Rainbow Earrings

Got around to making up some earrings from the beads I made at Clay Camp.  Since the rainbow beads are so colorful, I kept the design simple.  

 Finally getting collages figured out. I don't have any fancy software, like photoshop. Just have to use Picasa, which I downloaded for free.

Hard to believe that all these colors came from only 4 basic colors.

Clay Camp Productivity

Despite starting to come down with a cold Sunday night at Clay Camp, I was quite productive.
I had several projects planned, but got hooked into making controlled marble beads.  I blended several colors to try and forgot that with this technique, a little bit of clay goes a long way.  I was  making beads from the same colors Monday morning and still have some of the blended colors left to make more now that I am home.

Out of 4 basic colors, I got a plethora of beads. It's all in how you combine the colors.

 With this technique, you only get a few beads of each color run.  These 4 beads are made from one of my favorite color combinations.

 I discovered right away that I had left my smallest Kemper circle cutter at home. These were the first set of beads that I made, being forced to use a circle cutter larger than I liked for the end caps. I tried something different on these, texturing the beads slightly.  After baking, I discovered I really did not like the textured look. What to do?
    I mixed a bit of dark brown ink with my LPC and colored in the textured part of the beads, giving them a speckled appearance.  I like this look better.

I discovered that I had some eyelets in my stash, so I used them in these beads.  Unfortunately, I only had a few and they were quickly gone. I like the finished look I get using them.

My guildie Janis loaned me her small cirlce cutter, so the next beads were made using it.

There are more bead sets, but that is enough for tonight.  Tonight was my first night back to work after vacation and I am finally ready to fall asleep.  

Beads and more beads

After almost a month away due to illness and major family issues, I finally made it back into the studio.
Before getting sick, I had started a couple of veneers using the Controlled Marbling tutorial by Lynda Mosely.  Sunday, I had the chance to make them into beads, rather than the gorgeous pendants she is known for.
   This time I used a combination of light blue, yellow and ecru, interspersed with white.  I really like the light green color that appeared where the yellow and blue mixed.  I did not add any details to the veneer.

 Had a small strip at the end of this veneer where the colors blended together too much for actual stripes to appear. I added a few inlays from an old swirl cane for a bit of color.

Only had a tiny bit of this color combo.  I really like it.  Two matching beads for an earring set  And one lone bead for who knows what.  I have a box of "who knows what" beads that is set aside for "something" in the future.  Maybe I will use them in Lori Anderson's Bead Hoarders Challenge in July.  We'll see.

 I have found that in this technique, there are sometimes places at the ends of the veneer sheets, where the colors are no longer distinct.  I discovered that sometimes, these over blended areas have the prettiest colors. Add slices of an old bulleyes cane from my tiny cane stash (I really gotta try caning again - maybe I will be more successful now that I understand clay better than I did in 2006).
 

After these beads were made and baking in the oven, I still had urges and fiddly fingers.  An open package of translucent clay was sitting on my table, so I got out the inks and went to town.  Laid down some gold foil on a small sheet of translucent clay, rolled it through successively smaller settings on the PM, turning it 90 degrees each time to crackle the foil.  When it was thin enough, I got out my inks and colored it (used Butterscotch and Plum this time).  After the inks dried (boy, I so had to be patient here - used the drying time to finish my previously made beads with LPC, zap with heat gun and rebaked to a shiny luster), I I used the sheet to veneer white bead cores. The gold foil adds a real sparkle to the beads, and I am very happy with the depth of color.  The pictures just can't show that.

I call these my Fire Lizard eggs (homage to Pern)

This weekend promises to be a nice one here in the Pacific Northwest. Good weekend for visiting the Whole Bead Show in Lynnwood.  I will be able to visit the booths of several artists that I have "meet" on line and see their work in person.  I love how this medium has connected so many people with common interests.  Some live in my area and I may be lucky enough to connect in person with them over the course of time. Some live in other countries, and I will probably never meet face to face, but can get to know a bit through the Internet.  I guess I am feeling my age, as I still marvel at this. The beads I just made would not be possible with the Internet.  Lynda lives in South Carolina ... me, outside Seattle.  We would never have "meet" without the computer.  Maybe younger people, who grew up always having computers, can't relate to how marvelous this really is. ( OMG! ... I have become my parents .... when I was your age  .... walked to school, in the snow, uphill - both ways!!!  he,he)

Studio TIme Revisited

I had an uninterrupted day in the Studio, exploring the Controlled Marbling Technique a bit more. Still making beads rather than pendants, or other shapes.  I think the main reason I am not making pendants like Lynda does is that I HATE to sand.  Lynda gets her marvelous finish from sanding and sanding and sanding .... I am not that patient.

The tiny yellow beads are from the mixing of the litte bit
that was left over. No wasted clay!

 Lynda does say in her tut that a little clay goes a long way. I made one veneer sheet and got all these beads out of it. This time I ran the stripes vertically rather than horizontally.  Next time I am going to aim for narrower stripes.

I also finished up some beads I started a few weeks ago.  I had a bit of pad left over from the Hidden Magic beads I made. This time I took slices from the side, layed them close together to make stipes.

Clay Day

  Our guild has a quarterly Clay Day and I finally got to attend one.  Usually I have to work till midnight the night before and just can't get up early enough to make the 30 or so mile drive  worthwhile.  I actually had a 3 day weekend made the most of it.  Saw the new Wizard of Oz movie (midnight showing opening night - stories of Oz were always my favorite books as a child and that love still continues).  Saturday was spent making beads and talking with friends at Third Place Books. Afterwards, I got to visit with my kitties (pardon ...not "mine" anymore... now part of the  Maria et al family) in their new home. They certainly did not take long to move it and make it their own.  Running around like they owned the place.

    Clay Day was very inspiring.  Maria was working with translucent clay, so I got out the inks and colored a some clay too.  I had a new "skinny" border texture sheet that I used to get the crosshatched look.

Not Antiqued

Antiqued

 I decided to play a bit with controlled marbling (a la Lynda Mosely).  When I got done and looked at the veneer, I was not all that pleased with it. To tell the truth, I was trying to do it from memory and think I missed a step or two. Rather than wad up the clay for bead guts, I sliced it into strips and made beads.  I found a rolled cane in my tool box (heavens ... I don't even REMEMBER making it ... wonder how old it is?)  I reduced and added slices to the striped veneer just for fun.  I really like the final look of these beads.

Colors used: Wasabi, Fuchsia, Ecru and white/

When I got home, there was more experimenting to do.  I had some tinted translucent clay left over ... humm, wonder what will happen if I marble it and use it as a veneer.  As you can see, it is really hard to see any variation in color between the different tinted clays.

Found a different bulls eye cane to use for detail

The tints show up a bit better in these longer beads

I am not giving up on this idea. I have a weekend coming up and more experimentation to do.  

If I am not playing with the kittens that is!  Only two left but they are sooo adorable, and such a distraction.

I hope that Tofur keeps his blue eyes.

Zinger waiting patiently for the door to open.

He DOES listen!

I got the greatest surprise yesterday.  I discovered that my hubbie really is the sweetest guy.  Sure, he puts on the act of being all bluster and macho, but he really does listen.
   I have been having a lot of minor health issues of late.  Carpel tunnel and shoulder/neck pain have really limited my time in the studio.  He noticed that instead of heading straight there after work, as was my usual "gotta destress from work by making something' habit, I was reading, or watching TV or just going to bed.
  He had heard me mention in the past that there were such things as Pasta machines that came with motors.  He researched and ordered me a Mona-sized Altas (180 even) for a birthday surprise.  I was soooo blown away.  I immediately set it up and went to work for the first time in a month.

I got the Controlled Marbling Tut from Lynda at Diva Designs and have been itching to try it out.  I did not have Pardo translucent or the other color she recommends for her base mixed, so I had to improvise.  Just used some scrape clay I had on my table.  This is my first practice piece and I have to admit I am not that happy with it.  I should not have made my two yellow streaks so close together. Live and learn.  I was able to find one brick of the color she uses all the time at Joannes, so maybe able to do the tut as written (except for the Pardo).

 So, I wondered what a bead made from these colors would look like. I cut the veneer in half and made two beads (one of which I promptly lost somewhere in my studio).  This bead I like, so am going to use the remainder of the veneer to make a few more.