bit of chain on to make up the extra inch I needed (I have shortened it a lot since I took that photo) and used the spare chip bead to make a little dangly end. I quite like it. I have been wearing it this evening. My husband said he thought it was a bit boring but I don't rely on his judgement on things like these!

So much for just quickly stringing up the few trial beads I made!

PS I ought to add that I have noted how different the colours appear in my pictures - need to sort out the white balance I guess - it's a daytime, night time difference.