Twist & Fold Summer Beaded Necklace

Several months ago, I started playing with making twisted and folded beads. I start with a striped stack, cut a slice, wrap it around a thin tube of clay, and twist and fold. To get the stripes and folds as uniform and close as possible takes a lot of concentration, which I find I enjoy. Here are two snapshots of the necklace I made. It seems very appropriate for summertiime.

Butterflies Around Your Neck

I love the summer flowers, and the butterflies they attract. The colors and their grace as they flit from flower to flower is lovely. I've often thought they should have been called flutter-bys, but I wasn't consulted when they were first named. :) Here are a couple of polymer butterfly pendants. I put eyepins in the wing tips to attach the chain so the pieces lie flat and don't twist as they might with a single bail. A fun way to carry a butterfly with you all day long.

More Polymer & Silver

I've been experimenting with more silver/brass bases for bracelets. Recently, I also gave some ring bases a try. One of things I really like about these bases is they are adjustable to a certain degree. It's hard to make polymer bracelets and rings that can fit different size wrists and fingers. These bases are designed to adjust. I add my polymer "touch" and they're ready to go. The photos here show 2 new adjustable bracelets and 2 rings I've just finished. The bracelet with the large flower has a crystal center while the trio of flowers on the other bracelet have white pearl centers. It's always fun to experiment a bit, and I'll be interested in seeing how gallery visitors respond.

New Silver/Brass Bracelet

Bracelets are always popular, especially as summer rolls around and arms are bare once again. so I was especially pleased to find some new silver and brass bracelets that are adjustable. Making bracelets fit is always a challenge. These have silver wire sides, so they can be bent to fit. The decoration behind the flower is silver bonded to brass. I have been experimenting with ways to attach polymer flowers to them, and have just taken my first piece from the oven. That's it in the photo at the left. i really like the way it turned out. it will be interesting to see "public" reaction. I'll be sure to post photos of a couple more when I get them done.

Polymer Pictures

A short while ago, I gave an onlline tutorial class to my polymer "group". It's a small group of women who have been with me for a long time. Originally, we met when they attended beadweaving workshops I was offering at a place called Nature's Art Village. After several years, my classes moved to a small beading shop. At that time, I also began to offer classes in polymer. That shop closed, and we moved to a church rental location. Then came Covid. We couldn't meet in person, so we migrated to Zoom. We're still meeting periodically on Zoom which allows everyone to "be there", even through illness, surgery and all the various events that occur in life. As I write this, I realize that I have been with some of these women for close to 30 years. They are special people, and I'm happy we've continued to stay connected. Our most recent "class" was on making polymer pictures to fit in small frames. The image shown here is in a 3" x 4" frame. The frame is purchased, and the backing and glass are removed. The glass serves as the "pattern" for cutting out a flat polymer background. In this case, I made a Skinner blend for the background, and added a slight texture. The flowers were cut outs, and the stems and leaves I formed by hand. It only required simple assembly on the unbaked clay background - and, of course, the addition of a butterfly from a cane I had made previously. Cured in the oven, inserted into the frame with the backing, and it's set to go. The picture can be anything from something like flowers to a wild abstract! Simple and fun! Give it a try!

Polymer Pens

You probably noticed the pen covered in polymer in the last post. I discovered that the Bic Click pens work perfectly for this purpose. The ends and the ink portion all remove easily from the white core. Polymer can then wbe wrapped around the core and baked. After baking, I sanded so everything was smooth, polished it on my buffer, and re-assembled everything. I like this particular pen because the core is round rather than multi-sided, so it's easier to smooth the clay. Also, the mechanism is retractable, so the pen won't tend to leak or dry out. Here is photo of some more pens I made. I have some more curing. Guess you could say I'm on a roll!

What To Do with a Cane?

As you saw in my last post, I made a BIG cane - big for me, anyway. So then the question arises - what to do with it? I plan on using it as the veneer sheet on a box or vessel, but right now I'm in the midst of making things for the gallery, so don't have time to make a box. Instead, I've used some of the ends and a few slices to experiment with making the cane into a square shape. Then I used the shape to make a few items. Here are the resuts.

An Arabesque Cane

Last weekend, I took an 8-hour online workshop with Jana Roberts Benzon. As you know from other posts on this blog, I simply love Jana - her ideas, her presentations, her manner, and the way she gently guides us through all the steps to both understand and be able to create some lovely work. We worked pretty solidly for the 8 hours with a couple of meal breaks - and emerged with a polymer cane. One cane you ask? Yes - and it was worth every minute to learn her tips and tricks and put them into practice ourselves.

So, here is my cane. It's 3 inches on each side, and about 3 inches long. The following photos were made after I reduced the cane to a bit more than 1" on each side, took slices, and assembled them in different ways to see patterns develop. Really fun! Now to use the cane in projects!

Westerly Annual Regional Art Show

The Artist Cooperative of Westerly is holding their 29th annual Regional Art Show. The show is open to anyone, and is judged by a juror who does not know our members. Frequently, members submit items and are not selected for the show. People are allowed to enter up to three pieces, and the judge makes a determination on which ones meet their standards for that particular medium. Art is very subjective, and that makes the resulting show very eclectic and interesting. I always enjoy seeing what does and does not get selected.

This year, I'm entering 3 pieces and we'll see what happens. The first piece to the left is made completely of polymer pinched-petal canes, with some rolled polymer beads to lie flat behind the neck. The pieces below show: A hand-formed, hand painted porcelain focal, with a PMC fine silver bail, on a beadwoven necklace (all made by me). The last photos are of a polymer pendant with a beadwoven center, and a buna cord with adjustable closure.

They are all rather different, and I'm interested to see what the judge thinks.

New Polymer Lidded Box

Just a couple of weeks ago, the Kansas City Polymer Clay Guild (KCPCG) sponsored an online polymer workshop. Polymer artists Laurel Swetnam and Lea Gordinier guided us through the steps of creating a really different little lidded box they had created. The process and the steps they developed for teaching this box were specific and clear to follow. Both presenters were excellent, answering questions as we worked, and sharing tips and tricks they have learned from making many unusual lidded polymer boxes. The KCPCG arranged the 2 day workshop with an "off" day inbetween, so participants had a day to work on the base before moving ahead with the other components on day two. If you like little boxes, and get a chance to take a workshop with these women, do sign up. Even though I've made boxes in the past, the unusual shape of this one meant the approach was very different, and I learned a great deal. Here is a photo of the front of the box. The other photos show the box with its lid off and also the top of the lid. One of the things they suggested was we have some way of indicating how the lid needed to be placed. Even though we were making a rectangular base and lid, it was important to know how the lid lined up with the base. So, I made a small notch in my lid, and placed a flower bud on the base at the spot where the lid notch would fit. Fun project and a very sturdy little box.

Early Greens

Wow! Somehow February just sped by! I did spend quite a bit of time putting together some pieces for a Mokume gane display at the Westerly gallery. However, I I forgot to take photos... So, here are some pieces that speak to the beginning glimpses of spring in new green near the streams. The oval pendant makes me think of the first touches of greens coming up in rows in a planting bed. The earrings do, too. Then of course, there are the cattails - one of my favorites that grow wild here along the ponds. As you can see, I'm thinkig spring and green!!

February Polymer Collages

Several members of the Westerly Artists' Cooperative met today to "hang" the February show. I had some new pieces I put in my display area. I enjoy the concept of "collage" and it's fun to do in polymer. Here are some pendants I made to include in the show. In the pendant on the left, the largest section was made with pan pastels as background, and black mica powder through a silk screen for the overlay design. There is also some gold clay and a shiny section with copper leaf. I left this piece with a spayed matte finish. The two pendants below contain sections with textured clay as well as some silk screened sections. Both of these pendants are covered in resin, and are very shiny in person.