Rustic Reloaded

As I wrote in my last blog, I wanted to attempt using darker colors when making Rustic Beads. This time I tried a dark blue.  

 I found out quickly that dark colors just aren't my thing. At least, this shade of blue it not.

 So, back to the lighter colors I gravitate towards.

Only textured on one side.  Will have to make post earrings
out of them, I suppose

 The yellow/green combo is one that really speaks to me

 Close ups of my favorite beads of the group.

 A little darker this time.  I also tried a bit of a different distressing technique on these pairs.  The finished look is more scratched up and worn that I was able to achieve before.  Kinda like the result and want to play some more with the idea.

 I saw a quick demo on  how to make lava beads at clay camp, but did not win the tool needed to create them.  Found it in my local neighborhood hardware store (this is a great place to wander the aisles, they are an older store with lots of goodies tucked away just waiting to be discovered). These were colored using the same technique as the rustic beads, but I did not distress them.  They have problems enough of their own without my beating on them.

A big thanks to Ginger Allman of The Blue Bottle Tree for her Rustic Bead tut.  I am having so much fun with it.

Studio Time

Finally, a weekend when I did not have to go anywhere or do anything .... I could dedicate myself to my clay and the BSBP.

This picture WILL NOT let me place it where I want
it to go.  

    I can't show you the Bead Soup for a while yet ... not till the last reveal, in April.  I am surprised at how quickly the design popped into my head.  Reading all those beading and stringing mags is paying off.

     I liked some of the beads I sent to my Bead Soup Partner Stepha so much, that I made a few more for myself, then tried a few different color combo's from the scraps of clay left over from other projects.

Green is in this Spring

Can't resist the color purple!

I would love to show more of the beads I made this weekend, but am having a problem with adding photos.  They all want to go to the top of the page, and refuse to move where I want them to go.  Rather than get even more frustrated with Blogger, I will just write another post later.

Bead Soup - Gathering the Ingredients

Life has finally slowed down for an hour or so, to give me a chance to write about the latest Bead Soup Party.
   My beads arrived this week from Stephanie Stamper Rainy Days Designs and my mind is percolating with  ideas.  I got oodles of beads, so I am definitely seeing more than one necklace, and several earring designs.

Black Cat says it is time to PART-EEE!!!!

For those who are allergic to cats, here is a more sedate pix (before Black Cat decided to play with the beads)

The focal shows up much better in this one

And now I can reveal what I sent to Stepha.  I had just gotten Christi Friesen's newest masterpiece (well worth the wait, I might add) FLOURISH and was inspired by all the leaf designs within. I made two focals, just in case the large one was a bit too much for my newest Partner. I got so carried away making the companion beads, that I continued making more using other scrap clay from my table.  Will show them at a later date.  I continued the leaf theme by being able to find a leaf shaped clasp.

All polymer except the small brown beads.
They are wooden.

And for those who are wondering, the kittens are doing well.  They are weaned, litter box trained and busy looking for good homes.  Four of them are spoken for, all going to people who will love them, hopefully for a long time.

Asymmetrical Challenges

As mentioned in a previous post, I am a gal who likes symmetry.  Things gotta match.   The trend toward asymmetrical jewelry, while fascinating is also scary to me.  However I find myself  strangely attracted to it,  even though it bothers my inner sense of balance.
  One of my goals for this year is to expand my range into actually making more jewelry pieces, rather than just the beads. I enjoyed the challenge of the 52 earrings/year project, and taking part in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Hops.  These have forced me to expand beyond my scope and interested me more in jewelry design itself.  I have a bead stash (who doesn't?) that is crying to be used, not to mention making my own beads,  so what is stopping me? Why am I afraid to put some beads on a string??? And when I do attempt stringing, it takes me forever ... I find myself stressing over exactly which beads to use, make and remake the string a dozen times.  This does not lead to a very happy experience in the long run.  I want to enjoy the process, not stress over it.
   Hence the latest experiment (bet you were wondering when  I going to get to the point).  I thought I would try the leave it to chance method.  The first try was with a strand of coordinated beads from a bead show years past. Easy to start with as some one else had picked the beads for me, thus reducing the stress of having to think to hard. Into the bucket they went and I strung them as I pulled them out.  The only bead placement planning I did was with the triangular shaped beads.

That idea worked so well, it lead me to attempt an even more challenging project. This time, I had to go through my bead stash and pick the coordinating beads myself.  I still left the stringing order to chance,  except for the  spacer motif. I must admit that I really like this set.  Now I have the stringing bug, which is good since it is too cold in my studio to do any clay work.  I have to do something to keep my fingers busy this winter.

And here is your moment of cute .

Some one has exploring feet
(taken with cell phone so pardon the focus)

Goal Accomplished (kinda)

I had made a resolution at the start of last year to write something in my blog at least once a week.  To facilitate that goal, I joined the Flickr Group "52 Earrings in one Year" started by Anke Humpert of Anart Island Studios.  While did not  accomplish the goal of posting every week ... I sorta did it in clumps.... I feel good that I finished all 52 pairs by December 31st.
   I just realized it has been a whole month since my last post ... whoa, really ... what the heck was I doing all that time"  No new beads to speak of ... my shoulders are the latest part of my body to start to go.  Cranking the pasta machine is right out for now, at least till my physical therapy starts to show better results. I did get a change to dig around in my stash and find some beads I made earlier this year that I worked up in the last few weeks
  So, tonight I posted my last earring pairs to the group.  I had a lot of fun doing it and got a ton of inspiration from the others who posted to this Flickr group.  I discovered new artists  (not just polymer)  and blogs to follow.  Started pinning a lot at Pinterest.  I can (and have) spend hours there just jumping from one board to another - talk about inspiration!.
    Here are the last 4 earrings from the Challenge.
    The first pair of beads I made up were made from the Texture Tut I got from Lydia at Diva Designs.  They are named after Bette Davis ... the bumps remind me of her famous line  "Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride".

Bette Dee 

 These beads were made by coloring a base white bead with Pan Pastel Chalks. I made a whole set of these to make into a necklace, but haven't got around to that yet.

JW Patches

 Several of the blogs that I visited off the Flickr earring group do asymmetrical challenges. It is hard for my scientific mind to let go and not strive for absolute symmetry.  This is my attempt at it. It really bothers me that they are not the same length.  This is something that I hope to overcome.  I am currently working on an asymmetrical necklace to help this process along.

1 Pod ... 2 Peas

 My last pair for this challenge were made with a short band of scrap clay left over from another project. It was too colorful to wad up and use as bead guts .. there is no such thing as wasted clay

The Golden Band

Next post will hopefully be my further trials with asymmetry.

Where did the year go??

 As usual, I am running behind posting my projects.  I'll blame it on the holidays this time, and the Artisan show.  After all there is nothing wrong with ME...

It is hard to believe that it is almost December. This year just flew by.  Isn't it strange how time speeds up the older one gets?  I remember as a child, how impatient I was waiting for Christmas.  Seemed like it would never arrive.  Now I just turn around, and it is almost upon us.
   And speaking of remembering my childhood, I found these dragonfly beads at the Blue Iris going out of business sale (heavy sigh).  They remind me swimming in the lake near the home I grew up in. Dragonflies were everywhere.  I would lay on the raft a short distance from the shore and watch them hovering over the water.  I was fascinated even then. The earrings I made from these beads are week 48 of the 52 earrings project.

Lakeside Dream Earrings

   As mentioned several posts ago, I purchased River Valley's wonderful Rocky Path tut.  I have been having a lot of fun trying different color combos.  One important tip I must pass on, if you are considering the tut or already have it ... it really pays to follow the directions.  I thought I would try a different texture than the one recommended.  After all, it looked *almost* the same.  While I don't totally dislike the results, they don't have the depth that can be achieved if the right texture is used, as you can see.

Following instructions 

Going down the wrong path

I have also been spending time reorganizing my studio (gasp!).  I would be a top contender for the messy studio award. I do love the surprises that come with the periodic cleaning.  I find beads that I made a last year or the year before that, that I totally forgot about.  It is like receiving an early birthday gift.  So I made these beads (only two of each so I MUST have been thinking earrings when I made them) into earrings for the 52 earrings project.

    

Going Green

Week 46 were made with the only pair of green beads I made using the texture tutorial from Lynda at Diva Designs.  I don't remember if I added mica powder to the clay. I kinda looks like I did.  I have started to write stuff in a journal now, so that I can refer back.  Amazing how long it took me to figure out that this was a good idea.

    Week 47 earrings ...  I vaguely remember these. I was experimenting with adding inclusions to clay.  These are spacers attached to the base bead with little balls of clay. I have no idea why I abandoned this line of clay play. I will have to work more with this idea.

  

Round Peg,  Round Hole

   

A Rocky Path

I finally broke down and bought something off of Etsy.  I have been purposely avoiding it for years.  Not because I don't like it ... heaven forbid.  It is the fear that I will go CRAZY and buy every thing in sight once I discover how easy it is.
    It is taking  lot of restraint to be good ... there are so many interesting items to be had just with a quick click of the mouse.
    I have been able to limit myself so far to a pair of earrings and beads from Lynda at Diva Designs.  I have been following her work for years now.  She was the first follower on my blog when I started it almost two years ago now.  I have purchased several of her very well written tuts in the past, but used a check rather than signing into Esty.  Now that she is a full time designer, it turned out to be better for her monetarily if I went through Esty, so now I have an account. .. so many shiny things.... opps... getting off topic
   This leads me to another Esty purchase I made last week.  One of my flickr contacts is River Valley Designs, and one of the techniques she uses and has written a tut on, is called Rocky Path. I have long admired pieces that she and others have made using Rocky Path and tried to figure it out on my own, with limited success.  So I finally broke down and purchased it. I am in love ... it is a playful technique and I love the serendipity of it - you can't predict exactly what is going to happen.  I love surprises.
   I have made two earring sets so far and would make more today, but I must get ready for the Artisan Show this weekend.

Using Yellows and Orange Inks

Pinks and Yellows

 

Catch up V2.0

Still have two more pair of earrings to blog about.  Just got too tired last night to continue.

Both these were made from metal beads that I picked up from Ben Franklin.  I colored them with the Ranger/Vintaj Patina paints that have come out recently.  I am really liking these paints. They are bright and cheerful and you don't have to bake them (a big plus).  Only time will tell as to how durable they are.

Week 20 earrings were made by painting base silver beads with a mixture of amethyst with the Patina Glaze to lighten it a bit. Then I went back in and with a toothpick carefully laid the straight amethyst into the indents in the beads.

Original metal beads

Earrings after painting with Amethyst Patina.  "Seeing Spots - Week 20

The next pair use the Jade color of Patina.  This time I also painted the end cap beads with the straight Jade.  The pair I am picturing are made from applying the undiluted Jade  to the bead.  I had also mixed the Jade with a larger amount of the Glaze to get more of a color wash.  I like the straight Jade better.

Green Twist Week 21

Original bead on left, Jade colorwashed bead on right.

Twig Earrings

I belong to several online Yahoo Polymer groups.  They are fonts of information.  I have learned so much from the discussions that take place there. Recently, there was a thread about a paint that simulates enamel on metal.  Pebeo vitrea is the name and when I discovered it was available at Michael's, I hurried out and bought a few colors.  After applying the paint to the metal (I found it takes several thin coats rather than one thick one for best results) ... you bake at 325 F for 40 minutes. I have only had the time to experiment with a couple of washers, end caps and these earrings.

The theme for week 13 of the 52 earrings in a year is Twigs.  I tried several designs in Polymer, but they just didn't satisfy. So out came the embosser and another chance to try the vitrea.  I found the green to be a bit translucent on the brass blank.
   I have an order into Bello Modo for the new Vintaj Patina metal inks. The video on the Vintaj website shows some beautiful pieces that were made using these inks. They should arrive later today or tomorrow. I can't wait to try them out.

Floral Punk

Inspired by my favorite PC artist Christi Friesen, I made a few Floral Punk Pendants Sunday afternoon at Clay Camp.

It's supposed to a tendril, not a snake.

Still have to find a good chain to complete the look

There a Squishy

Have been a little quite in the last week.  The stomach flu that hubby had a while ago finally caught up with me.  And, of course, it hit at an inopportune time.  I had taken the night off from work as it was my husband's birthday.  Did not get to do anything we planned. Luckily I am married to a man who really doesn't put much stock in special celebrations - he just wanted me to feel better.  He is so sweet.

Yesterday was my first real chance to get back into the studio.  I am busy writing up the "how to" for my guild round robin presentation next week.  It is really hard to explain how to properly squish clay LOL.....

The latest trials are working more with contrast, once again changing only the first color in the extruder. And I am working on ways to size and shape consistently. 

Green was first color in Extruder

This time it was white as the first color