Claychicks Weekly - Bright Days
Wow! The warm weather snuck in while I was busy I guess. The Claychicks offerings of the week on Ebay certainly work for sunny days or sunny daze:
is my collection of six petal pointy tips.
There’s a whole new batch of stuff heading on to Claychicks USA for stocking on the shelves of our Etsy store.
A Little Creative Bug Making
Tooaquarius.com is one part of my creative efforts. Web stuff is the rest. Tooaquarius is going to get some updates over the next two days to test new software written for the web stuff so there may be some… bugs.
In particular, the shop and gallery sections may change frequently and not work.
Wish me luck!
Year of Clay - Simple Earrings
There was a craft fair this weekend - small, local, spring craft fair. It wasn’t the venue for any of my pricier vessels (or anything, it turned out, but that is another story). So I pulled a few handfuls of beads from the tubs of them that live in the Land of Beads (aka. the second shelf in the craft pantry) and made things. At small shows I usually set out several baskets of beads and then a few dozen small jewelry items as samples of what you can make with them.
Here are some simple earrings, with the simplest of clay slice beads. Some are from Kathi’s lovely pacific northwest canes. The rest are from my instant bead canes.
Progress
2007 is my year for self-improvement. I picked up a few ambitious projects - such as my Year of Clay - and part of any project is marking off the milestones.
On the right hand side I made a simplistic little graphic for one of my goals: 5000 beads by the end of the year. I started with 1000 but I finished that by March! So i picked a bigger number.
I’m being generous - it doesn’t matter if it’s a meticulously sanded layered floral bead or a very simple slice bead. In this case, quantity and marking it off is what matters!
Some of my other clay related project-goals include 100 canes, another art doll, entering the PCC challenge, 5 craft shows, another 5 tutorials, 100 pieces of finished jewelry… dozens of things. It’s on a list above my desk and I take great joy in savagely crossing them off.
So, what are you claying towards?
Daisy Chains
In high school, I started making daisy chain bracelets and necklaces from seed beads to sell at the craft sales I went to with my grandmother. I made hundreds over those few years. Then, college and baby hit and I moved on to other jewelry crafts.
The other day I saw a piece made from the good ol’ daisy chain. My fingers were itching for my seed beads. Of course, these days I have clay daisies…
Claychicks Weekly - Flower Power
On the ‘chicks weekly Ebay we’ve got a lovely bright set from Carolyn and this set of coffee toned flowers with a little cabbage white butterfly:
Year of Clay - Bangle Stack
The first bangle went so well, I made a stack. Just like pancakes - one is good, a stack is better.
These are all my standard colour schemes - see the sea garden and the lavender fields - over a solid core of my own design. I’ve almost got it down!
Claychicks Weekly - Coffee n Bees
If you need a bit of a buzz (I crack myself up) you have options with our ebay this week - this set of Carolyn’s on ebay has a bee with lovely roses. Or, if you prefer your ‘buzz’ with a little less sting, I have my coffee hued set. It’s what I used on my bangle a couple of weeks ago.
There’s also this nifty monochromatic set with a striking crimson rose to make the black and white pop:
Stories
I have a friend I’ve played an online boardgame with on and off for five years. Late last fall I showed him my clay life and pointed out some of the designs I had on Ebay.
Being him, he surfed right past my flowers and gushed about Kathi Gose’s amazing Native American designs. He told me he would love to have a gift for his father with these designs. So I asked Kathi for a few pieces. She’s a sweetie and sent them right along.
Of course, he took a few months off playing and I didn’t see him until this weekend past. He asked after the old project and said his father was getting married this Thursday. Would I make a gift? he asked. Sure, I said.
I tried half a dozen designs before I settled for absolute simplicity. The poor pen blanks.
The story doesn’t end there. It turns out that Mr. P, the groom to be, has lung cancer. The cancer has reached the terminal stage. My friend Kathi, who’s beautiful designs are on these pens, is a fierce supporter of cancer research and fundraises for it.
Year of Clay - Mother’s Day
This week I have a guest artist contribution and it’s clay but not polymer. However, it’s near and dear to my heart so here we go:
Makes me wish I’d taken one of her little baby hands and made a clay press of it at the time! Now, her hand isn’t much smaller than mine.
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