Puppy, Again!!

Over the years I've kept this blog, I've posted when we've add to our little "family."  Just a day ago, we brought home another Aussie to join our two older girls.  Let me introduce Keiko, shown here with two of her litter-mates as she was getting ready to come home with us.  Her name is a Japanese girl's name that translates as "happy child, rejoicing."  This is indeed one happy, playful pup, and we're all enjoying getting to know her and watch as our group makes
modifications to give her room to grow and fit in.

Of course, this is my creations blog, so I thought I'd show you a couple of pairs of earrings I just finished. They obviously have nothing to do with the puppy, they're just earrings, but shouldn't each posting have some polymer in it?

The first blue pair below has a thin gold plated bar that swings back and forth as you walk.  This is the first time I've used something like these bars in earrings.  All the patterns were made using Mokume Gane technique with gold leaf inside the layers.  There is a quite a sparkle to the gold, it just doesn't show well in the photos.

 

Maquetry with Polymer

These earrings are made using the more detailed and refined techniques that Bonnie Bishoff shared at the workshop.  In addition to using the marquetry approach, I also decided to go big!  I realize these earrings are not huge by some standards, but they are the largest I've ever made, and it was fun to push my own self-imposed boundaries.

Relatively Simple Inlay

As you may recall, back in October I had the opportunity to learn a detailed and precise method of marquetry from Bonnie Bishoff.  I didn't get back to this art form for a while, until January approached.  As one of the two featured artists for the January show at the Westerly Gallery, I decided it would be fun to develop some new pieces for the show.  I have several different pieces to share with you.  In this post, I'm just going to show some pendants with what I have always called polymer "inlay."

These pieces are not an intricate, nor as tricky, as the finer marquetry that Bonnie taught us.  I do love the look of these pieces, and had fun cutting and replacing.  I used some of the Accent colors from Premo! for the background, and a skinner blend from purple to coral for the inlaid shapes. Next time, I'll bring you more detailed pieces using some finer marquetry techniques.

Snowflakes ~ After all, it is Winter

A few weeks ago, I held a class focused on making polymer snowflakes. We decorated them in a variety of ways.  I was really impressed at the imagination participants used to make the snowflakes glitter and shine.  Our biggest job was picking up the glitter when we were through. :)
I'm posting here a few of the snowflakes I made.  I think these would be fun to hang in a window, on a door, or from a lamp, depending on the size. There is even a pair of earrings. Besides all being different, these snowflakes have the advantage of never melting!