2015 Polymer Clay Challenge.

Honestly I had good intentions to post regularly about my entries in the weekly polymer clay challenge I'm participating in but the time just seems to fly away from me these days. I'm spending so much time experimenting with various techniques and creating wonderful things for the challenge that I don't have any time left to post about it all.  Anyhoo I'll try to get you up to date on what I've been doing since January 15th which was my first post for this challenge.
The first 2 weeks were spent experimenting with mokume gane and alcohol inks which is so much fun and I will be returning to it again during this year long challenge.
Weeks 3 and 4 occurred simultaneously with other challenges that I joined in so I killed two birds with one stone for each week.  I have been playing almost constantly with polymer since the holidays and came up with the following pieces of jewelry. I wanted to try to make some clay in the same color as the Pantone color of the year, Marsala. I combined many pieces of scrap clay from my collection and was successful in making these discs in a pretty close match to marsala.

I also entered them in the We're All Ears monthly challenge whose theme was the color of the year.

I created this neat brooch when I was experimenting with mokume gane and found it echoed the monthly art challenge on Art Bead Scene so I also entered it into that challenge as well as week 4.

Meanwhile I have been exploring the creation of a new style of jewelry and components for me. I've been working on a more organic look to my creations and these pieces are what I've come up with for Week 5.

Week 6 is something completely different as I've been wanting to make some cuff bracelets. This is my first attempt using some left over clay from my mokume gane experiments.

Not as easy as I thought and I needed to order some smooth bracelet blanks to help mold the bracelet shape. So I sent off an order to one of my favorite local suppliers that always deliver very quickly. 

There's still lots to learn about this process and as much as I love these bracelets I have to make them more durable since the first one below broke the first time I tried it on. I need to make them thicker and cook longer I think to make the clay more flexible and less brittle.

Well that's the last 5 weeks of the #2015PolymerClayChallenge. I hope you enjoyed seeing what I've been doing lately. You can see everyone else's creations on facebook .

Good night and have a good week!

Two Giveaways!

Today is the official day for all of the contests sponsored by participants in the Grow Your Blog Party hosted by Vicki of 2 Bags Full.

I have decided to give a piece of my handmade jewelry to one of the many people who visited my blog during the party. It sure was fun and I discovered many new blogs to follow. Not that I need anymore reasons to spend time on my computer! Thank you, Vicki, for all the work you do to organize this event every year. It is brilliant!
I am giving these earrings away to the winner of the random.org choice of the 52 commentators on my blog during the party.

Czech Picasso beads wire wrapped with ceramic drops from Petra of Scorched Earth

And the lucky winner is the number 26th and that person is...................

..........................................Linda H.!!!!!! A quilter from New Brunswick, Canada.

Linda writes a lovely blog about her quilting adventures called Stitch Lines.

Linda please send me your address so I can send your gift to you.

I reached a milestone as a result of this Grow Your Blog party. I now have 100+ followers in Google friend connect. I know that I have other followers through other avenues and if I ever figure out how to tally them up then I'll have another giveaway for those followers! 

I'm giving away a piece of my most current work..... a bangle bracelet made from polymer clay. This is a stunning piece of  jewelry and I am very pleased with it. I hope that you are too.

Bunny is not happy to lose his headband!

The winner of the bracelet was chosen by using random.org again including the number of my followers on friend connect. The number that was generated by random.org was 69 and the person associated with that number in my list of followers is................kathyinozarks!!!!!!! I'll be touch soon Kathy to arrange delivery.

My Partner for the Bead Peeps Swap and Hop!

I am happy to introduce you to my partner for the upcoming Swap and Hop  organized by the wonderful folks behind the Bead Peeps Facebook group.

  Johana Nunez is a very talented jewlery artist from Puerto Rico.. Her blog is on her website art incendi and she has a shop on etsy as well. She speaks Spanish in her daily life but is totally fluent in English as well. We first met last summer during the "My Country Blog Hop" hosted by yours truly! At that time I became familiar with Puerto Rico through her blog post and now am happy to have the opportunity to learn even more about her tropical island home. Can you imagine living everyday on a Caribbean island! Total bliss! This is especially true for those of us in the northeast struggling through another frigid, snowy winter!

After perusing Johana's website, blog and etsy shop I can see her favorite subject matter is the nature she finds all around her in her town of Aibonito in the central mountains of Puerto Rico. We have met and chatted online and she told me that she loves flowers and birds which I can see from her work.

She makes lovely enamelled pieces which she sells and incorporates into her jewelry designs. Beautiful and full of the most stunning colors you can imagine! I am thrilled to be paired with her since I know nothing about enamelling and am looking forward to learning more. She has an amazing sense of color as you can tell from her lovely components. 

You can see how her location affects her creativity. I'm sure that if I lived in a tropical climate that I would use more bright colors as well. I doubt if anybody wants to see jewelry reflective of the current climate in eastern Canada.......snow and ice which turns into grey mud when it melts. So I just dream of other places  and other times of the year when designing.

Winter in Canada

Spring in Canada

It is going to be so much fun to swap with Johana since we come from such different parts of the world. I am putting together a collection of beads and other goodies to send to her to stimulate her creativity and hopefully gently push her outside her comfort zone because that's what this challenge is all about. 

I'll post a teaser picture of her surprise once I send it off. You'll be able to see exactly what we swap and what we create  if you check it on the official reveal day, May 2, 2015. 

Have a lovely weekend and Happy Valentine's Day!

Art Bead Scene January Art Challenge: Hundertwasser!

I've always been attracted to and fascinated by the art of Hundertwasser so when I saw that his painting Imagine Tomorrow's World was the challenge for this month I just knew  that I had to participate.

It is a beautiful, complex and colorful painting and initially I focused on all the bright colours but I couldn't find inspiration. I know it's hard to imagine not wanting to create using all of these colours for inspiration but it just wasn't doing it for me.
So I put it aside and went back to my current passion: mokume gane with polymer clay. As I worked away with the clay eventually an interesting pattern emerged and when I looked back at the painting I realized that I had duplicated the background in my experimentation. to connect more with the painting I added a spiral of hammered copper wire to reflect the circular focus at the front of the painting.

 I know that most people would immediately gravitate towards all the colours but since this didn't work for me , my muse sent me a completely different message. Pretty much the story of my life...going against the flow!
Please check out the Art Bead Scene blog to see what everybody else created. Many talented artists were inspired by this painting and there are some amazing jewelry pieces.

Grow Your Blog Hop 2015

Hi everybody and welcome to my blog.Last year I participated in this party  and made many new bloggy friends and started following a whole bunch of new blogs! As a result of that party I gained about 40 new followers of my blog so hopefully you'll all see similar results with your blogs this year. The concept was developed by Vicki Boster of 2 Bags Full blog and this is its 3rd year. This year there are over 400 participants so I better get on with my post so you can move on to some of the other wonderful blogs.

I'm a jewelry designer who has been making jewelry for the last 4 years. I started blogging in 2013 so I could join in on Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Blog Party and thus began my journey into the blogosphere. I've been having a great time here and currently follow at least 50 blogs! It's a good thing that they don't all post everyday or I'd never get away from my computer to work on my jewelry. I have a shop on Etsy where I sell my creations and I also list some items on my facebook page. One of my favorite things is to join in on blog hops with other jewelry makers. I also host a yearly blog hop called "My Country" where I ask other bloggers to create inspired by their home country.......lot's of fun to see what everyone comes up with!

You probably wonder how I find the time to do everything. I retired from a full-time career as a nurse after 38 years of working and am a single (separated) empty-nester with one wonderful 27 year old son. I am a proud Canadian and live in Hamilton, Ontario ( near Niagara Falls). I posted about that last year during this party. I can do whatever I want with my time most days so I spend most of it on jewelry making and recently learning how to design  with polymer clay. It took a while for me not to feel guilty about having so much fun but after the first year I got used to it.

Here are some of my jewelry creations.

Thank you for dropping by my blog today. I'm having a giveaway of a pair of my earrings and will choose the lucky winner from all the comments left by visitors to my blog today. If you are a no reply blogger please leave your email address so I can contact you. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be announced here on my blog February 15th.

Now feel free to enjoy this party and go to visit as many blogs as you can. If you like what you read then please become a follower of that blog since that is what this party is all about. to help bloggers increase the traffic to their blog. The list of participants can be found here on Vicki's blog. So hop on over and have a great party!

Who Am I ?

I've signed up for the Bead Peeps Swap 'N' Hop and am looking forward to the whole event. It involves swapping beads and goodies with another jewelry artist and making jewelry with what you receive.The resulting jewelry will all be revealed on everyone's blogs on May 2nd  so stay tuned for updates and the final reveal.

To help out the ladies who are attempting to pair everyone up, I will let you know a little  bit about me. My name is Nan and I've been making jewelry for 4 years and blogging for 2 years. I love sharing the fun  with other jewelry makers and have discovered a phenomenal  group of like minded souls online. I have many new friends all over the world and it's lovely to know that there is always someone out there willing to share all the ups and downs of jewelry making. They not only give advice and encouragement freely but they "GET IT!" It's a wonderful resource for all of us ,newbies or not.
I have participated in many blog hops over the last 2 years and even hosted one myself. As a proud Canadian every july I host a blog hop for artists to create something  (jewelry mostly) inspired by their home country. It's great fun being involved in a lot of communities online but it is hard to find a balance between surfing the net and using my time productively to create and sell jewelry. I am a retired nurse so I have lots of time to dedicate to my passion  but it's amazing how much time I can spend on the computer.

Where I do most of my work.

My style in jewelry making is a little bit of several styles. I guess you could call it an eclectic mix of Bohemian, Rustic, Urban, Contemporary, Casual, Abstract and Avant Garde . Like I said I'm interested in a little bit of everything. Styles that do not match my jewelry or my personality are blingy, feminine, delicate, girly, preppy, lacy. I think you can tell from these words what kind of jewelry I like and make. It's taken me a while to define my style so some of my jewelry may confuse you.

Latest earrings in my Etsy shop "nanmade jewelery"

Techniques I use regularly are wire wrapping, wire work, stringing, using waxed linen thread and sari silk , some metal work and  I absolutely LOVE using art beads. I have recently become addicted to working with polymer clay and I am in danger of it taking over from jewelry making as my all consuming passion. I now make beads and components for myself and other jewelry makers.

A polymer clay pendant I made

As far as colours go I really like them all except maybe some pastels but even some of them are okay. My favorite colour changes frequently. Currently I'm using a lot of blues and purples in my work  but I also really like earth colours so pretty much anything goes.

Earrings from my shop 

If you were to ask me what Materials I dislike I'd have to say I'm not a big fan of seed beads, crystals and pearls but I have been known to use all of them at times.
I hope the above information helps the admin folks when they are trying to pair me with a partner and also may help my partner when the time comes to decide what to send me. For now I am gathering together lots of goodies to send to my partner.

2015 Polymer Clay Challenge Week 2

I am continuing my experimentation with the Mokume Gane technique in this challenge but this week I have also added my first attempts to use alcohol inks in my creations.I bought some inks a few weeks ago but have been hesitant to try them. I couldn't figure out how to use them.
After perusing the net I discovered that it is possible to actually dye polymer clay using alcohol inks. Since I've run through many of my bright colours of clay I figured this was a good thing to try.

Here are the inks I bought. They come in packs of 3 and this was the closest I could find to a set of primary colours. Fuschia pink, golden yellow and peacock blue.

Here are the pieces of clay that I dyed with the inks.

What nobody told me was how long it takes to complete this process!! These 4 colours took me about 2 hours of kneading the clay as I gradually added the inks until I got the colours I wanted. Luckily I had just discovered the podcast "Serial" and had something to listen to while I played with the clay.

I added some gold leaf to the purple clay to add a little sparkle and this is the stack for the Mokume Gane.

And this is the best slice I got after adding multiple textures to the stack and slicing it.

It really is the coolest process and I never know what I'm going to find once I start slicing because each layer is different. And nothing gets wasted as I also us the stripey cutoffs from the edges to create my striped pieces which are my faves.

The following are just a few of the pieces I made with this week's technique using alcohol inks and mokume gane.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my experiments.  This is a year long challenge hosted by Katie Oskin one of the "Queens of Polymer Clay" and challenges us to create something new every week. I won't be blogging about it every week but will try to do regular updates of my work. The challenge is on facebook and the link to it is here.