More Stroppel!

I made another Stroppel cane (which turned out almost exactly the same as the last one I made.) Obviously I am in a rut as far as my colour choices are concerned! I arranged thin slices of the cane onto round beads. I like the mosaic quality that these have.

Stroppel Cane

I think everyone in the polymer clay world has tried this technique, developed by Alice Stroppel for using up bits of scrap and canes. I have been looking at all the beautiful examples people have been posting (just go to Google Images and type in "stroppel cane" and you'll see what I mean. )I have tried it a couple of times, and not been happy with the results. I figured out that my scrap was too dark and close in colour to the black banding between layers. So I went with lighter pieces, and the resulting cane is below. I love it, although I am amazed at how different it turned out than I had expected, based on the cane pieces I used. Obviously, in my hands at least, results are very unpredictable. Here is my cane, and a veneer I made with thin slices placed on a black background.

And here is what I have done with it so far:

I have lots of other ideas, too. If you want to give this fun technique a try, click here!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot like...

Finally feeling a bit of Christmas spirit creeping in, now that we have been back from Cabo for almost a week. I wanted to make some Christmas ornaments using polymer clay, but haven't seen any examples that were quite right. I happened upon Tooaquarius's excellent tutorial, though, and decided to give it a try. Elaine has done a great job showing the process, and figured out all that bothersome math, too! The tutorial is here. I used a clear glass ornament from Michaels, but I suppose you could cover any round ornaments you happen to have.

Here is my second attempt (the first got toasted because it was too close to the element in the toaster oven). I added a little finial to the bottom, and also decided to cover the metal ornament top with clay. Really pleased with the result, and am now teeming with ideas for more!

Farewell to Website

I have made the difficult decision not to renew my website this year. Although I loved having it, and it was ultra easy to update, I just couldn't justify the cost since nothing was selling from it. So, I will now attempt to post regularly on this blog, and post lots of pictures of my work here and on my flikr pages. By the way, if anyone is looking for a fantastic, reasonably priced website designer/host, I highly recommend Websites.ca.

Inspiration

Have been sadly lacking in creativity since returning from Thailand. I decided to try a couple of things to tweak my muse. I follow a group in Flikr called "Color Palette a Week", where Chris posts a colour palette and people send in pictures of what they have made using that colour group. I loved this poppy so decided to try to duplicate those colours.Then I tried a tutorial I bought from Yonat Dascalu on etsy. It was fun to try, but don't like how prominent the orange elements are: they look like a bunch of carrots to me (which wasn't what I was going for!)Next time I try I will have a better idea how to place the elements.

Then I got out the extruder and ran the colours through to make snakes of shaded clay, and arranged them in a filigree pattern. This result I am very happy with, and this will become a cuff bracelet when I get my bracelet blanks. I will continue to play with these colours and see what else I can come up with. So, all in all a good day in the studio.

Beadstar

I am back from Thailand, after a fantastic trip, and now that I am finally over my jet lag it is time to begin posting and creating again. I was very happy to discover that two of my jewellery pieces have been chosen for Beadstar this year. As in the past, the entries with the most votes win each category. Here is the link: http://www.beadingdaily.com/content/BeadStar2011.aspx

Have a look, and vote for the pieces that appeal to you, but if you should want to cast a vote for me, I would be most appreciative!

I entered the Heart category with "Amore".

And the Metal category with "Thai Bouquet".

Art Bead Scene

I was very excited yesterday to see that Art Bead Scene published a picture of my challenge piece.

http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com. I am now anxiously waiting to see what the April challenge picture will be. Hmm, do I have time to do a piece before we leave for Thailand on Monday?