Mostly Purple Polymer Clay

Our farmer's market is on the square this year, very convenient for us as we live less than half a block from the square. It's every thursday from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM...the day and time is a little strange but it works for me. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is to have fresh homegrown vine ripened delicious tomatoes... so yummy!!  I didn't want to appear greedy, they only had two beer flats full so I controlled myself and  bought 4 big ones.... we came home, I sliced one, we gobbled it down and then consumed a second...  to heck with the greed,  I send hubby back for more.  I  also purchased 3 zucchini, a container of blackberries, a loaf of homemade cinnamon raisin bread, a dozen homemade donuts, a couple caramel brownies and a couple cherry crumble thingies.   The lady who makes pepper jelly wasn't there  and I didn't find any apple butter... maybe next week..  That is the day I have eye surgery but it's in the morning so maybe by afternoon I can still make the farmer's market.

My muse was in a purple mood this week,  Here's what I made

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Mixed media pendant, the frame is woven colored wire and beads.  The bird silhouette is on purple clay, sealed with Kato liquid.  The Swaroski rhinestone catches the light for a bit of sparkle.

I had purple clay left over from my mixed media purple cats so I made these.  The swan silhouette is sealed with a thin layer of liquid Kato.

I am still mixing Pardo Art Clay with Kato pearl, I love the shine it has when sanded and buffed. The pendant on the left is made from left over scraps from the one on the right.

These were made from a small kali cane of purple and yellow. I used the end piece from the cane on the middle tile.  I added Swarovski rhinestones for a little glitz.  Did you know you can sand rhinestones? It smooths off the points and gives them an opal-like look like the ones in the centers of the square tiles.... just make sure they are firmly embedded in the clay.  

Mostly blue with purple accents, made from solid colors and striped canes. I like to cut shapes and assemble them in layers.

and just for fun, mirror image cabochons from Jackie cane ends.  Don't you think these would be pretty beaded or wrapped with wire? 

I'm thinking green for tomorrow, Thanks for looking. 

My Mixed Media Cardinal and His Friends

The backs are on and I am pleased with the way they turned out. The backs still need to be sanded.... and pinbacks added... I will do that later. I used Pardo Art Clay mixed with Kato Pearl for all the critters.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

My Cardinal is "looking good" don't ya think?  I gave him a patterned background in shades of red and silver.

I made a marbled stripe pattern covered with crackled metal leaf for this happy bird.

This is my "skylark", I forgot to take her photo before I added the backing. I wanted the background to look like the sky, I think it does don't you?

This little bunny has been hanging around for months patiently waiting for me to come up with a background..... she hated the others I tried but is happy with her new "pretty in pink" look.

It took me awhile to match the color of the beads along kitty's back and in her bangs... kinda a muted purple blue. I used a new texture sheet for the pattern and highlight with PearlEx. I love her pink eyes.

I used another of my new texture sheets for "Freckles" and a touch of gold PearlEx.

And there you have it.

Back to Pardo Art Clay

After my experience with the new Premo and the new Kato...... both brands were soft and sticky I found it very refreshing to work with Pardo Art Clay once again.  One pack of the white Pardo was a little dry and crumbly but I added a little translucent and after a few passes through the pasta machine it smoothed out nicely.  And there is no smell... I love that... the raw clay doesn't smell and it doesn't give off fumes when it is in the oven.

First I tinted translucent with a few drops of alcohol inks.  The cherry red beads are from a scrap that I had in my Pardo drawer. I think I colored it with Stewart Gill Byzantia paint.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

This is a two piece pendant made from the end piece of a cane and a round bead made from a striped cane. 

Pardo Art Clay Canes.  The lines are clean and  sharp and they reduce beautifully. They slice cleanly too.

The canes on the right and left are made from the center cane. 

This pendant is made from one of the striped canes above. 

The last necklace is an experiment. I over reduced a cane..... no big surprise, I just can't seem to stop myself.  So I cut off slices and ran each through the pasta machine to the number 5 setting.... fairly thin. I then baked the slices and joined them together with cute little brads that I found at Michaels.  I am going to wear it for a couple days and see how it holds up. The slices feel sturdy and they bend but do not break.  If they hold up well I will make more necklaces. 

This is the back of the necklace. 

I am going to take a couple days off from claying. The weather has improved, no rain or tornados the last couple days so I'm hoping to do a little yard work. Grandson Brandon moved the lawn today and Heather helped me pull weeds. I hope the weather says nice so I can start planting flowers. 

My Funny Bunnies Polymer Clay & Wire

I fully intended to decorate more ornaments but I got sidetracked with my Funny Bunnies.... they are more fun and don't give me fits .... I'll try ornaments again later.... maybe.

For the bunnies I make the wire frames first and then back them with clay.  Parawire had a new color of wire, Rose Gold, that is the primary color for the first bunny.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Here he is before I added the clay background.

Once I added the clay I took his picture with some of my clowns, isn't he a cutie?

Here is a close up

I used copper and orange wire for the second Funny Bunny 

and then used clay scraps from the first bunny to swirl the background. I painted him with PearlEx to get the shine.

Next I made a floppy eared bunny. This time I used brown and magenta wire. 

I haven't backed him yet.... I know he looks a little chilly but he will have to remain naked until after I bake my Christmas cookie. I have my dough chilling in the fridge. I hope to get some of them baked this evening. 

See ya later.

Mixed Media Hearts and Things

I just this minute finished my Christmas shopping, I love the internet!!  We had our first snow last night, woke up to a glistening snow covered world, very pretty but also very cold so I was happy to do my shopping in front of the computer.

My tree is up, not decorated but it is sitting in the living room waiting to be adorned with twinkling lights and pretty ornaments.  I am trying something new this year, I'm doing the tree in blues and browns to match my living room.  I'm  little nervous, my eldest grandson is big on tradition,  I'm not sure how he will react to the change, he likes things to be the same at Grandma's house.

Here are some of the wire and polymer clay things I've been working one.

Wire hearts before I added the clay

Click on the photos for a closer look.

and here they are after I backed them with polymer clay

Here is another of my wire critters before the clay

and now with the clay backing

and I also made some wire "cage" pendants.  I will  add clay accents later. 

This one is my favorite

and this was just for fun... a wire "zentangle" inspired by the amazing zentangles by Ruth and Dora on their Flickr pages. 

I am going to go decorate the tree. See ya later!

Mixed Media PC & Wire Necklaces & A Prize

My muse has been on vacation the last couple weeks, I'm blaming it on the heat.  It's  to hot to go outside. I force myself out for short periods of time to water and pull a few weeds... but  most of the time has been used on my basement clearing project. Daughter Heather is helping me and we are making real progress... I can actually see the floor in a couple areas.  I should have taken "before" photos but I was afraid someone would turn me in to the "Hoarders" tv show.  It's time consuming because I have to go through all the boxes and drawers. Most things will go to auction or in the trash but we've also found lots of cool stuff to use in "altered art" and some interesting items for steampunk,  I was pleasantly surprised to find a treasure trove of antique jewelry... I took photos and will show them to you tomorrow.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

In the mean time I did manage to finish a couple pieces that I started a while back. The first is a polymer clay pendant to which I added laced wire and tinted fresh water pearls. The back of the pendant has cutout stars  The chain is links of black and bronze wire in two sizes.

The second pendant is a vintage glass button embedded in layered copper clay.  The top layer has a stamped design with gold highlights and then embellished with amber wire swirls. All the rhinestone had fallen out of the black glass button so  I filled the holes with Kato liquid clay to which I added copper PearlEx and a little glitter. I used fine amber wireto crochet a tube that I secured to the side with liquid clay. The bail is made from copper wire and black glass beads. I finished the necklace with black rubber cord.  For some reason this pendant didn't photograph well, I tried several backgrounds, this was the best... oh well,.... it's more attractive in person. 

This delightful pendant is the prize I won for voting in this months PCAGOE's challenge. It was made by Lynda of Diva Designs on Etsy . You can visit her shop at   www.scdiva.etsy.com 

This Old House

Our house was built in 1914, in four years it will be a true antique. Poor old gal is in need of a face lift so we are making arrangements for a new roof, new gutters, and the trim painted. We'll have brick work done later.

Hubby was suppose to take care of the details but as always happens he got the ball rolling and I'm stuck with all of the day to day details. A neighbor from down the street is our contractor. He's the one who pointed out to DH that the roof needs to be replaced... and while they are at it may as well do the gutters too. He's a nice young man but stops by and calls at odd hours, mostly in the late evenings, called the other night at 10:30.... I guess since he is a neighbor and can see our lights on he thinks it's okay. It's beginning to bug me, especially the dropping by part, I don't like to answer the door once I have my jammies on. It will be a week or two before they do the work and it's suppose to be done in one day.... we'll see.

The other thing that is my occupying my time is cleaning the basement. When I closed our antique shop I shoved most of the stuff in the basement. I now want it all out of there. Most of the stuff needs to be boxed up and taken to the auction house. A few things will be neatly arranged in the back room. My daughter and grandson said they would help. It's a bit overwhelming when I look at all the stuff down there..... maybe I should be on that "Hoarders" tv show.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

I still managed to do a little claying, I made a couple little deco style canes.....
....and used them to make tiles. The clay is a mixture of Fimo Classic and Kato. You'd think by now that I would remember Fimo always darkens in the oven and add more white to lighten it. Thats one of the things I like most about Kato the colors are pretty much the same after curing. I like these but I wish they were lighter.

And I made some wire leaves to use as part of the chains.

Polymer Clay Mixed Media Jewelry

I haven't posted for a few days, I have a cold and the meds make me sleepy so I've been sleeping a lot. I made these pieces, the first two are pins and the last is a pendant, from the same clay as the necklace in the last post.

The first piece I made by pressing the wire into raw clay the second was more of a challenge as the clay was baked before I added the wire pieces.

Click on the photos for a closer look.
And these are more wire doodads to use with clay.

Polymer Clay Mixed Media Necklace

After the "Thing A Day" challenged ended I took a couple days off from claying. I concentrated on wire work instead. Believe it or not it took me a couple days to make the three layered chain for this necklace. When the chain was done I needed a pendant so I headed back to the clay room. I made a couple other pendants but this is my favorite and the one I feel goes best with the chain.

Click on the photos for a closer look.

Polymer Clay Earrings "Thing A Day" Day 28

Today is the final day of the Anual Polymer Clay Central "Thing A Day" Challenge. Wow, the whole month of February went by pretty fast. I had a good time and I hope everyone else did to.

Today I made Earring for my granddaughter Amanda. Last time she was here she picked out beads and tiles she wanted made into earrings. I had to wait until I had the right kind of earring posts but I finally got the job done. (Sarah if you see this tell your sister her earrings are ready)

Click on the photos for a closer look.

The colors in the brain cane earrings doesn't show up very well. I took several photos but this is the best I could do. The actual colors are shades of green and brown.

Polymer Clay PINK Necklace "Thing a Day" Day 27

If you don't like pink cover your eyes.... this is PINK!! The lovely pink and silver beads are more loot from the Trash to Treasure Swap... they were donated by Miss Jackie of the The Pleasant Pheasant blog. (Check my blog list and pay her a visit, she has been making over the top beautiful canes)

I was going to use silver and pink wire but I was enthralled with the pink... and I'm not even a fan of pink. I am pleased with the way this turned out... fingers crossed that Jackie likes it too.

Click on the photos for a closer look.