Excitement! (And a little bit of Polymer Pampering to look forward to!)

It has been a week of high excitement here in our house. Firstly it was Katie's Birthday.



I can hardly believe that she is now 15. I was busy planning a surprise birthday party and inviting her best friends around, all without her knowing. If any of you have children of this age then you will know just how difficult it is to do anything secretively! Luckily she didn't suspect a thing and the surprise was lovely - her face was a picture when her 3 friends arrived!

Lots of cupcakes, balloons, decorations and sparklers! They had a lovely time.

What remained of the week was devoted to making some more buttons. I am pleased with the buttons, I took the ones I made last week to the craft fair and got some great comments on them as well as selling some, so I am really pleased they were so well received. I will slowly build up the stock and see how we go. They are a great way of making use of the end of canes from different projects and I prefer to make buttons with these cane ends, rather than store them away, telling myself that I will use them in another project and then they sit there for months (or years in some cases) and become too hard to use or just never used at all. Doesn't half free up some much needed storage space on my tiny desk as well!


I did make one piece of jewellery this week! One of my signature Leaf Pod Lariats, this one in lovely shades of teal and spring green. Such a lovely colour and just right for making me feel that warmer days are just around the corner! Although it has been so cold here this week that I am beginning to feel like Winter is going to go on forever!


I seem to be making very little at the moment. Days are going by with me only making one or two things (sometimes nothing at all). I seem to be a little in limbo and not using my time effectively. My muse is lurking somewhere and I think I know why!

A week today I will be attending the Polymer Pamper Play Weekend http://www.polymerpamperplay.co.uk/, in Portland and I am getting just a little excited (OK - quite a lot excited actually!). This will be the first time I have attended a Polymer Clay Workshop and the thought of spending time with other polymer clay artists is just amazing. The Internet is a wonderful thing, and has taught me so much about working with this incredible medium, but it is not the same thing as actually learning from two world class tutors! I am hoping to learn so much on this weekend, but most of all I am looking forward to meeting and being with and sharing with other polymer clay enthusiasts. If you are going to be there, then I cannot wait to meet you!

Hopefully, after that, my muse will be bursting with ideas and won't leave my side for the next year or two!

I hope you all have a great weekend.

New Work

Just wanted to share with you my new range of work.

Tags and Buttons.

The tags were inspired by thinking about Katie's Birthday which is coming up next week.

I was wishing that I could find a really nice tag for her present, that she could keep as a memento. I had the lightbulb moment and have been working on and off on these all week. Of course, it is half term here in the UK, so not as much working on as I would like!

The buttons are just a natural progression - I make buttons to order, but have never done a range of them before. I have made 7 different types this week, but have only been able to photograph 1 set so far. I will try and post pictures on Flickr next week.

I will be taking then to the Cotswold Craft Fair tomorrow and I wonder how they will do. I am thinking of listing them Etsy as well.

If you have a minute, I would love your feedback on them.

Have a great weekend!

Petals and Playtime

Traditionally, January and February are my play time. They are quiet months at the Craft Fair and so it gives me some time to experiment and play with the clay without having to worry too much about stock levels.

Unfortunately, January was just about wiped out with "burn out syndrome" after the Christmas German Style Market and then I got the flu which knocked me out for about 3 weeks.

So February is almost over and I have not played a great deal.

I have made some petal beads, pictured above, which was fun, but certainly not anything new and then I got the idea to have a go an carving beads and antiquing them with acrylic paint.

I think that maybe I am doing something wrong here.

I have seen lots of antiqued beads, read a few hints and tips on the Internet and have tried lots of different ways of applying the paint.......thinned down, left on and sanded off, applied and immediately wiped off, several coats added and wiped off, different colours applied and wiped off..... I think you get the general idea.

I am not happy with the way the beads look - more dirty than antiqued. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

Maybe you can help?

Do you have any hints, tips or ideas that you can share here and help me to achieve that antiqued look as opposed to dirty with a hint of desperation!? I would be very grateful!

A Wonderful Tutorial

There are many tutorials for sale on Etsy for working with Polymer Clay, but the one I bought yesterday has to be simply one of the best!

It is called "Crackling Lentil Beads with Polymer Clay" and is by the Wonderful Janice Abarbanel of Naftali. I have admired Janice's beautiful beads for quite a few years now, and I remember showing one to my daughter and saying to her "How does she do that?" I could not imagine just how such a beautiful bead had been made.

Well, thanks to this incredible tutorial I have now made one of my own - not Janice's standards by any means, but considering it is my very first attempt, I am very, very pleased with it.

That it turned out so well is due entirely to the clear instructions, masses and masses of pictures and all the hints and tips included in the tutorial.

If you only purchase one Tutorial this year - make sure it is this one! Here is the link http://www.etsy.com/listing/65941236/crackling-lentil-beads-with-polymer-clay

Thank you so much Janice.

For those of you who may have been wondering what the large project I was working on, here are a few pictures!

My very talented friend Jo of Muddle House Mosaics and I, rented a Chalet in the Cirencester Christmas Market for 8 days in the middle of December. The amount of stock I needed to make for such a big fair was huge as you can imagine - and I was still doing my weekly craft fair on Saturdays as well! So everything had to take a back seat. If it wasn't polymer - it didn't get done and that included the housework! It was a great experience and I learnt a lot about organisation, working to deadlines and just how much work I can do in a week! However, I was somewhat exhausted by the end of it and am only now getting back into the swing of things.

Looking forward though to another year of claying and learning and sharing it all with you.

Resuming Normal Service

Well, hopefully something like normal service, anyway.

There has been such a lot going on over the past 3 months but unfortunately, very little of it to do with Polymer Clay.

But, now, with any luck, there may be just a little time to squeeze in a few blog updates. I'm keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

There is a huge, and that is not a word I use lightly, project ahead of me that will be taking up my every waking hour, well almost, and I will write more next week.

Need to go off to the Craft Fair at Cirencester now and work.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

Abundance

Abundance
Originally uploaded by Pips Jewellery Creation

Spring is everywhere at the moment. The cherry blossom trees are in full, wonderful bloom and the Lilacs are just beginning to put on their glory. Tulips are taking over from the last of the daffodils and early clematis and wisteria are hinting at how beautiful they will be in a couple of weeks time.

When surrounded by all this new life it is hardly surprising that some of it finds it's way into my Polymer Clay!

This bracelet is made of over a hundred little flower buds, just giving a hint of how pretty they are going to be when they are in full bloom. A lovely golden green outer casing with the softest of peach inside.

I thought Abundance was just the right name for it!

Enjoy!

Accent Beads Now Listed!

Sorry for the short delay, but I had a birthday and a wonderful treat from my Husband of a little time away in a Country House Hotel!

So it took me a bit longer to list the accent beads than I had thought it would, but I am sure you will forgive me!

They are all now up on Etsy if you would like to have a look - just thought I would let you know. Have a great weekend!