Moroccan Bead Necklaces

In early March, I posted some photos I took of some Moroccan themed beads I made in a CFCF 2017 workshop taught by Lisa Haney.  For more information about the class and Lisa's great ideas, take a look at the March 8th post. Today, I'm just going to share some pendants that I made using the hollow beads.  As you can see from the photos, I went a bit wild and made several of these beads in various sizes, colors, and finishes.

To the left is one of my favorite pieces. I used mica powders to add some sparkle and shine to the clay.  I found a wonderful metal bead with a verdigris finish that compliments the piece perfectly, then hung everything from a chain.

To the right is a cluster of other focal pendants hanging from chains, each with their own dangling bead.   These were fun to make and will be fun to wear!

The photo at the bottom shows a few more necklaces made with hand-dyed silk ribbons instead of hanging from chain.  The ribbon is pretty, allows these pieces to be adjustable, and creates a softer, more rustic look.  These necklaces are all going to the Westerly Art Gallery where I'm a featured artist for April.   Drop by if you're in the neighborhood!

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!

CFCF 2016: Sweet Heart Box

While my last post was about the first workshop I took at Cabin Fever Clay Festival 2016,  this post, is about the last workshop I had.
Lisa Haney led us through the creation of Hinged Heart Boxes.  The creativity and fun didn't just cover the hinge. Lisa had us extruding clay to create the box covers, using textures and imbedding crystals to enhance the overall effect.  Her method of attaching the lid to the box base is really clever and it's a hinge concept I know I'll use in the future. These little boxes are really sweet, and are the perfect size to hold rings or a special small pendant.  Thank you, Lisa!