Metal plus Polymer Clay equals *swoon*

This petite handmade acorn is a marriage of my long love of polymer clay and my new love of working with metal.

I adore working with metal and wire, while including my clay pieces. This is the direction I am heading. I couldn't be happier!

This oak tree branch with copper leaf and acorn was inspired by the Polymer Clay Smooshers Guild Challenge: Fairy Tales. I am thrilled how well this piece worked out.



I am enjoying the journey.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

Well we had a brief taste of spring, all the snow and ice melted. My daughters and I were able to take some walks through the woods and get some much needed fresh air.

Every morning now, the birds are singing and the days are getting longer. I am slowly pulling out of my winter doldrums.

These sweet little earrings are a combination of two of my favorite techniques. The clay has been mixed with a lovely green assortment of embossing powders, and gives them a sort of green granite appearance. And the copper wire is a continuous spiral formed with the ear wires.



Spring called, and she said she is on her way!!

New Year, new techniques!

At the end of 2010, I discovered "Stamped Metal Jewelry: Creative Techniques and Designs for Making Custom Jewelry". I have to say, it has completely changed everything.

Well I have to tell you that book got my wheels turning! I invested in some metal working tools, and started to learn something new. I am having a great time with it, and I am very pleased with the early results.

Eventually I want to incorporate my polymer clay work with the metal, for an interesting twist.



All I can say is that I am in love again!

Image Transfer #FAIL

Well, I am posting my 3 attempts at image transfers. I used Premo translucent clay. (I don't know why I didn't just use white, I think I thought it would look cool, if it actually worked, LOL) I have a lot more options to try, but here are my results.

Image 1

First attempt, maybe I didn't burnish the back of the image enough, and it still had some gray background in it.





The second attempt, I over burnished it, to the point of scratching the paper with the other side of the spoon. The image came out stronger, but clay got stuck to the paper and the image "ripped"



The third and final attempt for this go around, I used alcohol to wet the back of the paper. The image came out very strong although kind of grainy. Most of the toner on the paper transferred onto the clay. Very interesting results.



Well I will be reading some more information, and then a second round of attempts.

Wish me luck!!

I've had my "A-HA" Moment!

I have been fooling around with polymer clay for a while now. I have been experimenting with different techniques.

Well I have discovered my "thing". Or at least a "thing" I want to work with and expand on.

I love wire work, and I love beads, and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE stamping polymer clay and playing with metallic pearl-ex. So it all came together.





And my new favorite, although they are all my favorites, since no two would ever be alike...

Camera Adventures part 3

Okay, last night I was ready to cry. I could not get my pictures to look right. I worked with the white balance, thinking that would fix it, but it made it worse. Either the picture was too reddish or too blue-y.

My husband suggested that we take the same picture with the same settings on both cameras and check them side by side.
This is the original Olympus camera, which is what I am used to seeing.



This is what the new camera's picture looked like. Washed out, with the red tinge.





I didn't want have to take the camera back, I was really starting to bond with my little silver camera. The interface is soooo much easier to work with, and the LCD is ginormous! I love it!! I want it to love me back!!


Anyway, we started reading the instruction manual, and found out there are "Scenes". Which means they are pre-programmed setting for certain situations. For example, inside lighting, outside, sporting events, candlelight etc. So I decided I would give it one last try this afternoon.


As I was scrolling through all the "Scenes" I found "Cuisine" Hilarious!

But it is actually configured for close up still life. Bingo! I think I found what I was looking for. Now the colors are a little richer than the older camera, but I think I like it! Finally!! I can keep my cutie camera!

The camera seach, part 2

Well, I decided to look at Office Max to see what they had available. And a very patient sales person, took the time to show me all the features of an
Olympus Stylus 1010

I was really impressed. It is really easy to use, and super fast. Which is what I really needed. I am still in the process of trying it out. It takes great pictures of the kids in action. I just need it to take great photos for my web stores. The first batch of jewelry photos didn't turn out so hot, but I am still blaming that on operator error (me! LOL!)

So jury is still out, but I am working on it.