Year of Clay – Upcycle

Posted on April 25, 2007 by Elaine

earth day vase This is a tribute to International Earth Day (April 22). Clay makes a wonderful cover for so many things including old bottles that might otherwise get recycled or discarded. Not that recycling is a bad thing but you want to aim for higher on the list than that. Upcycling (reusing) is a bonus.

According to Wikipedia:

Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products.

I love the shape of the Mateus wine bottles and lucky me – I have relatives that drink it! The bottles are a lovely organic shape and the neck is wide enough to accommodate a few flower stems. Both of these qualities make it just about perfect for upcycling it to a pretty vase.

In this case, I raided the Tooaquarius Boxes of Canes, pulled out pretty much every single blue and turquoise flower plus a few others, and started slicing. For this piece, I didn’t pick a specific design and simply placed the flowers in lines and curves. There is about 2 oz of cane on this bottle – so some 6 or 700 slices. This sampler vase has been sanded and hand buffed (oh I need a bench grinder, I do).

10 ‘Green’ Tips for the Clay Crafter

Posted on April 20, 2007 by Elaine

In the spirit of International Earth Day – and because one of my goals for 2007 is to be a lot more ‘green’ – here’s a few tips for the environmentally friendly clayer:

Batch your baking. Use less electricity, save energy AND money.
Resist buying supplies you probably won’t use. I know, crafters HAVE to have the latest but if you stick to a list or budget it or plan it a little, you’ll save money AND all the packaging and shipping the company uses.
Use printed one side papers. For notes, baking your clay on, and leaching your clay (make sure not to use the print side though!).
Use clean, empty milk jugs or stiff plastic packaging for stencil and template making.
Give old denim a new life by using it for making buffing wheels.
Reuse attractive jars or chipped dishes as bases for clay projects.
Reuse plastic bags as stuffing for your shipping.
Recycle the old craft magazines and books or sell them to other enthusiasts.
Give your old but sturdy beads and projects to your local school, daycare or other group that may use them. Declutter AND less garbage.
Use the least harmful glues, paints and finishes you can. Dispose of remaining chemicals safely.

Reduce, reuse and recycle can be applied to a lot of crafty things I notice.

Claychicks Weekly – April 19

Posted on April 18, 2007 by Elaine

Our ebay this week is a whole load of bits and pieces – I feel bad calling these ends ’cause my ends don ‘t look this pretty – of Carolyn Canes. 18 oz of bits and pieces in fact.

As always, check out our etsy!

Year of Clay – Spread my Wings

Posted on April 16, 2007 by Elaine

It’s a little late and I am making puns. You see, I made more canes. A lot the same as last batch… and then, I stretched a bit. Spread my wings. I finished off a blue morpho butterfly cane that I had been putting off and made a cabbage white butterfly. So those are the literal wings. And I made some retro canes to actually USE from… er… brave (for me) combinations of colours.

And before two years ago I did not know what a blue morpho or a cabbage white was. Clay has improved my flower and bug knowledge. So educational, Mom would be proud.

Caning Fool

Posted on April 10, 2007 by Elaine

As I alluded to the other day – I had a productive caning weekend. Some of this was Needed to be Done caning since the stocks at the Claychicks coop were running low and I had found all this pretty scrap clay in plain sight on my desk.

However, some of it was what I like to call productive procrastination. Make a boatload of good but not top-priority stuff. This is a bad habit. Why? Because just like everyone else I run out of time and then I have to spend later time catching up.

I do know better than this!