More Plaid Pieces

I really like making these sheets of plaid to use as veneers.  Here are a few earring and bracelet combos I've just finished.  The bracelets are from my new adjustable knotted line.  The earrings are new with a cutout section that gives the piece some dimension as it is pulled to meet in the middle. I'll be putting these pieces in a show I'm doing at the Westerly gallery for April.
I tried something new with this periwinkle and pistachio colored bracelet.  The surface wanted some spring-time decoration, hence the little flowers.

The colors in these next two sets remind me of the Madras shirts that were so popular many years ago.  One of the things that is fun about a plaid is colors you might not normally put together have a way of complimenting each other and creating an interesting visual harmony.

Little "Floating Flower" Earrings

Sometimes, when I'm finished working on a project, I'll pick up some of the left-over pieces, and start fiddling around with them.  I was playing with a "scrap" from a wedge cane, making a little drop shape, and it looked like a bud or flower center.  Since I'd just been making the wine glass "ID rings", I had some of my smaller shape cutters out, too.  Well, one thing led to another, and these little lotus flowers took shape.  They remind me of the water lilies that floated on the backwaters in the delta area near where I went to college.  They looked like this with wider petals open and the center still folded tight.  I may play again with more petal layers, but I like the simplicity of these for now.
I guess the saying is true, in polymer, there are no scraps!

New Polymer Beaded Necklace Design

I enjoy making canes, particularly the wedge canes that work so well in flowers and similar designs. Of course, once I have a cane made, I have to play around with a slice or two to see what shapes might appear.  That's pretty much how these 2 necklaces evolved.  I had made new canes and was folding and bending slices in different ways, then combining them, when the design on the cane slices led to the curved shape you can see in these 2 pieces.  I had to make a lot of individual beads before I could construct the necklaces.  It was fun to watch them lined up on folded card stock for baking.

The necklaces, while very similar, are strung slightly differently.  The pattern on the piece with the pistachio green and deep periwinkle beads just flows all the way around the necklace, each piece separated from the next by light green fire-polish crystals and deep periwinkle glass pearls.  I really like the way the deep purplish lines radiate into the cream section on each bead, and lend a feeling of motion and continuity to the piece.

The purple and fuchsia polymer beaded necklace has the beads facing in opposite directions along each side, meeting in the middle in front. The lines from the wedge cane in this example fill the whole space of the bead and look almost velvety.  Glass pearls in mid-cream and deep purple pull the piece together.

I have found that good magnetic closures are working well and make it easy for anyone to be able to wear these pieces.

New! Wine Glass ID Rings

A couple of months ago, I decorated some wine classes with polymer. I really liked the effect, and thought it rather elegant and fun.  It seemed this might also be a way, depending on the design used, to help designate the difference between wine glasses in a group. Making them takes time, and washing them should be done by hand.  I wanted something faster and simpler.  I came across the idea of wine glass rings, and decided to give them a try.

These are fun to make and the design possibilities are endless.  Because polymer is so lightweight, it doesn't interfere with the balance of the glass.  Keeping the charms on the ring large enough to be easily spotted, but not too large, makes drinking from the glass easy.  Then the glass can rest safely on a table, waiting for it's owner to return. Since I'd been playing with the Tandy leather stamp tools and the fun-shaped cutters I'd been using to make the Moroccan beads, I decided to make the wine glass charms using these tools.  I baked them on a slightly curved surface, which gives the charms a bit of a 3-D look.

The rings holding the charms open quickly and slip around the stem of a wine glass.  I bent the end slightly to help keep the rings closed when in use.  If you decide to whip up a few ID rings and charms before your next gathering, let me know!

Colorful Moroccan Beads

I took one more workshop at CFCF 2017.  This class was also taught by Lisa Haney, and ranked up there as one of my favorites.  As you can tell from the photos, we made rounded lentil beads with a Moroccan theme.  The shapes of the cutters and the impressed designs really made these beads interesting and unique.  The application of oil paint after baking gave an antiqued look to the beads, and made the designs we had stamped into the clay really stand out. Some of the beads were made with white or beige clay, some with colored clays, and some were even made with Skinner blends.  Once again, Lisa came up with some clever tools for us to use.  She provided each participant with marbles of different sizes to use as forms for baking the clay.  She also gave us small wooden stands that were perfect for holding the marbles while they were baking.

Another idea Lisa shared with us was to use the shapes and impressed designs to make curved earrings.  Here are three sets I made, just waiting for finishing and findings.

As in the fish workshop, we were fortunate to have donations of many of our supplies. Polyform again donated all the Sculpey Premo! clay we needed. Tandy Leather gave each participant five Craftool Pro stamps, and Makins provided same shape cutters. We all really appreciated the donations and I'm already using some of these items for more creations.  That of course means you can expect to see more pieces based on this Moroccan design coming soon!

Fun Fish!

This class at CFCF 2017 was a lot of fun.  Lisa Haney was the instructor. I always enjoy Lisa's classes.  She comes up with unusual and creative ideas. Last year she showed us how to make a small heart shaped box with a hinged lid.  The hinge was hidden and quite clever.
This year, she taught us how to make fun, colorful, free-standing polymer fish.  She shared a great method of developing the fish body and building the rest of the fish around that base.  My little fish is in the photo above.  First, Lisa had us make an Ikat cane using extruded square rods.  The cane was used for the tail and fins on our fish.  I used parts of the extruded pieces to decorate the tail with colored dots.  The body was made from one of the colors in the cane.  A really clever aspect of this project was the use of a tapered light bulb for the head and body.  The bulb was a perfect shape, and provided a stable form for building the rest of the fish.  Since the bulb was light, baking it and keeping it inside the fish didn't add any real weight to the piece.  The bottom fins are set up in such a way as to support the fish so it can rest on any surface.  I choose to bake mine in "shifts."  First the body, then the tail, mouth and eyes, and a last baking for the remaining fins.  I'm really pleased with how my fish turned out, and I plan on making a few more.
We were quite fortunate to have some of the items needed for this project donated by their producers. Our clay was provided by Polyform. In fact, Polyform provided Premo! clay for most of the workshops, and this was really appreciated.  We had some great colors to choose from, and they certainly helped make our fish bright and fun!  Tandy Leather donated some of their excellent Craftool Pro Stamps.  We used these to create the look of scales on the fish body.  I'm delighted to have these tools for use in the future, too.  Makins gave us each a set of cutters which we used to help shape the tail and fins. These companies and their donations really made a difference to the participants!

Lynn's Coloring Book Canes

On the third day at CFCF 2017, I was delighted to spend the day in a new workshop by Lynne Ann Schwarzenberg.  In her usual creative fashion, Lynne Ann has developed a way to bring the adult coloring book concept into polymer caning.  We had an excellent time making a "coloring book cane" that looked quite complex when we were finished.  After baking pieces made from the canes, Lynne Ann showed us how to color them, giving the pieces a whole different look.  This is one of her latest ideas and I hope she brings this workshop to other locations.  If you get a chance to take a class with her, be sure to sign up!
The photo to the right shows three pieces made from the canes I developed based on Lynne Ann's instructions.  The butterfly and flower petal pieces I left just as the black and white canes looked after baking.  The piece at the top of the photo shows a mirror image of the cane that I colorized after baking.  Great concept and great fun!