Claychicks Weekly - March 29
I get to plug our first sale. Beginning April 1st and ending April 8th we will have our April Fool slash Spring Break sale. Customers who mail us chicken jokes will get free shipping on their Etsy and Ebay purchases! And that’s pretty cool because Carolyn has a bunch of new stuff going up in our Etsy shop over this week and next. We also have a couple set on Ebay this week.
Mine is here. Gratuitous eye candy follows:
If you send us chicken jokes we haven’t heard not only will you earn our undying approval, you’ll probably get extra goodies tossed in.
Year of Clay - Bumpy Beads Bracelet
This week I am using some of my flexible work schedule to be class mom. The kiddo’s class needed warm bodies to walk the couple of blocks to the swimming pool and back with them. There’s only so much time I can spend admiring 3 dozen 8 & 9 year olds cheerfully ignoring their instructors so today I brought a baggie of old beads, wire and the basic tools. I figured I’d be productive.
Lo and behold I wired up a bracelet from existing supplies! My thrifty heart rejoices.
What adventures and excitement tomorrow? Stay tuned!
Year of Clay - Beads on a Stick
This week past was spent doing some of my favourite clay stuff - beads and beads with canes!
So we have some accent beads, little slice beads and caned ones. I’m hoping to get some strung pieces and sets out of these considering as I made more than a hundred of each type!
Claychicks Weekly - March 15
I got brave and listed one of my little face canes in this weeks Claychicks Ebay Listing. They tend to elicit a Thats So Cool or Thats Really Weird Elaine reaction.
The Claychicks Etsy shop has some pretty great stuff too - a lot of canes including combined work from Carolyn and I and quite a few of Carolyn’s super beads.
5 More Uses for Scrap Clay
Because the stuff keeps on piling up… Here’s 5 more uses for scrap clay to build on my first 5 Uses for Scrap Clay:
- Molds - made a face cab you like? a heart? mold it and be able to repeat the pretty! Or make texture plates / shallow molds like Ponsawan did here and then use those to make some of her bubble beads!
- Larger projects - sometimes a piece needs a little more to it than beads. Scrap makes excellent bulk, especially when you’re unsure of how well your bulky project will go. Paint or cover it with pretty colours like scrap dragons or my orangina vase.
- Prototypes - before commiting the time and resources to a new line, prototype it. This is a good place for whatever scrap you’ve got that is single colour. Good to use for prototype, fewer tears if it craters, not too hideous if it works.
- Reducing canes - instead of letting your cane ends distort crazily, add a plug of scrap to each end of the cane and reduce as you normally would. The distortion will be most concentrated in your scrap clay and you can cut that off without pain.
- Tools - form your clay into small tools. One friend made herself a small ‘holder’ to hold her lentil beads upright for photographs. Desiree (the queen of clay experimentation) built her own bead roller from scrap clay.
Year of Clay - Beads for a Cause
Working from last weeks clay project, I made beads. Lots of beads. When I made the canes, I also made a whole lot of the same light pearl pink for base beads, to ensure a matching bead. I also made a plain but darker bead by adding some alizarin crimson to a chunk of the base colour. Voila! Many, many beads for a Very Good Cause.
An example or prototype I am working on is this stretchy bracelet keychain:
Claychicks Weekly - March 9
Ah the weekly ad!
This week is my first listing on Ebay - I have two colour coordinated sets of roses & dragonfly. This is one:
I’ve used these canes to make beads like these ones:
Its a nice, delicate set for spring pieces. Perhaps a lovely bridesmaid set of jewelry?
Year of Clay - Cane for a Cause
I have an upcoming craft show. Perfectly normal. But this show’s proceeds go to benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
I’m lucky. I’ve never lost anyone specifically to cancer let alone breast cancer. Hopefully I never do. Here’s my help with a brick in that road.
These are some ‘pink’ canes that will go on a whole whack of round beads. The beads will get made into keychains, zip pulls and cell phone charms. The proceeds from the sales will be donated.
All this also proves another point: if you are lacking inspiration and creativity… don’t open the field MORE but limit it. Give yourself a smaller playing field, a narrower colour selection. Dare your muse to take something difficult and make it pretty.
Friends & Business
The Internet has given me some amazing opportunities to make friends with common interests - namely polymer clay. One of those friends, a talented artist making her home in Bakersfield is Kathi Gose of Dragonsglass. Her site is getting an overhaul and has all sorts of goodies including an absolute TON of free tutorials and the most hilarious video ever.
Another great spot is Irish Mishly’s blog - her site and forum are also good but my Hebrew is non existant - at Polymeri Online . She is doing an excellent job at reviewing existing artist sites and resources and making the list easily accessible.
On the more business end of clay blogs Luan Udell’s Durable Goods blog is a treasure trove of useful anecdotes and how-tos for anyone in the art business. Judy Dunn - who makes clay origami cranes, among other delights - has a useful resource in her Artpreneur blog.
Claychicks Weekly - March 1
This week has another cute set from Carolyn on Ebay:
Canada Post recently dropped my package off to the Claychicks coop in Danville, NH so NEXT WEEK we have the Grand Opening Month of the ‘chicks more or less as planned. Look for a whole flock of new listings on Ebay and Etsy!
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