polymer clay owls

It seems as though I have owls on the brain! Now that the temperature has dropped to "near frosty" I've succumbed to the fact that it sure is autumn around here. Brr! With that, the leaves are falling rapidly, I better go take a walk to check out the last of this beautiful foliage before it's all swept away with a good wind! 


Just decided to work on something fun...because it's already so cold in my studio! I'll be moving this gig in doors soon. Let's see how these little feathered friends will evolve.

saved the day

In the next couple of months I'm going to try and concentrate on making beads - without finishing them as jewelry. Not always, because I do enjoy the jewelry making. But a few people have requested to purchase beads alone. My beads tend to be about 1". I can make them smaller but I don't really like to. After all the work of building the cane and working the colors just so - I like them to be seen. My beads are bold and so is my jewelry. In the meantime, I strung the 9 beads I made out of the not so favorite cane and I was pretty happy with the results. 

enjoy the week

Well I'm off to relax and be inspired. Let's see what happens!

what's your inspiration?

I tend to fall into an idea or a technique and nestle in their until I wear it out. When things happen organically and the idea finds me, is how I like it best. My ideal is to determine a way to combine several ideas or technique into something brand new. How 'bout you?

goodbye summer, wahhh

Saying goodbye to the last day of summer is never easy. I'm all about the warm weather and fun. So much so I guess that I'll be headed off to an extended summer at the end of this week. Looking for a little inspiration down south while my fantastic mom stays home with my kids and dog...and cat. It's hard switching gears in my jewelry color choices. My mind still says summer so therefore my palette tends to reflect that. I'm trying... The Pantone Fall Color Guide is available so that makes color choices a little easier. I'm sure the temperature will have dropped and people will have started decorating for Halloween by the time I return from jaunt on the 1st of October. Then I'll be forced to deal with the fact that summer is truly over and will return again next June 21st - I'll be counting the days! Are you a summer lover too?

hoot

So I've been playing with all of the stuff I bought the other day from Lowes. I've stumbled upon my latest obsession. You'll be seeing it all week!

good monday

Hi all - I don't know how many posts I'll get to this week. I've got a daughter heading off to college this coming weekend so we'll have dinners to go to and last minute items to be getting and crying to be done...
It's really difficult to squeeze in the working when the kids are still home from school on summer vacation but I'm not wishing them away by any means. 
With a show coming up on the 11th of next month I've been trying to commit to more studio time. I swirled a lot of polymer this weekend! Mass production is not my specialty but it's nice to be able to offer something other than my one of a kind pieces - which translates to more affordable. My intention is to make a bunch of bracelets with these beads and to display them in a candy jar.

more fish stories

Here it is - another fish! I actually created this fish first but didn't actually finish the necklace until later. I like the other design better. That will probably become my latest obsession. I've participating in a "Girl's Night Out" to support research for Leukemia and Lymphoma towards the latter part of July. I'm going to have to make a better effort to get out to the studio this month so I'll have something to sell. Last day of school around here - so here comes summer!

Just a little something to look at while I'm away from the studio. Mini pendant on sterling chain with a translucent center.

mo' flowah

One more flower pendant to add to the mix. I usually like bright vivid colors but I wanted to try something much softer this time. I created a cane of soft pinks, minty greens and buttery yellows. There's a touch of silver in there too - everything looks better with a little bling!

yellow orb

My time is not my own lately. Gladly helping out with a relative translates to little studio time. That's ok - I'll get back in there one of these days. This weekend I'm hoping to deliver this necklace to the patient owner. Cutwork black polymer nests on top of a translucent yellow orb. This will look spectacular on her perpetual tan.

stretch ring

Having a little fun in the studio - playing around with some ideas.


Note to self: moisturize, manicure.

my latest obsession

Yes, it's Friday. Looking forward to some lovely weather this weekend. It's Derby Day tomorrow! Don't know quite what that means for me...but I think it will lead to fun. My latest obsession is making these flower pendants. Not quite sure if I want to put the pin backs on them. They sit nicely on the neck without the pin but they become more versatile with the pin. Are there that many pin wearers out there?

a little cuteness for a friday

I don't usually create "cute". I know, I know, the Communion crosses are "cute" but of course they are! They're for 7 year old little girls. I intended the outcome to be more sophisticated but once I got started I couldn't help myself - it was so much fun! I think I'd try this technique again but I'll somehow pull it back a little and turn it in a different direction. No butterfly pooping tiny glass balls, maybe? I really like the zinnia.

Next week is school vacation. I'll post if possible. Happy Weekend!

popping in to say hi

I'm not very good at this bloggin' stuff lately. Fallout from Easter I guess, busy weekend and camera is on the fritz! Spent a fantastic day Sunday strolling through the Boston Public Gardens - home to the smallest suspension bridge in the USA, in case you didn't know. Gorgeous day! 

I complain about the winter incessantly because I can't get out to my studio but now that the days are warmer I don't want to be inside, go figure. I actually spent quite a bit of time inside though on yesterday and today. Two beautiful little shops, Olivia Rose in Marshfield and the Gift Garden in Milton, will be carrying my First Communion crosses so I had to get those all ready to go. 

alchemist

It's so exciting to see the results of my experimentation with silver metal clay. The PMC comes as a small lump of heavy grey clay that bears no resemblance to the finished product. It dries to a whiter shade of grey before it's fired. But then ...through the magic of intense heat...the former clay is returned to you as a gorgeous piece of silver. Add a half an ounce of elbow grease while its brushed with a soft wire brush and Voila! It's a piece of fine jewelry! I feel like Rumpelstiltskin.


Have a nice Easter/Passover/weekend.

the weekend is here

Yesterday, I spent most of the day poring over a new cane for the line of mini pendants I'm trying to develop. I had an idea at the beginning of the day. A heart. But I didn't want to make the heart too cliche so I thought I'd try and glam it up a bit. Turning the crank on my pasta maker summons a chorus of squeaks from the old recycled barn board fake antique poser dining room table I have it attached to (until I can get back out to my studio in about a week!) The 5 and a half hours of this grating noise coupled with the end result which was not at all what I envisioned left me drained. My glammed up heart looked more like a fuschia altered states pollywog. Are those supposed to be breasts asked my 10 year old. I went to bed defeated.


Clay induced stress? I wonder if it's a condition listed in the New England Journal of Medicine?

This morning I faced the weighty decision of throwing in the towel and starting a new design or trying to fix the one I started. Kind of like when you're trying to determine whether your hair is salvageable or do you need to jump in the shower and start from scratch avoiding the gamble of a bad hair day. I rolled the dice and revamped the pollywog incorporating it into the new heart design with a vivid palette. And I'm very happy with it. I guess you can't go wrong with a classic.

The Storm That Almost Wasn't

So yesterday brought the storm that almost wasn't. It was hyped as a huge knockout storm...planned on losing electricity...no school...the works. Last night at about 8:00 when everyone else was just about done with it...we got it. Not a lot though and I'm not complaining about that. Just enough to make it pretty...and a little bit inconvenient. Shoveling at 7:00am is never fun.


This morning I strung together some beads that I made with the cane I was working on the other day. I also put together a starfish pendant. This was the "beachy" idea I was playing around with. I love the color combination. It's not my usual style...a little cartoonish... but fun. I think it's a good thing to push yourself out of your comfort zone every once in a while.  


Picture this bracelet in July...on a tanned wrist...attached to tanned handing holding an ice cold Margarita...on the rocks...with salt...please.

...And the Product is Jewelry.

In trying to incorporate some new colors into my jewelry (I've been told I'm a little heavy on the blues) I've also been experimenting with adding depth to my patterns. Weaving blacks and grays throughout the cane is a nice way to achieve this. Skinner blending is a process of combining two or more colors of polymer clay to create a gradient.  Rather than flat fields of color, the image in the cane takes on a new dimension. 

I've got to remind myself though as challenging as it is to introduce new palettes while developing canes to work with, it's as important to develop the product... and the product is jewelry. An interested party recently asked if I produced anything besides necklaces. I realized that I had been negligent in showing some of the belt buckles, bracelets and earrings that I create. So one last pendant showcase to show off the latest cane with some bright spring colors and over the next week I'm going concentrate on highlighting some of the other categories. 

Everyone will Benefit

7. Study.

A studio is a place of study. Use the necessity of production as an excuse to study. Everyone will benefit.

- from the Incomplete Manifesto by Bruce Mau

I miss my studio very much. It's out there. Sitting in the corner of my yard. It used to be purple but now it's a more sedate tan. The interior walls are painted white. I don't like a lot of color on the walls if I'm working with a lot of color in my hands. It's waiting for me to come back. I try to work out there for as long as the season will permit. Unfortunately these cold New England winters don't permit much. I held out to about the first weekend in December with two space heaters cranking away. Since then, I've spread out on my dining room table, my coffee table, sometimes my kitchen counters... In the house there's many distractions, dog to walk, dishes to wash, laundry to fold...food to eat. Soon, I'll be back outside - everyone will benefit.

Over the weekend I had fun making a few heart pendants - even prettier in person they're available on Etsy.