All Kinds of Goodies

Well it is getting hot and clay days are winding down. I put the a/c in my room in the window nearest the table so I can still clay at night, but during the day if it is too hot or I am upstairs? Forgettttttttaboutit!
The clay is so sticky in the heat and my hands are hot...UGH!
My grandson is too active now for me to do any claying. I am going back to crochetting when I am watching him or reading the web to get some inspiration to take with me when I return to my room at night. (Where I can still clay)

This weekend was my grandsons Christening and they also celebrated his first birthday, ( it was actually the 15th), so this week was spent cleaning up and preparing. Even though everyone went into the main house I knew there would be some coming and going down here....esp. since there is another bathroom down here.
I did what I could considering I have NOOOOOO Storage space..People don't realize when you go from 2500 sq feet of living space to 200 sq feet, there is a lot of stuff without a home.
While I got rid of alot I still have more that needs a place.....

Anyway...........Here is what I have been up to lately...........

My Tray of Beads, Tiles, abd Cabs. There is a Paper Mache box I bought at the craft store and covered it ( finally) in Millifiore which means "million flowers." I took all my floral canes and cut slices and laid them on a white clay background. Pressed with the roller and then cut to cover the box and lid. I also did a jar ( not shown).

This basket technique is a first attempt for me. I found the Tutorial at The Clay Store.
They have tons of Tuts for miniatures, for those of you into doll houses and such. I saw this and wanted to try it. I like it. I may make some more and fill them with mini clay flowers. Perhaps a larger basket?

A close up of a flower I threw together last night from memory. I tried this first when i first started claying a few months back, I worked from a Tut, last night I worked from memory and am proud to be able to remember this....( Yea, sucks getting older...*SIGH*). There is also a swirly lentil I did, and some tiles, and a Purple hydrangea bead.

Here is a rose cane Back-covered cab. ( Another of those glass beads).



Here is a blue lace cane long cab.


Hydrangea in pink and purple....Sorry the piccy sucks. My web cam sucks at Macro shots.


A pic of the box lid, tiles, and cabs.

I have also been working on some Paper Mache Bowls. I am trying to find a finishing touch. I want to incorporate real flowers into the final sealing. I got some ideas from TV. Will post when done.

This Weeks Pics.

These are the Backs of the Cabs ( cabochons)



This is the Front Side...I wish I could get a Clearer Shot.These are the Homemade wire Bezels I made- This one looks like a Musical Cleft, No?


I also made some Rose Canes. OF course I had to wrap some beads.
I am almost done with that yellow bowl. I put the feet on- a lil too close. I got some florals and butterflies decoupaged inside. Now to finish it off. I also tried sprinkling the inside with a lil pearlex powder for a lil shimmer, but I dont think it worked out too well.






I am curently saving to get some exercise equipment. Hoping I can get it next month. After that it is a NEW Digital Camera, Meanwhile I gotta see what I can do about getting one of these puppies up and running again....

Todays Riddle....

How to make a Bezel for a Cabochon.

Well so far today the best Idea I have had seems to be Wire. The cabo is nothing more then those fancy clear oval shaped marbles you find in the dollar store and craft store, that you usually put in decorative fish bowls, or vases.
I backed them with some cane design and they look great. I have the larger ones and the small ones, but I have no way of mounting them on a chain without a Bezel or something to hold them.

I experimented with Polymer clay ( yucky), and I even thought about ribbon, but then I tried the wire wrapping and so far that appears to look good, but I need to get some good strong bond, either crazy glue, or some kind of other jewelers glue (clear) to secure the back to the wire so it won't fall out.

When I post the pics you will see what I mean.

Some Eggs, and Some Roses. Oh and I finished another Bowl....Finally

This is the B&W Roses I did. This is Baked but not varnished. They have NO sepal as I didnt put any on.



This one I sprayed with glitter after baking and then I put some Gloss on it. I have Sculptey gloss for clay. I havent tried the future acylic yet.



This Purple Rose I did last night while watching TV. It is NOT baked yet. I didn't add sepals as it was getting really soft. Translucent color clay seems to pick up heat more then regular colored ( most colors). I did add some petals on the lower tier. I need to go back later and add some larger leaves around the top, since I dont know if I can get the sepals on without knocking the flower off the stick..( I have clumsey hands).





These beads I did Sunday Night. The black ones have silver foil mixed in. I keep seeing something called the CD Technique, but hadn't been able to find any instruction on it. I did find , however a Blog *Just Barrettes* that had instructions on scoring the CD Roms, (Esp. good if they are CD-RW, I knew one day I would have some usage for all those CD-RW's that Didn't Burn Correctly! :-) ) and getting the foil out. I just wanted to try it and see what they would look like If I rolled foil into some black clay. LOL, They look kind of splotchy.
The B&W Swirlies was from the Hydrangea Cane I did Saturday.
Got Eggs? These 2 were some left over clay I mangled into a twist. I just played until I saw something I liked. Sliced it and put it on the egg. The other is translucent color I created by added Pearlex to trans and coming out with some neat colors. I twisted them together I got a rainbow-like cane. After Slicing and Applying to the egg, I covered both of these with Pearl-ex. First Lightly with a brush and then with a finger. I used several different colors. I baked both at around 225-250 (My oven sucks) for 15 minutes. After they came out I took a bit of Clay and plugged the blow holes and stuck them back in the oven for 5 minutes after I shut the oven off. I dont think I will sand these. They dont have any lumps really. And the pearlex gives off a nice shine. Almost Metalic Like.




Some Black and White swirlie Eggs, from the left over cane ends ( I have a lot of waste when I try to make my Hydrangeas)

My daughter wanted a bowl from Paper mache just like the one I made first. (The one I am keeping since I know the errors of it). Here is the inside. She wanted sunflowers, and a butterfly. I Decoupaged them after soaking them in water ( they are pre-pasted wall borders. I just cut them out from the background).

Here is the outside and feet. I need to just varnish this and it will be good to go.

A barrette I covered. It kind of..well it aint straight. It took on a bit of a curve.
A Jar I covered too.

A Few Piccys

Got some cam shots of a couple of things. Mostly yesterdays stuff.

I saw this Tut on Raku, It is like a Faux metalgury ( the only description I can make of it.) The pics are bad and I dont have the patience to try again with the crappy webcam.
I took some Black and made a rectangle bead, then I pounced it lightly with some nylon netting ( the type that marbles come in ) then I lightly picked up some pearlex copper and a couple of other colors on my finger and just dabbed once , twice, three times...NO RUBBING, Just a quick dab to get in the cracks. I need to get more info on this and see if it is right.


My Sunflower vase I did last week.... Another Bottle I liked...My daughter wants to give this to her teacher for end of year gift...Better get busy sanding this puppy.
I had some black and white scraps so I twisted them together and made a rope then rolled it out (Coiled) and brought it back in. As I was twisting it kind of braided together so I baked it as it was..It Looks cool.
My Black and White jellyroll that I reduced, and mutiplied.
B&W Hydrangea....Still needs Practice , but improving.
My Attempt at Mokume cane Pendants.....Hmmmmmmm

Another long week....

Well it has been a weird week. For a while I didnt want to do anything clay..

I had a lot of babysitting hours this week. My daughter was putting in some OT in another store and that meant getting up early ...well I should say, staying up after the kids go to school, since I try to go back to sleep for another hour...*Notice I said TRY*

I came around after a few days. I made another hydrangea in black and white this time and Some More roses.


Lately though I have been into the contrast... Black and White. So I bought a brick of each while at AC Moore the other day.
I definetly need to get me pasta machine.
I also need to start or continue and finish my bowls....I started to sand down the yellow one, now to paint the inner part.
This one I was working one now I embedded wire in it but to my horror it rusted...Hmmmmmm
Well thank Goodness the Gesso covered the brown spots. It didnt rust too bad, now to get it done.....*SIGH*

I will try to get some piccys up tomorrow.

A Busy Week,,,,

No Post yesterday. I am putting this up in between Dances..( Dancing with the Stars).

My Leaf Cane...Im So Proud

My Hydrangeas, Getting Better...
My Sunflower....Another Proud Moment

I Loved this bottle....I covered it in strawberry cane...Now to sand out the ripples and bumps.


My Strawberry Cane....Wow it looks like a strawberry with long stringy Hair......LOL