FloRaeMe

Thing a Day, Days 7 and 10

2012-02-10T15:30:00.000Z

As you know, I've been creating this month for the Thing A Day challenge on the Polymer Clay Central's forum. My clown fish cane was getting a bit weak (a combination of using Fimo Soft and the play dough reducing technique) so I wanted to use this up in some of my thing a day creations.

For day 7 of the challenge, I made these tropical aquarium beads.

And for today, day 10 of the challenge, I made this aquarium pendant.

Thing a Day, Days 4, 5 and 6

2012-02-06T20:49:00.001Z

As I made beads for days 1, 2 and 3 of Thing a Day, I thought I would first post these chocolate ice lolly charms I made.

They were actually made for day 5. You can find out how to make these charms soon - I'll let you know details later!

Below are the beads I made for day 4! Don't you love the sunflower cane? I made that using Zuleyka's tutorial which you can buy via her etsy shop.

I needed a special card for a friend's birthday so I thought it would be great to combine making a card and day 6 of thing a day. For the card, I baked a flower, made using Ayeletbead's tutorial and added a birthday cupcake centre. Scrummy.

Right, off to plan something for day 7...

Thing a Day Days 2 and 3

2012-02-03T10:36:00.003Z

Whilst I don't want to post my "thing a day" everyday - if I did that there would be rather a lot of posts for February, when thing a day takes place - I just had to post today's beads because I absolutely love the colour combinations and canes used for these.

I'm going to have to make more things with these colours, because I intend to keep something for myself.

Here are some earrings I made for day 2, which go with the beads for day 1.

Tiara Making at Spellbound Beads

2012-02-02T16:19:00.000Z

I was lucky enough to go on an introductory Tiara making workshop last week at Spellbound Beads, Lichfield.

To read more about this workshop, please see Bead Magazine, Issue 37, April/May 2012 which is on sale March 14th.

It was a full day workshop and I enjoyed it sooo much. I've done plenty of wirework before but just never had a go at Tiara's... I'm a bit hooked now!

I made the following Tiara on the day:

and this fascinator

and now I can't wait to design some polymer clay pieces to go onto a Tiara...

Thing a Day

2012-02-01T18:59:00.000Z

This year I have decided to take part in the Polymer Clay Forum's "Thing a Day" project. I'm sure I don't need to explain too much about what it is but it takes place throughout February and today is day 1.

Here are the beads I made.

To find out more about the Polymer Clay Forum see click message board on the left hand side of this page:

http://www.polymerclaycentral.com/

And yet more Beads

2012-01-27T14:30:00.000Z

The latest batch of beads - all Saturn beads this time.

First of all there are my disc shaped Saturn beads.

Loving the Lilac

Then 2 sets of round Saturn beads

Even more beadies

2012-01-26T11:39:00.000Z

Even more beadies. I love these first beads with the dark jelly roll on them.

I used a Cernit and Fimo mixed green for the background of these and it works well.

These next beads are made using only Cernit for the background. The canes are mostly Fimo and the two clays do not work together in this way. The canes do not merge into the background at all and the white translucent background of the cane turns mostly white during curing. I won't be using a cernit only background again.

Cara's cat tutorial

2012-01-25T12:35:00.000Z

Cara Jane has posted a copy of her wonderful cat tutorial for us all to share. If you haven't already seen this, you can get the tutorial here:

http://www.carajane.co.uk/2012/01/my-sleeping-cat-tutorial.html

Here are my kitties, made following this tutorial.

This was my first - he will always hold a special place in my heart!

This little fellow likes catching mice so I had to put a bell on his collar.

Here is my glamour puss

This little lady demands the best so I made her this designer (FloRaeMe designs) collar with clown fish charm.

This one is my favourite though ;)

More beadies - Big and Red!

2012-01-24T20:04:00.000Z

And again, more beadies using up the fimo. This time red ones, maybe for the fast approaching valentines day

and rather big beadies:

Couldn't resist

2012-01-23T17:22:00.000Z

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain....

Latest beadies

2012-01-23T13:17:00.000Z

Continuing with the monster bead making and using up that Fimo here are my latest creations.

The first is my spring inspired set. I'm hoping for spring instead of the strong winds we have been having lately in the UK.

Made up jewellery eventually to follow.

Latest beadies

2012-01-11T14:03:00.000Z

I've been trying to use up my fimo stocks lately. I like to work with Kato and Premo but I don't seem to get on as well with Fimo. I have seen some artists do amazing work with Fimo, but for me the results aren't as good. Fimo tends to be readily available to buy in the UK though, so I find myself buying it when I notice that it is on sale.

I have a fair amount of Fimo and now many Fimo canes! I also bought some Fimo Soft to practice the play dough technique. You can check out some of those results here:
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011_08_01_archive.html
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011/08/idit-zootas-play-dough-technique-clown.html
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011/08/idit-zootas-play-dough-technique.html

So recently I have been working on some beadies using those fimo canes.

These beadies are nice and chunky, but you can't tell in the pic.

I think the beads, particularly the last set, will look better when made up into some jewellery.

New year canes

2012-01-06T16:51:00.000Z

Latest cane. This is from Zuleykha's sunflower cane tutorial.

These tutorials are so great I feel they each deserve a separate post.

New year canes

2012-01-05T14:23:00.000Z

Another new year cane based on the exotic flower cane tutorial from Mars Designs.

I love the colour combination. I'm using up my Fimo stocks at the moment so my colour choice is limited but in this instance it works well.

Better photography from me too :)

New year canes

2012-01-03T16:02:00.000Z

I was given some tutorials as a gift this Christmas and I bought some for myself so I've been looking forward to making the canes.

Here's the first, a gerbera daisy cane from Mars Designs. I should add that it was made rather quickly last night so it's a little uneven!

Beadweaving Christmas

2011-12-27T09:01:00.000Z

I bought some beadweaving patterns this year for making into Christmas decs for friends and family. Now that they have received them for Christmas, I can post pictures of them without ruining the surprise :)

Christmas Tree Decorations

The little sock shape eventually became this miniature stocking. There was room for a little pressie inside.

I bought a kit to make this miniature beaded hymn book. The book is about 2cm x 3cm.

Finally finished that necklace!

2011-12-23T18:44:00.000Z

Back in May I made a lovely polymer clay focal bead for a necklace I was going to make. You can read about that if you like here: http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011/05/needed-focal.html

Well, what with the house move this year and all the resulting work, it was a project I started and then put down quite some time ago. After making a bunch of Christmas pressies this last week, I decided to make one for myself and got on with finishing the necklace (finally!). So here it is...

It has taken over 6 months, from start to finish and you know what? After all that work, I don't think I like it that much! The seed beads are a bit too big for the focal, when wrapped around it creating a very heavy drop, well I think "thunk" would be more accurate!

I really should learn that when a beading pattern says use Delicas, it means use Delicas and not bigger seed beads. Doh. I am much happier with this bountiful polymer bracelet that I made (in about 20 minutes I must add). I simply strung a lot of Elise Canning's beautiful beads onto some thread and voila.

The beads are so beautiful that I didn't need to do much except arrange them well. I love this little thistle dangle.

Polymer Finds Everywhere

2011-12-17T09:17:00.000Z

I love how you can find bits and bobs to use with polymer clay everywhere. Yesterday I went to the Birmingham Christmas market, the largest German Christmas market outside Germany and Austria and yep, it was very big! There are stalls up and down many streets and across several squares selling food, gifts and crafts. I love this beer hut with its advent calendar display.

I found a baking stall which was selling cute mini cutters. I picked these up and can't wait to use them. My favourite is the little mushroom.

There was also a stall selling beautiful old fashioned stamps. I was there quite a while trying to decide which to buy. Eventually I decided on these two!

I'm off out today and I'll be sure to keep an eye out for more polymer finds.

More beadies

2011-12-15T11:11:00.000Z

There isn't a lot to say about these but here are some beads I made recently:)

I used many of the canes I made recently whilst practicing the play doh technique. You can check out that post here: http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2011/08/idit-zootas-play-dough-technique.html

The jelly roll I used in these beads really smudged onto the white glitter clay. I'll have to put these into my "sale" pile when I make it into a necklace!

Polymer Beads and Spacers

2011-12-12T12:24:00.000Z

I made these pink beadies the other day (I do like backgroundless canes but they are much harder than round canes to reduce!).

I always space beads like this out in a necklace, because I feel that a necklace full of these vibrant beads would be too much. When it comes to making up the necklace though, I always struggle to find spacer beads that will look "just right". So I decided I would make my own spacers this time out of the background colour used in the millefiori beads. I made up a batch of polymer spacer nuggets.

Then I put them together in a necklace.

Of course, I needed a little bead to space out the spacers and I spent a while deciding on those. Ho hum!! I think it works though.

Christmas beadies

2011-12-09T15:12:00.000Z

Christmas beadies for you to see. You know, Christmas beads because they are green and there is a little fir tree on them :)

First Picarello

2011-12-08T17:13:00.000Z

I know I am way behind here but I have finally had a bit of time to have a go at the wonderful Picarello imprint technique from Julie Picarello's book Pattern's in Polymer. Now I'll never be good at slicing clay - my cheese slices look like doorstops - but I am pleased with the resulting pendants and I'm more than happy to practice my slicing using this technique!

The colour scheme was inspired by a scene from a magazine. If I did it again, I would use a darker blue-black and some mica but the technique has such dynamic results that I think these colours work here.

I also made these beads using Julie's technique.

Time for Tropical Tea

2011-12-05T10:54:00.000Z

Being British, I am partial to a good cuppa (tea of course!). So when I found a set of mini cookie cutters with a tea-time theme, I was really chuffed and looking forward to making something with them.

Here is what I like to call my "Time for Tropical Tea" charm bracelet.

I used vibrant colours of scrap cray to create the pattern and backed this onto a white granite clay.

Aren't these cutter shapes cute? I think they would look great with a steampunk background too.

Autumn Waffle Beads

2011-11-25T09:17:00.000Z

After successfully mixing a lovely autumn colour scheme and creating the waffle look, I made these beadies.

Optical illusion as a result of the waffle look - these beads are round not multi faceted!

I'll definitely be having a go at more colour schemes and using the waffle look.

Colour schemes and Waffles

2011-11-23T10:28:00.001Z

Last week I did something rare with polymer clay. I made a colour scheme. Well, rare for me that is. I know many polyclay artists create the most wonderful colour schemes. Me, I don't usually have the time for this and I use clay colours straight out of the packet. Last week I decided to break the habit and I mixed a colour scheme. I was a tad apprehensive...how would it turn out?...would I waste precious time if it all went wrong?...would I end up with lumps of awful coloured clay?...

Well I should have trusted myself earlier! I based this colour scheme on my autumn garden, with its burnished colours, hints of gold and underlying browns. I love the colours and through using a little brown in all my colours I have gave each a slightly neutral look.

I also played around with some tools last week and came up with this waffle look - it is making me a bit hungry as I am now picturing dairy free margarine melting on warm gluten free waffles!

I made this last pendant using the waffle method, scrapume gane and scrap slices.

Autumn waffle beadies to follow...

Lemon Meringue

2011-11-19T20:31:00.000Z

I made these iccle lemon meringue beads a week or so ago and today I made them into earrings. They are so cute - and I am saying so myself! I have a real craving for lemon meringue pie now...

Polymer Play Days 2011 workshops - Natalia

2011-11-17T16:06:00.000Z

For Natalia Garcia de Leaniz's workshop at Polymer Play Days 2011 we made these great desert bracelets.

I also made these matching beads.

I definitely intend to make some more, with other colours but I don't have the "special equipment" needed to make them.

Cat hacker

2011-11-17T11:46:00.000Z

Now I know who keeps using my facebook account...

Bumble's Beads

2011-11-16T11:14:00.000Z

If you remember, back in July I made a bumble bee cane. As I had made the cane over several months, different parts of the cane had different consistencies. When I reduced the cane, it shifted at different rates and I lost a lot of clay due to distortion.

Here are some beads made with the scrap clay.

Jewellery from my Tutorials

2011-11-14T13:33:00.000Z

Just a few piccies of some pieces made using my cane tutorials. All details about that in my previous post.

My favourite - love that little water can.

For shoe lovers everywhere

Drop leaf necklace with matching earrings.

Bead Magazine Article

2011-11-04T20:40:00.000Z

The third part of my "Creating Canes - Millefiori" article was printed in the Winter Sparkle 2011 issue (34) of Bead magazine :)

This is definitely the best part of the article! It shows you how to make my double petal flower cane and then to use all canes together to make an eye catching millefiori pendant. You can also use the cane tutorials to create a lovely focal bead.

This pendant shows the double petal flower cane.

My sweet Halloween girl

2011-11-02T08:30:00.000Z

Polymer Play Days 2011 workshops

2011-10-31T16:05:00.000Z

Alison Gallant taught us how to use silk screens on polymer clay. I thought I might not enjoy this workshop as I have a tendency to make a mess! I didn't. Make a mess I mean, I certainly enjoyed the class. I believe this workshop will soon be available on CraftEdu and I do recommend doing it.

Pendant and earrings in the making.

I think the pendant will look great on a lovely beaded necklace - photos to follow when I make that (give me about 3 months!!)

I added a layer of liquid Kato (to seal in the pattern) and blasted it with my heat gun after baking to give the pendant that glossy/glassy look. Thanks to Jema for that tip :)

Shown in artificial light - it shows the glossy look off better!

Polymer Play Days 2011 workshops

2011-10-31T15:47:00.002Z

Here are some piccies one of the Polymer Play Days 2011 workshops.

Stephanie Kilgast showed us how to make miniature fruit flans. As you know, I've done miniature foods before and thought that I might not get a lot out of this tutorial. Of course I was wrong! It was loads of fun and I picked up some really good tips and tricks.

Aaah, banana cream pie!

Packed with anti-oxidents

Here are some custard tarts I made following the workshop.

Craft room chronicles

2011-10-28T10:41:00.000+01:00

All sorted :))

This is organised for a craft space!

It is an odd shaped room so provides perfect storage space for my craft bits and bobs.

Box of dreams

2011-10-27T10:51:00.000+01:00

Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I wish this was my box of clay! It belongs to www.polymerclay.co.uk who fed our polymer clay habit for the Polymer Play Days 2011 weekend.

Polymer Play Days 2011

2011-10-27T10:44:00.000+01:00

I took a break from being a master house renovator recently and attended Polymer Play Days 2011 in Alfreton, Derbyshire. This year it was a little different. We had 4 workshops and 6 demonstrations, all from great polymer clay artists.

As the craft room has been out of action, I haven't had a chance to finish my play days projects yet but here are some shots from the clay weekend.

Natalia Garcia de Leaniz teaches us bountiful bangles

Stephanie Kilgast's miniature class

Allison Gallant's screen printing class

I didn't take any photos of Christine Dumont's workshop - I was busy concentrating on the techniques she was teaching us.

Cats made from Leslie Blackford's demo. These were for Helen who co-organised Polymer Play Days.

My cat - check my dirty fingers. Oh the joys of using acrylic paints!

Craft room chronicles

2011-10-23T11:53:00.000+01:00

Well it is all painted, glossed, carpeted and now I need to organise. Guess what I am going to be doing all day?

My inchies

2011-10-23T09:10:00.000+01:00

I forgot to take a photo of my inchies before swapping them at Polymer Play Days 2011. Here are the ones I had left!

The inchie making begins

2011-10-12T11:40:00.001+01:00

In my makeshift craft area!

The craft room

2011-10-11T09:03:00.000+01:00

Here is the craft room in its current state...

It is getting there very slowly.

Dough Diaries

2011-10-07T10:31:00.000+01:00

I made these canes several weeks ago as part of my dough experiments but in the process of moving house, I put them to one side. Now I can't remember which dough I used on which cane. Oh, well there is always a use for canes!

Cannock Chase

2011-09-30T19:03:00.002+01:00

Had to get away from all the decorating today so we spent the day at beautiful Cannock Chase.

The craft room

2011-09-25T11:50:00.002+01:00

This is my craft room at the moment! There is so much to do in my new home that I don't think ill be doing any clay for the next couple of weeks!

The Dough Diaries

2011-08-26T12:01:00.000+01:00

After my recent attempt at the Play Doh technique, I am all fired up about practicing this until I get really good.

I am also all fired up about playing with Play Doh! I have loved this stuff since I was young; it is just so squidgy and fun.

So I recently bought a selection of the different brands of dough, in order to determine which works best when reducing background-less canes. It was also an excuse to buy lots of pretty colours and have a good squidge (I blame my need to squidge on the fact that I never received the barber shop play doh kit despite it being on my Christmas list for several years).

I made 5 simple flower canes out of Fimo soft, packed them with dough and scrap clay, reduced them and washed off the dough.

So far, I would say the following about each brand:

Hobbycraft Soft Dough: It didn't hold up as well as the other brands. I lost a fair amount of clay at the ends of the cane. This pot of dough was slightly older and thus firmer and I wondered if this might help when reducing: it didn't. It didn't dissolve that well in the water either and meant lots of handling of the cane to brush off the excess dough. The cane that was useable after reducing, was however one of the neater ones.

Hobbycraft Soft Dough used.

Crayola Dough: I purchased a fresh pot of dough but the dough was quite dry. I don't know if all crayola dough is this dry or if I just got a pot that had sat on the shelf for a while. I found the dough was stubborn when it came to dissolving it and that meant a lot of handling of the cane to brush the extra off. When the clay is wet it's very soft and subject to finger distortion so a lot of handling is not recommended. The cane itself also distorted a lot when I reduced it using this brand of dough. The dough was more expensive than the other brands.

Crayola Dough used.

Early Learning Centre's Soft Stuff: This seems to work well when reducing the cane and reduced at a similar speed to the cane. The dough came off fairly easily in water but did need a bit of rinsing after brushing the excess dough off. The end cane was pretty decent, especially in the middle. The dough is well priced and definitely worth another go.

Early Learning Centre Soft Stuff used.

Star Dough: This seemed to work well and came off fairly easily in the water. However looking at the end cane, there is a fair bit of distortion.

Star Dough used.

Play Doh. The original brand! This worked well when reducing the cane and came off very easily in the water with only minimal handling of the cane required. The pot of dough was older and had been handled a fair bit before use (hey remember that Barber Shop story?) but was still in good condition. The end cane was a bit squished in the middle but there was noticably less scrap cane.

Play Doh used.

A couple of the pots of dough were older so I'd like to try comparing brands again when they are nice and fresh. Fimo soft probably isn't the best brand of clay to use for this technique as it becomes very soft when placed in water and it's easy to damage the cane when handling. The clay was noticeably different in firmness depending on the colour and that affected my results.

Conclusion: I need to practice more.

Bumbles' Friends - Beaded Bee in Action

2011-08-18T10:08:00.000+01:00

Remember those beaded bees that I made recently for a special project?

Well here are the beaded bees in action

3d beaded bee as part of a fascinator

Fascinator modeled by Millie

Bee ring

Bee wired to a shoe!

House renovations continue

2011-08-16T08:36:00.001+01:00

Oh dear, the house looks such a sorry state at the moment that I try not to think about it too much...

Oh well with views like this on my doorstep, it will all be worth it!

Idit Zoota's Play Dough Technique - Clown Fish

2011-08-15T14:07:00.000+01:00

I'm still practicing Idit Zoota's play dough technique of reducing a canes with no background. You can find Art by Yonat's tutorial of this technique here:
http://www.artbyyonat.polyclayplay.com/PlayDohVideo/IditsTech.pdf

Here is my clown fish cane

And the canes after reduction

I used a thick layer of play dough which didn't seem to work as well as Yonat using the medium layer of dough with her canes. I'll try a thinner sheet next time.

Idit Zoota's Play Dough Technique

2011-08-15T11:13:00.000+01:00

I really love the idea of reducing canes without a background (saves on soooo much translucent clay and there are just times when a background is not needed!), but I've not yet mastered Idit Zoota's Play Dough technique. Recently I found some fab coloured play dough and thought I would give it another go with Fimo Soft.

Here is my simple flower cane before reducing.

and the resulting canes post-reduction.

It is a definite improvement on my last attempt but there is still work to be done. I found that the Fimo Soft became very sticky after immersing it in water (to dissolve the play dough). I'm going to try the technique with a different brand of clay after I have used up this stash of Fimo Soft.

Bumbles' Friends - Beaded Bee

2011-08-12T09:39:00.000+01:00

I was asked to make a decorative bee for someone recently. Whilst Bumbles seemed like the obvious answer, I thought he might be a little heavy for what he was needed for. Also, I wanted something with a little more bling and found this great beaded bee tutorial on Maize Hutton's website: http://www.maizehutton.com/beadedbee.html

So here are Bumbles' mates...

Whilst the flat bees are great for one thing (all should be revealed if I get pictures!), I thought a 3D bee would look better for something else. So here is my 3D version of Maize's beaded bee design.

Latest beads

2011-08-10T10:15:00.000+01:00

Latest beads made from my Pavelka canes (see last photo on previous blog post).

Rose gone wrong made into beads

2011-08-01T20:16:00.000+01:00

Back in May I made a rose cane that went a bit wrong. I thought I could get away with using the cane by bordering it with leaves. However as I had several compliments about how good the cane looked, I decided to try it in some beads with a "minimal leaf look".

Me likey.

Latest Bead Article :)))

2011-07-29T17:33:00.000+01:00

The second part of my introduction to caning has been published in the current issue (Issue 32 August/September 2011) of Bead Magazine.

I made the cover again (blush), if you hadn't guessed, those are my beads in the bottom right!

This part of the article shows you how to make several canes including a groovy rainbow skinner jelly roll cane.

If you buy the mag there is even a couple of pictures of me demonstrating at the Telford Big Bead Show!

Bumbles - Cane Tip of the Month!

2011-07-20T13:23:00.000+01:00

I started making bumbles the cane back in May.

With much of my spare time being taken up with selling my house and buying the new one over the past couple of months, I didn't have a lot of time to work on clay. So I started off making bumbles' stripy body and head and then put him down for a few days. I then made a large bulls eye cane to make up his wings but had to leave it at that - for about 2 months.

The last couple of days I got back to Bumbles, finished his wings, the cane background and then reduced him.

I can now give you a big cane tip: Do NOT make a cane over several months! The bit of cane you were working on in the beginning, will be much firmer than the bit that you have just worked with and when you reduce your cane, you will find it shifts (reduces) at different rates.

Probably no surprise to many of you but for me, I usually finish my cane within a couple of days so the whole cane has a similar softness/firmness and I haven't encountered this problem before. When I came to reduce Mr Bumbles today, parts of him shifted at different rates and I lost about 40% of the cane to distortion.

I won't be making that costly mistake again! Watch this space for what I do with all that scrap...

Steampunk Emporium Booklaunch

2011-07-19T14:26:00.000+01:00

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the booklaunch of Jema Hewitt's latest work "Steampunk Emporium: Creating Fantastical Jewelry, Devices and Oddments from Assorted Cogs, Gears and Curios".

The evening's events included readings from the book, some fab stage acts including the first time travelling comedian and enough tea, cakes and pimms to sink a (steam) ship. One could meet the author, Jema "Emily Ladybird" Hewitt, buy a copy of the book

and even meet characters from the book

Atlantis

The book looks amazing and includes tales of adventure as well as fantastical mixed media jewellery projects. There is so much inside to tempt both jewellers and non jewellers. The original jewellery pieces from the book made a guest appearance at the launch.

A top night with top food and entertainment and of course, I got my book signed!

Toodles darling - maybe I haven't quite mastered the Steampunk lingo yet...

Latest project

2011-07-18T14:59:00.000+01:00

My latest project and the reason I haven't been able to do much clay lately...

This is the good bit!

Big lounge in need of big improvement!

What there is of a kitchen

I think this is straight from the 50s.

The master bedroom!

My favourite bit :)

My Demo at Telford Big Bead Show

2011-07-06T15:16:00.002+01:00

Whilst I have been very busy lately selling and moving out of my house (sob, I loved that house!), I did manage to fit in a bead demonstration at Bead magazine's Big Bead Show Telford on 25th June.

If you check out this previous post, you can see what I was showing people how to make.

So here are some snaps from my first ever demo!

That's me showing people how to condition clay.

Clearly I was getting some inspiration from my clay caddy here.

Layering up cane slices to make those pillow beads.

I was pleased to see I got a mixed turned out!

I thought the demo went pretty well. The audience were really nice and asked lots of questions. I filled out my time slot nicely and after all the questions I had 1 minute to spare. I'm getting a taste for this now...

Pink pillow beadies

2011-06-25T20:27:00.000+01:00

I made these pink pillow beadies in preparation for my Big Bead Show demo. I wanted to show my audience how different looks can be achieved by using different canes and colour combinations.

The demo went well - I did not go over time or run out of things to say. I'll post some pictures if I can get hold of some!

Telford's Big Bead Show

2011-06-24T13:55:00.000+01:00

Come and see me at Bead Magazine's Big Bead Show in Telford tomorrow. I'll be demonstrating how to make these cute pillow beads.

See you there!

Having to pack away

2011-06-21T11:50:00.001+01:00

Waaaaah...In anticipation of the BIG MOVE I am having to pack away my clay toys.

Bye bye for now

I haven't had much time to do any clay recently as all my time seems to be spent organising things for the move. Before the new house is ready, i'll be temporarily moving somewhere else. I might have a little chance to do some clay, but everything except for my clay and a few tools will be packed. I think it will be millefiori canes all the way!

Bead Magazine Article - Improved pics.

2011-06-16T17:02:00.000+01:00

My computer has had a little holiday recently so my last blog came via my mobile phone. The pictures I took of my Millefiori article in the current issue of Bead looked fine on my phone, but in uploading them a ghostly image seems to have appeared...

Not to fret, computer is back feeling thoroughly rested and together with camera has produced these new pics of my recent article in Bead magazine.

I made the cover!

My bead team profile.

The article! More of that inside Bead Issue 31!

I made Bead magazine again :)

2011-06-06T14:28:00.001+01:00

And I made the cover again!

Check out the June/July edition of Bead magazine - issue 31 for your introduction to caning with polymer clay.

Millie

2011-05-30T10:01:00.001+01:00

Ah to be a dog and just so happy in the outdoors with a good stick!

Rose Gone Wrong

2011-05-26T15:39:00.001+01:00

I made this rose cane yesterday from a tutorial by Iris Mishley. I didn't quite get the shape of the outside petals right, but I think if I layer over some leaf cane slices it will look pretty good and much more like a rose. I would definitely recommend getting one of Iris' tutorials.

Back to basics with Pavelka Canes

2011-05-25T09:58:00.000+01:00

I like to go back to basics occasionally when working with clay. I always pick up some new tips plus I remind myself how to do something I had forgotten.

Recently I went back to basics with Lisa Pavelka's latest clay book and worked through her millefiori caning section.

A better view of those flower canes. As you can see I felt like using Christmas colours that day.

This is my first basket weave cane, so I really did learn something new.

The top right cane is made from scraps of clay. I am thinking it will make some really nice beads. I'm not overly keen on my colour combination for the other two so I might make those into some scrap canes too.

Polymer and paper punches

2011-05-22T14:49:00.001+01:00

I had a play with polymer clay and paper punches recently. I made some ice cream pendants with a few variations and I'm pleased with the results - they are simple but eye catching I think.

These look better if you zoom in!

Although I am not so sure of the following one!

Resin & Polymer

2011-05-19T11:08:00.000+01:00

So I'm sat here thinking about what to blog about with one eye on my dustbin - It is rubbish collection day and I'm making sure some ignoramuses who live nearby don't put their recycling in my general rubbish bin. Honestly, aren't we trying to help save the planet here?

So whilst I am glued to this desk, which overlooks said rubbish bin I think I will post some more pics of resin experiments. This time coupled with some polymer beads.

I love a little wire wrapping!

Wire wrapped resin star with FloSquiggleMe polymer beads & wooden beads.

Upcycled sead beeds and upcycled red polymer beads!

I'm working on the photography, really I am!

Iccle polymer and resin chunks.

Resin pendants

2011-05-18T09:21:00.001+01:00

I've played with resin before, but never remembered to take any photos. Here are some pics of a couple of resin pendants I created last year and finally put together in a necklace.

Making bead clusters is a great way to use up old beads.

Golden Oldies

2011-05-17T20:07:00.000+01:00

Aaah, look what I found in the cupboard today - preparing to move house certainly means rediscovering old treasures...

These were some of my first adventures in polymer clay (I'd been using it about 4 weeks!). I get really frustrated with how much weddings and anything related to weddings cost so decided that I would try and make some things to save a bit of money. Armed with a 50% off voucher, I headed off to Michaels to see what I could find.

Well I found Sculpey III, a brand of clay I could easily condition and use and a book on how to make polymer clay flowers!

Don't you just love how polymer clay can save you money??

Chunky lino plug beads

2011-05-16T13:18:00.000+01:00

I couldn't think of anything else to call these beads except chunky lino plugs because they were made using a lino tool and the extruded bits are really chunky!

A Place for Polymer Pebbles

2011-05-12T16:21:00.000+01:00

If you remember, some time ago I made some polymer pebbles.

Whilst I was pleased with the general look and shape of the pebbles, if you look closely you will see that the pebbles are somewhat cracked and browned (I am guessing I used FIMO in the mix and forgot, baking it at a higher temperature).

So I couldn't use the pebbles for jewellery as they were damaged, but after all that work I didn't want to just throw the pebbles away. Then I had the idea of using them to display some of the jewellery I have made.

Taadaa, finally a use for those little pebblies. Of course I have to arrange them properly and they do slip a little when I am putting the jewellery on them, but I'm pleased that they are not just going to a landfill site.

Early Morning Rose

2011-05-11T15:58:00.000+01:00

Some time ago, I made a simple rose out of polymer clay. As always, I am just getting round to making this into a piece of jewellery.

I used the rose to make a simple necklace.

I was really pleased with how the rose turned out. Although I have made plenty of polymer roses before, this is the first time I have achieved a "glistening" rose. It reminds me of roses when you see them early in the morning and they are moist with dew.

Polymer Clay Tutor's Teardrop Blend - II

2011-05-11T08:54:00.001+01:00

Another necklace made using the Polymer Clay Tutor's teardrop blend.

Flame drop necklace.

The drops are curved and an element of the back is visible. So that the back didn't look "rough", I put the blend on a granite look clay and cut out the flame shapes. This is a really good way to create a neat back, especially where you have dangles which often twist as you wear them. In this case it has also made the necklace reversible.

I'm going to highlight any tips from now on so that readers can quickly view and refer back to them. If you are like me, you don't always have time to read a full blog post so this way you can look at the good bits quickly!

Polymer Clay Tutor's Teardrop Blend

2011-05-10T13:37:00.001+01:00

Hurry, this tutorial is still available to view free of charge! The website is here: http://www.beadsandbeading.com/blog/teardrop-blend-shift-video/13074/

The tutorial shows you how to quickly blend colours and offers some great jewellery ideas.

I had a go at the blend and using some of the Clay Tutor's stripy inspiration, came up with the following pieces.

Necklace and earrings set

Leafy dangles with swarowski beads and swarowski drop earrings

I felt the need - improved pics

2011-05-08T19:25:00.001+01:00

Now that camera is back from its little jolly, here are some improved pics of those beads I made the other day.

I felt the need

2011-05-06T08:04:00.000+01:00

the need for beads

my camera is on holiday at the moment so I am taking even worse photos than usual.

Needed a focal

2011-05-05T17:28:00.000+01:00

I was searching for a new project to take to my bead group the other night. I found this one in an old issue of Bead and Button and really fancied having a go.

The trouble was, when I found the pattern I realised I didn't have any focal beads to go with the seed beads I intended to use. So I thought what better way to get the focal I want than to use my favourite canes....and here is the finished focal.

Beading the rope might take me quite a while but I'll pop it in a post when I'm done :)

Royal Wedding

2011-04-29T10:32:00.000+01:00

30 minutes to go

Beaded Gandalf/Dumbledore

2011-04-28T18:10:00.000+01:00

High on my success of making beaded piggies, I tried my hand at Spellbound's beaded wizard. This was certainly no little pig and was somewhat more difficult. Attempt number 1 was abandoned as the wire I was using snapped several times and was too short to be fixed. So not to be outdone (especially when I have paid for something :) ) I tried again, with a thicker wire and finally succeeded (despite a bit of unpicking)...

and I'm going to post lots of pictures because it TOOK ME AGES!

Igneous Polymer

2011-04-26T17:29:00.000+01:00

My first go at creating scraplicious lava inspired beads!

For a first attempt, I'm pretty pleased with the results. I picked up the idea of embedding salt crystals in clay in an advert for Fimo clay in Polymer Cafe. I'll bet these beads look pretty good strung too.

Not bad!

Patriotic Kitties

2011-04-26T15:00:00.000+01:00

Couldn't resist posting pics of my 2 babies showing their patriotic spirit in anticipation of the Royal Wedding of 2011.

What a handsome chap.

This is as close to my head as this is going...

We are not amused.

Beaded piggies

2011-04-21T14:56:00.000+01:00

Just had to show you these little fellows that I made from beads and wire.

The design was from the Spellbound Bead kit and I just couldn't resist it.

Finding Harry when house hunting

2011-04-16T21:26:00.000+01:00

Whilst searching for a new house in the West Mids today, I came across these 2 lovely lads :)

Not really what I expected to find at the local co-op!

Whilst they didn't have time to play any quidditch, we did have a quick butterbeer before Harry & Hagrid had to be on their way to save us muggles from passing death eaters.

Time for me to get the Deathly Hallows part 1 on DVD me thinks :)

Trying the dichroic look

2011-04-12T15:50:00.000+01:00

I found an old Polymer Cafe magazine the other day and thought I would try one of the projects. This tute showed how to create a dichroic look using metal leaf and inks.

Below is my effort! These would have been made into a pendant and earrings but I'm not overly keen on the result as I made the parts far to chunky.

Clearly I need to use more ink as the colours came out rather washed out. I tried to create a glassy look on the flower using kato liquid clay but for whatever reason, this cracked when it cooked - you can see if you look closely! Maybe I didn't bake the clay on a high enough temperature. I'll have to figure out how I did it as this would be a great way to create a crackle/stained glass look!

Quick tip: don't cook a glossed piece of clay on a tile as it will melt where the two make contact! I tried this for the first time as Studio Sculpey Gloss states that you can bake it. Clearly the tile gets too hot to do it this way. I have yet to discover how to do it right!

I tried the dichroic effect on some beads. Again, I need to use more colour as they look washed out. Also I imagine some of the colour wore off on my hand whilst I worked the leaf into the bead base.

Look what I found

2011-04-04T16:57:00.000+01:00

I found some lovely vintage (ish) photos to day of some of my older clay work.

Back in 2002 I had the idea to make iccle statues of my friends on their wedding day, so that they could remember their special day (because of course, back then there was no such thing as photography...ahem...).

I had descriptions of the wedding outfits and modelled my work loosely on a tiny game we had which involved rolling marbles towards people shaped skittles (or bowling pins) and trying to spin them around the metal rod they were swinging on. So you get the picture, they were not a true likeness of people! Taking that into consideration, I don't think the finished product looked too bad and the bride and groom seemed suitably impressed.

Unfortunately the groom shaved his beard and tash before the big day - although I suspect he grew it back afterwards to detract from the huge set of man boobs he is probably now convinced he has!! Clearly modelling pecs is not my forte!

I must have been sending out "thought" inspiration around the clay world as clay wedding cake toppers have really taken off since!

Scrapume Gane

2011-04-04T14:13:00.000+01:00

I tried my hand at mokume gane recently but using scraps of clay mixed into solid colours.

I think the end effect of muted blues and darks is quite pleasant.

More upcycling

2011-03-28T10:45:00.001+01:00

More experiments with scrap clay to make some upcycled pillow beads and round beads.

Beautiful house for sale!

2011-03-27T20:16:00.000+01:00

It has happened - my beautiful house is on the market. A relocation for work is finally on the cards (we have been trying to put this off!) so we have had to put our beloved house up for sale.

We bought the house 7 years ago and it was a real "project". We have spent a lot of time updating it and have put in a lot of TLC! I won't inundate you with all the information but here are some of the highlights.

Breakfast room overlooking the rear garden.

Funky bathroom.

Beautifully maintained garden!

And remember what i told you about the kitchen...

Let me know if you want to buy it!

More upcycling

2011-03-24T10:16:00.000Z

Latest upcycled beadery.

I'm working on perfecting this method but I really like the results on this one.

This one was made using cane ends. I think with the right colour combination it could be great

Final steampunky (for now!)

2011-03-23T10:54:00.000Z

And finally, the third necklace from my steampunky range. Made using chain, polymer clay and an upcycled locket...

Who are these Victorian beauties?

Steampunky again.

2011-03-22T09:43:00.000Z

Second steampunk necklace. Made from polymer clay, watch parts and chain. Again I'm going for the aged copper look.

Steampunky!

2011-03-21T13:22:00.000Z

For my latest dip into steampunk world, I've created 3 necklaces with an aged copper feel. As they took rather a long time to create I'm going to post them separately!

The first necklace is created from polymer clay, ribbon and an upcycled teapot charm. I'm quite fond of this one myself.

Time for Steampunk Tea!

Latest upcycling adventure

2011-03-17T17:31:00.000Z

The latest beadies. Made out of the end of a cane. I like them, but I think a better choice of colours would work soooo much better.

Covered in cat hair as usual!

I think I prefer these.

Funny looking hyacinths

2011-03-15T13:19:00.001Z

I bought some hyacinth bulbs the other day, in a pretty purple pot to match the flowers that would soon shoot up. Or so I thought...

Hmmm, what strange looking hyacinths! Daffys are so lovely though with their little trumpets, who could complain??!

Better upcycling adventure pics

2011-03-15T11:34:00.000Z

Here are some better pics of those red upcycled beads that I made recently.

Anyone ever post rubbish results?

2011-03-15T11:23:00.000Z

I don't usually post the projects that don't turn out so well. I hide them away in the bottom of my bead box until I get around to throwing them away or I put them in the latest charity shop collection bag. You see I want you all to think that my creations always turn out somewhat OK and that I never really make any duff projects.

Today however, I am feeling brave. I thought, why not? We all make mistakes so I might just have to show you one of mine. This one was a less successful attempt at some clay upcycling.

Off to the charity shop they go. You never know, someone might be prepared to pay 10p for them!

Adventures in Upcycling 2

2011-03-13T15:56:00.000Z

I've been working on my upcycling methods recently. Whilst this has mostly meant that I end up with mounds of mud coloured clay, owing to all the experiments that have gone wrong, I have at least managed these beads which I am happy with.

Doggy Delights

2011-03-05T11:15:00.000Z

As you know I have a slight passion for Cherry Bakewell cakes.

I make mini ones...
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2009/07/cherry-bakewells.html

and cherry bakewell canes...
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-name-of-research.html

and I even send them to my polymer clay mentors...
http://floraeme.blogspot.com/2010/10/gift-to-marie-segal.html

So you can imagine my delight when visiting a local art and crafts fair yesterday, I found Mrs Bishop's Doggy Deli had baked some especially for my canine friends. The stall was fantastic, filled with goodies all to suit the delicate doggie diet. There were birthday cakes, peamutt butter cups, chocolate dogestives and my favourite the Cherry Barkwell. So of course I had to buy some for my 3 favourite woofers.

Aren't they just divine?

And here are the lucky ladies, waiting patiently (although drooling profusely) to enjoy their treats.

Yum!

Adventures in Upcycling

2011-03-04T09:49:00.000Z

Upcycling is my new word for working with scrap clay. Whoop Whoop. Thanks to Ghost Shift for coming up with that one. Did I mention it was a competition? Well, your prize is a set of lino tools :) I.e. the ones I borrowed from you about 6 months ago!

So I've been working on a special project recently that has left me with oodles of scrap clay and I've been trying out some techniques to upcycle the extra bits.

Here's my first attempt. I had some basic canes from a "how to" demonstration that I wasn't planning on using. So I upcycled them to make these funky vase beads.

Next I had a go with some mixed cane ends.

I was less pleased with the results on this one, so I varied my technique a little to create the next set of beads.

I'm much happier with these babies. It is almost a tie dye meets swirl effect.

I'll have another go at this one and post how my next beads turn out.

A new word for scrap please!

2011-03-01T16:14:00.000Z

I love the technique I have used to create these pillow beads. It was taught to me by polymer clay artist Daniel Torres. It's so much fun to do and you never know what pattern you are going to end up with.

Of course, this technique uses scrap clay! The end products look so good however, I am reluctant to call it scrap clay - any suggestions as to what word I can use instead??