Always running behind

I actually had feeling in the fingers on my left hand today!  Time to celebrate.  I spent the morning at Catherine's getting some new clothes for the Clayditarod.  It has been a long while since I last went shopping for anything other than T-shirts and work clothes. I was so happy to see that the popular colors this summer/fall are ones that I like.  I picked up some jeans, khaki pants, and a bunch of new tops that are soooo my colors - teals and limey greens, blacks and creams... so yummy.

Then off to the Goodwill to look for clothes for the Lumberjack theme night we will be having on the cruise. Lord Opuson is really looking forward to that.  Not only does he look a bit like Red Green, he can sound like him too!  Too bad he wants me to be Harold.  No way that I am that geeky (or skinny!).
    Did not have much luck though. Flannel shirts are not readily available this time of year and suspenders, well -  just forget about it.  I did find a lovely leather purse that was only missing a rivet on the bottom (so easy to fix!).  Will check out other thrift stores tomorrow on the way to work.

Home again to work on my BSBP while I still have a usable hand.  Got side tracked a bit by the idea that I was really behind on the 52 earring project.  No new beads,  but did find these in my stash.  They are from the days I was first experimenting with PanPastel Chalks.

Aye Bead Earrings (week 29)

I start with white clay, form into the bead shape.  I used kemper cutters to make the designs, and then painted the areas with the chalks.  After baking, I antiqued with tinted LPC.

   Now to work on my BS necklace before I go numb again!  So wonderful to be able to type again with both hands!!!

   

How does she have the Patience?

A bad case of carpel tunnel has kept me out of the studio for a while.  This is the worst I have had it in a long time - first the left hand outer fingers went numb, like they had taken a trip to the dentist.  Wore my carpel brace for a few days, but that did not help.  Dr said it was not originating in my wrist, but rather upper arm, elbow area.  I had to be fitted for a form brace that I  have to wear at night to keep my arm immobile.  What a pain, can not sleep comfortably no matter what position I am in.  Then, after I started wearing that, my RIGHT hand went numb also.  So now I have braces on both arms and am typing this two fingered. 

All this when I am trying to get ready for the Clayditeron Cruise (only a few weeks away .... WEEEEEE!!!!).  I may not get all the charms made and tagged like I wanted.  AND I have the BSBP to work on. I am afraid that I will be forced to keep my piece really simple for that.  I really wanted to do something elaborate, but that is just not in the cards right now.  I am bummed big time.

Instead of my work, today  I am going to showcase the seed bead art of my friend Donna. When we went to the bead shows in Tuscon last year, I blogged about the picture she had given her sister who lives there.  That was the second one she had done.  This one above is the first.  It was created with seed beads, each one glued in place individually. I couldn't do that - I am more of an immediate gratification girl.

  For her third piece, she is going even bigger.  Her canvas this time is a DOOR! -  yes, a door.  She has been working on it for two years now (mostly in the winter when there is no were to go anyway).  She allowed me to take some photos of the work in progress.

The specks in the clouds are clay birds.  

She starts of a piece by painting an underlying picture.  In this photo you can see the painted portion at the bottom.  The top clouds and trees have been beaded.    She figures she has at least 2-3 more years before she will be finished, and already has plans for her next.    

A closer up of the top portion.  It is going to be amazing when done.  

My Bowl of Soup is here!

I got home from a very hectic night in the lab, to find that my package from Melissa at the One-Eared Pig had arrived.  It was too dark to take a good pix so I had to wait till daylight to show them off.  Melissa is a glass bead artist, so I knew that I would be receiving something fascinating (I LOVE glass beads - use to make them till my eye went wonky).  And I was not wrong
    She used a glass called Translucent Uranium Yellow to make them.  I am just blown away with the "glow from within" effect she achieved.  This is certainly going to be a challenge for me as these are colors I would never have chosen, but I think they are going to work out well.  You really can't tell from the pix, but the beads have little coppery sparkles inside.  Gorgeous.

And, of course, a Penguin to guard them all.

As promised, here is a photo of what I sent her.

Yes, there are two focals.  After I got done making the blue textured focal (I got the tut for these beads from Lydia at SC Diva), I got to thinking that it was too big. Rather than discard these beads entirely, I dug in my stash and found the Foral Steampunk and the accompanying leafy beads. And of course, some polymer penguins.

The timing for the arrival of the BSBP mix couldn't have been better.  This weekend is the Bead Festival in Tacoma.  I am sure to find some thing to help me complete my necklace or what ever I am going to make from Melissa's goodies. Our reveal day is August 11, which seems like a long time now, but as I am also getting ready for the Clayditeron cruise, it will fly by.  (65 charms made, only 15 to go!!!)

Bead Soup Teaser

The official day to send out our beads for this summers BSBP was last Monday. But in reading my Bead Soup Partner's blog, she has had one hectic life lately. And mine has not been that much better - so much stress about whether I was going to have a  job or not. At least we know who we are going to be partnering with now and from what we have been able to glean, it will be at least a year before any real changes happen.  Every day working is more money put away for my retirement ... so another year is a big bonus.

     Again with the digressions ... I have my Bead Soup mix packaged up and ready to send.

Here is the teaser

    .

A Productive Clay Weekend

For once I did not sleep half my weekend away. I have been using my exercise bike for more than a coat rack lately and have found that I have more energy.  More energy = more clay time.  Win/win.
  I finally have my beads done for my Bead Soup Partner Melissa AND I made it down to ye ol' bead store for a cool clasp and some extra beads to go with them. That was hard ... when one mixes colors of clay to make a new color, sometimes it does not exactly match what is available in the stores.
  I also finally got started on making my charms for the Clayditarod Cruise.  I know that a lot of people already had theirs done a loooong time ago, but I could not decide what to do until this weekend.  I got 50 done in a marathon session Sunday.  Only 30 more to go!
  And I have my earrings for the 52 in a year project to share.
  I was too busy to post last weeks pair, so I have another twofer to share with  you.

These beads were made using the "scrapings" from a mokume gane stack.  I dangled some crystals from chains for a change of pace.

Since I was (and still am) so involved in finishing up my Clayditeron charms, I will not have the time this week to make any more clay beads.  I saw this ceramic beads at Michael's and just had to have them (I don't  know why pink is suddenly appealing to me ... I was never really a pink person before).  They went perfectly with the square findings and I found I only had 4 pinkish crystals in my stash.