Segal Inspired

I count myself as very fortunate to have taken classes with Marie Segal.

I first met Marie at Ravensdale 2006. At that time, I was new to the polymer world and did not know the extent of her history with polymer.  All I knew what that she was a very kind lady who encouraged me to put some of my pieces up for sale in the Ravensdale store.  I actually SOLD a piece!
  Since then I have had the opportunity to get to know her a bit more at several NWPCG Clay Camps.  And I try to take a class from her every time she has been able to attend.

This time, I couldn't wait to learn the secrets behind the lovely earrings she had been showing on FB for months.  I was not disappointed.  Since Clay Camp, whenever I have the time (not much now that summer is finally here .... so much to do that pulls me away from the clay) .... I have made more Marie Segal Inspired Earrings.

Using more of the translucent window cane 

Translucent window cane and mica powders

Translucent window cane, mica powders and mud

A bit of a different shape

Just used the shaping here, and a tiny bit of the window cane

For these, I combined Marie Segal design with the translucent canes I made
in Kim Day's class. Now I have earrings to go with the bracelet!

Left over clay when mixed gave me an olive green color that I used for the base
of these earrings

Clay Camp Classes

There were a goodly number of classes offered this year at Clay Camp. Only wish I could have taken more, but time (and money) did not allow.

One class that I absolutely had to sign up for was Marie Segal's earring technique. I had been drooling over them since she first showed them on FB.  I am so happy with the pair that I made. If you ever get a chance to be in a class with Marie, jump at it.  She has a depth of knowledge that seems bottomless and is so willing to share .... she is awesome.

Notice the translucent windows.

Our guild's caner extraordinaire, Kim Day, present her first every class.  She did such a marvelous job, I hope she does more.  Translucent canes was the focus and I, not being a caner, could not have been happier with the results.  She present in a logically progressive format and made it all so easy.  Her handout was detailed, with pictures of every step.  And she threw in bonus material, including a flower tutorial that was easy but very effective.  We all made our own flower cane, large enough that we could cut off pieces and share with others in the case.  We each ended up with 4 to 5 flower canes for many more beads.  Learning a few tricks on how to properly reduce to prevent distortion was worth the price of admission.

    After making our focal bead, Kim took us through sanding (as anyone who reads my blog knows, I hate to sand and buffing.  Then we spent the afternoon making either a tile or bangle bracelet. As she had a bangle blank that actually fit, that was my direction.
    I am delighted with the results.

Bangle. I found it was easier to sand than the smaller bead. Who knew?

Closeup of the flowers

     Bead I made using flower cane made by guild president Betty.

I spent Sunday of Clay Camp making more components for earrings.  I hope to have time to assemble some more by this weekend, if my husband does not pull me out for anymore long walks. Today he had to try out the new opened wetlands here in town.  Would not have been so bad, but it was downhill going in, which means with was uphill coming out (my back was definitely feeling it - laid down when I got home for a short nap and woke up 3 hours later!)

Note: somehow blogger got my posts out of order. This post actualy predates my Clay Camp Earrings Post.

Clay Camp Earrings

I mentioned in my last post that Clay Camp Sunday was a day spent making more earring components.  I got a chance last night to start putting them together to make more Marie Segal inspired earrings.  I know that I broke the "rules" of photography by back lighting the photos, but I wanted the translucent windows in the colorful cane to show.

Used mica powders for highlights

Smaller earrings using only the translucent window cane.

Marie spent time with me discussing the importance of analyzing facial shape when considering earring design. Not all people look good wearing a specific shape, for example round earrings.  She let me try on various earrings she had made till I found the shape that looked best.  Even though I am very attracted to the round earring shape, in this particular design I look better in a rectangular shape.

They don't always need to be round

Oval Shaped

 A while back, Rebecca (aka Artybecca) showed on her blog experiments using liquid masking fluid as a resist. After picking up some masking fluid at Ben Franklin on the way to Clay Camp, I attempted to try my hand at it.  I did not have the fine tip applicator she was fortunate enough to find, so had to make do with a paint brush,  I like the idea and hope to have time in the near future to work with it more.

Newest earrings

Spent the day trying to learn how to download and edit pictures on my new laptop.   I have been really hesitant to upgrade because the new Windows is such a pain to use, but my old standby is just getting to be too slow.

I took pictures of earrings I had made with from my newest beads, and spent the last several hours trying to figure out how to edit them.  That was after I cussed repeatedly at the computer because it also makes downloading from the camera so difficult. Old computer, I plugged in camera, turned it on and it downloaded automatically.  New computer, I have to find the "my computer" function and them manually move the pictures from the camera. Probably is an easier way, but have yet to find it .

Darn thing is even giving me problems as I type this ... the screen keeps changing it's resolution and I am doing nothing but typing.  Very frustrating  ,,,.. I foresee a large learning curve.

At the last Puyallup clay gathering, Kim showed me how to make a leaf cane.  I am not a caner. I don't seem to have the patience for it, but I was assured it was an easy one to make.  Still have a problem with keeping the form of the leaf when reducing, but am told that too comes with practice.

 

Here is an earring made from one of the multicolored spiral beads I showed yesterday.

 

 

 

While putting away old beads on my worktable, I came across a pair dragon egg beads that I had made several years ago.  Finally made them into earrings.

 



And for my final pair ....these are not polymer, but I fell in love with these seahorse beads at Michael's.  Bought the string and made up these for me and a pair for my scuba diving friend. Hope she likes the beads as much as I do.

 





Wow, as many postings in 2 days that I have done in 3 months. Maybe the greys have ended?

 

 

 

What's in a name?

Has anyone read Sage Bray's article in the latest issue of  "The Polymer Arts" Magazine?  The article about naming your work, that is.  Sage is a very prolific writer, so there are many articles she has authored.
    She makes several very valid points about the subject.  I know that as an artist, this is something that I should be doing .... but it is HARD. I tried doing it for some time back, and finally gave up as I ran out of descriptive words.
    Sage supplied some good advice on how to come up with names, so I proceeded to give them a try as I have been struggling to find a suitable word to call my newest obsession.  "Tile" earrings is really not a good name.  Tiles are more flat, these are shaped like little bricks (thank you, word association).
  The light bulb appeared over my head - hence "Bricka" Earrings are born.

It has been a crazy couple of weeks at work and around the domicile, so I have only created a few Bricka's.  Luckily this technique caters itself to working 10 minutes here and there .... there are a lot of steps that need drying time between them

Latest pictures also include a prop - trying to add a bit of interest to my pretty bla photos.  I have noticed that most of the pictures I pin on Pinterest have interesting backgrounds.

4 Hears

Waiting for Spring 

Full Circle

Poppy 

Morning Cuppa

Dots and Hearts

Sealed with xoxox

More ear tiles

Like I said in my last post, I had more mini domino tiles in process.
This time I glued bigger rhinestones to the side holes. These guys had better silver backings than the ones I previously used.  You can see them reflect the light  in this collage.

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).

Creative detour

The polymer has been taking a back seat lately.  That's what I get for spending time on Pinterest, I guess.  Found a link to a video on making art tiles, and got detoured big time.

The video showed how to create art tiles from scrabble tiles.  I did not have any scrabble tiles, so I used domino's from my stash.  These 3 were made using the technique shown in the vid.  I found them to be a bit too busy for my taste.

I tried again, cutting out one of the steps.  These were the results.  I have since made them into pendants by added bales.This look was cleaner and more appealing, IMHO, so I decided to leave that step out from now on.

Dominoes are great for making pendants, but a bit too heavy for earrings.  I attacked my stash again and found these great smaller dominoes.    Unfortunately, when I went to Michael's to buy more, I discovered they had been discontinued.  Teach me to only buy one package ... 

Only have had time to make one pair of earrings so far.  Having too much fun just making the tiles. These smaller dominoes were designed to make bracelets from, so I had to come up with a way to disguise the holes in the sides.  Glue and crystals to the rescue.

Finally found a scrabble game at the local thrift store, so went crazy creating smaller tiles. Good for earrings or fridge magnets or pins, what have you.

Then, on a recent trip to Shipwreck beads, I found these round wooden beads that I just had to try the technique on.   This time, I also included the backs in my design.  They were stamped in a white ink and  a bit of mica powder added to the final finishing step to add a touch of  sparkle.

Now I am on the hunt for small word stamps.  Seems like they were everywhere a few years ago and nowhere to be found today.  Any my husband wonders why I hoard stockpile items for future use.

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.

Can't seem to get beyond simple

 I spend way too much time on Pinterest.  I have three earring boards so far, polymer and non-polymer. You would think that unique designs would rub off on me.  But. ohhh noooooo!  When I sit down to make earrings, all I can do is put some beads on head pins and call it an earring.  I even sweat over which beads to use .... it can take me 15-20 minutes to find a configuration that is pleasing to me and it is just plain simple.   Fancy and creative .... that seems to elude me for the present.
    I want to expand beyond that, so I am going to be taking an earring class from Bea Grob tomorrow at ArtWorks in Edmonds.  Bea is a wonderful artist from Switzerland who is friends with Meredith Arnold (another well know mixed media artist from this neck of the woods).  Bea will be using Pardo Translucent, which I am very excited to finally break down and use.  She had some of her earrings with her at Clay Camp, and they are DIFFERENT than what I usually make.   Maybe something will rub off .... crossing fingers and wishing very hard....

These are some of the earrings that I made recently, mostly using the beads I made at clay camp.

Translucent clay. textured then highlighted with Pan Pastel Chalks. Kinda look a bit like glass.

Wonky beads made into earrings.  You can't tell from the pix, but the pink beads are bigger than the other two bead sets.

Clay was textured by rolling on a texture mat.  Beads on top were highlighted with chalk. The bottom beads were highlighted with Inka Gold Pewter colored paste.

Textured beads are colored with chalks. After baking, I used tinted Kato Liquid Clay to antique and give it a shiny gloss.  The brown bead was  created from a Sutton Slice veneer.  The light green was pearl clay tinted with ink.  Just used scrapes from my table .... no clay is ever wasted!

My favorite beads from clay camp were the green disc beads.  I really like how they turned out. The blue beads were made from the Rustic Bead Tut by Ginger Allman. The pink are simply textured with an old button, then highlighted with chalks.

During my picture taking session, I had help from a different source than usual. She was just fascinated by the dangles.

The Mighty Quinn looking to attack my earring prop.