Catification

You know you have too many cats when you download 250 pictures from your camera, and they are ALL pix of your cats.

Maybe I should change the name of this blog to "Too Many Cats" ... ?

Quinn trying to find some space at the foot of the bed

How many cats can fit in one laundry basket?

Two is decidedly more comfortable.

Newest Underfeet (Domino and Beaker) helping Dad pay the bills.

Zinger and Quinn vying for a bit of winter sun.

Changes in the future?

There are changes afoot at the Penguin Float.  I have never been entirely happy with my house.  I outgrew it quickly, once I started exploring my artistic side.  What started as a tiny hobby in the corner of the garage is threatening to take over the entire house.  To be honest, it probably would have if Lord Opuson did not have such a strong foot.  As it is, I have a "studio" ( once was the second bedroom) full of shelves crammed with my "must have" art paraphernalia. And what does not fit on the shelves, has found a "temporary" home on the floor.
    And I have expanded into the bed room.  My excuse is that there is not enough light in the studio to bead (and there really isn't). I have 3 full shelves of books, 12 shoe boxes of beads (Opuson counted them this morning) and 3 tool cases of findings stacked against the wall at the foot of the bed.

I want to start exploring enameling and PMC, not to mention fused glass.  I have yet to use the kiln I won over a year ago - no real place to set up.

I NEED MORE ROOM.

OK, maybe need is a little too strong a word.  I would like more room. 
I am also looking at retirement in the not to distant future - several years away, but still needs to be planned for.
I do not want to retire in my current house.  So, this morning we visited the bank to start the whole process.  House hunting will begin in earnest. just have to decide WHERE I want to live.  Since I will no longer be tied to a job that limits my living area, the possibilities are wide open.  I am finally getting excited about retirement. 
   Of course, this means that I will probably not be able to pursue any creative outlets once we start the process in earnest.  Not only a new home to fix up, but we have major work to do here to get it ready to sell.  Busy times ahead.

Quinn's opinion of moving. 

My Underfeet make me Smile

This is the first time this has happened, or at least it is the first time I have seen it happen.  All 5 Underfeet were lined up at the bottom of the bed, with no hissing or growling, scratching or clawing. It was totally uncanny.
   Amber has been getting a "calming down" med in her food for a while now, and we believe that was a major contributor to the situation. Normally they are busy trying to push each other out of the way to be closer to daddy (they LOVE Lord Opuson) - maybe because he is cuddlier than mommy.

From Left to Right: Amber, Zinger, Quinn, Tofur, and Rue
 (hubbie's foot thrown in free of charge)

Clay Camp 2014 Bead Review

Once again, Clay Camp has come and gone.  It is a time I look forward to every year, a time that passes far to quickly.  My work schedule has been preventing me from attending guild meetings so it was the first time this year I had seen many of my clay buddies.  Lots of fresh air, laughter, good food .... a welcome break from the stresses of everyday life.

I had plans for trying out new tuts, but somehow never got around to it.  Found myself playing around with variations of tried and true techniques.  Started out with translucent clay, attempting to recreate some beads I had made several years ago.

The bottom two pictures are my attempts at covering a base bead with translucent clay tinted with ink.  Really did not like how they turned out, so I used the rest of my conditioned translucent to try out something else.  I textured the clay and applied chalks to the surface.  I like how these turned out, esp. the green ones.

I revisited the wonky bead for a while, trying out a longer shape and a different stamp.

I must say I like the longer shape.  I think they will make better earrings.

I did start using Inca Gold Paste.  I had tried it in the past and it had come off the beads later. I discovered from more experienced clayers that I had to bake the beads again after application to prevent this (head slap ... duh!). Tried various textures and shapes.

I hear that orange is the new black.  Supposedly it is one of the summer colors
this year.  It looks good combined with pewter.

Also used chalks to highlight.  My favorite is the purple and rust crosshatched disc bead below.

Squat beads highlighted with Inca Gold, and a couple highlighted with chalk.  The teal beads have already been made into earrings.

The last afternoon, I got involved in making disc beads.  These I highlighted using chalks and finishing up with shoe polish.  The finished that parade gloss gives is just the right amount of shine.

I also had the opportunity to take a marvelous class with Marie Segal on Saturday. I have not done the final finish on those beads, so probably will have to wait till this coming weekend to complete them to the stage they are ready to present to the world.

   Every time I meet Marie, I am more impressed by her.  When she left her home in California for Clay Camp, she had no idea that within a short time that home would be in danger of being burnt down.  She conducted her class not knowing if she would have a home to return to ....  a lot of stress, but she handled herself professionally and as calmly as possible under the situation.

   Luckily, the fire was stopped before it reached their house. I have seen pix on her FB page of just how close it got ... and of some unfortunate neighbors who were not so lucky.

  It just goes to show that we never know what life is going to throw our way, so enjoy every little bit that you can when you can.

And now for your moment of cat zen

Tofur trying to help Mommy select beads to photograph.

Early morning ponderings

Here it is, almost 5 o'clock in the morning.  I was sound asleep until about an hour ago when one of my little darlings decided to jump into the window, through the blinds mind you ... he might like the sound it makes, but it is certainly NOT a sound I like waking up to.

What to do when you can't fall back to sleep immediately ... I choose stupidly this time and decided to just take a "quick" peak at Flickr and Pinterest.  That was over an hour ago ... what a time suck! Don't get me wrong, it is a marvelous time suck ... so many wonderful artists out there stretching the creativity of polymer to higher levels every day.  I love finding new (to me) artists that others have pinned, following the pin back to their blog or Etsy site, seeing their works and wondering "how did they do that" or "that is an interesting twist on that technique".  I am sure that many of you have found yourself in the same boat.

Of course, that means that I am not in the studio creating.  Being a night owl, I could be ... but since Lord Opuson is asleep, I don't want to wake him up ... funny, me typing on the computer key board does not disturb him in the least, but if I try to get out of bed ... instant awake. Probably has something to do with the Underfoots following me and howling outside the studio door ... they are soooo needy.

It has been a while since I have written anything, but spring is finally here to banish the winter blahs. I have been very remiss and hope to do better.

This last week, I did revisit  one of my favorite techniques - Rustic Beads ( The Blue Bottle Tree )  This time I was experimenting with new shapes and color choices.  I am calling the smaller beads my "wonky" shapes - kinda lopsided, but I like the design.

These are my faves.  Light purple with rose color choice

Orange with teal overlay.  A color choice I probably won't repeat

Orange again, this time with a light purple overlay.  I like.

Lilac with a darker purple overlay.  

I had recently purchased some new texture (embossing) plates for my Criket and thought I would try them out on polymer.

Lilac and light purple comb again

Orange and teal. 

See the rough texture in the upper left hand corner?  I don't know where it came from. I like it and will probably never be able to duplicate it again.  Arghhh.

 And finally, a group shot .  Took me almost a week to make these few beads, working a short stretch at a time. Just what I need to keep the creative juices flowing.

Texture beads revisited

So far, the weather here below the Emerald City has been pretty mild for winter time.  We had one snow episode that lasted not even a day before it melted away.  When I see what the rest of the country has had to endure weather wise, I realize how lucky I am to live where I do.  Sure, I do have to put up with SAD due to the almost constant greyness, but Vitamin D and light therapy has helped make it more bearable in the recent years.

   The one complaint I had about the snow day was that I got stuck at the hospital where I work overnight.  That would not have been so bad, but it was the day for sign up for Lori Anderson's Bead Shop Blog Hop.  We are not allowed to access things like blogs, FB etc, from work so I missed it.  No Bead Soup for me this year .... Whaaaa ....

I finally set foot in the studio again after several months of the blahs.  I revisited a tried and true method for me .... texture beads (a big thank you to Lydia Moseley from Diva Designs for the tut).  I experimented with different way to color and finish the beads and now it is time to share them with you. 

  This first picture is the overview of some of  the beads ... several coloring methods included.

 These beads where colored with Pan Pastel Chalks and then I used shoe polish to antique them.  I really like the gritty look they have.  What was great when I made these, was that I was getting over my cold, and still had a stuffy nose. I couldn't smell the polish!  I don't use polish as much as I would like, because of the smell.

 These were colored with Pan Pastels also, but I used Black Kato LC to finish. I love this stamp for creating texture (Cool Tools) 

These beads were also colored with Pan Pastel chalk.  I used black to highlight, and thought it would be too much to also use black LC, so I finished with clear Kato LC.

These beads were colored with acrylic paint and black LC used to antique.  The texture was really not deep enough to get good contrast, but this look can be nice too.

These two sets were colored with chalks.  I only colored the highlighted areas, which created more of a contrast with the black LC.

And lastly, beads that I highlighted with mica powders for the color.  I used both black and clear Kato Liquid Clay for the finishing.  The mica powders were applied before baking, and for the most part stayed on the beads.  If you look closely at the darker green beads, you can see that the powder did not stay put ... when applying the LC, it drifted down into the "valleys" and gave a bit of color there too. 

And, of course, it wouldn't be my blog unless I shared a pix of the cutest kitten in the world (just MHO, of course).  The Quinnitator is getting bigger by the day, and is swiftly taking over dominating the other Underfeet. 

I'm FINALLY tuckered out....think I'll rest a minute or two before attacking your toes again!

No Privacy

I have no privacy, not even in the bath.

The Underfeet are everywhere.

What is it with cats and boxes?

You can't see me....

Earrings - Week #5

Several years ago, Seattle put in light rail between downtown and the Seatac airport.  I have driven past it a lot and wondered how well it would work for those clayers flying in for the Clayditaron cruise to Alaska this summer.  So on my day off this week, Lord Opuson and I caught it at the airport and road it downtown to the Westlake Center.

I was pleasantly surprised.  It was clean and not very crowded - not much more $ than the bus, but much faster.  There is not, however, much room for luggage. There are folded up seats for those with special needs, the area of which could work provided they did not need to be used by  people who might require them. The staging area for the Link is a ways from the airport terminal (to the north) so if you come in from the south end of the terminal, it would be quite a hike.  It would also be a bit of a walk from the Westlake Plaza to the hotel.  I suppose one could catch a cab at Westlake.  Not sure if it is the best idea, but if there is not a hotel shuttle available, it would be much cheaper than a cab and we all want to save a few $ for clay goodies on the cruise, don't we.

While at Westlake, of course I had to visit the great stores.  In one I found a great product that I wish I had thought of.  A metal necklace with interchangeable magnetic inserts!  It is made by a local company called Magnabilities.

They make them square like the one I bought or round, and a lot of inserts so you can always match what you are wearing.  Of course, I am wondering if I can figure out how to make my own inserts.

Just had to have this dragonfly.  I love the color, which is weird as I don't normally wear a lot of pink. When I got home, I thought I would make my week 5 earrings to match, but had no pink polymer beads. OK, I could have made pink beads, but I was heading into a weekend where I had to work at my J.O.B., soooo I decided to check my stash and see if I could  come up with a match.





These are what I put together.  They are actually a bit more orange than I would like, but they are shiney and I got several comments, including a day shift co-worker who wants to know if I sell earrings.  I thought everyone at work knew about my jewelry work ... looks like I have to work more to get the message out.

I did not feel like setting up the light box so took these on my window stile - scratches in the wood curtesy of the  Underfoot Clan

Best Place to Be (if you are a cat)

  Right now I have my studio torn apart getting ready for the Artisan's show this coming weekend.  If you live in or near the Seattle area and are interested in seeing my work in person, as well as the works of  other talented artists (with a chance to purchase, of course) drop by and see us.


When: Saturday, November 12th – 10:00 am to 5:00 pm 
           Sunday, November 13th – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Where: ArtWorks, 201 -2nd Ave. S in Edmonds, WA 98020
Fee: Free Admission


I normally keep the door shut to my studio when not in use -the Underfoots (gotta love them) don't respect my clay or resin or beads (don't get me wrong, they LOVE the beads, just don't respect them -  always pushing them around), so it is prudent to make it a no cat zone.  I keep it unheated unless I am working.  I have been busy all morning with inventory and tagging items for the show.  In and out, in and out and one time (only ONE time) I forgot to close the door.


Luckily the space heater was more attractive than my clay this time.  I found the Rue sprawled. legs splayed, just soaking up the heat.

Let's see, 5 minutes to the stomach then I'll turn and bake my back,  

Life's Ugly SIde

It has been a while since I blogged. I would like to say it was because I was busy creating but unfortunately life has poked its sometimes ugly head  where it is not wanted. 

Normally I want to focus on my art and love of polymer but I need the catharsis of talking/writing about the bad that lets us appreciate the good.  Two sides of the coin of Life.

Our beloved Underfoot, Prince Pippin, became extremely lethargic several weeks ago,  At first we thought it might be the heat as summer had finally arrived, but when he would not sit in front the fan we put in the window (he has ALWAYS had first perch for this coveted position), we knew that something out of the ordinary was going on.  A trip to the vet confirmed the bad news.He has kidney disease and was in pretty bad shape

So over the last few weeks we have learned that our docile baby boy can be a real fighter when it comes to having pills and vitamins (even in liquid form) popped down his throat.  We have learned how to give a kitty IV infusion (he really HATES that) and have gotten really good at finding all his hiding places.  We have learned to appreciate every purr and head butt to "pet me, please" . We don't even get upset any more when he wakes us in the morning by touching his paw to our nose because it means he is hungry and might eat more than a dollop of food (he needs to gain some weight which is hard since he really doesn't like the kidney diet he is on.)  

Here he is enjoying a rest on his favorite soft spot.  He loves looking out the window laying on his comfy perch. 

You don't mind if I shed all over the place, do you? Maybe you can knit something out of my hair, hum?

Equal Time

Started to blog about some transfers I did recently, when Prince Pippin Underfoot demanded my attention.  He pointed out, and rightly so, that I have NOT included him in any of my blogs. How dare I forget him!  After all, he is patriarch of the Underfoot Clan.

About Time people see how handsome I am!

Tuesday Afternoon

Amber Fatone says that I pay too much attention to Eyesis.  So she demanded that I post a photo of her. Here she is posing pretty.

I'm so pretty, oh so pretty....how does the rest of that song go ?

Momma's little helper??



But Momma, I'm just trying to help! Really...trust me....

 Eyesis Rue  can't stand not knowing what is happening since I have been cleaning (which means moving stuff around) in my studio.  She is the most curious cat in the whole Underfoot Clan.  Her little nose is into everything. I can not turn around or try to sit down without almost sitting on her.  She has to inspect everything and approve of where I am moving it to.

Smiling Kats part 11

Us??!  What every would make you think we had ANYTHING to  do with that mouse in your shoe?

I liked my little cat pendant so much, that when I discovered I had a reverse stamp of the same image, I just had to  experiment with it too.  The Underfoot Clan were my inspiration for this piece.  Eyesis Rue is, of course, the little black kitty. Her much bigger sister, Amber Fatone, is a tordie and the model for the larger cat. If only they got along as well in real life as these kitties do in the pendant....sigh.