Polymer Clay Nirvana !!!!

Wow, did I have a fabulous experience last weekend! I have wanted to attend a polymer clay workshop for a long time especially after winning a free workshop at  Christine Damm's Art On The Farm last year but being unable to attend it due to health issues! I can't tell you how difficult it was for me to turn down that prize!
Most workshops I've seen have been too far away or too expensive for me to attend. Living in Canada does limit the opportunities. However we do have some very talented polymer clay artists here and one of them is Helen Breil who lives in Guelph, Ontario which is a 35 minute drive from my home in Hamilton.

 Helen has taught her techniques all over the world but thankfully for me decided to take this year off travelling and she offered a workshop locally which I was lucky enough to attend.

If you don't know who Helen is (where have you been?) then you have to check out her website or her flickr page here to enjoy her art. She is an amazing artist and a wonderful, generous person.
There were 8 of us in attendance at the workshop and Helen shared many skills and techniques with us. We learned how to create our own texture stamps out of polymer clay which was a new technique for all of us.

Then we spent the rest of the first day learning and practising how to make hollow beads out of polymer clay. I love how these beads look and feel. They're like pillows but are hard and make beautiful jewelry. The following picture is of several hollow pendants that I made this week for a show I'm doing this weekend.

 Sunday morning we concentrated on silk screening on polymer clay and coloring our silk screened clay using mica powders and pan pastels. there are so many great techniques to use with polymer clay and I am thrilled that I was able to attend this workshop and learn from a master of polymer clay art! It's amazing to realize that with 8 different participants we all came up with 8 totally different results. I can only show you what I created at the workshop but believe me everybody did fabulous work. The following are samples of what I created using silk screening and making hollow beads with inclusions of copper earring studs donated by one of the workshop participants. Thanks, Loreen.

 Besides learning new skills and techniques the best part of the workshop was the people who I met and worked with. The camaraderie among us was great and we had so much fun together. I truly love the world of polymer clay and everybody I've met in real life and online has been fabulous and hopefully I'll remain friends with them as I progress through this art form.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about this workshop and seeing the creations resulting from it. Thanks again to a wonderful, warm and gracious artist for sharing her knowledge and opening her home to us!

Many thanks to  Helen Breil!

Week # 20 of the #2015PCChallenge

When I signed up for Katie Oskin's challenge I had no idea it would be so much fun. Over the last 20 weeks I have tried many new techniques and my skill has really improved in my work with polymer clay. Thank you, Katie.
I'm going to skip the commentary and just add pictures of my additions to the challenge for the last 6 weeks.

Ikat cane

Hieroglyphic Beads

Texture sheet impressions and pan pastels

Textures and Gilders Paste

Jelly Roll cane

First Sutton Slice

Sutton Slice Jewelry sets.

See what I mean........so much fun!

Have a great weekend.

It's time.....

.......for the long awaited and much anticipated Bead Peeps Swap 'n Hop!! Linda Anderson and her helpers have organized this hop as the first big party hosted by the Facebook group Bead Peeps. It involves swapping art beads  and other components with another jewelry maker and then each participant makes new pieces of jewelry using the goodies sent by her partner.  It is  a lot of fun and usually quite a challenge since we all have such different tastes and design styles! Our partners were chosen for us from a pool of about 200 volunteers who wanted to join in. Quite an undertaking but Linda and her team did a fantastic job and everybody was paired up very quickly after the deadline. The party part happens on May 2nd, reveal day. Every participant writes a post on their own blog describing their journey from receiving the beads until they have finished creating one or more pieces of jewelry using the art beads they were sent. So tune in and enjoy the eye candy. #BeadPeepSwap

My partner is Johana Nunez from Puerto Rico. I forgot to say that this is an international group with artisans from ALL OVER! It's such a neat way to get to know artists with similar passion for jewelry making. Johana sent me a lovely collection of her own enameled beads and components that I showed here. This is a quick picture of my gift.

And here is what I made from the beautiful goodies.

Copper bracelet with the large enameled bead from Johana as the focal and 4 beautiful matching lampwork beads from Rosemary of Rosemary's Glass Art. The clasp is one that I made.

"Sort of " asymmetrical earrings with Johana's enameled beads paired with 2 orphan beads from Petra of Scorched Earth on Etsy. Because these beads weren't the same colour I had decided to use them in a pair of asymmetrical earrings and while digging through my Scorched Earth collection  ( LOL, everybody has one, don't they?) I found these perfectly matching ceramic drops in the exact same colours!! How weird is that?  So they are asymmetrical because they are different colours but otherwise they are the same. I know what I'll call them. 

"The Same , but Different Earrings"

  

Johana included the sweet little Czech glass beads in a soft , pale pink which is a colour and style that I rarely use but I was determined to use them, especially those little pink flowers. Again it was time to dig through my hoarded beads. this time I found these gorgeous  pink mix lampwork beads that I scored in the Advent sale from Maryse at GlassBeadArt.

 My only concern about these didn't show up until I photographed and it's too late to change it now ( it's almost midnight!). The pink waxed linen thread must have picked up some errant remains of liver of sulphur from my hands and the thread looks "grubby " in the pictures . Honestly, I did wash my hands! Luckily I have enough linen thread to replace it. I think I might  have to wear gloves to work with it next time.A valuable lesson.

Next I made another bracelet to feature the wonderful handmade clasp made by Johana. It is in etched copper with a beautiful enameled flower on it. Sorry it's so difficult to see in this picture but it has the leaf veins delicately etched on it and the word "love" etched along one side ( the bottom of the leaf in this picture) .

I love it and since copper is my first love it was a no brainer. Also I'm really liking that gorgeous yellowish-green colour this year. I had this polymer clay Trilobite focal from Staci Louise Smith in my stash and some green lampwork glass beads made by Michaela Pabeschitz,  who was my partner for last year's Bead Soup Blog Party. I made the copper celtic knots and antiqued them in LOS.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing what I've made for this challenge . There were 2 other pieces that I wanted to use but I had a couple of accidents which made that impossible.

This sweet handmade birdie "flew" out of my hands and broke his tail off. I tried to fix him but didn't trust him to survive being part of jewelry. He'll just stay as my mascot in my studio. 

Remember these wonderful copper headpins with the enameled flowers on the ends. I wanted to use them as the top part of earrings with other beads hanging from them but I bent the copper too enthusiastically and destroyed them! I was devastated because I love these. Another lesson learned!

I hope you enjoyed my post and will hop over to  my partner's blog to see what she made with what I sent her. I can't wait to see what Johana comes up with. The picture below shows you what I sent to her.

After you've checked out the Puerto Rican and Canadian artistry I hope you will hop over to the other blogs to see what my jewelry buddies have made for the party. Enjoy! 

Here's the list of partners:

Bead Peeps Swap N Hop 2015  Partner List    Our Hostess: Linda Anderson from http//:fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Linda	Anderson	http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Marica	Zammit	http://www.beadlovelies.com
Linda	Anderson	http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Jessica	Hocutt	https://faithfamilyandadventure.wordpress.com
Kristina	Hahn Eleniak	http://www.peacockandlime.wordpress.com
Debbie	Jeffries	http://wordpress/debrasdivinedesigns/blog.com
Rosantia	Petkova	http://bairozan.blogspot.com/
Shalini	Austin	http://jewellerybyshalini.co.uk/my-blog/
Catherine	La Vite	http://drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com
Annica	Larsson	http://zestyfrog.wordpress.com/
Lori	Schneider	http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com/
Divya	N	http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com
Mowse	Doyle	http://mowsemadethis.blogspot.com
Fay	Wolfenden	http://torchfairy.blogspot.com
Kathy	Lindemer	http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/
Claire	Fabian	http://saraccino.blogspot.de/
Janice	Warden Bergeron	http://thejewelryroom.blogspot.ca
Natalie	Davidson	http://www.northshoredays.com
Deb	Fortin	http://www.studiok24.blogspot.ca
Inge	von Roos	http://ingetraud.wordpress.com
Karen	Mitchell	http://overthemoon-design.com
Robin	Reed	http://willowdragon.blogspot.com
Marie	Covert	http://thistledown-and-swaddlings.blogspot.com/
Alicia	Marinache	http://www.allprettythings.ca
Nan	Smith	http://www.wirednan.blogspot.ca
Johana	Nunez	http://artincendi.com
Kelly	Hosford Patterson	http://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/
Lori	Blanchard	http://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com
Sue	Kennedy	http://suebeads.blogspot.com
Shai	Williams	http://shaihasramblings.com
Niky	Sayers	http://silverniknats.blogspot.co.uk
Melissa	Trudinger	http://beadrecipes.wordpress.com
Candida	Castleberry	http://www.spunsugarbeadworks.blogspot.com
Erin	Guest	http://www.renlish.com
Nicole	Rennell	http://nicolerennell.com/blog
Ien	Temaluru	http://ienmaginationsjewelry.wordpress.com
Robin	Showstack	http://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/
Sam	Waghorn	http://palemooncreation.blogspot.co.uk
Marianne	Baxter	http://www.simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com
Elsie	Deliz-Fonseca	http://ladelizchica.blogspot.com
Shai	Williams	http://shaihasramblings.com
Lee	Koopman	http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com
Jayne	Capps	http://mamasgottodoodle.blogspot.com
Marti	Conrad	http://marticsclay.blogspot.com
Tina	Bosh	http://bookbug-somanybookssolittletime.blogspot.com/
Eleanor	Thomas	http://woolywireetc.blogspot.com
Jeanne	Steck	http://www.gemsbyjeannemarie.blogspot.com
Gloria	Allen	http://www.wingsandbeads.blogspot.com
Rachel	Mallis	http://www.mintmonarch.com/#!blog/c1jlz
Andrea	Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/
Stephanie	Stamper	http://skwds.blogspot.com
Chris	Haussler	http://pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
Betony	Maiden	http://www.beadwenches.blogspot.com/
Kari	Asbury	http://hippiechickjewelrydesign.com/blog/
Jenny	Kyrlach	http://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
Colleen	Foley	http://colleenfoleycreations.blogspot.com
Marybeth	Rich	http://forestofjewels.blogspot.com/
Marcy	Lamberson	http://www.StudioMarcy.blogspot.com
Dyanne	Everett-Cantrell	http://www.deelitefuljewelrycreations.blogspot.com
Ginny	Lones	http://www.Skippingintotheunknown.blogspot.com
Maria Rosa	Sharrow	http://willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
Loretta	Carstensen	http://designsbyloretta.blogspot.com
Dolores	Raml	http://craftydscreations.wordpress.com
Michelle	McCarthy	http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com
Louise	McCormick-Glazier	http://jewelrytreasuresbylouise.blogspot.com/
Heather	Richter	http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Tammy	Adams	http://www.paisleylizard.com/blog/
Shirley	Moore	http://beadsandbread.blogspot.com
Seed Beaders
Susanne	Stelljes	http://pearlify.blogspot.de
Sheila	Prosterman	http://catswithbeads.blogspot.com
Pallavi	Asher	http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/
Jami	Shipp	http://celebratinglifewithdamamashipp.blogspot.com
Peggy	Kosier	http://www.kosydesigns.blogspot.ca/
Andra	Weber	http://andrasjoyfuljourney.blogspot.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com
Krafty	Max	http://kraftymax.com
Sierra	Barrett	http://giraffecanhas.wordpress.com
Lois	Sherwood	http://thiznthat5454blog.wordpress.com
Katy	Heider	http://onthepondcreations.blogspot.com
Rebecca	Robertson   (White)	http://morganafeycreations.121hub.com/
Heather	Richter	http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com
Brandy	Collier	http://bhjewelry.wordpress.com
Stephanie	Haussler	http://www.pixybugdesigns.blogspot.com
Lori	Blanchard	http://alainnjewelry.WordPress.com
Kathleen	Breeding	http://99bobotw.blogspot.com
Becky	Pancake	http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com
Renetha	Stanziano	http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/
Tami	Norris	https://jewelrybytami.wordpress.com/
Ginger	Bishop	http://lilmummylikes.blogspot.com/
Peggy	Johnson	http://charmbarn.blogspot.com

Late butterfly!

Feeling bad about missing the butterfly party that was hosted by Alenka of Pepita Handmade. After a frustrating day yesterday of trying to learn how to build a butterfly cane I spent a few hours(lol) looking at butterflies on Pinterest and came across a tutorial on origami butterflies and thought I could manage that.
While looking through my Japanese paper collection today I found this pretty butterfly paper so decided to use it for the origami.

I've always wanted to try more origami beyond the basics. This is a variation of Akira Yoshizawa's origami butterfly that comes from this blog. This was posted to celebrate his 101st birthday....creator of modern origami.

Phew! I managed to meet this challenge after all. I hope you like my little butterfly and will enjoy hopping around to all the other participants blogs to see their wonderful butterflies! Here's the list again.

1. Alenka (Pepita) 

2. Monique (A Half-Baked Notion)

3. Beti Horvath

4. Kathy Lindemer

5. Kepi

6. Christine Altmiller

7. Amy S.

8. Dini Bruinsma

9. Cynthia (Antiquity Travelers)

10. Alicia

11. sheilaposter

12. Therese Frank

13. Rebecca White

14. Rachel Mallis

15. Liz E

16. Ana (ACBeads)

17. Jasvanti Patel

18. Carolyn

19. Nan Smith

Happy Birthday Butterfly Blog Hop and the 2015 Polymer Clay Challenge continues......

Alenka of Pepita  Handmade is hosting this Butterfly challenge to celebrate her birthday. We were tasked with creating something butterfly themed. I totally fogot about this one and have nothing to share. I guess I've been so caught up in the PC Challenge with a weekly post that my brain couldn't contain all of my commitments. Sorry but I will be visiting everyone's blog to see all the lovely butterflies! Enjoy!!!! Here is the list of the participants. ( ignore that last name!)

1. Alenka (Pepita) 

2. Monique (A Half-Baked Notion)

3. Beti Horvath

4. Kathy Lindemer

5. Kepi

6. Christine Altmiller

7. Amy S.

8. Dini Bruinsma

9. Cynthia (Antiquity Travelers)

10. Alicia

11. sheilaposter

12. Therese Frank

13. Rebecca White

14. Rachel Mallis

15. Liz E

16. Ana (ACBeads)

17. Jasvanti Patel

18. Carolyn

19. Nan Smith

Wow, it's week 14 of the #2015PCChallenge  and I've managed to post an entry for every week so far! If you knew me you'd know how unusual that is. Always very enthusiastic at the start of a challenge but I tend to drag my feet as it progresses. Not the best with follow through ! However this challenge is different because I'm having so much fun playing with the clay and there is such amazing variety of techniques and tools to experiment with  Anyway here is a summary of the last few,weeks:

Week #8 : stamping and gilders paste

Week#9 : lace cane

Week#10 : flower cane earring beads

Week #11: First time with chalk pastels and Helen Briel texture sheet.

Week # 12:More cane work.

Week # 13: My favorite project this month....cuffs made using texture sheets and gilders paste. Love them!

Week # 14: Pan pastels are wonderful on polymer clay!

This is a weekly challenge that I'm participating in on Facebook. It's amazing to see the talent and variety there is in this art. If you want to see more here is the link. I'll be posting my contributions periodically on my blog but every week on FB.

Have a wonderful Spring weekend. I hope you get lots of sunshine where you are!

Bead Swap is Complete!

So Johana finally received the bead package that I sent her so I can now reveal what she sent me. I posted the photo of her package a couple of weeks ago when it arrived but if you didn't see then this  is what it looked like. I love her logo and packaging.

And without further ado, here are the great goodies she sent.

Everything is made by Johana except the pretty pink Czech glass beads.

Such a sweet enameled copper bird and co-ordinating filigree beads and fabulous enameled floral headpins. I think what I love the most is the beautiful handmade copper leaf clasp with the green floral accent. Unique and just my cup of tea!!!!

This is going to be a fun challenge for me with the colours and style way outside my comfort zone so wish me luck and tune in on May 3rd for the big reveal of  the Bead Peeps Swap and Hop when there will be many fabulous creations from over 200 jewelry artists!

Now I can reveal what I sent to Johana since she has now seen everything. Here again is my twisted vision of what she received.

And here is what it looks like it living colour. 

There's quite a bit of my polymer clay creations including the bird focal, earring dangles, swirled coin beads and rustic teal beads. I added Scorched Earth's raku bronzy scales, some Mykonos accents, citrine and chrysocolla beads, Czech leaves, resin big yellow beads , gold painted wooden beads and lots of antique brass findings and charms. I can't wait to see what Johana makes from all of this!

My new blogging friend!

Thanks to the Grow Your Blog Party hosted by Vicki Boster of 2BagsFull  in January of this year I met several wonderful craftspeople and bloggers. It is so much fun to reach outside of the jewelry and polymer clay world now and again. It's a great way to meet people AND get more followers for your blog. Vicki organizes it in January each year but the info to sign up for it comes out around October. Definitely worth checking out if you want to get more eyes on your blog and enjoy a great party as well!
Linda is another Canadian blogger who is very talented in quilting.....something I know nothing about. While reading her blog a few weeks ago I came across a post describing a quilted pouch she made for her iPad and I fell in love. Linda was nice enough to agree to make one for me and it arrived here 2 days ago! She knows that I'm blogging about this and in fact she has done the same on her blog. She doesn't have a shop where she sells things but she is incredibly gifted in her sewing technique and her use of colour. See what you think! And stop by and check out Linda's blog StitchLines

I love the colours and it matches perfectly my plastic purple iPad stand so I'm perfectly co-ordinated for a change!