Flickr Fave - Carved Pendants

Carved Pendants
Originally uploaded by Hoedlgut

I love how clever polymer clay artists are! Here are pendants made from hoops of polymer clay, carved and linked together with jump rings. I love the color palette and the overall construction! Love!

Flickr Fave from Liao.Mosaics

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Originally uploaded by liao.mosaics

Check out this gorgeousness from liao.mosaics on Flickr. The detail is amazing as is the technique! This is one of the best figurative examples I've ever seen. The strands of hair, weave of the clothing, even the eyebrows are well defined and give the piece amazing depth and dimension. I'm definitely checking out more!

Flickr Fave - circulos1

circulos1
Originally uploaded by ana_ve

I love the colors and especially the design. Sometimes I draw circle after circle after circle and to know that others do the same. This work by Ana Ve is just overlapping circles but the way she has structured the colors delights me!

Work In Progress - Go back and try again

Test Lariat - WIP 3
Originally uploaded by Lulu Knows Why

I've had this large enamel focal bead for quite some time. I've tried several designs to showcase it - none successful. I think this design is my best attempt so far, but I found that it was simply too long - the weight of the enamel bead is enough that it doesn't rest on the chest - it creeps up to where the neck and chest meet. It looks good and is comfortable in that position - but it means the lariat end dangles very very long. Too long. So I'm going back to rework this and shorten it a bit.

Sometimes trial and error (and error and error and trial and trial) is the only way to figure out how to make something work.

Green and Gold Double Strand Necklace 1

Green and Gold Double Strand Necklace 1
Originally uploaded by Lulu Knows Why

I made a similar necklace for my adored Aunt Janet. Her daughter-in-law Susan liked it and Janet gave it to her. This is a replacement for the original. Susan, I would have been happy to make you a necklace - just email me!

I'll likely make some for my Etsy shop but I've been very busy making stuff that features my polymer clay work.

Back to Business

Thanksgiving was DELICIOUS! I happily spent Friday and Saturday eating leftovers. But now it's time to return to looking for a new job and making and posting jewelry to Etsy.  I finished this necklace for my Aunt Janet and will be sending it out to her tomorrow.  I had made her a similar necklace but she gave it away so I made her a replacement, albeit slightly different.  This necklace is super simple to make, it's a single string that is doubled with a button or bead for the toggle closure. 

Here's a closeup of the center green barrel beads. Love the color and texture!

Paper Mosaics

Over the year I've been developing a technique that I've called Paper Mosaics. I'm not trying to replicate the look of tile mosaic. With that technique one spaces out pieces of paper to replicate the look of tile on a grouted background. Instead, I take little pieces of paper ripped from magazines and glue them into various designs. In my earliest pieces I used larger pieces of paper and didn't pay as much attention to the variations in a color range. In this piece I took orange and pink and tried to blend the colors from one to the other. I like the results. It's now up on Etsy for sale. I don't think the pictures do it justice but I had a devil of a time getting a good shot. I'm going to have to work on better photos of frames.

Here's a close up:

The waiting is the hardest part...

I had a job interview on Monday. I would really like to work for this company. I think I was one of the first people to interview for the new positions; so I have to wait while they conduct other interviews as well as make their hiring decisions. I have been out of work for a while and jobs in my field are opening up again. I miss the challenge of work. I love having the time to craft and see what others in the crafting community are doing but I also miss co-workers and clients and the challenges of deadlines. I was at a coffee shop early one morning and people were rushing in to grab a cup before hopping on the subway and I wanted to be among them; clearly it's time for me to go back to work. I hope I get the job!

.girl and her horse - Flickr Find

.girl and her horse
Originally uploaded by mary's granddaughter

This is so wonderfully clever. I love the simplicity of the figures and the complexity of the dual hoops, the dimension with the reins and the doll arm added to the figure of the woman. Just a fantastic idea and beautiful execution.

Finished!

Ah, the satisfaction of a job well done. Did I mention that I completely burned and destroyed one attempt at a bracelet? A poor job on my part. Luckily I was able to save and reuse the brass bangle. It also gave me a reason to clean my oven quite thoroughly.

Nonetheless, the bangles are complete and are for sale on Etsy. I may start another set soon!

Bangles in Progress

I'm working on a new set of pebble bangles, this time in aqua colors. This photo is admittedly a few days old, as I have finished two of the three bangles. Once done they'll be up on Etsy. The colors are a little darker than I had planned but that is because I went with a higher level of translucent clay and not much white. I'm still quite happy with the results though.

Rainbow swirls - Flickr Find of the day

Rainbow swirls
Originally uploaded by warnenatalie

Look at the gorgeous color and texture in this work! This was in a collection of mosaic images on Flickr.

Warnenatalie posted work in progress photos as well - I definitely recommend checking it out!

Adding New Items at Etsy

I'll be adding new items at my Etsy site over the next week in the hopes of attracting some new eyes and perhaps make a sale or two. Posted today is a sweet mint green polymer clay pendant on a seed bead necklace.

Artisan Clay: Blue Ice Pendant / Fun with Focals #3

Artisan Clay: Blue Ice Pendant / Fun with Focals #3

Check out this beautiful work by Etsyian crafter ArtisanClay. I love the combination of length, color and texture. Just beautiful!

November Goals

Over on Modish Jena and company have started a goal oriented approach to starting or improving one's business. Their success is my inspiration so I'm going to layout my goals for November and see how well I make my dreams reality.

So...

1. Get 2 full pages of items listed on Etsy no later than Nov 10.
2. Create and post one tutorial on blog
3. Complete inventory/price list
4. Re-organize flickr pages

It's a short list but that is a lot of work in those four items!

Waves in the rain

Waves in the rain
Originally uploaded by Hennybee

Well Halloween was a lot of fun - but I had to end it pretty early. I arrived at the parade staging location around 5pm and found my group - aka "The Money Grubbers". We psyched ourselves up to collect money from the parade watchers ahead of the entire parade.

As soon as we started a light rain started and continued throughout our march up the parade route. That didn't stop us and I shouted at the crowd until I was completely hoarse. We had two good sized groups going up each side the parade route with nets and signs saying whatever we could to encourage people to give to the parade.

By the time we finished the route we were soaking wet. I was wet from head to toe and with my cold I decided it was best if I handed in my net and headed home. I didn't get to see much of the parade but I did meet a lot of great people and had a fantastic time. I plan to do it again next year!

I found this beautiful picture of the parade by Hennybee on Flickr and had to share.

I Hab a Code

Oy, I knew that my trip to see the kidlets would result in acquiring hugs and lethal pre-school germs. It's biological warfare. Seriously, just have a toddler walk into an army barracks and within four days half of those soldiers will be whining and asking for their mommies.

Luckily those kiddies are worth the resulting illness.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Most people are getting their costumes ready or getting their kids' costumes ready. This year I've volunteered to be a "Grubber" for the West Village Halloween Parade in NYC. As a grubber my job is to wrangle money out of parade watchers wallets. I've confirmed with the parade organizers that I am not allowed to do this using physical force. Oh well. I'll have to come up with some stellar mental games to play on parade watchers to separate them from their money. Why didn't I spend more time learning how to sucker people? Well it will be good practice for taking over the world. The experts say that shame is the best way to go - shame people into handing over a few bucks or even a quarter.

I'm definitely going to need some pharmaceutical help to get my tounge untied and strengthen my confidence.

http://www.halloween-nyc.com/

Dizzy with Glee

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Originally uploaded by loveliesfrommihana

I found this on Flickr and marked it as a fave - the colors, the pattern, everything is simply beautiful. Delicious even!

Atlanta!

I've just returned from visiting family in Atlanta. Atlanta is such a beautiful area - and everyone is so friendly! I got to spend time with my little nuggets who are simply adorable and delightful. Sadly since they are rambunctious little boys they are not jewelry customers. They are also exhausting - I wish I had a fraction of their kinetic energy!

Bundle of Bangles

I made these about a month ago using brass bangle blanks and polymer clay. I start by covering the channel with a very thin layer of polymer clay and then I carefully layer each dot until the full bangle is covered. The trick is gradiating the color from the deepest purple to the lavender but I think I did a fairly good job.

Bead Show

My mom and I went to the BeadsWorld Annual Bead show a few days ago. The last time we went it was held in the Pennsylvania Hotel across from Madison Square Garden. In recent years they switched the venue to a show space in Chelsea. The show is now smaller with fewer independant artisan vendors, sadly this meant there were few unique items. I did see two booths with old roman glass; that was the first time I'd seen that available. I was tempted but I just didn't want to stock up without having a better concept in place. Still, the selection was nice and we picked out some nice items to make a beautiful necklace for her.

I do know why!

Ah, the eternal question: Why? The answer is ridiculous of course. The answer is "Because." The answer is "Why not?" The answer is "It makes me happy/sad/angry/proud/etc." So why? Well I am creating this to highlight the things in my life that should be highlighted; events, accomplishments and whatever promotes my quest for world domination. So, in preparation for taking over the world I'll be looking for good candidates for my army of henchpersons (no reason the new world order has to be rife with inequalities) and promoting those that I think would benefit this future organization.

Feel free to email me your qualifications - I'll be sure to pass it on to HR/Recruiting.

LKW