Can't seem to stop

I really love polymer, but have not touched it in several months.  I just can't seem to stop inking and stamping every surface I come across.  Well ... maybe I exaggerate ... not EVERY surface, but I am continuously looking for more items to decorate.  So far I have stuck to surfaces I can use to make jewelery, but who knows .... I do have some undecorated picture frames somewhere in my studio stash.

I found some more wooden bead shapes at Ben Franklin, so had to try them out.  The little sparkles are from adding a little glitter to the sealer I use to keep the colors vibrant before adding the resin.

Flitter Dreams

Summer Time Dreams

Flitter Dream Earrings on Display

I found these really cute small domino shaped beads at Shipwreck a few weeks ago.  They are the perfect size for earrings.  The only problem I have is that they were designed to make bracelets with (holes on the sides rather than from top to bottom), I have to cover the holes, so I glued little rhinestones on the side. Tedious and I am not 100% sure I like it.  More experimentation to come.

The earrings title "Mary's Day" I made as a wedding gift to my friend Mary,  She lost her husband a few years back, and was fortunate enough to find love a second time.  She just married Nacho, a widower who lost his wife about the same time.  I am so happy that two great people found each other.

Fireworks 

Mary's Day Earrings

Just wanta have ...

Fireworks on display.  

While at Shipwreck Beads, I also found some bone tube beads. I wondered if they would also take inks and sure enough, they did.  Since I can't use resin to finish them like I would a flat surface, I sprayed them with PYM II to seal the inks on.  It's hard to tell, but the yellow beads have streaks of green,

I then wondered if I could put designs on the beads like I did the dominoes. I inked up a texture sheet and rolled the beads on it.  I found I need to have a very steady hand ... was doing alright till I got to the very end, when I started to shake a bit.  Still, they don't look that bad.

I currently have 12 more pairs of tiles curing.  In a few more days they will be ready to have their holes covered and made into earrings. What I am going to do with them, I have no idea.  Maybe I should open an on-line shop. Now that the new computer system is in a work and I am getting used to the changes, work should become less stressful (cross fingers).

A bit of a change

I don't always work with polymer, even if that seems to be all I ever write  about. That and cats, can't forget the cats.
 
I read on another blog (sorry ... I don't remember who's blog.  I would love to give them credit), about using inks to color washers.  Thought it was worth a try so scrounged around in the garage and "borrowed" a few from my hubbie.  He won't miss them (I hope) and will never recognize them in their new colors.

Alcohol inks were applied after a base coat of light colored acyclic paint (used Adirondack Dabber from Ranger).  After they dried, resin was applied to both sides, fully curing between sides.  After that, there was a really ugly zinc color on the inside and outside edges, where the base washer showed through.  This I painted gold with a metal acrylic pen.  And yes, you are seeing pink dots on several of the washers.  Vintaj Patina was applied with a toothpick to get the dots before the resin was added.

These washers were finished before Clay Camp and have been sitting around on top of  the same block of wood since then, Finally got the idea of how to make them up into earrings yesterday. This was the first time I tried making a "sloppy" wire wrap. I really like the look of this type of wrap, esp on earrings done by Kristi Bowman.  I really don't have the technique down well, but hope to improve with practice.  Who knew it was so hard to be messy?

I was reading The Polymer Arts Blog the other day, when Sage Bray was highlighing "mystery"  artists from Pinterest.  She discussed how sometimes the artist's identification gets lost in pinning and repinning.  I have noticed this also ... sometimes I try to follow an intereting piece back to the source only to find the site no longer there.  Because of this, I am going to start "signing" my work. Nothing fancy, since I don't have any special editing software.  I just used Picasa - free and easy.

Caught up, for now

Here I thought I was all caught up on my earrings and could take a breather.  But then I got "smart" and started to write down my weeks and what I posted - and I found out I was a week short.  That's what organization will get me!
   I had experimented several months ago with foil, inks, glitter and a touch of resin to top it off.  I am not sure I these are really my color, but they might look nice in the fall.  The picture on the earring display simply would not focus well, so I was forced to use my windowsill as a background so you can see the details.  Of course, Eyesis had to see what I was doing, so I snapped a pix of her too.

Week 23

She doesn't focus well, either.

Spring is here!!!

My little mouse finally woke up.

Where's the Cheese??

Differences in Resins

The other day I finally had a good result with resin and my VU light.  I liked it so much that I had to try it again.

Here is my little mouse with Magic Glos Resin.

Still waiting for spring....

 

Then I tried a different resin I got at the Bead Festival last year - Gel du Soleil.  It is also a one part UV resin, and gave a good finish but is not as thick as Magic Glos.  It ran over the edge and has several indented areas, which are hard to see on the picture. I think it will be good to use when as a filling resin where there is an edge to stop it from running, like some bracelet blanks or bezels. 

Cactus Pool aka Tuscon Homage

One of the many projects we did in Christi Friesen's Polymer Clay Extravaganza was a pond.  The theory was that a goldfish lived in the pond.  But when I made my stones, they were more southwestern in color.  I decided to do a homage to my Tuscon trip instead of putting a goldfish in the pond.  With Christi's advice on how to make a cactus, I proceeded to make one complete with teenie weenie tiny ittsybittsy reds dots (boy they are tiny!). Then I made a few grass like plants to keep the cactus company.

View from above and side.  Piece is a little shy of 2 inches long